Awards totaling $15.7 million were announced Thursday for 45 communities across the state, including five in southwest Iowa.  The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) awarded the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to support 47 community investment projects.  The federally funded grants were awarded for community facilities, flood prevention, infrastructure improvements, and single family owner-occupied housing rehabilitation. CDBG funds enable communities to make needed improvements to water and sewer systems, improve housing conditions for low-income homeowners, provide facilities for disabled and at-risk individuals, and develop needed infrastructure to prevent flooding.

Funding to southwest Iowa communities include $5000,00 being awarded to Bedford for water system improvements, $300,000 for Elk Horn sanitary sewer collection improvements, $300,000 to Massena for sanitary sewer collection improvements, $388,00 to Anita for rehabilitation of 10 owner-occupied single family units, $397,000 to Guthrie Center for rehabilitation of 10 owner-occupied single family units.

IEDA received 132 applications for these funds, totaling more than $41.9 million in funding requests.  The grants are awarded based on the financial need and potential impact of the project, benefit to low- and moderate-income persons and commitment of local resources to moving the project forward.

The CDBG program is federally funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  IEDA is responsible for administering the CDBG funds in the non-metropolitan areas of the state.  Applications are solicited annually, usually during the fall.  For more information on CDBG or other community programs, phone 515.725.3081, email community@iowa.gov, or visit www.iowaeconomicdevelopment.com.

The Clarinda Police Department was kept busy Wednesday evening, arresting the same man twice within less than three hours.

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers says the first arrest of 29-year-old Edward Dawayne Mayes of Clarinda occurred at about 9:00 Wednesday evening after officers responded to a disturbance in the parking lot at the Meadow Run Apartment Complex in Clarinda.  Mayes was arrested for misdemeanor trespass and taken to the Page County Jail. Mayes was released after bonding out a short time later.

Less than three hours later, Mayes was observed operating a motor vehicle while driving on a revoked license.  Mayes was also charged with driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol after failing field sobriety tests. Mayes was once again transported to the Page County Jail where he remains on $1,000 bail pending an initial appearance before a Page County Magistrate.

Brothers went on to state that Mayes was also arrested a little more than a week ago for driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. Brothers said that Mayes had also been arrested at least twice during the month of June for various criminal offenses.

Brothers says that although continuously arresting the same person over is frustrating and places a burden on police resources, Mr. Mayes is to be given due process under the law and is presumed innocent of all charges against him until proven guilty in a court of law.

A Casey’s Store in Atlantic was damaged during a traffic accident Wednesday in Atlantic.

At about 11:00 Wednesday morning, a vehicle driven by 19-year-old Brett Dennis of Atlantic pulled into the parking lot of Casey’s General Store at 701 Poplar Street.  When he applied his brakes to park, they failed, and he jumped a small curb and ran into the north side of the Casey’s building.

Damage to Casey’s was about $10,000, while damage to the Dennis vehicle was about $600.

No citations were issued by police.

Two southwest Iowa men were injured, one seriously, in a rear end accident Tuesday.

At about 10:30 Tuesday morning, a Page County Roads vehicle driven by 39-year-old Matthew Miers of Clarinda was beginning road work on county road J14 in the eastbound lane.  A 2008 Chevy truck driven by 77-year-old Michael Delehant of Imogene was also traveling eastbound on J14 when he rear ended the Miers truck, which was stopped in the roadway.

Both trucks sustained heavy damage from the accident.  Both men were transported to Montgomery County memorial Hospital in Red Oak where Miers was transported by lifenet helicopter to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha for further treatment of his injuries.  An update on Delehant’s injuries is not currently known.

The accident remains under investigation.

A horse named Chara is back at the stable after being recused from a ravine in western Iowa.

The Omaha World Herald (http://bit.ly/SdBCGn ) says the drama unfolded on Monday when the horse was found in the 15-foot-deep hole near Moorhead.

Owner Valerie Beauchamp says they returned home from vacation on Sunday couldn’t find Chara. They found her in the ravine the next day.

Help was enlisted – a neighbor with a harness, a plumber with a backhoe -but neither succeeded. Gary Stevens, who owns a concrete company, brought in a front-loader. He determined that digging Chara out wasn’t going to work. So, he dug up and pushed the dirt into the ravine and built a ramp.

Three hours later, Chara was led out of the hole. She wasn’t seriously hurt.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A pro-Republican group says it’s spending $8 million on new TV ads attacking President Barack Obama for sustained unemployment. The ads will air in Iowa and several other states. Crossroads GPS is launching the ads on the heels of recent government figures showing the economy added just 80,000 jobs in June.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – Fort Dodge police have arrested a man in the 2011 shooting of another man who died months later under his family’s care in Florida. Police say 26-year-old Derrick McElroy of Fort Dodge was charged yesterday with first-degree murder. He’s accused of shooting 19-year-old Brandyn Preston on May 8th, 2011, during a backyard party in Fort Dodge.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – A 19-year-old has been given five years of probation for the crash death of a 17-year-old during a party at a bonfire near Davenport. Cody Lantau was charged with vehicular homicide for the death of 17-year-old William Schwener last December.

OTTAWA – Drought conditions across large swaths of the Midwestern United States and parts of Europe are causing concern about a food price shock later this year.  But while consumers brace to pay higher prices for everything from corn flakes to beef, many Canadian farmers hope to reap rewards from historically high grain prices.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that U.S. farmers will see just a fraction of the corn they expected in the spring when the ground was seeded.

MOORHEAD, Iowa (AP) – A horse named Chara is back at the stable after being recused from a ravine in western Iowa. The Omaha World Herald reports the drama unfolded on Monday when the horse was found in the 15-foot-deep hole near Moorhead, Iowa. Three hours later, Chara was led out of the hole. She wasn’t seriously hurt.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – A group of Iowa residents is going to court to require the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions from livestock operations. Some Winneshiek County residents filed a federal lawsuit this week in Cedar Rapids. It claims the EPA’s failure to regulate pollutants commonly found in the air around the operations endanger public health.