(Radio Iowa) – A Burlington man who admitted he sold large amounts of illegal drugs has been sentenced to 17-and-a-half years in prison. Thirty-seven-year-old Jose Luis Escundino Romayor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in February and he was sentenced this week. Court documents indicate that in the summer of 2017, a police informant bought crystal meth from Romayor on several occasions.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, law enforcement seized a pistol and more than two kilos of meth from Romayor.

(Radio Iowa) – Starting today (July 21), the letters, cards and photos mailed to inmates in Iowa prisons will be digitized by a company in Las Vegas and later destroyed. Iowa Department of Corrections spokesman Nick Crawford says the mail will be scanned, printed in color and just the copies will be sent to each prison for delivery to inmates. “The purpose behind making this change to a new mail delivery system in our correctional institutions is to curb the introduction of mail contraband, specifically as a relates to the synthetic drug K2.” K-2 can be sprayed on paper.

Crawford says the decision to digitize prison mail was spurred by an incident last year when 60 inmates at the state prison in Clarinda were involved in either distributing or consuming K-2. “It causes some pretty serious side effects for our inmates if consumed,” Crawford says. “It causes erratic behavior, sometimes violent behavior. You can become very physically ill.” Crawford says staff who’ve been reviewing the mail delivered through the U.S. Postal Service and looking for contraband were endangered, too.

“There will still be a piece of the review process done by the staff at our facilities, it will just not be the hands-on process,” Crawford says. “…We’re taking our staff out of harm’s way.” Other states are making this move to restrict outside mail from being delivered in prisons and federal prisons in several states are scanning mail. Three companies submitted bids to digitize Iowa prison mail and Pigeonly Corrections in Las Vegas won the state contract. Crawford says the company will charge the state 42 cents for every piece of mail scanned.

“No charge to the inmate and then no charge to whoever’s sending them mail,” Crawford says. Mail for Iowa prison inmates must now be sent directly to Pigeonly Corrections in Las Vegas, although for the next 30 days the state will send mail being delivered to the prisons to the Las Vegas processing facility. There ARE new size guidelines for letters, greeting cards, post cards, children’s drawings and newsletters.

“These things are still able to be sent,” Crawford says, “they’re just going to a central processing facility Pigeonly operates, scanned in and then they will be provided a scanned copy at the institution and of those same things that they would have been receiving before.” Mail that directly deals with legal matters will not be diverted and will be delivered to inmates.

Prison mail has generally been a low-cost way for inmates and their families and friends to stay connected. Studies have shown regular correspondence reduces stress for many inmates and increases the likelihood they will not re-offend. This Iowa Department of Corrections announcement about the new mail system includes the Las Vegas address that must now be used to send mail to Iowa prison inmates. Pigeonly Corrections has information about the process here.

(Radio Iowa) – The pace of new business registrations in Iowa has been strong over the past 24 months and continues to set records. Iowans starting a new business or changing ownership of an existing business must file certificates of organization with the Secretary of State’s office. The number of business registrations set a record back in state fiscal year 2019, but slumped during the first months of the pandemic.

Business filings rebounded sharply, though. Fiscal year 2021 business registrations were 25 percent higher than before the pandemic and set a record. Over the past 12 months, 33-thousand-three-hundred-31 new business filings were registered with the state, yet another record high.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday evening, received an update from The Retail Coach Project Director Austin Farmer, who is working with the the Chamber and the City as a consultant to conduct market research and development to further high-impact retail recruitment and development strategies.

The Retail Coach, was hired by city in August, 2021 at cost of just over $32,000. They use an eight-step process to conduct a retail market analysis, which incorporates cell phone tracking to determine where the shoppers to Atlantic are coming from, and where Atlantic residents travel outside of the community to shop. The goal is to narrow the field of appropriate businesses to those that have the best chance of success in the community. The company also uses the data to work with existing businesses to help them fine-tune their inventory to provide the kind of merchandise currently unavailable.

Among the other steps is: determining retail opportunities, by matching potential restaurants and retails outlets to Atlantic; Development and redevelopment opportunities; Identifying and recruiting retailers and developers; Marketing and branding; retailer partners and development; ongoing coaching and support.

Austin Farmer (The Retail Coach staff photo)

Farmer said the cell phone data shows the foot traffic was being pulled in from an area larger than just the city limits. In fact Atlantic pulls from a population base of up to 33,000 (which includes surrounding counties and communities). That makes the City more appealing to retailers and restaurants. The data also shows good numbers where household income and age distribution, which is another draw for prospective retailer/restaurant franchisee’s, but the cost of certain franchises are what’s keeping some clients from locating here.

Another issue is finding the land for new businesses/restaurants. Farmer said the main area of interest is in the area of Wal-Mart, because they tend to draw small strip malls that cater to restaurant and retail space.

The top growth categories The Retail Coach found was needed here, include those in Pet & Pet Supplies, as well as Sporting Goods. Austin Farmer says with a new McDonald’s being built and Burger King set to refurbish their restaurant, Atlantic is showing prospective clients “It feels like there’s more happening here, on the ground…those are more positive signs…” that help Retail Coach with the (Business/restaurant) recruitment process.

The question was raised about the workforce. How can restaurants be interested in coming here, when other, established area restaurants are having to close or consider closing, due to a lack of employees? Farmer said “Fortunately what we’ve seen is most retailers and restaurants haven’t started trying to automate or cut back in terms of what they can or can’t do, based on [the] employee base. What we’ve seen is they’re trying to expand where they draw their retail base from.”

He said “There’s not a silver bullet” for the issue of employment, and that’s true coast to coast.