WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are searching for an eastern Iowa work-release inmate who has gone missing. The Iowa Department of Corrections says 29-year-old Demon Deonte Daniels failed to report back to a Waterloo residential facility as required Tuesday night. Daniels is serving time for a domestic abuse assault conviction in Black Hawk County.

He was admitted to the work-release facility on Monday. Corrections officials say anyone with information on Daniels’ whereabouts should contact their local police.

(DES MOINES) – Gov. Kim Reynolds announced on Wednesday (today), that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) granted her request to provide assistance in the form of low-interest disaster loans for Polk County, along with seven contiguous counties impacted by the June 6-July 2, 2018, flooding and severe weather event. Homeowners, renters, businesses and most nonprofit organizations in Boone, Dallas, Jasper, Madison, Marion, Polk, Story and Warren counties, whose property was damaged or destroyed by this disaster, will be able to apply for low-interest disaster loans from the SBA.

Applications may be made in person at the SBA’s Disaster Loan Outreach Center located at Polk County River Place, 2309 Euclid Avenue, Des Moines, beginning December 13, 2018, at 8 a.m. Representatives from the SBA will be on hand at the Disaster Loan Outreach Center to answer questions about the disaster loan program, explain the application process and help individuals complete their application. The center’s normal hours of operation will be Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. until further notice. Please note for the holidays, the center closes at 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 21 and reopens at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 3. No appointment is necessary.

Applicants may apply online and receive additional disaster assistance information, at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance.

Governor Kim Reynolds has announced the full list of she calls a “Teachers Cabinet” that she says will give teachers a more prominent voice in education policy in the state. Reynolds announced the first seven members of the cabinet in August and received nomination from the public for the final nine. Included among the cabinet members, from western Iowa, is:

• Alex Oliver, Social Studies Teacher, Riverside High School in Carson, Riverside Community School District, Cross Country, Wrestling and Track Coach
• Denise Hoag, Computer Science Teacher, Thomas Jefferson High School, Council Bluffs Community School District, was previously employed in the corporate world as a computer programmer
• Jodie Geist, Special Education Teacher, Mount Ayr High School, Mount Ayr Community School District, specializes in helping students transition from high school to adult life
• and Vanesa Sanchez, Elementary Dual Language Teacher, Denison Elementary School, Denison Community School District.

The governor says cabinet members will meet quarterly with her and Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise to offer their advice about how to better prepare all students. Reynolds says it will strengthen the direct line of communication between the governor’s office, schools and communities. The first meeting will be January 4th in Des Moines.

A Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy conducting a traffic stop Tuesday at Highway 6 and 400th Street, arrested a man from Colorado on drug charges. 19-year old Jose Hernandez-Alvarez, of Aurora, CO., was taken into custody at around 9:50-p.m., for Possession of a Controlled Substance (9.8-grams of marijuana)/1st offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (1 grinder and 1 pipe). His bond was set at $1,000.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors this (Wednesday) morning, received an annual report from West Central Community Action (WCCA) Interim Executive Director Wendy Mueller, who is also the organization’s Outreach and LiHeap Coordinator. She was appointed to the position following the retirement of long-time Executive Director Joel Dirks. WCCA provides nearly a dozen services to 10 counties in western and southwest Iowa. Mueller thanked the Board for continuing to fund WCCA, which she said allows them “To provide services at the highest level possible,” to Cass County residents. Mueller said during Fiscal Year 2018, WCCA served 667 households in the County, which consisted of more than 1,500 individuals. Of the households served, 44% were single-person. 54-percent had an income below the 100-percent poverty guideline. 66 persons were on a fixed income. 61-percent were renters, and of the individuals served, 41% were between the ages of 18-and 54.

Mueller said also, WCCA operated three Head Start classrooms in the County during FY 2018: one was located in Anita, and two are in Atlantic. They served a total of 45 children. She says they also started an Early Headstart Home-Based program in August, with a capacity of 12 children ages zero-to three. By the end of the fiscal year, seven families had been enrolled in the program. The Child Care Resource and Referral program works with home providers who are either registered or want to become registered, as well as child care centers, to get them involved in the Quality Rating System [QRS], which improves overall child care.

