The Audubon County Community Foundation is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted from organizations providing charitable services in Audubon County. As part of this spring grant cycle, approximately $115,000 is available to support Audubon County nonprofit organizations and community projects. The deadline to apply for funds through the online application process is February 1.
Beginning December 15, application details, a fact sheet, and a link to the application form can be found online by selecting Audubon County under County Listing at www.swiowafoundations.org. Applications will only be accepted through the online system.

Made possible through the State of Iowa County Endowment Fund Program, this cycle of grants is funded by a percentage of the state’s commercial gaming tax revenue, which is distributed annually to participating community foundations associated with counties without a state-issued gaming license. Only organizations providing services in Audubon County are eligible to apply. They must be able to demonstrate broad community/county support and be an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) Public Charity, a local municipality, or a fiscally sponsored project. Requests for general operating support will not be considered.

The Audubon County Community Foundation aims to improve the quality of life in Audubon County by supporting community needs in the areas of civic engagement, culture, health, education, and social services. The objective of the grant program is to fund projects that will have a permanent impact on, and in, Audubon County.

Please contact Stacey Goodman (stacey@omahafoundation.org) or Tess Houser (tess@omahafoundation.org) at 800-794-3458 with application-related questions. All completed grant applications will be considered at the March board meeting, with applicants being notified of funding decisions by the end of March.

Board members of the Audubon County Community Foundation are Chair, Genelle Deist of Audubon; Vice Chair, Joel Hoegh of rural Brayton; Secretary/Treasurer, Barbara Johnson of Audubon; Gina Benton of Exira, Bob Blomme of Audubon; Steven B. Hansen of Audubon; and Megan Wagner of Audubon

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State budget experts say revenue projections for the current fiscal year and next year are running ahead of their October predictions. The three-member Revenue Estimating Conference says Thursday that state income is up about 2 percent from the previous year. The group projects a 2.9 percent increase for next year, or about $234 million higher than the current year. That would bring tax collections to nearly $8.25 billion.

The estimate for next year is important because Gov. Kim Reynolds must base her 2021 budget on the figures released Thursday. The higher estimate could give the governor some additional money as she prepares her budget for next year.

(A-P) — Police say a man reported missing in February in Omaha was a homicide victim. Police in Council Bluffs took a missing person report on 37-year-old Joseph Hellman, on Feb. 21. He was last seen in Omaha and the report was referred to Omaha police. Omaha police told the Omaha World-Herald investigators determined Hellman was killed weeks earlier in Omaha.

Police say investigators understood that Hellman died under suspicious circumstances but they couldn’t classify it as a homicide until this week. Police say they have a person of interest in custody on unrelated charges. Hellman’s body hasn’t been located.

(A-P) — Democrats will hold four debates in each of the early primary states as voting gets underway next year. The Democratic National Committee announced Thursday that some of the debates are scheduled to be held just days before voters head to the polls. The first primary debate of the new year will be on Jan. 14 in Des Moines, Iowa. The second is scheduled for Feb. 7 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Democrats will debate in Las Vegas on Feb. 19, three days before the caucuses there. And in South Carolina, they’ll hold a debate on Feb. 25, four days before that state’s Democratic primary.

(A-P) — State officials are confirming that 15 cases in just one small Iowa county were mistakenly recorded as felony convictions on the list they use to identify ineligible voters. The Associated Press reviewed all 359 Carroll County entries as part of an investigation into the error-riddled list, which has been blamed for causing confusion and wrongly disenfranchising eligible voters. Fifteen of the cases _ or more than 4 percent _ were misdemeanor convictions that did not result in the loss of voting rights.

A judicial branch spokesman says 11 of the cases were incorrectly coded as felonies and he’s looking into the source of the other errors. A spokesman for the Iowa Secretary of State’s office says the errors were corrected Thursday.

(Radio Iowa) — People getting out of Iowa prisons after serving time for a felony will now have some more help in getting their voting rights restored. Anyone with a felony conviction must apply to the governor to get their those rights restored. Iowa Department of Corrections Director, Beth Skinner, says they are replacing the blank application with one that has most of the information already filled out.  “It should be a pretty seamless process because I think what happens in a lot of cases is some of the information is so hard to find for them and our system already has that,” Skinner says.

Iowa-Nebraska N-A-A-C-P President Betty Andrews recently asked state officials to make the change. “I’m really excited. This is something the N-A-A-C-P has been pushing. That was an idea we came up with to kind of be a gap filler,” according to Andrews.

