(Radio Iowa) – State officials are urging northwest Iowans who’ve lost food, appliances or a job due to recent flooding to check to see if they qualify for federal food assistance. Erin Drinnin is community access coordinator for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. “Some folks may be in a position where they haven’t asked for government assistance before,” Drinnin says, “but certainly if you have experienced significant impacts from the storm, I would really encourage you to consider that you may be eligible.”

It’s called Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance or D-SNAP. Drinnin says Iowans who live or work in five northwest Iowa counties can apply for it this week. “You can either come to one of the designated sites that we have. There is a site location in each of the five counties. Those counties are Clay, Emmet, Lyon, Plymouth and Sioux,” Drinnin says, “or you can apply over the phone.” The toll free number is 1-877-828-5648.

“Those who are eligible may either work in or live in one of those five counties and have had some sort of impact from the disaster, so you may have lost income because you haven’t ben able to go to work or because your business was impacted,” Drinnin says. “You may have been affected somehow by expenses related to repairs or expenses related to sheltering if you couldn’t be in your home.”

The U-S-D-A approved D-SNAP benefits for victims of severe weather than hit Iowa in april and May, including devastating tornadoes in Greenfield and Minden, but Drinnin says very few people applied and only 15 households were deemed eligible for the expanded food assistance. “It is somewhat disappointing and is probably indicative of a lot of factors,” Drinnin says, “whether folks didn’t know about it or they didn’t think they were eligible.” Those who qualify for D-SNAP are able to use an electronic benefits card at eligible businesses and may buy prepared, hot food through August 1st, which is not allowed under the traditional SNAP program.

“We do recommend that when you enter the grocery store, if you have the D-SNAP card…that you check in with that retailer and that you’re actually able to use your benefits to purchase prepared food.” Flood victims can apply for D-SNAP benefits this week at the Crosswinds Church in Spencer, the Emmet County Fairgrounds, the Forster Community Center in Rock Rapids, the Le Mars Bible Church and Main Street Plaza in Rock Valley.

(Radio Iowa) – Jury selection is underway in the Dickinson County Courthouse for the trial of 44-year-old Kyle Ricke of Algona, who’s accused of murdering a policeman. Ricke’s charged in the fatal shooting last September of Algona Police Officer Kevin Cram. Cram was serving an arrest warrant to Ricke when Ricke allegedly pulled a handgun and shot the policeman.

The trial was moved to Dickinson County on a change of venue, but the start was delayed until today (Monday) due to recent flooding in the Spirit Lake area.

(Radio Iowa) – One of the smallest cities in Eastern Iowa with a population of around 50, is no longer considered a city at all. Randalia was officially unincorporated on June 30th. City Clerk Katrina Lane has lived in Randalia most of her life, and talked with K-C-R-G T-V the impact of the city becoming unincorporated. “It kind of means I worked myself out of a job,” Lane says. Lane’s has four kids and her oldest child is teenage son Andy. “I think it just means that we won’t be able to call it Randalia, but that doesn’t change the fact that we still live in it,” Lane says.

Katrina Lane says Randalia auctioned off the city properties to pay off its debt. “The city creamery, city hall, and the park and the playground equipment were sold separately, she says. Lane said it was a tough day for everyone, including her two young daughters, to see the park equipment go. Lane told K-C-R-G T-V that the population just kept declining and the town didn’t have the people or money to do the jobs to keep it running. “People moving out, people passing away, and…people not coming back in,” she says.

Fayette County will now be responsible for Randalia, including snowplowing its roads and maintaining them.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Department reports five arrests took place from June 30th through July 5th. Most recently:

On July 5th, 52-year-old David Mark Leesley, of Cedar Rapids, was arrested by Police in Adair, for Public Intoxication. His Breath Alcohol Content (BAC) registered .296% (more than 3 times the legal limit). Leesley pled guilty and was released the following day for time-served.

On July 3rd, Adair County Sheriff’s Deputies in Fontanelle, arrested 38-year-old Scotty Allen Zigler, of Adair, for Driving While Barred and Trespass/1st offense. He was cited and released.

On the 1st of July, 33-year-old Melissa Kay McClellan, of Altoona, was arrested in Greenfield, on an Adair County warrant for 3 counts of Harassment in the 3rd Degree. She was released later that day on a $500 bond. 30-year-old Austin Wayne Harrison, of Stuart, was arrested at the same location, on an Adair County warrant for Violation of Probation. He was released the same day on a $2,000 bond, with 10% acceptable.

And, on June 30th, 20-year-old Miguel Pena-Mendez, of West Des Moines, was arrested on Interstate 80 in Adair County, for OWI/2nd offense, and Driving while license is denied or revoked. He was taken into custody following a traffic stop shortly after 1:30-a.m., after Adair County Dispatch received a report about a reckless driver traveling west on I-80 near mile marker 93. Pena-Mendez was released later that morning on a $3,000 bond.