(Radio Iowa) – The Des Moines Register reports a hearing over state tax credits granted to an ethanol company will not be open to the public.

South Dakota-based Poet Biorefining operates a dozen plants in Iowa. In March of 2021, the Iowa Department of Revenue notified Poet it did not qualify for the state’s research activities tax credit and must repay the State of Iowa for any credits it has received. According to The Des Moines Register, Poet’s attorneys are arguing the financial documents they will present at the hearing are confidential and state officials are operating under the assumption it’s up to Poet to determine whether the public should see or hear about those materials.

Iowa Freedom of Information Council executive director Randy Evans says that decision is troubling.

“The taxpayers who have a lot at stake in this case are really cut out of knowing even the basics of what is involved,” Evans says. “There are ways to protect the trade secrets or proprietary information of Poet without sticking the taxpayers in the dark on it.”

The hearing over this tax issue is scheduled for next Monday. A spokesperson for Poet was not immediately available for comment. Several other ethanol companies have been notified they’re in a similar spot and appealing the state’s notice to repay research activities credits they’ve received.

Poet operates plans in Arthur, Ashton, Coon Rapids, Corning, Emmetsburg, Fairbank, Gowrie, Hanlontown, Iowa Falls, Jewell, Menlo and Shell Rock.

(Radio Iowa) – A small town near one of the Iowa Great Lakes has to set up new oversight of its drinking water supply.

For the past eight decades, the City of Orleans has been buying its drinking water from the City of Spirit Lake. Orleans City Attorney Don Hemphill says the Department of Natural Resources wants someone to be responsible for the quality of the water that comes out of the town’s taps –and Spirit Lake has notified Orleans it does not want to assume responsibility for the water distribution system in Orleans.

“And that responsibility involves testing and monitoring and operations,” Hemphill says, “so that brings us to where we have got to make a significant change.” Hemphill says the Orleans City Council has two basic options. “One is to accept bulk water from Spirit Lake and establish their own distribution system and the other is to turn the system to Iowa Lakes Regional Water, which is willing to operate it,” he says. “Either way is going to involve significantly increased costs.”

The Orleans City Council has asked an engineering firm to analyze the two alternatives and determine which is cheaper in the long run. Orleans, which is near the southern shore of Big Spirit Lake, has about 520 permanent residents according to the 2020 Census, but its population swells during the summertime when the Iowa Great Lakes region becomes a vacation spot.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Oct. 11, 2022 – Today, the Iowa Transportation Commission approved $2,748,949 for eight State Recreational Trails Program projects. The State Recreational Trails Program was created in 1988 with the purpose of developing and maintaining recreational trails and trail-related facilities for both motorized and non-motorized trail users. This funding is available to cities, counties, state agencies, local governments, and nonprofit organizations through an annual application-based program.

The projects and approved funding amounts are listed below.

• Carlisle Connection Trail (Des Moines)                                            $ 400,000
• Eldora Trail Expansion (Eldora)                                                        $ 397,000
• Gear Avenue Trail Extension Phase II (West Burlington)                 $ 345,357
• Glenwood Trail (Glenwood)                                                        $ 200,000
• Great Western Connector Trail (Manning)                                $ 200,242
• Heart of Iowa Nature Trail from 610th Avenue to 620th Avenue
  (Story County Conservation Board)                                                  $ 225,000
• Raccoon River Valley Trail to High Trestle Trail Connector
  Phase V (Dallas County Conservation Board)                                  $ 400,000
• West Union to Echo Valley State Park (West Union)                        $ 581,350

(Radio Iowa) – State highway travel numbers continue to reflect some economic issues. The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson reported to the state Transportation Commission Monday. “August we’re continuing to see that trend that we saw going back to the April time frame of traffic below 2019 levels –which we really felt was directly correlated to the higher fuel prices,” Anderson says. He says gas prices dropped some, but recently have inched back up. “September data is actually showing an increase for the first time since very early this year compared to 2019 levels so maybe we are seeing some changes in travel patterns,” he says. Anderson says the September increase was small.

“Our September total traffic counts in Iowa are about half a percent above the same month in 2019,” Sanderson says. “Of course, it does continue to show that rural versus municipal trend — where rural is up about two percent, and municipal is down about two percent.” He says they will have to wait for October numbers to determine if the increase in travel has continued.

(Radio Iowa) – Chuck Grassley says if he’s re-elected and Republicans hold majority control of the U.S. Senate for the next six years, he may become chairman of the committee that oversees the entire federal budget. “I’m going to finish out my two years of the six years I can be chairman of the Judiciary Committee if we’re in the majority,” Grasley says, “and then the next committee I can be chairman of would be the Budget Committee.” Grassley is a long-term member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, but Grassley says he’s not positioned to be a chairman of that panel.