Wendy Mueller said 142 children were enrolled in 15 daycare centers, as part of the Child and Adult Care Food program, which promotes good nutrition and positive eating habits for children who are in home-based daycare. WCCA also helped four households received a total of $69,000 for weatherization services, to improve home energy efficiency. And, through LiHeap, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, WCCA serviced 445 households in the form of utility assistance, for a total cost in Cass County, of nearly $200,000.

Mueller said also, the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Program, served over 400 participants, provided over $204,000 in WIC certificates, most of which were used in food stores in Cass County. In summation, she said over $1.5-million worth of services were provided through WCCA to Casss County. She asked the Supervisors to consider the organization’s request for funding in the amount of $4,000, which is the same as last year. The Board will take the request under consideration when they begin work on the budget, in January.

(Radio Iowa) — Ethanol industry leaders defended the Renewable Fuels Standard at a hearing Tuesday before the House Energy Committee. At issue is the recently released draft of the 21st Century Transportation Fuels Act, which aims to sunset the RFS. Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, called the RFS an overwhelming success, despite years of mismanagement. “Repealing the RFS is unnecessary and will further destabilize a struggling farm economy and ethanol sector. Moreover, the draft does nothing to stop the EPA’s continued misuse of the small refinery exemption authority,” Skor said.

Geoff Cooper, CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said ending the RFS by 2022 would reduce ethanol demand. “We simply cannot support the RFS program as the draft envisions without a much stronger signal to the market that ethanol’s role in our fuel supply will continue to grow,” Cooper said. Wesley Spurlock, former president of the National Corn Growers Association, said the RFS benefits farmers, consumers, and the environment – noting corn-based ethanol has 43-percent lower Greenhouse Gas emissions than gasoline. Iowa is the nation’s top producer of ethanol.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — The president of the Iowa Recycling Association says a perfect storm has come together to cause the price of recyclable materials to plunge. Alan Schumacher says part of the problem is some Iowans think everything can be recycled and they’re bogging down the system with trash that should go to the landfill. “Garden hoses, somebody must think those are recycling, so they’ll put that in there or mayonnaise jars that are half full,” Schumacher says. “People have to handle that material and then, we’ve got to have end markets for it.” Business in former end markets like China and various Third World countries has been drying up, Schumacher says, but China is now looking to get into the recycling business on American soil.

“They’re buying up some of our paper mills on the East Coast and up in Wisconsin and the north-central part of the United States,” Schumacher says. “They’re going to start putting money into these mills and buy recovered fiber domestically and then send the pulp or finished byproduct overseas for themselves now. Instead of exporting the material and having to sort through it, they’re going to do that here.” In the new legislative session opening next month, he says the association will be pushing Iowa lawmakers for an enhanced bottle bill, including more money for redemption of five-cent bottles and cans.

“It would spring up new facilities and new locations all over the state of Iowa and we could be collecting all of this material,” Schumacher says. “We have buyers for aluminum. We have buyers for PET (polyethylene terephthalate) water bottles. We have buyers for Gatorade bottles. We just need to get ’em collected.” Instead of being recycled, recent reports found 20 tons of paper per day were sent to landfills in central Iowa this summer because China tightened the standards on what it would accept. Dozens of companies and governmental entities are members of the Iowa Recycling Association.

Sheriff’s officials in Taylor County report 55-year old James Meek, Jr., of Blockton, was arrested Tuesday near the intersection State Highway 2 and Sherwood Avenue, following a traffic stop.. Meek was charged with Eluding, Driving While Barred, and Reckless Driving. Additional charges are pending. Meek was being held at the Taylor County Jail on $4,300 bond.

A man from Union County was arrested Tuesday morning in Creston, on numerous warrants, including three counts of Forgery. Creston Police report 21-year old Paul Albrechtsen, of Kent, was also arrested on warrants charging him with Failure to Appear on original charges of Criminal Mischief in the 4th degree, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense. Albrechtsen was additionally charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance/2nd offense, Possession of Paraphernalia, and two counts of Possession of Burglary tools. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $38,500 bond.

And, Tuesday night, Creston Police arrested 40-year old Brandie Whitney, of Creston, for Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, and Driving While Barred. Whitney was taken into custody at McKinley Park, in Creston, and later released on a $3,000 bond.