(Des Moines, Iowa) –  State Auditor Rob Sand today issued an advisory on the delay of Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) payments to eligible recipients. LIHEAP is a federally funded program administered by the Iowa Department of Human Rights. It is designed to help households at or below 200% of the 2022 federal poverty guidelines meet their heating needs.

“I have received several inquiries from Iowans who qualify for energy assistance through LIHEAP but their accounts have not been credited by their utility vendor, or they have not received their direct payment from LIHEAP,” said Sand. “We want to assure those Iowans that their heat will not be turned off in the dead of winter.”

Iowa law prohibits eligible LIHEAP customers from being disconnected from their electric or natural gas supply from November 1 through April 1 of each year, regardless of the temperature.

“We are monitoring the situation and believe LIHEAP dollars will be properly distributed and credited by April, so that no one loses heat, said Sand.

Households with additional questions about LIHEAP payments should contact the Iowa Department of Human Rights. Households interested in applying for LIHEAP should contact their local community action outreach office. Priority is given to the elderly and disabled.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports two arrests: At around 4:24-p.m., Saturday, 50-year-old Chad Leroy Benge, of Orient, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on an outside agency warrant on an original charge of Violation of a No Contact Order. Benge was being held at the Union County Jail for the remaining time left on his sentence (6 days). And, at around 10:25-p.m., Friday, Creston Police arrests 39-year-old Justin Ray Faris, of Mount Ayr, following a traffic stop at Highway 34 and Industrial Avenue, in Creston. Faris was charged with Driving While Suspended. He was cited at the scene and released.

Authorities said also, a woman residing in the 100 block of S. Park Street, in Creston, reported Friday that sometime between 11-a.m. and 3:36-p.m., Friday, someone stolen her concrete golden pig. The item was valued at $250.

(Radio Iowa) – A high-energy musical that retells and re-imagines the story of the half-dozen wives of England’s King Henry the Eighth makes its Iowa debut tomorrow (Tuesday) night. The Broadway touring production of “Six” features actress and singer Amina Faye playing the role of Jane Seymour, the third of the king’s six wives. Faye says Seymour was the only wife Henry ever really loved as she gave him the son he needed to carry on his legacy.

Amina Faye as Jane Seymour (Photos provided by Des Moines Performing Arts)

While the story is set 500 years ago, it’s what Faye calls a “reclaiming” of the historical heartbreak in a modern story of contemporary song and dance — and 21st century girl power. The hit musical features an all-woman cast and all-woman band, which Faye calls “refreshing.” “Six” runs at the Des Moines Civic Center through February 19th.

(Altoona, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa State Patrol report Troopers removed a semi tractor-trailer from service, Sunday, after they said the trailer was “nearly in pieces.” In a social media post, the state patrol says the driver was pulled over near Altoona. The driver was traveling from Omaha to Chicago to pick up a load and thought he could travel in darkness to avoid being stopped. (Photos via the ISP Facebook page)

Troopers say the driver had no logs and no explanation as to why his trailer was damaged. It is not clear if the driver was cited.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa lawmaker is working on a bill that would give the owners or tenants on agricultural properties permission to capture or kill raccoons that are a nuisance. Representative Dean Fisher of Montour says raccoons have become a big problem. “The raccoon population has just expanded dramatically over the past few years,” Fisher says, “DNR’s got some data that indicates by 268%.” The hunting season for raccoons had been limited from November 5th through the end of January, but in December the Iowa Conservation Commission approved allowing raccoons to be trapped year round.

Fisher says trapping alone won’t fix the overpopulation problem because the market for raccoon pelts has collapsed. “And we can’t sell them to China and Russia anymore very easily,” Fisher says. “That market has kind of gone away due to the global issues, so nobody’s hunting them and they’re just an absolute nuisance to farmers and landowners out in the country.” Under current law, Iowans may only kill a raccoon that’s a direct threat to humans or livestock. Otherwise, Iowans must contact a licensed wildlife control business to trap raccoons that are a nuisance. Fisher says that’s just not workable.

“You cannot follow the DNR rules no matter what they say. You cannot call somebody at 10 o’clock at night. You’re just going to go shoot the sucker,” Fisher says. “There’s just practical realities here.” Fisher, who lives on a farm in Tama County, has some experience with raccoons. A few years ago, Fisher had a sweet corn patch that was attacked by marauding raccoons.  “The field was entirely stripped by raccoons,” Fisher says. “I mean I got one ear out of a 50-by-100 foot patch.” Fisher says he’s heard horror stories from farmers who’ve had raccoons destroy combines or eat all the feed for cattle and other livestock.

Raccoons will eat just about anything and can sometimes weigh up to 50 pounds. Raccoon are found in most every part of the United States, except for deserts. Raccoon fans say the animals are valuable to the ecosystem and control the population of wasps, which is beneficial to bees.

(Radio Iowa) – The Democratic National Committee has voted to eliminate Iowa from the list of states that will start the party’s 2024 presidential campaign. South Carolina is replacing Iowa as the lead-off state, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada, then Georgia and finally Michigan — a sequence President Biden recommended in December. Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison of South Carolina says these changes are long overdue.

“It expands the number of voices in the early window and it elevates diverse communities that are at the core of the Democratic Party,” Harrison said. Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingel drew cheers as she addressed national party leaders this weekend. “Here’s the reality: no one state should have the lock on going first,” Dingel said, to applause. The delay in announcing the results of the 2020 Iowa Caucuses due to a faulty smart phone app intensified criticism of the caucuses, after decades of being first in the nation. Leah Daughtry of New York, the former chief of staff of the Democratic Party, says Iowa law doesn’t give Iowa Democrats the divine right to defy party rules.

“We decided we wanted a calendar that will reflect who our party is now and not who our party was back then,” Daughtry said. Scott Brennan, a former Iowa Democratic Party chairman, is a member of the Democratic National Committee. He warned the committee that two of the states selected to be in the early group cannot hold their primaries on the dates national party leaders have set.

“We are creating a situation of continued uncertainty that will drag on throughout 2023,” Brennan said. “…We can approve this calendar, but we will leave here with absolutely nothing settled.” Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Rita Hart says the party will move ahead with its new vote-by-mail plan for the 2024 Iowa Caucuses. “Iowa has been put in a position that makes it impossible to comply with both DNC rules and our own state law,” Hart said, “which has exactly zero chance of being changed by the Republican legislature.”

Hart emphasizes that Iowa Republicans will host Caucuses in 2024 that will kick off the G-O-P’s presidential campaign. “They feed the narrative that Democrats have turned their backs on Iowa and on rural America,” Hart said. “In the coming weeks, our state will be flooded with Republican hopefuls, spreading this damaging message to every corner of our state.”

This weekend, prominent Iowa Republicans began blasting that message via Twitter. Governor Kim Reynolds said President Biden was too afraid to face Iowa voters. The chairman of the Iowa Republican Party said Biden upended the 2024 campaign schedule for Democrats because of his poor showing in the Caucuses in 2008 and 2020.