(Creston, Iowa) –  A traffic stop Tuesday afternoon in Creston, resulted in an arrest. Creston Police say 37-year-old Heather Layne Green, of Creston, was charged with Driving While Barred. Green was taken to the Union County Jail, posted a $2,000 bond, and was released.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak say no injuries were reported following a collision Tuesday afternoon. Authorities said a 2016 Ford F-150 pickup driven by 82-year-old Roger Lynn Waggener, of Red Oak, was traveling south in the 600 block of Highland Avenue at around 4:45-p.m., when his vehicle rear-ended a legally parked and unoccupied 2015 Toyota Tundra pickup truck, registered to a couple from Red Oak.

Damage to the Toyota was estimated at $7,000. The Ford pickup sustained about $3,000 damage. Red Oak Police cited Waggener for Failure to Maintain Control.

(Malvern, Iowa) – Officials with East Mills Child Care Solutions (EMCCS) say they have been working persistently since July of 2022 to raise funding to renovate a former nursing home into a high quality child care center in Malvern (905 N 2nd Ave.). EMCCS has received a $1-million grant award from the Charles E. Lakin Foundation, to help make the renovation project, estimated to cost $5.3-million, possible. In honor of the generous donation, EMCCS officials says they have established the official name of the future child care center as “The Lakin Foundation Child Development Center of East Mills.”

The project will involve the renovation/repurposing of an existing facility into an 18,000 SF fully licensed childcare center. It will include 12 inclusive classrooms for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers accommodating 120-150 children. EMCCS volunteers, officials say, continue to work diligently on grant writing and fundraising efforts to meet their goal. The board remains optimistic that they can achieve their goal to open in the Fall of 2024. Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture (APMA) has been selected to collaborate with East Mills Child Care Solutions on a new childcare center.

According to The Lakin Foundation, their mission is to “ …fund programs and organizations in Southwest Iowa and Greater Omaha that help people in need overcome adversity, restore dignity and ultimately transform their lives. We empower adults, children and families to be productive and contributing citizens by providing funding within three core focus areas: Children and families; Education and training; Economic resilience.” The EMCCS project aligns with that mission through providing safe and educational childcare that will allow parents to be reliable and self-sufficient.

Steve Wild, Charles E. Lakin Foundation President, stated “Childcare centers play a vital role in any community, and their value is particularly significant in rural areas. The Lakin Foundation is proud to support the establishment of The Lakin Foundation Child Development Center of East Mills in Malvern. This center will not only provide a safe and nurturing environment for children but will also empower parents to pursue their own endeavors, secure in the knowledge that their children are receiving quality care. The Lakin Foundation is proud to be a part of this project, and we look forward to witnessing the positive impact it will have on the lives of children and families in East Mills. The Lakin Foundation’s founder, Charles E. Lakin, hails from Emerson, while his wife Florence has deep roots in Malvern, Iowa, where she was born and raised. Both the Lakin Family and the Lakin Foundation hold an unwavering dedication to the welfare of the individuals residing in Southwest Iowa. In light of this enduring commitment, the Foundation wholeheartedly believes that the childcare center will be a cherished and invaluable asset to the local community.”

Fundraising efforts remain a high priority. If you would like to join EMCCS committed volunteers, you can contact the committee at emchildcaresolutions@gmail.com or at the East Mills Child Care Solutions Facebook page to learn more. As fundraising efforts are underway, please contact emchildcaresolutions@gmail.com to make donations in support of the children in your area.

East Mills Child Care Solutions is a 501(c)(3)nonprofit made up of volunteers who are committed to working cooperatively to identify safe and reliable child care, allowing for future growth in East Mills communities.

(Radio Iowa) – The state is launching a website designed to inform Iowans about new and emerging drugs and other products, both legal and illegal, many of which can be deadly. Dale Woolery, director of the Iowa Office of Drug Control Policy, says this type of online educational resource about drugs is urgently needed. “They’re evolving quickly, faster than ever,” Woolery says. “Their manufacture, their marketing, their use and tragically, some of the ramifications of their use.” You can find the website by Googling “Iowa drugs” and that’ll take you to the state drug czar’s site, then just scroll down to “Emerging Drugs in Iowa.”

Woolery says the information will be very useful to people in the health care industry, prevention and treatment, and law enforcement arenas. “But it’s also for parents,” Woolery says, “and caregivers of young Iowans who have to face questions potentially if they find something or if their child brings something home and says, ‘But it’s just this,’ and it may be for sale.” One featured drug is Xylazine, an animal tranquilizer. It’s not new to Iowa veterinarians, but the drug is now being added by traffickers to illicit opioid products and he says it can lead to addiction — or death.

“It’s a prescription medication,” Woolery says. “It’s for animals, not humans, but it’s winding up in combination with fentanyl and other drugs that are being sold on the black market and consumed. Along with the fentanyl, it can be lethal.” There’s also a product called Kratom, an herbal substance that can produce opioid- and stimulant-like effects, but it can also cause psychiatric, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and respiratory problems. Kratom is legal in Iowa. “Even though there may not be regulation or law on the substance in question, we want to put new drugs on the radar of Iowans so that even if we don’t have answers to all the questions because they’re new, we want Iowans to at least know there are questions.”

The list of substances covered on the website includes vaping, fentanyl, and highly-potent marijuana products. There are also sections for cough and cold medications, counterfeit pills, and mushrooms or psilocybins.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Red Oak Police, Tuesday afternoon, arrested 34-year-old Chase Michael Samples, of Red Oak. Samples was taken into custody for Driving While Suspended. His bond was set at $491.25.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says the recent deal to raise the nation’s borrowing limit wasn’t perfect, but it was acceptable to enough Republicans and Democrats to avert a federal government default. “I actually think Republicans got a lot more out of this bill than the Democrats wanted to give and were willing to give on,” Ernst says, “but they, in the end, had to.”

President Biden said months ago he would not negotiate on raising the so-called debt ceiling, but the bill he signed last week includes spending reforms. Ernst and the rest of Iowa’s congressional delegation voted for it. “It does force Washington to spend less than we did the year before. We’re clawing back all of the unspent COVID funds, which is really important,” Ernst says. “…A big, huge win is that it does add necessary work requirements for people that are trying to get welfare.”

The deal removes work requirements for veterans and homeless adults who receive what are commonly called food stamps, but more older adults who do not have children will be required to work. Under current rules able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 49 who don’t have dependents must work or be training for a new job at least 20 hours a week to qualify for food stamps.

By 2025, that rule will apply to about 750-thousand more Americans between the ages of 50 and 54.  “It’s very important to weaning people off the dole, basically,” Ernst says. “Those that are able-bodied should be working, so we are pushing them into a work requirement.” According to the U-S-D-A, 41 million Americans received government food assistance at some point last year.

Some Democrats say low income older Americans who’ve been laid off and face age discrimination as they look for a new job will likely become ineligible for food stamps just when they need the help. Some Republicans say the work requirements don’t go far enough and they’ll press for action on the issue in the next Farm Bill.