(Radio Iowa) – Today marks the tenth annual American Red Cross Giving Day, where the agency recognizes people who make its mission possible — volunteers, blood donors, people trained in lifesaving skills, and supporters.

Emily Holley, spokeswoman for the Red Cross’ Nebraska-Iowa Region, says they’re also asking for donations in order to continue offering help to people who urgently need it.

“The money that we’re raising today is going into the disaster fund which is going to help support those who are affected by disasters,” Holley says. “Every eight minutes, Red Cross volunteers respond to a disaster here in the United States and their support is critical.”

Home fires are the most common disaster in Iowa and nationwide. In 2023, Holley says the Red Cross responded to 662 home fires throughout Iowa and provided assistance to 2,275 people.

(Red Cross photo)

“We give all sorts of assistance to those who are affected by home fires,” Holley says. “We make sure that their immediate needs are being met by ensuring that they have a safe place to stay and food to eat.”

She says any size of gift is welcome and it will help to provide emergency shelter, hot meals, relief items, emotional support and other assistance to people in need.

“$150 provides a full day of food and shelter for three people,” Holley says. “$200 will cover the daily cost to deploy an emergency response vehicle to a disaster scene.”

All gifts are tax deductible and she notes the Red Cross is 90-percent volunteer run.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Court of Appeals says a man accused of murdering a coworker at a packing plant in Wright County is not yet competent to stand trial. Lukouxs Brown was charged with first-degree murder for allegedly killing co-worker, Wayne Smith at the Prestage pork plant near Eagle Grove in 2021. He was treated for schizophrenia at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, but after several months was declared still not competent for trial.

The state brought in an outside expert for a second opinion, and the expert found Brown was competent. The Iowa Court of Appeals ruling says opinions of the experts at the classification center hold more weight, and the district court erred in determining that Brown’s trial could proceed.

The ruling says Brown is making progress in regaining competency and the criminal proceedings are suspended indefinitely.

(Radio Iowa) – One of the big lotto jackpot runs has ended after a ticket bought in New Jersey had the winning numbers for the one-point-one BILLION dollar Mega Millions drawing. Iowa Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer says three Iowa tickets were one number away from getting a share of that prize. The Powerball jackpot for tonight’s (Wednesday) drawing is estimated to be 865 million for the long-term annuity payout, or 416 million dollars for the lump sum option. Neubauer says the two payout options are often misunderstood. “One of the urban myths associated with the jackpots in Powerball and Mega Millions is that the cash amount is the jackpot amount minus taxes. And that’s definitely not the case,” Neubauer says. She says the amount of the jackpot does not immediately include the subtraction of taxes.

“The cash amount, if you take that option, is the amount that’s on hand in the jackpot pool from the sale of tickets at the moment that the jackpot was won,” Neubauer says. “If you take the annuitized payments over time, you get that cash amount that was on hand from the sale of tickets, plus all of the interest that would be built up over the 29 years that you would be receiving payments.” Neubauer says taxes are taken out after you decide which payout option you will receive. She says that is why they always advise winners of bigger jackpots to consult a financial advisor.

“There are so many decisions that would come along with claiming a prize of this amount and we would just want to make sure that people have their questions answered before they come forward. Definitely a life-changing amount of money, she says. The three near miss Mega Millions tickets matched four of the first five numbers and the Mega Ball in Tuesday’s drawing. One of those tickets is worth 10-thousand dollars and the other two used the multiplier and are worth 20-thousand dollars.

The deadline for purchasing a Powerball ticket for tonight’s drawing is 8:59 p-m.