The Audubon County Community Foundation has announced that grants totaling $41,515 were awarded today (Friday), to five Audubon County non-profit agencies. With this latest round of grant funding, the ACCF has distributed more than $2.1-million in grants and scholarships over the last 22-year.

The following were awarded grants by the Audubon County Community Foundation:

• Audubon County Conservation Board – $15,015 for a playground at the Littlefield Rec. Area.
• Audubon County Fair Board – $20,000 for the Grandstand renovation.
• Aud. County Fire and Rescue Assoc. – $2,500 for Fire state construction & relocation.
• Nathaniel Hamlin Park & Museums – $1,500 for restoration of the Nathaniel Hamlin Museum House.
• The Children’s Nest – $2,500 for renovation to a classroom.

All grantees met the criteria as Audubon County nonprofit agencies or organizations with charitable missions supporting community needs in the areas of civic engagement, culture, health, education, and social services. Only organizations providing services in Audubon County were eligible to apply.

These grant funds were made possible by the generosity of donors to the Audubon County Community Foundation and the following charitable funds through the community foundation:Audubon Masonic Association Endowed Fund; Audubon State Bank/Stephen Garst Endowed Fund;Charles T. and Kathleen K. Manatt Endowed Fund; Leon and Iva Milliman Endowed Fund for Audubon County, Iowa; Fred and Evelyn Nissen Endowed Fund for Audubon; and Merle and Norma Petersen Endowed Fund.

The Audubon County Community Foundation works with individuals, families, businesses, and organizations to create permanent and expendable funds—such as those above—that address changing, vital community needs and interests. To inquire about donating to the Audubon County Community Foundation, please contact the Community Foundations of Southwest Iowa staff or any board member listed below. Gifts to permanently endowed funds through the Audubon County Community Foundation may be eligible to receive a 25% Endow Iowa Tax Credit.

For information about donating or establishing an individual foundation/fund, please contact Stacey Goodman, Iowa Foundations Director, at 800-794-3458 or stacey@omahafoundation.org.

Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack says Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s increase in taxes on wealthy Americans to finance her health care proposal is unrealistic. Warren is promising to spend more than $20 trillion over the next decade to provide government-funded health care to every American without raising middle class taxes. Detailed in a 20-page online post, Warren’s proposal relies on employers transferring to the government nearly all of what they currently spend on private health insurance for employees.

During a panel discussion on rural politics in Iowa today (Friday), Vilsack said Warren’s plan wrongly suggests voters will accept that an increase in her proposed tax on the wealthiest Americans won’t affect their own pocketbooks. Vilsack, a former U.S. secretary of agriculture, says “One sliver of society isn’t going to pay for the rest of us.”

Vilsack, who has not endorsed a candidate, also says it’s unlikely there will be sufficient support in the Senate to pass such a measure, even if Democrats take control of the GOP-controlled Senate after the 2020 elections. Vilsack, who has consulted Warren on rural policy, adds “and then there’s the practical application of getting 60 people in the Senate who are going to vote for this.”

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is asking for your help in finding a vehicle and two men believed to be involved in the theft of four rims and tires from a car dealership, in Red Oak. Authorities say the wheels were stolen off of a 2019 Ford Taurus on the Hawkeye Ford lot, sometime between 1:57-a.m. and 2:15-a.m. today (Friday). The suspect vehicle is a mid-2000 model year, grey, 4-door Pontiac Grand AM, with a trunk spoiler. The vehicle was occupied by two men.

Anyone with information about the theft is asked to contact Montgomery County Crime Stoppers, at 1-888-434-2712. Callers may remain anonymous.

One person was injured during a three-vehicle collision Thursday evening, in Union County. The Sheriff’s Office reports a 2006 Chevy Impala driven by 28-year old Dakota Gaulden, of Orient, was traveling north in the southbound lane of Highway 25 just before 6-p.m., when he struck a southbound 2011 KIA Forte EX. The driver of the KIA, 30-year old Christal Hagle, of Creston, saw Gaulden’s car approaching in her lane, and tried to move over, but her vehicle was hit on the front passenger side.

The Impala continued to sideswipe the KIA before striking a south bound 2011 Chevy Equinox on its front passenger side. The SUV was driven by 56-year old Leann Warrior, of Bridgewater. After it hit the SUV, the Impala continued off the road and came to rest in the west ditch, which had running water. Gaulden complained of pain, and was transported by EMS to a hospital. He was cited for Driving While Suspended and Driving on the Wrong Side of the road.

All three vehicles were declared a total loss, with the damage totaling $26,000. Neither of the other drivers reported any injuries.

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — A man accused of helping to fatally beat a Decorah resident has told a jury that he was defending himself and didn’t intend for the other man to die. Nineteen-year-old Dalton Adam is charged with first-degree murder in the July 2018 attack on 46-year-old David Hansen.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Adam said during his testimony Thursday in New Hampton, where the trial has been moved, that Hansen punched him after punching his friend Jacob Seelinger. Prosecutors say Hansen confronted the pair as they damaged property outside his home. He died Aug. 30 last year. Hansen was the boyfriend of Seelinger’s mother.

Adam testified that he punched back and knocked down Hansen, who cracked his head on concrete. Adam acknowledged that he and Seelinger kicked and punched Hansen as he lay helpless. Seelinger’s been convicted of second-degree murder has been sentenced to up to 50 years in prison.

A Council Bluffs man held in the Pottawattamie County Jail, was served with a warrant, Thursday afternoon. 30-year old David John Kauai, of Council Bluffs, was presented with the warrant for Theft in the 2nd Degree (for larceny ranging from $1,500 to $10,000). The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office said also Kauai has a non-extraditable warrant out of Adams County. After being read the warrant, Kauai was returned to the custody of Corrections Staff.