(Radio Iowa) — A two-day summit on how to improve life in our small, rural towns opens this morning (Thursday) in north-central Iowa’s Hamilton County. The keynote speaker of the “Rural That Works” conference is Ben Winchester, a rural sociologist at the University of Minnesota Extension. Winchester says we need to rewrite the rural narrative. “This isn’t your grandpa’s rural, we’re not all farmers anymore,” Winchester says. “The economy, social life and demographically, we’re very different than we used to be.”

In decades past, people may recall how all of the Main Street storefronts were filled and how primary industries were very apparent in our small towns. Things have changed, he says, but not necessarily for the worse. “It’s easy when you drive up and down Main Street to see the boarded up buildings or where the elementary school used to be,” Winchester says, “but at the same time, our housing stocks are many times filled, our populations continue to migrate in and out, and we get people involved in social life, so we’ve got a number of folks even creating non-profits around their interests.”

While concerns are often raised about the “brain drain” as high school graduates move away, he says some rural areas are seeing a “brain gain” as young-to-middle-aged professionals move in. “What we’ve found here in Minnesota, through our research, and really across the country, is a trend of people in their 30s, 40s and 50s moving to our rural communities,” Winchester says. “They’re moving there for a variety of reasons, quality of life, safety and security, for the low cost of housing, and for employment opportunities.”

Winchester will speak at noon today at Backcountry Winery in Stratford. Other meetings are taking place at the Jewell Golf and Country Club.

On the web at www.ruralthatworks.com

CLERMONT, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a driver died after his sport utility vehicle ran into a pond in northeast Iowa. The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office says 30-year-old Steven Baker Jr. lost control of his SUV Tuesday. It ran through a fence into the pond at the Skip-A-Way Resort in Clermont. The vehicle submerged completely in the deep part of the pond. Rescue efforts were unsuccessful, and Baker was pronounced dead at the scene. He lived in Elgin.

(Radio Iowa) — The State Auditor has released a report about “corrective action” that had to be taken to properly track the Iowa Communications Network’s finances and assets. The network’s previous executive director was fired this past January after a whistleblower in the agency came forward with concerns. State Auditor Mary Mosiman served on the I-C-N’s board, but she and other board members told legislators the network’s manager kept them in the dark about things like raises for unqualified staff and his use of a state-owned car to commute back and forth from Des Moines and Marion.

He also tried to sell state-owned equipment on eBay. The State Auditor’s latest report covers the final year the dismissed executive director was still in charge. The new manager of the Iowa Communications Network has promised to maintain a “detailed, up-to-date” list of the network’s assets.

The auditor’s report also made note of tardy deposits, late payments on credit cards and missing timesheets for some network employees who worked for the previous manager — all things the new I-C-N management acknowledged and said had been addressed.

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — An outdoor equipment maker plans to start work this fall on expanding its distribution center in a Des Moines suburb. The Des Moines Register reports that the Toro Co. says the $11 million expansion at its Ankeny distribution center will let it increase the amount of equipment the facility can handle.

The Ankeny City Council on Tuesday agreed to provide Toro with more than $1 million in financial assistance. The project will create at least three new jobs at the facility. Toro expects to complete construction next year.

Red Oak Police report 57-year old Tony Joe Christensen, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 5:40-p.m. Wednesday. Christensen was taken into custody in the 1500 block of Broadway Street, for Public Intoxication. His bond at the Montgomery County Jail, was set at $300.

Firefighters from Marne, Atlantic, Lewis and Hancock were called to assist with a structure fire in rural Walnut, at around 4:30-a.m. today (Thursday). The blaze, which was reported by passing motorists, occurred  at 50507 Sumac Road. According to dispatch reports, a barn was fully engulfed in flames and had collapsed by 5-a.m., and the flames were near some other structures. Fire crews saved two adjacent structures, but the barn was a total loss. A cause of the fire remained under investigation.