SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say two frozen hydrants hampered efforts to extinguish flames that destroyed a mobile home in Sioux City. Firetrucks were sent to the mobile home park around 5 a.m. Wednesday.

Sioux City Deputy Fire Marshal Frank Fulton says firefighters couldn’t tap into the two frozen hydrants, so they had to go to a third hydrant farther away to get water. Fulton says the problem may have cost the residents more property than they would have lost otherwise.

The three adults and three children who lived in the home escaped safely.

On the first day of the New Year, Red Oak Police report two arrests and two citations. Early this (Thursday) morning, officers cited 20-year old Dillon Makenzie Terry for Possession of Alcohol under the legal age of 21. Rodney Earl McAlpin was also cited for Providing Alcohol to a person under the age of 21. The citations were issued at 419 E. Reed Street, in Red Oak.

Red Oak Police report also the arrest of 25-year old Megan Renea Guffey, of Villisca. Guffey was taken into custody for Public Intoxication just after 12:30-a.m., at 106 E. Coolbaugh Street. She was being held at the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center (LEC) on $300 bond.

And, 30-year old Zachariah Michael Holland, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 12:30-a.m. for Domestic Abuse/Simple Assault, Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree, and Trespassing. Holland was being held without bond at the Montgomery County LEC.

(6:30-a.m. News)

Eight counties in southwest Iowa will benefit this year from a grant announced by the Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund. Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) executive director John McCurdy told The Daily NonPareil, the $350,669 grant will be distributed among Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Shelby and Pottawattamie counties. Grant funding will not be used for projects in Council Bluffs.

No other state has as many local governments participating in a program run by the National Park Service. The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs director Mary Cownie says over 100 cities and counties in Iowa have received the “certified local government” designation from the Park Service. “This highlights communities with an active local historic preservation effort, an effort that we know is critical to building vibrant communities and stimulating economic growth,” Cownie says. According to the National Park Service website, the goal of the program is to “save the irreplaceable historic character of places.”

Once an area receives “Certified Local Government” status, it gets technical assistance from state and federal experts, plus it’s eligible for government grants. Cownie cites the experience of a northwest Iowa community that received a state grant two years ago. “Le Mars has had a model historic preservation commission and with the help of a (Department of Cultural Affairs) grant, was successful in listing their downtown of more than 70 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places,” Cownie says.

The Commercial District in downtown Le Mars was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The community now has gotten a half a million dollar federal grant to help renovate the store fronts of about three dozen businesses, so they’ll look like they did when the structures were first built. The building owners will finance about 25 percent of the project. The federal grant money along with funds from the City of Le Mars will cover the rest of the cost. According to the National Park Service, studies show historic districts maintain higher property values, have less population decline and foster “a greater sense of community” among residents.

(Radio Iowa)