(Sac City, Iowa) – The Sac County Sheriff’s Office reports a woman from Carroll County has died in a rollover accident. The Sheriff’s Office was notified about a vehicle overturned in the North Raccoon River at Hagge Park, at around 10:18-a.m. today (Friday).  When a 2003 Jeep Cherokee was pulled from the driver by a tow truck, the body of deceased female was found inside. The woman was identified as 30-year-old Samantha Faylee Trimpe, of Breda (IA).

An investigation determined there was no evidence of sudden braking, or change in direction before the vehicle entered the river. Trimpe’s body will be sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy. Authorities say there is no indication of foul play.

Assisting the Sac County Sheriff’s Office, was the Sac City Police and Fire Departments, Sac County EMS, and the Sac County Medical Examiner.

(Updated 2:25-p.m) – DES MOINES—This afternoon, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that Iowa’s critical IT systems have been restored and services to Iowans have resumed as normal following a global outage caused by an automatic software update from CrowdStrike, which the state uses for malware and virus protection.

(Radio Iowa) – Thousands of bicyclists on RAGBRAI — the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa — will leave Glenwood Sunday and peddle through the small southwest Iowa towns of Silver City, Henderson, and Emerson arriving in Red Oak. Shawnna Silvius, Red Oak’s mayor, says they’ve been told to expect 20-thousand people — along with 10-thousand support vehicles. “I don’t think some of us can quite imagine how many people are going to be there,” she says.

City crews are busy grooming outdoor spaces. “To the best that they can be with the quickness that the grass grows and just all the final touches on areas that need touched up with paint and we’re getting ready to put up the flags and it’s going to be absolutely beautiful weather this weekend,” she says, “a slight chance of rain, maybe, but we’re going to pray that doesn’t happen.”

She says they’ve paid a lot of attention to road conditions in and around Red Oak — and the street sweeping machines are out now because even a little sand can create a slick spot that’s a hazard for bicyclists. Sunday’s RAGBRAI route will cover about 42 miles and the tiny town of Henderson and its 144 residents are prepping for thousands to pass through. Rachel Knight, chair of Henderson’s RAGBRAI Committee, says they’re hoping to lure some to stop for a while. Knight says “On our playground equipment, they’re going to run some hoses and stuff and it’s going to be a ‘Hillbilly Water Park” so that they can kind of help cool off.”

She says “There’s going to be some photo ops around town, like things that you would do in a small town so, for example, we planted some corn and it says, ‘Watch the Corn Grow.’ There’s another one where we just have an old window propped up on a stand and it says, ‘Watching My Neighbor.'”

The Henderson fire department will be selling loose meat sandwiches and sweet corn to raise money for a new fire truck. Another group of Henderson residents will be selling 500 bracelets to bicyclists, hoping to raise enough money to cover the cost of installing playground equipment that’s already been purchased.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says former President Donald Trump set the proper tone in calling for unity in his acceptance of the party’s nomination last night. “I do you think everybody needs to be mindful of what you’re saying and how you’re saying it there’s no place for violence and I am glad that President Trump has tried to use this moment to call for unity and really to bring our country together during what has been a very divisive couple of years,” she says.

Hinson says she thought Trump’s pointing out the failed policies of Democrats was acceptable, while the language used against him has been too sharp. “What I think I’ve seen is my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have used some dangerous heated rhetoric about President Trump and they were talking about ‘putting him in the crosshairs,’ completely inappropriate right?,” Hinson says. She says it is appropriate to have a vigorous debate on the issues. “I think you can do that and we can all tone down the rhetoric there, remembering again what really unites us as Americans rather than what may divide us as Republicans or Democrats,” Hinson says.

IA (R) Congresswoman Ashley Hinson

Hinson says she looks forward to campaigning for Trump and other Republicans this fall.

July 19, 2024 (DES MOINES, IA) – Today (Friday), the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) Board approved awards for two companies, which will assist in the creation of eight jobs and result in $28.5 million in new capital investment for the state. These projects are located in Minden and Sioux City.

C&A Scales to rebuild and expand Minden facility
C&A Scales Service, Inc. manufactures and installs bulk weigh grain loadout systems and also sells and installs truck scales, truck automation and truck probe sampling systems. After a tornado destroyed the manufacturing facility in Minden earlier this year, the company plans to rebuild as well as incorporate previous expansion plans. The project represents a $2.5 million capital investment and is expected to create four jobs at a qualifying wage of $25.36 per hour. The board awarded the project tax benefits through the High Quality Jobs (HQJ) program.

Cargill to update Sioux City facility
Cargill offers food, agricultural, financial and industrial products to a global market, with operations in 70 countries and regions. The company plans to construct a new building, make upgrades and add additional rail service to expand their soybean processing capacity at their Sioux City location. The board awarded the $26 million capital investment project tax benefits through the HQJ program. The project is expected to create four jobs at a qualifying wage of $27.07 per hour.

IEDA also recently approved assistance from Iowa’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) Innovation Fund for five startups in Ames, Brighton, Cedar Rapids, Urbandale and West Des Moines:

Ames’ Genvax Technologies, an animal vaccine company, has developed proprietary next generation RNA and nanoparticle vaccines. Their first product is to be a vaccine for swine influenza, with technology that uses a cell-free encapsulation system that can be developed further for custom, herd-specific vaccines. The company was awarded a $250,000 Innovation Acceleration Launch Fund loan for equipment, construction and other testing needs.

The Agenda. Period, Inc., doing business in Brighton, has created a comprehensive mobile application to better understand and navigate an individual’s menstrual cycle. The multifaceted platform integrates cycle and symptom tracking with resources to support hormonal health and overall well-being. The company was awarded a $175,000 Demonstration Fund loan for product buildout and refinement, market planning and entry activities, and key personnel.

Stratafolio, Inc., headquartered in Cedar Rapids, is a cloud-based SaaS product for companies that own and manage commercial real estate. The technology allows real-estate organizations to streamline their operations, reducing manual entry and increasing organizational profitability. The company was awarded a $100,000 Innovation Acceleration Launch Fund loan for market expansion and key personnel.

HUDU, Inc., based in Urbandale, is a centralized online marketplace for odd job services. The platform combines an innovative competitive bid approach with artificial intelligence to offer a solution to the question of, “who do you know.” HUDU is committed to creating a better gig economy. The company was awarded a $50,000 Proof of Commercial Relevance loan for product refinement, market planning and analysis, and key personnel.

West Des Moines-based Coviance, Inc. developed cloud-native lending automation technology software applications for community banks and credit unions, specifically in the home equity and mortgage lending space. The company was awarded a $1 million Innovation Acceleration Expansion Fund loan for IP development and evaluation and key personnel.

The SSBCI program’s Innovation Fund increases assistance available through Iowa’s innovation continuum to support entrepreneurs through concept, launch and expansion. Award recommendations for these funds are made by the SSBCI Review Committee to the IEDA director for approval. The committee met on July 11, 2024, to review eligible applications.