Six companies were awarded financial help from the State of Iowa Friday, for planned expansion projects. The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) board approved tax benefits and direct financial assistance to the projects which are expected to create over 100 jobs. One of the projects involves a newly-formed company in southwest Iowa’s Adams County. Daryl Lilly, founder and CEO of Aero  Technologies, says his company will manufacture heavy duty industrial cleaning equipment and products. He told the I-E-D-A board that the plant near Corning will create 25 jobs.

“But, it’s our intent to hopefully grow at a pace that will ultimately deploy significantly more than that number,” Lilly said. The project is estimated to cost around $1.1 million and the IEDA board awarded Aero Technologies $225,000 in direct financial assistance, plus tax benefits. Lilly said work on the facility will begin soon. “We hope to be in a position to be manufacturing product in 2017,” Lilly said. “We certainly plan to be doing that.”

The IEDA board awarded $105,000 and tax benefits to a gelatin manufacturing plant in Woodbury County. GELITA USA officials says they’ll create 21 jobs by expanding their operations in Sergeant Bluff. Meanwhile, a fireplace and stove maker is moving production lines from a facility in Kentucky to its distribution center in Mount Pleasant in southeast Iowa. The IEDA board awarded Hearth & Home Technologies tax benefits for the project which is expected to create 28 jobs. The other awards approved Friday involve projects in Altoona, West Des Moines, and Sioux City.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Numerous Iowa law enforcement agencies will participate in special Thanksgiving holiday traffic enforcement effort next week. The Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau enforcement program begins Sunday and runs through Nov. 27 and will coincide with a nationwide “Click It or Ticket” campaign. The goal of the campaign is to increase the awareness of and compliance with Iowa’s seat belt and child restraint laws.

This year alone, Iowa has seen more than 335 traffic fatalities, and nearly half of those involved people not wearing a seat belt. Over the 2015 holiday, five people were killed on Iowa roads.

w/ Chris Parks

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The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Board is set to meet on Monday, November 21st at 5:15pm in the Council Chambers at City Hall. A number of updates will be given and discussed on numerous ongoing projects.

The Board plans to discuss the Sunnyside Pool Steering Committee, Schildberg Lake 2 Trail Project, Trevor Frederickson Field Renovation Update, Enhance Iowa Application Update, and Schildberg Recreation Area Campground update.  Discussion will also take place in regards to signage update as part of a beautification plan. They will also discuss the Sunnyside Basketball Court and Ice Rink Proposal and consider a request for safety storage cabinets.

Director Seth Staashelm will also provide a report that includes information on the Iowa Parks and Recreation Conference, Summer Programs report, and an update on Little League Improvements.  Staashelm will also discuss seasonal employees being laid off for the winter and talk about winter preparations. The Sunnyside Park restrooms have been closed for the season but the streets will remain open weather permitting.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:55 a.m. CST

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Linn County’s top prosecutor is calling for a grand jury investigation into the police shooting of a man earlier this month. Television station KCRG reports that County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden said Friday in a news release that “it would be in the public interest” for a grand jury to determine whether criminal charges are warranted. Officer Lucas Jones shot and seriously injured Jerime Mitchell on Nov. 1 near Coe College.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As many as 150 juveniles in Iowa prisons for felonies including kidnapping and attempted murder will get their sentences shortened by years as a result of an Iowa Supreme Court decision. The court ruled Friday that juveniles convicted of forcible felonies who had been resentenced from mandatory minimum terms to a set period of years should be given credit for good behavior at a much faster pace.

DALLAS (AP) — Gov. Jack Dalrymple says he’s asking the Army Corps of Engineers to speed up a decision on whether to grant an easement for the Dakota Access oil pipeline to cross the Missouri River in southern North Dakota. Dalrymple says increasingly frequent protests against the pipeline have created “a tremendously challenging, tremendously difficult situation.” Numerous protests have been held at sites in the capital city this week, including the state Capitol and the state-owned Bank of North Dakota.

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (AP) — A former Deere and Company employee from Iowa has admitted to defrauding the Illinois company out of at least $250,000 over a nine-year period. The Quad-City Times reports that 63-year-old Harvey Ulfers of Cedar Falls, Iowa pleaded guilty Thursday to various wire fraud and money laundering charges. A co-defendant, 46-year-old Patrick W. Williams of Cedar Falls, pleaded guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy charge in April.

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa said today (Friday), a western Iowa man was sentenced Thursday to prison for Possession of Child Pornography. 33-year old Steven Robert Hill, a a former Missouri Valley resident, was sentenced by Chief United States District Court Judge John A. Jarvey, to 54 months (4 1/2 years) in prison to be followed by fifteen years of supervised release for possession of child pornography.

Hill entered a guilty plea to the charge on June 9th, 2016. The investigation began with a report of a domestic assault involving Hill as a victim. During the investigation, law enforcement learned Hill was in possession of child pornography. A search of Hill’s residence located data storage devices that contained child pornography images. Shortly after law enforcement obtained the images, Hill moved to the State of Washington.

The investigation was conducted by the Missouri Valley Police Department, the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force — Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Red Oak Police are asking for your help in finding a vehicle that struck a legally parked car earlier this week. Officials say Shelley Ann Walston, of Red Oak, had legally parked her 2002 Jaguar XTY alongside the alleyway in the 400 block of Hammond Street, Tuesday night. When she came out to go to work the next morning, she discovered an unknown vehicle had side-swiped her Jag, causing about $2,600 damage to the passenger side of the vehicle. Anyone with information pertaining to the incident, is encouraged to contact Red Oak Police at 712-623-6500.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – As many as 150 juveniles in Iowa prisons for felonies including kidnapping and attempted murder will get their sentences shortened by years as a result of an Iowa Supreme Court decision. The court ruled Friday that juveniles convicted of forcible felonies who had been resentenced from mandatory minimum terms to sentences with a set period of years should be given credit for good behavior at a much faster pace.

It’s tied to a 2014 decision in which the court struck down as unconstitutional mandatory minimum sentences for juveniles.  Inmates serving mandatory minimum sentences for forcible felonies must serve at least 85 percent of their sentence even when time is credited for good behavior. The court’s ruling means juveniles who can’t serve mandatory sentences get accelerated time for good behavior and can get out after serving 45 percent of their original sentence. For example, a juvenile sentenced to 10 years for robbery could be released after 4 1/2 years, while an adult must serve 8 1/2 years.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped slightly in October to 4.1 percent but an official warns the decline could be temporary. Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend says the unemployment rate drop announced Friday came despite layoffs in construction and manufacturing companies. She says that could make the decline “only a temporary reprieve.”

Townsend notes, however, that Iowa has jobs available so those affected by layoffs should be able to find other work. During October, the number of unemployed residents dropped to 70,300. The total number of Iowa workers climbed to 1,655,200. Iowa’s unemployment rate compares to a national rate of 4.9 percent. A year ago, Iowa’s unemployment rate was 3.5 percent.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) – Health officials are puzzled by an outbreak of the mumps among Dubuque County students that has now climbed to 30 cases, which is more than one-third of all cases statewide. According to Dubuque County Health Department executive director Patrice Lambert, the source of the outbreak has not yet been determined. Lambert says this is the worst outbreak in 10 years in the county.

Dubuque Community School District’ health services coordinator, Rhonda Ramler, says officials haven’t seen a pattern to the students who have been affected. The Telegraph Herald reports that precautions are being taken to try and halt the spread of the disease, which can cause fever, headaches and swollen salivary glands.