(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce report Henningsen Construction, Inc., of Atlantic, has donated $100,000 to Vision Atlantic’s transformative project, which will bring a housing development, new childcare center, and YMCA expansion to Atlantic. Henningsen Construction owner Brad Henningsen, says “We are grateful to Vision Atlantic for their commitment to our community. We are happy to support this important project because it addresses needs in our community that will help Atlantic grow and thrive.”

As we’ve mentioned, Vision Atlantic, through extensive research and surveying of the community and surrounding region, identified three areas that will help increase Atlantic’s population: expanded childcare, quality housing and quality of life amenities. Construction of the 144 mixed unit housing development, 300 capacity child development center and expansion of the current YMCA facility is slated to begin late spring of 2025. Infrastructure work for the housing development and child development center is currently underway.

With substantial monetary support from the Charles E. Lakin Foundation and local donors, $18.8 million has been raised in the past 11 months, over 61% of a $30 million goal. In addition to the Lakin Foundation’s $8.6 million grant, Vision Atlantic has also received an additional $23 million from the Foundation, which will act as a line of credit and help Vision Atlantic construct homes in the Camblin Hills Housing Development. As the dollars are paid back each year, the Foundation will donate 5% of those dollars back to Vision Atlantic, which will be used to help operate the child development center.

Pictured left to right: Christina Bateman, Brad Henningsen, Brian Mixan and Debbie Waterbury (Photo submitted)

The $23 million is not part of Vision Atlantic’s $30 million fundraising goal. Vision Atlantic’s Project Committee is actively working to secure the remaining $11.6 million needed to meet the fundraising goal. If you are interested in helping transform Atlantic, whether it’s through monetary donations or acts of volunteerism, please contact Vision Atlantic at visionatlanticiowa@gmail.com. Follow Vision Atlantic on Facebook for behind-the-scenes access to project updates or visit www.visionatlantic.org.

Vision Atlantic is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission is to empower growth, enhance lives, and build a thriving community together through the economic development of Atlantic, Iowa.

(Creston, Iowa) – A Union County man was arrested on drug and other charges, Tuesday afternoon. Creston Police report 33-year-old William Alwynn Darius Bell, of Creston, was arrested at around 12:35-p.m. at a residence in the 200 block of S. Maple Street. Bell was charged with Failure to Appear, Harassment 1st Degree, Possession of Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine, and Kidnapping 1st Degree. He was taken to Union County Jail and held without bond until seen by a Judge.

(West Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Farm Bureau said Tuesday, a sharp downturn in the agriculture economy is causing a ripple effect throughout the state resulting in the loss of up to 11,400 jobs and $1.5 billion in value-added economic activity (GDP) and a $100 million loss to the state and local tax base. The data comes from an exclusive Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) economic analysis, and says 23 businesses in Iowa announced layoffs for 4,097 individuals working in production agriculture and adjacent industries from the first of the year through Sept.18, 2024, but IFBF’s analysis finds those numbers balloon when taking broader impacts into consideration.

IFBF economics and research manager Christopher Pudenz says “Ultimately, this starts with depressed incomes at the farm gate that have ripple effects on the Iowa economy,” said Christopher Pudenz, Iowa Farm Bureau economics and research manager. “For example, because farm incomes are down, farmers aren’t making the same machinery purchases they’ve made in previous years which means manufacturers, suppliers and retailers slow down production and are forced to lay people off.”

Iowa’s ag-related layoffs have occurred during a prolonged period of economic hardship and uncertainty for farmers. USDA’s September 2024 farm income forecast projects another challenging year for farmers, who are expected to lose nearly a quarter of their income in just two years due to slumping commodity prices and stubbornly high input costs.  Net farm income, a key measure of profitability, is projected to decline 4.4% from 2023, following a record year-over-year drop of 19.5% from 2022 to 2023.

IFBF photo

Pudenz said that the downturn is particularly impactful in Iowa, considering agriculture accounted for more than 22% of Iowa’s total economic output in 2022, according to a study commissioned by the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers. Nearly one in every five Iowans are employed due to agriculture and ag-related industries, accounting for more than 385,000 jobs. “Agriculture is the heartbeat of the Iowa economy, and when agriculture struggles, those pains are felt throughout the state,” Pudenz said.

IFBF President Brent Johnson says “This analysis underscores why a farm bill is so important – farmers need assurances as they try to balance economic uncertainty. A farm bill extends beyond the farm and protection of our food supply; it also provides access to nutritional programs for families facing hunger, advances conservation efforts and spurs innovation through research. If a new farm bill isn’t passed, many critical programs will face significant interruptions.”

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass/Guthrie County Environment Health Executive Director Jotham Arber, Tuesday, presented his monthly report to the Cass County Board of Supervisors. In his report, Arber said the main thing he wanted to note, is “This weird thing going on with a few septic systems” in Audubon and Cass Counties.

He said there are around 9 or 10 septic systems that have the same weird, greasy substance. He said in Audubon County, the septic systems were installed by the same contractor, but in Cass County there were four different contractors, so it doesn’t appear to be an installation issue. Samples will be taken and sent to the State Hygienic Lab for breakdown and analysis, so see if there are commonalities in the substance.

