The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) is deploying a comprehensive approach to address food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, will continue for all current, and new or returning WIC participants. IDPH submitted and received approval of several federal waivers to Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) to ensure continued and expanded access to WIC foods.

Families First Coronavirus Response Act:

• WIC is available to support you. WIC benefits will continue as normal. Call your clinic with questions.
• April’s WIC benefits will be available for use on Wednesday, April 1.

Purchasing WIC Items in the Store:

When shopping for WIC items, please consider the following shopping tips during this time:

• When shopping, please be patient. Stores want to provide what you need, but they have been extremely busy and are working hard to stock the shelves as quickly as possible.
• When shopping, planning ahead and arriving at the store earlier in the day may help you find the products needed.
• When shopping, use the CDC guidelines for social distancing: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV. At this time WIC food purchases can only be redeemed inside of WIC approved stores.
• Call ahead and be sure your store’s hours haven’t changed.
• WIC foods will be available throughout the entire month of April – the rumors that WIC foods will run out is not true.
• Purchase what you would normally purchase. There is no reason to stockpile food. Both your benefits and the food products in stores will be available throughout the month.

If you are having issues finding specific WIC foods, call your WIC clinic or the state WIC office at 1-515-281-6650 for assistance.

(Radio Iowa) — Pranksters may love today’s date, but it’s no April Fool’s joke that the rent is due and many Iowans are out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic. While most evictions in Iowa are being postponed, Iowa Legal Aid litigation director Alex Kornya says tenants should still pay their rent or work out an agreement with their landlord. “Landlords cannot terminate someone’s lease if they don’t pay rent,” Kornya says. “Now, this doesn’t mean that rent does not continue to accrue during this time, it just means that a landlord can’t terminate their lease during this time.”

While Iowans cannot be evicted for not paying rent, Kornya says they -will- have to pay, eventually. “The obligation to pay rent continues,” he says. “Rent will continue to accrue and at some point, when the moratoriums are lifted, the tenants are going to have to be able to either make arrangements with their landlords or pay all the rent that has accrued over this time.”

A state order postpones most evictions until April 17th, a date that may be pushed back still further. A federal moratorium on certain evictions extends until July, for people in qualifying housing programs and those living in properties with federally-backed mortgages. More information is available on the Iowa Legal Aid website: iowalegalaid.org

(Reporting by Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)

Police in Creston report two recent break-in’s, and two arrests. Tuesday afternoon, 68-year old James Goodman, of Diagonal, was arrested in Creston for Violation of a Protection Order. Goodman was released from the Union County Jail on a Promise to Appear. And, Tuesday night, 30-year old Rachel Colburn, of Creston, was arrested at her home, on a Union County Warrant charging her with Fraudulent Practice in the 5th Degree. Colburn was released from the Union County Jail on a Promise to Appear.

Tuesday morning, a man residing in the 600 block of N. Pine, in Creston, reported to the Police Department, that sometime during the overnight hours of March 26th-27th, someone broke into his storage unit located at 801 W Townline. Multiple toy tractors were taken from the unit. The loss was estimated loss at $700.  Monday afternoon, a man residing in the 100 block of S. Stone Street, in Creston, told police that sometime between 12-a.m. and 7-a.m., Monday, someone entered several vehicles parked at his residence and took a gift card out of one of the vehicles. The loss was estimated at $54.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A survey of supply managers in a nine-state region of the Midwest and Plains is showing more signs of the coronavirus pandemic’s disruptive economic impact. A report released Monday says the Mid-American Business Conditions index sank in March to 46.7 — its lowest reading since September 2016. The survey’s confidence index plunged to a record low of 14.5. The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth. A score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

(Radio Iowa) — Anyone who’s read an obituary lately (or listened to one on the radio), is noticing significant changes in how funerals are having to be conducted in Iowa during this coronavirus pandemic. Suzanne Gebel, executive director of the Iowa Funeral Directors Association, says they’re adapting to follow the governor’s mandate banning gatherings of ten or more people to help prevent the spread of the virus. Gebel says, “A lot of funerals are being done privately and then the celebration of life is being scheduled for later, once the restrictions are removed.”

In some circumstances, grieving families are asking for the rules to be bent to allow larger families to gather and mourn the loss of a loved one, but Gebel says it’s simply not permitted to defy the mandate. “There are also cases across the country where funeral homes who have defied it are being traced back to being the epicenter of a community’s outbreak,” Gebel says, “and that’s definitely not what any funeral director across this state would want.”

Technology is helping distant family members who can’t make the trip back to Iowa interact with loved ones at funerals. With coronavirus, Gebel says the use of the internet by Iowa funeral homes is being stepped up on a grand scale. “They’re using Facebook Live, they’re using Zoom, they’re doing YouTubes, they’re also doing just private FaceTime to family members,” Gebel says. “Funeral directors across the state are willing to work with families to provide whatever they can in this odd time.”

Some federal health officials estimate the number of dead from COVID-19 could reach 200-thousand nationwide. Gebel says Iowa funeral homes are prepared to handle a big influx in deaths and she says they’re working to cope with one particular challenge. “Funeral directors are required, and it’s obviously absolutely necessary, for them to use the personal protective equipment, the PPE that we hear is in such great shortage,” Gebel says. “We are working with folks in our state and nationwide to secure some PPE for our funeral directors.”

Founded in 1880, the Iowa Funeral Directors Association represents more than 700 Iowa-licensed funeral directors and 425 funeral homes.

On the web  at https://www.iafda.org/