DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Governor Terry Branstad has issued an emergency disaster proclamation for Taylor County to help the county recover from tornado damage. The proclamation was issued Thursday. It will allow state resources to be used to respond and recover from Wednesday’s storm.

Resources, such as Iowa Department of Transportation trucks and equipment and Iowa Department of Natural Resources personnel will be used to help remove debris in and around the town of Lenox, which suffered the most damage.

The proclamation also provides grants of up to $5,000 for households with maximum incomes of $37,000 for a family of three. The grant program allows local authorities to establish a voucher system to help people who don’t have the up-front funds to begin repairs.

If you’re looking to purchase a new home this summer, you may be surprised to learn that the only no-down-payment programs still available are offered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).Bill Menner, USDA Rural Development State Director in Iowa, says “Last year USDA Rural Development helped 2,500 families living in rural Iowa communities become homeowners, many of whom now own their first home.”

USDA Rural Development has two low-interest, no-down-payment loan programs to help eligible families living in rural communities and areas purchase new homes. Loans and some grants are also available to help families make needed repairs to their homes as well.

Eligible homes must be located in a community of 20,000 persons or less. The home can be existing or new construction. Existing homes must be structurally sound. Also, the property cannot have any income-producing outbuildings.

In most cases a family of four with an adjusted annual income of up to $80,850 may qualify for the agency’s guaranteed home loan program. If that same family of four’s adjusted annual income is less than $56,250 they may also qualify for a direct loan from the agency. Please call your area office to find the exact income limit for your county.

USDA Rural Development’s guarantee loan program is administered by a local lender who takes the application, processes it and determines the acceptability of the home to be financed. Under the direct loan program an applicant may be eligible for payment assistance, which would subsidize the interest portion of the house payment down to as low as 1 percent, lowering the overall monthly payment.

For more information about finance programs through USDA Rural Development, please call the office located in Atlantic at (712) 243-2107 Ext. 4. This office serves communities, businesses and residents in Harrison, Shelby, Audubon, Pottawattamie, Cass, Mills, Montgomery, Adams, Fremont, Page and Taylor Counties.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A woman says she’s going to court to fight a Council Bluffs parking ticket that could cost her $835. Laura Sherman says she thinks the $750 fine and $85 court fee is way out of line.

Sherman says she didn’t see any signs prohibiting parking on the grass at the city’s sports and recreation complex. She acknowledges that she passed up open spaces at a parking lot and drove over a curb to get to a spot on the grass Sunday. On the main road into the complex there are several signs that say “No parking on grass.”

Assistant City Attorney Don Bauermeister says routine parking fines haven’t curbed the park problem and that Sherman should have obeyed the signs.

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Police in Atlantic Wednesday, reported the arrest Tuesday, of 47-year old Robert Colton, of Atlantic. Colton was taken into custody on a valid Cass County warrant. He was being held Wednesday, in the Cass County Jail.

And, a Red Oak man was arrested Wednesday afternoon, on an Iowa Department of Corrections warrant for violation of his parole. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department says 42-year old Robby Dale Lukehart was taken into custody at around 3:10-p.m.

Lukehart was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $50,000 cash bond.

AFTON, Iowa (AP) – Runoff from heavy rains in Afton forced officials to cancel classes at a school. Students at East Union Primary Center were dismissed at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. School officials said much of the water came from a nearby construction project. Damage to the school was minimal, but the basement floor was covered by a couple inches of water.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Des Moines will be in southwest Iowa today, conducting a storm survey, to review areas of reported tornado damage from Wednesday afternoon’s storms. The survey crew will gather information regarding the strength and number of tornados.

The Weather Service says a tornado hit the town of Lenox, in Taylor County, at around 4;40-p.m., Wednesday. Initial reports said some of the storms may have produced multiple vortex twisters. Storm spotters also reported a tornado about two miles from

Kent, a few miles northwest of Lenox.

Media reports indicate just under 50-percent of the town sustained substantial damage and some residents who were displaced from their homes were relocated to a temporary shelter in a local apartment complex. There have been no reports of injuries. Sandi Reyner works at a restaurant in Lenox, a town of about 1,400 people. She told The Des Moines Register that — quote — “there are houses here that used to be two stories that are now less than one story.”

Lenox’s mayor, Glenn Grout said Wednesday night, about 10-15 city blocks in his community were heavily hit, while another 20 blocks sustained moderate damage. Several businesses on Main Street in Lenox lost their roofs, and trees in the city’s park were shredded. Volunteers will gather at the United Methodist Church at 103 West Michigan Street sometime today, to help with the clean-up efforts.

Tornado Watches were issued shortly before 3-p.m., for much of central and southern Iowa. National Weather Service meteorologists issued a tornado warning for north central Taylor County (including Lenox), at around 4:10-p.m., when it became clear the elements were coming together that would cause tornados to form.

Reports compiled by the weather service from spotters during and after the storms, indicated hail ranging in size from quarters to half-dollars, fell near Nodaway in Adams County, at around 2:35-p.m. About 20-minutes later, the hail was two-inches in diameter, or about the size of eggs, three-miles east of Nodaway. Flash flooding was also observed in and around Nodaway, near the Creston airport, and west of Lenox later in the evening, when rainfall approaching three-inches per hour fell on the area.

Elsewhere, winds of 60-miles per hour or more whipped through Kellerton, in Ringgold County, at around 6-p.m., and near Winterset, at about 6:30.

Josh Peach of the Iowa DNR is shown accepting the donation on behalf of Friends of Lake Anita from Melanie Petty, fund Representative.

The “Friends of Lake Anita” organization has received a $200 donation intended to be used for their annual fishing clinic. Melanie Petty, with the Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund, says the clinic, which will be attended by about 100 children, will be held at Anita State Park on Saturday, June 4th.

She says the donation was a natural fit for the Fund, because Trevor enjoyed fishing, especially during college. Trevor died during a fire in Council Bluffs in June 2009.

The Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund was established in the Atlantic native’s honor.