Jotham Arber said also the Environment Health Department is finishing-up water test sampling in Cass County. The test results will be analyzed and made available during the Board of Supervisors meeting in December.

He said there has been a huge increase in people who are taking the opportunity to contact the EHD and getting their private wells rehabbed. That’s something he’s happy to see.

By “rehab,” he means those wells that were installed more than 40-years ago, both shallow and deep, that used technology that incorporated bricks, and which deteriorates over time, as well as those where the pumps ave gone bad, etc. Those issues can be corrected allowing the wells to be accessed safely.

He said “A lot of folks want to keep their wells, and if we can help them keep it, it’s not bad to have good drinking sources of water.” Arber said also, they’ve seen an increase in the number new wells being drilled in Cass County. Most of the newer wells are drilled deep, because more is known now about nitrates and how to make those wells more secure from bacteria.

The Environmental Health Department, he says, can help property owners better position new wells that are less prone to run-off, and in incorporating better structural features.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – An adult male and a juvenile were arrested Tuesday in Red Oak, following an investigating into a reported drug overdose. Red Oak Police report officers were called to a residence in the 200 block of N. 4th Street following a report about a drug-related overdose. Upon arrival, officers found two patients were being treated by Red Oak Rescue. Police also located a 9-year-old female in the home, under the supervision of the adult and a 14-year-old. Both patients were transported to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital.

Following an investigation, the 14-year-old juvenile was arrested for Child Endangerment (an Aggravated Misdemeanor). The juvenile was not identified because of their age. Officers also arrested 21-year-old Seth Michael Houser, of Red Oak. He was charged with two-counts of Child Endangerment, and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. Houser was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond. The juvenile was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs.

Red Oak Police were assisted at the scene by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, along with Red Oak Fire and Rescue.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A collision Tuesday in Red Oak resulted in a citation, but no injuries. Red Oak Police report the accident occurred at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Broadway Street. Authorities say a 2008 Ford Escape (SUV) driven by Gail Imogene Golden, of Red Oak, was stopped behind traffic at the intersection stop sign on Washington Avenue, heading westbound. For reasons unknown, the SUV began backing-up. The vehicle struck a 2017 Honda Odssey (van) driven by Lizzete Nolting,of Red Oak, causing an estimated $3,500 damage altogether.

Police cited Golden for Unsafe Backing.

(Iowa News Service) – A nonprofit group that tracks oil and gas development has created an interactive map to show how close CO2 pipelines in Great Plains states come to environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas. The map includes Indigenous land that hasn’t been included in similar previous projects.

Ted Auch, Midwest program director for the FracTracker Alliance, said it focuses on Indigenous areas but goes further, showing in detail how close proposed CO2 pipelines would come to soybean and ethanol facilities, for example, but also to private land. He said the interactive map is an improvement over existing ones.

“Which is to say that you could look at it as a static image, but you can’t interact with or manipulate the data in terms of, like, scrolling in, scrolling out, finding addresses – you know, that kind of thing,” said Auch. “It’s available as a PDF or a JPG. So, what we’ve done is, we’ve taken that stuff and we’ve digitized it and we’ve included it on this map, so that people can actually – spatially and in real time – interact with the data itself.”

The Great Plains Action Society says CO2 pipelines pose risks that disproportionately affect Indigenous communities and people of color.  Auch said FracTracker is working on another version that takes a deeper look at the proximity of pipelines to the Winnebago reservation south of Sioux City. Energy companies say the pipelines are a safe and effective way to capture carbon from industrial processes, and store it underground, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Auch said the interactive map will give farmers and other landowners near the proposed pipelines what they need to understand what’s happening on their land, leveling the information playing field with corporate interests. “You have these large, multinational corporations, and then on the other side of the ledger are small, medium-sized frontline or Indigenous groups that either have small budgets or no budgets,” said Auch, “and don’t have the capacity, the time, or the expertise to develop maps to inform their organizing activism or advocacy.”

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Omaha is making a livestream available as it hears oral arguments today in a case involving Iowa landowners affected by CO2 pipeline proposals, some of whom face seizure of their property by eminent domain if the Summit Carbon Solutions project moves forward.

(Radio Iowa) – State officials are offering advice about the finances of a small northwest Iowa city where five officials were accused of bilking Armstrong out of thousands of dollars and destroying financial records. State Auditor Rob Sand has issued a report citing 22 accounting issues in the City of Armstrong during its last budgeting year.

“When you’re coming from a situation where you have had a number of people commit crimes while active in city government and leave city government, you’re going to have quite a period of clean up,” Sand says. “We’re here identifying the issues that are presently there for new leadership and hopefully they will take of these issues in the process of cleaning up city government.”

In 2017, a special investigation of Armstrong city accounts found at least 100-thousand dollars worth of deposits and payments had been mishandled. The town’s former mayor, three former city clerks and its former police chief were all accused of wrongdoing and have pleaded guilty to misconduct, but none were sent to prison. The state auditor says C-P-As in his office have raised concerns about how checks written to the City of Armstrong AND checks written on city accounts are handled.