“I think the chances of that are nil,” Grassley says. “…My seniority has been emphasized on the other three committees: Budget, Finance and Judiciary.” Grassley says the Ag Committee’s work on the 2023 Farm Bill is well-underway and prospects for the legislature are good, whichever party holds a majority of seats in the senate next year. “I think we’ll get it passed,” Grassley says. “It tends to be one that’s very bipartisan.” Democrat Mike Franken, a retired Navy admiral, is challenging Grassley’s bid for an eighth term in the U.S. Senate. Franken would seek a seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee if he’s elected.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisor Board Chair Steve Baier has informally issued the Oath of Office to Kathy Somers, who was appointed to serve as the Cass County Auditor, until at least the November 8^th General Election. The action was taken during the Board’s meeting this (Tuesday) morning, at the Cass County Courthouse. Somers is running unopposed. She succeeds Sara Harris, who resigned in September, but whose resignation wasn’t accepted until just this month.

The Supervisors also adopted Cass County Ordinance Number 2 “General Relief Assistance Program,” following a public hearing – during which there were no comments. In other business, the Board tabled until Oct. 18, 2022, action on the Sale of the County-owned Farm, because there was not enough time to publish the notice. They approved the Cass County Weed Commissioner’s Annual report. Board Chair Steve Baier mentioned “County-wide, we’re getting a better handle on the wild cucumbers.

The Board approved the Cass County Employee handbook, and where their meeting agenda’s would be posted for public viewing. The Board voted to increase a Treasurer’s Office employee wage from $18 dollars to $19, instead of $20, as Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall requested. And, County Engineer Trent Wolken reported on bridge projects, including the concrete box culvert on Boston Road, east of Olive Street (South of I-80). That project is finished and the road is open.

Cass County Bridge project

Bridge #182 on Chesnut St

Boston Rd.

Boston Road Concrete Box Culvert

He said also, the bridge on W. 6^th Street in Atlantic closed Monday, and is expected to remain closed for about 10 weeks so substructure repairs may be conducted. And, Wolken said his department has a truck driver position open at the Anita shed, which was published last week. The closing date is October 25^th. He says they have already received applications for the position.

(Anita, Iowa) – Members of the CAM School District’s Board of Education, Monday evening, approved a bid to upgrade the district’s security cameras. CAM Superintendent Paul Croghan told KJAN the Board accepted a bid from Walsh securities in the amount of $102,166. The cameras are intended to improve student safety in all District’s buildings, and is a precursor to the Homeland Security Audit which takes place within the next couple of months.

The CAM School Board also approved a Resolution setting the date for a Public Hearing on the sale of District real estate, as November 14^th. The four properties are not, and have not been used by the School District, in quite some time, and there is no foreseeable use for the parcels.

In other business, the CAM School Board approved an SBRC Modified Supplemental Amount Application and Supplemental Aid for the 2021-22 Special Education Program, in a deficit amount of $214,750.77.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston Sunday evening, arrested 65-year-old Gregory Lee Kaufman, of Creston. The man was taken into custody a little after 7-p.m., at the Creston Dairy Queen for Public Intoxication. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $300 cash or surety bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Election Day is now four weeks away, and Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says efforts to recruit more poll workers for elections during the pandemic are appearing to pay off. “We’ve had now a couple of counties that have said, ‘I got enough’, you don’t need to send me anymore,” he says. Pate says the idea was to protect some of the older workers and have more people available to help out. He says some counties still face some issues — like having a balance of Democrat and Republican workers. “You get into a county that’s a diehard Republican or diehard Democrat county, now you’ve got to get the other party because we want equal representation. So the auditors really have to hustle hard to make sure that they get that balance, “Pate says.

Pate spoke during a voting machine test with Polk County Elections Director John Chiodo. Polk County has the most residents and Chiodo says the extra poll worker recruiting has helped. “That was one of the nerve-wracking things, especially during COVID is finding people to work — and even now it’s a struggle. I mean, as you all know, businesses are having trouble finding people,” he says. Pate says the general elections coming up are big — but there are other elections throughout the year where they need workers. “You can’t expect the same poll workers to come to every one of these for you. We tried to provide consistency and all the training. So there’s a lot of templates we put out from our office. And what I how I look at it is our Office plays the role of being a coach. The players are right,” according to Pate. Pate says you can help by thinking ahead before election day.

“I encourage you to have a plan. It’s not a complicated process, but have a plan for voting. And it’s as basic as is my voter registration up to date. Maybe I haven’t registered yet. Do I know where my voting precinct is? Do I know what the polling hours are? Am I gonna vote absentee? So there’s some deadlines for that,” Pate says. “I mean, I love our postal folks — but we don’t have overnight delivery. So you don’t want to be pushing your luck and getting those ballots in and not getting counted.” He says if the auditor doesn’t have your ballot on election day it won’t be counted.

You can track your absentee ballot on the Secretary of State’s website.

(Radio Iowa) – Nearly 100 employees are being laid off from a Waterloo factory that makes kitchen and bathroom cabinets. According to K-W-W-L, employees of Omega Cabinets in Waterloo have been notified the factory’s parent company is rebalancing operations and that means layoffs. MasterBrand Cabinets is offering its employees in Waterloo extra money if they agree to transfer to work in another company factory.

MasterBrand’s headquarters is in Indiana. The company makes several different brands of cabinets and employs 14-thousand people at its manufacturing plants and service centers across the United States, Canada and Mexico.