ADAIR, Iowa – Officials with the U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa report that in Wednesday, August 31, 2022, federal search warrants were executed at the following locations in West Central Iowa:

• 300 block of Audubon Street, Adair
• 300 block of Truman Road, Anita
• 1100 block of 4th Avenue South, Denison
• 2700 block of Highway 59, Denison
• 3000 block of 370th Street, Manning

The searches at these locations were an official law enforcement action involving agents, investigators, and personnel from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

ATF spokespersons confirmed to KCIM in Carroll that the raids were at the businesses and home of Brad Wendt of Denison. Wendt is the owner of BW Outfitters in Denison and Anita. Federal agents reportedly raided Wendt’s home, his gun stores in Denison and Anita, a rural property in Manning, and a location in downtown Adair, where Wendt also serves as chief of police. Federal officials have not released any further details and indicated the warrants are part of an extensive ongoing investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – After setting multiple records during the pandemic, the Food Bank of Iowa is setting yet more records this summer for the number of people using its pantries.

Annette Hacker is the spokeswoman for the Des Moines-based agency that serves Iowans who are facing food insecurity. “Food Bank of Iowa set records — and these are not the kind of records that we like to set — for the most individuals served in our history in May and then again in June,” Hacker says. “We are finalizing July numbers next week, the first full week of September, but the trend looks to be the same.”

It was hoped food demand would slack off once the panic over coronavirus began to wane. Hacker says, “The level of need we’re seeing is not only higher than it was during the height of COVID but the highest we’ve seen in our 40-year history.” 

While most businesses that were closed by the pandemic have long since reopened, other factors are now making life challenging for many thousands of Iowans. “The economy is tough right now. Groceries are high. Everything is higher, we’re seeing that, like rent,” Hacker says, “and so many of us are one life event, one catastrophe away from needing help with food, whether that’s a car repair, a medical issue, losing your job.”

Some may have a perception that the people who use food pantries are homeless, unemployed or both, but Hacker says that’s just not the case. “The vast majority of folks served by our 700 partners in 55 counties are working,” Hacker says, “they’re working not one job but sometimes two or three with no benefits and they just can’t make ends meet.”

As demand rises, she says food donations have dropped from restaurants and grocery stores and food is costing the agency more to buy now than ever before. The Food Bank served nearly 122,000 individuals in May, while the number exceeded 135,000 in June, an all-time high, while July’s numbers are projected to be equally as high.

(Radio Iowa) – Both Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Mike Franken, the Democrat challenging Grassley’s bid for reelection, have completed tours with stops in each of Iowa’s counties. Grassley addressed a crowd in the Taylor County Historical Museum in Bedford yesterday. “This is the 99th county meeting I’ve had for the 42nd year in a row,” Grassley said, and a crowd of about four dozen applauded.

During the town hall style forum, people in the audience expressed opposition to vaccine mandates for the military and President Biden’s move on student loan debt. One man questioned how the FBI and the Justice Department are treating President Trump, prompting a woman in the crowd to suggest defunding the FBI.

“That would look silly for Chuck Grassley to defund the FBI because I’ve been telling these law enforcement people that have been attending my meetings: ‘I want you to know I’m not for defunding the police,’” Grassley said, “but I know where you’re coming from because you can’t have the extraordinary confidence in the FBI that you ought to have.”

Near the end of the hour-long event, a woman in the audience told Grassley she’s no longer confident there are free and fair elections in the U.S. “I think Iowa is still better than some others, but I doubt them all,” she said.

Grassley. (RI photo)

In his reply, Grassley expressed opposition to election bills Democrats have proposed at the federal level and he praised the tighter absentee ballot rules Iowa lawmakers adopted early last year. “But right now, you say: ‘What can you do?’ About all you can do is talk to your state legislators, unless you want a federal law,” Grassley said. “And I hope you don’t want a federal law.”

Franken, a retired Navy admiral, chose Grassley’s hometown as the last stop on his campaign’s 99 county tour.

“He has chosen division and distraction over unity and understanding. Senator Grassley has made his choice and tonight I ask you to make yours,” Franken said, drawing cheers from the crowd gathered in a church basement.

Franken campaigned in New Hartford and four other cities Saturday. He started in Nevada, where a woman asked Franken if he’s confident the 2022 election will be fair given Republican-backed election law changes. Another woman said Republicans are undermining faith in government and elections.

“They tell a lie often enough and they persuade people. They start to believe it,” she said. “How do you fight that?” Franken replied that if it’s not addressed, the country will devolve.  “This is not winnable. This is not good for the nation,” Franken said. “This is my issue about country over party.”

A man then asked Franken how he’d bridge the partisan divide. “The Inflation Reduction Act, there are some things in there that I’m not happy with, but it’s something and it moved the needle and that’s a positive,” Franken said. “My plan as any, I think, wide-eyed legislator should be — small bites at the apple, getting things accomplished.”

On October 8, Franken and Grassley are scheduled to appear together in a debate on Iowa PBS. The November 8th election is 69 days away.

(Radio Iowa) – The northwest Iowa town of Sheldon is getting some national media attention for a lost time capsule that, well, is not lost. The original story indicated that the location of the time capsule buried during Sheldon’s centennial celebration back in 1972 had been lost to time, leaving officials without its precise location. The capsule was to be opened as part of Sheldon’s sesquicentennial celebration on Friday. Sheldon’s Chamber Director Ashley Nordahl says there was some confusion.

“A big misunderstanding, I think. We always knew where the time capsule was. It was just a matter of making sure that we could get to it,” she says. “There is a little bit of concrete that’s laid around it, so we did not want to create a mess in front of Celebration Days.”

Sheldon Time Capsule (KIWA photo via Radio Iowa)

Nordahl says the ceremony and the other events are all on as scheduled in Sheldon.

(Radio Iowa) – Small businesses that are being impacted by the drought in 11 northwestern Iowa counties can now apply for low-interest federal disaster loans from the U-S Small Business Administration. S-B-A spokesman Mark Randle there’s a wide range of businesses that are now eligible for the help.

Small businesses that qualify for the Economic Injury Disaster Loans may be able to get up to two-million dollars to help meet their financial obligations.

Randle says eligibility for the loans is only based on the financial impact of the disaster and not on property damage. The loans have an interest rate of just under three-percent for businesses and under-two-percent for private nonprofits.

The 11 counties covered under the program are: Buena Vista, Calhoun, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Humboldt, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Kossuth, Sac and Webster. The deadline to apply is April 17, 2023. Applicants may apply online at: https://disasterloanassistance.sba.gov/