(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says the final round of Local Food for Schools grants are out for this year. Among the recipients in the KJAN listening area, are the following school districts: Atlantic, Audubon, Bedford, CAM, Clarinda, Council Bluffs, Essex, Griswold, Nodaway Valley, Panorama, Shelby County Catholic School, Shenandoah, Treynor, West Central Valley, and the West Harrison CSD. Naig says “What this is all about is providing some small grants, two-thousand dollars ($2,000) to those school districts, and that will be an incentive for them to buy locally.”

Schools can use the grants to buy meat, eggs, produce, dairy and other local foods from area farmers. “It is a case of, yes, it’s a it’s a good food and nutritious local food, fresh food for students, but also it can be a really nice market opportunity for farmers,” Naig says. He says 137 public and private schools were awarded grants in this round “We’ve been excited that 110 farms or food businesses have participated in this program, now entering its its third year,” Naig says, “and here’s the I think even more exciting is that we’re seeing a lot of interest in folks either expanding their farms or getting into it.”

IA Ag Secretary Mike Naig (RI file photo)

Naig expects the program to continue and grow. “While we’re able to supply …what schools are looking for in terms of today, right now, I think this is an area that’s growing, and so I believe we’re going to see increased interest in schools and institutions looking to buy local,” he says. “And I think we’re going to be seeing either an expansion of and the addition of some farms that are going to try to supply that marketplace. And really is a nice upside for folks.”

Naig says through the first two rounds, more than one-point-seven million dollars has been awarded to 162 Iowa schools, and more than 110 farms and food businesses have sold products to schools through the program.

Here is a link to the schools approved for grants: https://iowaagriculture.gov/sites/default/files/2024/2024%20LFS%20Iowa%20Schools_0.pdf

(Montgomery County) – Firefighters from Elliott, Red Oak and Grant were dispatched late Monday afternoon, to the 1100 block of Lumber Avenue in Montgomery County, where multiple haybales were said to be on fire. The Red Oak Fire Department posted on social media, that the first arriving units reported three bales on fire, and that there were bales on a trailer that were burning as well. The bales were extinguished by firefighters, assisted by local farmers with a tractor.

With the exception of Elliott firefighting personnel, all other crews were released from scene a little after 5-p.m. Elliott crews remained on scene to conduct mop-up operations. No injuries reported. The haybale trailer sustained minor damage and approximately three bales destroyed.

Other assisting agencies:

Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office – Red Oak, Iowa

Montgomery County 911

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Two people from Montgomery County were arrested Monday on separate, active Montgomery warrants. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 23-year-old Dyllan Hunter Hansen, of Elliottt, was arrested at around 7-p.m., on a warrant for Failure To Appear on an original, Possession of a Controlled Substance charge. Hansen was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

And, at around 8-p.m. Monday, deputies in Montgomery County arrested 37-year-old Jennifer Lynn Holz, of Red Oak, on a warrant for Failure To Appear on an original charge of Theft in the 3rd Degree. Holz was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $3,000 bond.

ADEL, Iowa — A man and woman from Adel were arrested late Sunday evening, after law enforcement officers allegedly found several dogs and juveniles living in a feces, trash-filled home. According to the Adel Police Department, on Sunday at around 8:15 p.m. officers responded to a report of an “animal neglect situation” at the home of Corey Allan Robinson and Angie Lynn Collins in the 100 block of North 13th Street.

According to court records, the tip claimed there was a dog at this residence that reportedly had matted fur and was covered in feces. During the execution of a search warrant at the home officers found two juveniles and multiple dogs inside. According to a criminal complaint, officers found “piles of trash, rubbish, feces, flies, expired food, non-running water, and a house in non-habitable conditions.”

Authorities say the juveniles were removed from the care of Collins and Robinson and placed with family members and the dogs were transported to AHeinz57 Pet Rescue for treatment. Collins and Robinson were both charged with multiple counts of animal neglect and child endangerment and were booked into the Dallas County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – A Sioux City woman who is the wife of a Woodbury County Supervisor has been released from a federal prison in Minnesota after serving time for voter fraud. Fifty-year-old Kim Taylor will now spend four months on home confinement in Sioux City. She was convicted last November by a federal grand jury on 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, three counts of fraudulent registration, and 23 counts of fraudulent voting.

Taylor was released from the minimum security prison in Waseca, Minnesota Friday. Her sentence is under appeal.

The charges all stem from signing up voters during her husband Jeremy’s runs for supervisor and Congress. He was never charged but did decide not to run for another term on the Board of Supervisors.