Andrews says she will continue to ask Governor Reynolds to restore felon voting rights with executive action, but Reynolds is still advocating for a constitutional amendment to make the change. Kentucky’s newly-elected governor says he will sign an executive order today (Thursday) restoring voting rights to felons. That action would make Iowa the only state which bans felons from voting and requires them to apply to have the voting rights restored.

(Thanks to Katrina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) — The leaders of Iowa’s largest businesses are urging Iowa lawmakers to address the lack of affordable housing and child care in the state. Iowa Business Council executive director Joe Murphy says those are the two key barriers to retaining and expanding Iowa’s workforce. “The need for workers has never been more pronounced,” Murphy says. “We need to do everything we can to provide opportunities for moms and dads who are thinking about entering the workforce to make sure that they have a safe space and a safe place for their child to receive high quality child care.”

This summer, Governor Reynolds suggested she’s considering things like tax credits to companies that operate or create child care center. Murphy says the Business Council is not endorsing a specific proposal at this point. “Whether it’s tax credits, whether it’s discounts on production materials, whether it’s trying to come up with a revolving loan fund for businesses to partner with communities — whatever it takes, we think that the access to high quality child care is one of the most critical points we can tackle this legislative session,” Murphy says.

The Business Council is supporting expansion of the workforce housing tax credit as well as more funding for the state housing trust fund. The fund this year will hand out more than six-million dollars worth of grants to finance local efforts to build affordable housing. “The Business Council was founded in 1985 in the throes of the Farm Crisis and business leaders back then got together and tried to figure out ways in which they could how they could band together their intellectual capital, their monetary capital and any other capital, frankly, that they could to provide opportunities for Iowans to prosper,” Murphy says.

Murphy says business leaders know their employees are more productive when they have a safe, affordable place to live and a quality child care program to leave their kids while they work. One out of every six jobs in the state are tied to a company that’s involved in the Iowa Business Council. Executives from 23 of the largest businesses in Iowa serve on council.

(Radio Iowa) — State and federal officials will visit Stanton this afternoon (Thursday) for an announcement about the expansion of rural broadband services. U-S Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will join Governor Kim Reynolds in making a presentation. Kevin Cabbage, general manager and C-E-O of Farmers Mutual Telephone Company, says it’s being included in the federal government’s ReConnect program, designed to upgrade fiber optics coverage in rural parts of the country. “Their appearance here is because of some recent funding that was made possible through USDA for companies like FMTC to submit applications for rural broadband expansion to the rural areas,” Cabbage says.

In March of 2018, Congress provided 600-million dollars to U-S-D-A to expand broadband infrastructure and services in rural America. Cabbage says funding from the program will allow his company to expand outside its normal coverage area, which has been towns including: Stanton, Villisca, Nodaway, New Market and Bethesda. “We have been branching out into areas of Red Oak, Clarinda, Bedford, and Corning,” Cabbage says, “but, that comes at a high cost to expand our fiber optics out there. There just really hasn’t been a mechanism in place to make that affordable for companies to do. That’s the reason those people are lacking in some communications services.”

Cabbage says F-M-T-C has focused on increasing and improving rural internet services for a number of years and now it’s gaining national attention. “Obviously, it’s been a focus of the state here, with Iowa Governor Reynolds and her Empower Rural Iowa Initiative, and then the Connections Task Force that’s been working on ways that we can help bring high-speed broadband service delivered over fiber optic cable to all of the rural residents,” he says.

Under the ReConnect program, USDA received 146 applications between May and July of this year, requesting $1.4 million in funding. The event is at the Old Lumber Yards Event Center in Stanton at 2:30 p.m.

A reminder from Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle: A Winter Clothing distribution Drive sponsored by Cass County Democrats, is being held this weekend in Anita, Massena, Lewis and, Griswold. Donated items include adult and children’s winter clothes, as well as blankets and throws. The Clothing Drive is open to residents of Cass County who are in need of assistance to stay warm this Winter. 

Winter clothing will be available …

Saturday (Dec. 14) – from 10-until 11:30-a.m. at the Anita City Hall, and from 1-until 2:30-p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church in Massena.

Sunday (Dec. 15) – from 1-until 3-p.m. at the Lewis Community Building, and from 3:30-until 5-p.m. at the Griswold Community Building.

A final Winter Clothing distribution event will take place Wednesday, Dec. 18th, from 4-until 5-p.m., at the Cumberland United Methodist Church. If you have any questions, call Sherry Toelle at 243-4861.