The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) board today (Friday) awarded direct financial assistance and tax benefits to two companies for job creation and expansion projects. The awards will assist in the creation of 199 jobs and will result in over $24 million in new capital investment for the state. The board also approved innovation funding for six startups.

The board approved assistance for planned or proposed projects located in Ankeny, Coralville, Denison, Des Moines, Independence, Johnston and Urbandale.

In Denison, Quality Food Processors (QFP), which produces bacon and cooked meats by processing on contract for 10 customers, was awarded $1-million in direct financial assistance through the Economic Development Set-Aside (EDSA) program. This $21.7 million capital investment is expected to create 195 jobs at a qualifying wage of $12.70 per hour.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, earlier this week, approved an Annual Urban Renewal Report for Fiscal Year 2014-15, that ended June 30th, 2015. Local governments are required to complete and submit an annual report showing all TIF activity within each of their urban renewal areas during the preceding fiscal year

The report, presented by Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman, indicated Cass County had one active TIF area: the Amaizing Energy Urban Renewal Area. Sunderman says $277,000 of the original $520,000 bond was outstanding as of July 1st, 2014. $26,000 of the bond was paid by TIF funds in Fiscal Year 2015, leaving a bond balance of $251,000. In addition, interest expense of nearly $9,460 was paid. TIF revenues for FY 2015 was slightly more than $44,217. The Ending TIF fund balance was $20,796.

The Annual Urban Renewal Report for Fiscal Year 2014-2015, will be filed with the State of Iowa.

A traffic stop in Crawford County this (Friday) morning, resulted in a man being arrested on drug and other charges. Sheriff’s officials say a deputy stopped a vehicle driven by 35-year old Williams Matthew Lee Soll, of Dow City. Authorities say Soll allegedly attempted to throw an item out of the vehicle. When the Deputy recovered it, approximately ½ ounce of methamphetamine was recovered and seized.

Soll was formally charged with Driving Under Suspension (a Simple Misdemeanor). He also faces felony charges of Possession with Intent to Deliver Methamphetamine, and Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp Soll was being held without bond in the Crawford County Jail.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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One person was arrested on a Harassment charge Thursday, while another was arrested on a drug charge today (Friday), in Creston. According to Creston Police, 28-year old Julian Allison, of Creston, was arrested at around 12:10-a.m. today (Friday) for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Methamphetamine, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Driving While Revoked. He was later released from the Union County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Thursday afternoon, 19-year old Savanna Hilton, of Creston, was arrested for Harassment in the 3rd degree. She was later released from the Union County Jail on $300 bond.

Police in Red Oak arrested a woman late Thursday night on a Mills County warrant for Possession of Contraband in a Correctional Institution, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense. 34-year old April Marie Watson, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 11:30-p.m. and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where she was being held on $5,000 bond.

A report of a stolen vehicle resulted in a high speed chase that ended near Shelby early this morning. Scanner traffic indicated the chase began when a witness saw the vehicle being stolen from an area southwest of Prairie Rose State Park. A Shelby County deputy caught up with the maroon, four-door at around 2:25-a.m., but the vehicle didn’t stop.

A chase began near County Road F-58 and Highway 59 and continued west onto southbound M-16 into Shelby. The pursuit made its way through and out of Shelby with speeds reaching 105-miles per hour, and finally ended near the Love’s Truck Stop, at 380th (or, L-34), just south of York Road.

The male suspect was reported to be in custody at around 2:45-a.m. All four tires on the vehicle were flat. No other details are currently available.

Former Arkansas Governor and current Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee plans a two-day Iowa campaign swing that brings him to Cass and Adair Counties.

Huckabee will hold a “Hucklebee Huddle – The Huck Stops Here” event at the Family Table Restaurant on west 7th Street in Atlantic, Saturday, from 9:30-until 11-a.m.

Afterward, he travels to Adair County, for similar campaign stop at “The Corner,” coffee/antique/gift shop, located 284 Public Square, in Greenfield. The event takes place from 12:30-until 2-p.m.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has collected the signatures of 46 other senators on a resolution that would nullify an Environmental Protection Agency rule that’s unpopular in farm country. The “Waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) rule outlines six types of waterways that the E-P-A and the Army Corps of Engineers say are subject to federal Clean Water Act regulation. “I’ve just been hearing overwhelmingly from so many Iowans that the expanded definitions are causing confusion and uncertainty for farmers and ranchers and manufacturers,” Ernst says.

Other proposals attached to budget bills would block federal funding for implementing the rule. There’s a bill that essentially tells E-P-A officials to rewrite the rule and address some specific concerns. Now, the Ernst resolution seeks to get rid of the rule altogether. “It is just one of the options that we have on the table right now,” Ernst says. All three of those proposals face a presidential veto.

The Iowa Farm Bureau has suggested 97 percent of the land mass in Iowa now could face Clean Water Act regulation because of the rule, which went into effect in late August. Ernst calls the rule ill-conceived. “It’s a lot of over-regulation,” Ernst says. Iowa’s other U.S. Senator, Republican Chuck Grassley, is a co-sponsor of the Ernst resolution.

Officials in the Environmental Protection Agency say their rule “is fundamental to protecting and restoring the nation’s water resources.” The 1972 Clean Water Act gave the federal government jurisdiction over “navigable” waters, but a series of court cases over the past few decades have caused confusion over what “navigable” means. The agency’s new rule is an attempt to clarify its authority, but critics like Ernst say the E-P-A has gone so far as to seek jurisdiction over the gullies in corn fields.

“The law behind the rule has good intent,” Ernst says. “It’s just that the new rule takes it way too far.”

(Radio Iowa)