“Two of the three people who can sign the checks aren’t elected officials. They are not city employees,” Sand says. “You’ve got to ensure you have direct accountability for those people so you know the checks going out are people who are involved in doing that business.” One of the city’s debit cards was opened in the name of a city employee, using that employee’s Social Security number.  “It’s important that you have prior approval for purchases, which in this case Armstrong wasn’t doing,” Sand says. “You want to make sure that before you go out and use it that it’s OK to buy that.”

The state auditor’s office reviewed three sets of minutes from Armstrong City Council meetings that did not list city receipts or bills the city owed. “What we need to have are minutes that reflect the reality of finances as well as the reality of the proceedings of what’s going on in town,” Sand says, “so that people who aren’t at a meeting can still review what’s going on and have a good understanding of it.”

Last month, a former mayor of Armstrong was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to tampering with records and misconduct in office. His son-in-law, the former Armstrong police chief, got a deferred judgement and the case against him will be dismissed once he completes probation. A former city clerk also received a deferred judgement and two former city clerks pleaded guilty to misconduct and agreed to testify against the others.

(Radio Iowa) – Roadways and airports have been crowded during the holiday periods all through this year and it looks like that is not going to ease up next week for Thanksgiving. Triple-A Iowa spokesman, Brian Ortner: “Triple-A’s Thanksgiving holiday travel forecast is showing that we’re gonna, you know, again, set all time highs for travel nationally and within our region. You know that we’re a part of here in Iowa, the west north-central region,” he says. That region includes Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, and South Dakota, along with Iowa. Ortner says travel will surpass what we saw prior to the pandemic.

“If we go back and look at 2019, for our region, we had about six-point-three (6.3) million total travelers back in 2019 so we’re six-point-four now,”Ortner says. “Across our region and nationally, we had just over 77 million back in 2019 and over 79 million this year. And that’s an increase over that time and as in 2023 as well.” While the roadways will be busy, traveling will cost a little less.

“The good thing we can say is people are seeing lower pump prices than we saw last year. You know, in our region, with five-point eight million folks hitting the roads, that’s going to be a welcome addition to the travel plans,” he says. across the state. Iowa has a statewide average of two-dollars-73 cents for a gallon of fuel, which is less than the national average, which is at three-oh-six.

Ortner has one word to describe what it will be like for those who are flying for Thanksgiving. “Busy. Let’s just say that. Again, with the record numbers that are going to be taken to the air in our region, 296-thousand folks going to be taken to the airways. And I know people don’t like to hear it to say to plan accordingly, leave early, get to the airports early if you can. Be there two to three hours before your flight,” he says. He says the flight delays that have been a problem, appear to be getting better.

“You know, compared to what we were seeing like two years ago, I know there was a lot of issues then, that decreased last year,” Ortner says, “and haven’t heard anything in relation to that this year. But again, plan for the unexpected, because you never know whether you’re flying or you’re driving.” Ortner says make sure you know your options for a change of flight before you leave and have your information with you for your travel agent. If you booked yourself, have the app, the customer service line available to be able to make those changes if they would need to happen.

The Iowa DNR is seeking campground hosts for the 2025 camping season. If you enjoy camping and meeting new people, this may be the perfect volunteer opportunity for you.

Campground hosts work alongside DNR staff to help clean and beautify the park, ensure reservations are up-to-date and accurate, and assist visitors in a welcoming and helpful manner. Actual duties vary based on each park’s individual needs.

In this volunteer position, hosts are provided a free campsite and live in the park for one to five months during the summer season. Hosts volunteer a minimum of 20 hours per week, often including weekends and holidays, while living on site in their own camper.

Each park’s camping experience is unique – some are rural and rustic, others are in popular tourism areas; some have small campgrounds, and many are hubs of activity, especially on peak weekends. In addition, assigned lengths of stay are dependent on each park’s needs for the upcoming season.

Parks currently needing hosts: 

• Backbone – need hosts for 2 campgrounds (Delaware County)
• Bellevue (Jackson County)
• Clear Lake – 2 slots available (Cerro Gordo County)
• Geode (Henry County)
• Lewis and Clark (Monona County)
• McIntosh Woods (Cerro Gordo County)
• Pilot Knob (Winnebago County)
• Pine Lake (Hardin County)
• Prairie Rose (Shelby County)
• Red Haw (Lucas County)
• Stephens State Forest (Lucas County)
• Union Grove (Tama County)
• Walnut Woods (Polk County)
• Wapsipinicon (Jones County)

To learn more about a park’s unique experience and needs, please contact the individual state park office; a list of parks and their contact information can be found at www.iowadnr.gov/stateparks, or for general inquiries about campground host opportunities, email: iowa.stateparks@dnr.iowa.gov

Additional information about volunteering and applying for a campground host position is available at www.iowadnr.gov/volunteer. The list of parks needing campground hosts can change, so please check back to this web page regularly for additional opportunities.