(Creston, Iowa) – Two people were arrested in Creston, late Wednesday morning. Creston Police report 54-year-old Mary Ann Giles, of Creston, and 59-year-old Jimmy Alan Robertson, of Bridgewater, were arrested in the vicinity of W. Union and New York Avenue, at around 11:30-a.m., Wednesday. Both were transported to the Union County Jail for Violation of a No Contact/Protective Order. They were subsequently released on their Own Recognizance, after being seen by a Judge.

(DES MOINES) – The Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) recently recognized Community Housing Initiatives, Inc., and Arch Icon Development as the inaugural recipients of the Excellence in Development designation. “This recognition celebrates affordable housing developers who garner robust and collaborative partnerships, attention to detail and a standard of excellence in both the development process and their commitment to providing housing for eligible Iowans through the Federal Housing Tax Credit Program,” said IFA Director Debi Durham.

IFA will annually recognize development companies awarded Federal Housing Tax Credits who exemplify excellence and go above and beyond to advance affordable housing opportunities for Iowans. This prestigious designation is granted on a competitive basis to honor the top affordable housing development partners working in Iowa. The designation showcases proven dedication to excellence, participation, and results. This includes meeting deadlines for allocation checkpoints, submitting applications that are thorough and complete for review that require minimal comments, and actively participating in policy planning, training and feedback opportunities.

Community Housing Initiatives, Inc. 

Community Housing Initiatives (CHI) is Iowa’s largest non-profit housing development and consulting group, headquartered in Spencer. Since 1993, CHI has closely collaborated with communities ranging in population from 800 to 200,000, dedicated to creating housing solutions that meet community needs and provide comprehensive services for residents. CHI has generated or preserved over 1,800 affordable housing units offered at rates below the market rate. “CHI is proud to work in partnership with IFA to build quality affordable housing for Iowans,” said Sam Erickson, CEO of Community Housing Initiatives. “CHI has invested $280 million in Iowa communities in addition to reinvesting all income from development and rental properties directly back into Iowa communities for more than 30 years and we are just getting started.”

Arch Icon Development

Founded in 2010 by Darin Smith and Dustin and Mindy Crook and headquartered in Woodbine, Arch Icon Development strives to develop market-rate and affordable housing, along with commercial space development in the Midwest. “We founded Arch Icon Development with the belief that the creation of housing is key to economic, community, and neighborhood development,” said Darin Smith, Arch Icon Principal. “To date, Arch Icon has leveraged $146.5 million to create 761 apartments in Iowa and Nebraska and we look forward to collaborating with IFA and other partners to create even more homes that Iowans can be proud to call home.”

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — A Sioux City man is now facing arson charges after allegedly starting a fire using a bible.  KCAU says according to court documents, the incident occurred at 3 a.m. on Tuesday at a residence on the 1300 block of Jones Street. The documents state that Robelio Cabrera Escobar, 29, of Sioux City, was in his bedroom with the door locked when he set a bible on fire.

Cabrera Escobar resided in the top unit of an “apartment house.” At the time of the fire, three other adults and one child were in the residence. The complaint states that the bottom unit is occupied but did not specify if anyone was home.

While the bible was burning, the carpet began to burn causing the residence to fill with smoke. When the other residents learned of the fire, they tried to enter Cabrera Escobar’s room. Due to the locked door, they had to force their way in and extinguish the fire, according to the documents. During a later interview, Cabrera Escobar admitted to starting the fire because he was angry but would not offer any other reason for it.

Cabrera Escobar was charged with first-degree arson and held on a bond of $25,000.

DES MOINES, Iowa (WHO-TV) — Around a month and a half ago, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds announced the state would not opt in to the federal Summer EBT program. The program would give $40 per month to each child in a low-income family during summer months. Organizations have been calling on Reynolds to revert course. Earlier this week Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen changed his decision and opted in to the program. Kollin Crompton, Deputy Communications Director for the Governor’s Office, told WHO-TV, “The Governor’s decision is firm. Pandemic-era programs were not intended to be permanent. The answer isn’t creating a new government program, instead we should be investing in existing programs that work. Iowa already runs summer feeding programs that provide healthy meals for children with fruits, vegetables, milk, grains, and meats/proteins, based on age-appropriate meal patterns. The Governor is investing more into Iowa’s existing programs to focus on expansion and participation across the state.”

Those programs mentioned in the statement can be seen here. The state is seeking sponsors for a federally funded program that provides healthy meals and snacks to kids in low-income areas of the state when school is out. The state is also seeking sponsors for the program to expand availability of the meals and announced a new grant program for it earlier this month. While there will be avenues for children to be fed, democratic senators do not believe that it is enough compared to the $29 million the state could have received from the federal government for Summer EBTs. The state would be required to spend several million dollars to get the $29 million back from the federal government.

(Radio Iowa) – Maple sap harvesters across northeast Iowa got the season started nearly three weeks early thanks to warmer than normal temperatures. Floyd County Conservation Director Adam Sears says this is the earliest start to the sap season he’s seen in 10 years. “Normally, next week’s when we start thinking about tapping trees, not 10 days ago. Everything’s just moved forward, but we’re hoping we get a little longer season this year, rather than just an earlier season,” Sears says.

He says the recent series of 50-degree days changed his usual timeline and they’ve already collected about one third of their normal sap collection. ” We hope that we still get the full season that we’d normally get on top of it, but we don’t really know that. It depends on how much it warms up continuously,” he says.

Floyd County Conservation typically harvests close to ten thousand gallons of sap each season, which yields about 200 gallons of maple syrup.