DES MOINES – With the holiday season approaching, State Treasurer Roby Smith is encouraging family and friends of those saving with IAble, Iowa’s Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) plan, to consider making a gift contribution. “The holidays are about togetherness and showing those around us how much we love and appreciate them,” said Smith. “Gifting can come in ways other than a package with a bow. Making a contribution to a loved one’s IAble account is a gift that can last and grow.”

Together, Account Owners and their support systems can contribute up to $17,000 per year to an IAble account, allowing individuals with disabilities to save and maintain eligibility for federal assistance programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid. Funds in an Account can be used for Qualified Disability Expenses like housing, food, support services and assistive technology that help improve or maintain health, independence or quality of life.

There are also tax advantages to saving with IAble, including a state tax deduction. Any Iowa taxpayer contributing to an IAble account can deduct up to $3,785 of their contributions from their state taxable income for 2023.

This holiday season, to support loved ones in your life living with a disability, consider using Ugift® – a free and easy way to make a contribution to an IAble account. Account Owners can log in to their IAble account, locate their unique gifting code and share it with family and friends. “Once an Account Owner’s gifting code has been shared with you, visit UgiftABLE.com. Enter the code and the amount you’d like to contribute and complete the transaction. It’s that easy,” Smith continued. “Helping someone achieve their best life experience is a gift that continues to give long after the holiday season.”

Visit IAble.gov/resources/give-a-gift.com for more information. For additional information about IAble, visit IAble.gov. Connect with the Treasurer on Instagram, Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, for updates and news. For details about the Plan, review the Plan Disclosure Booklet.

COLFAX, Iowa — An east-central Iowa man officially holds the Guiness Book of World Record collection of pencils. Aaron Bartholmey, of Colfax, invited the community to look at his pencil collection as he counted every single one over the summer. At the time, the Guinness World Record for such a collection sat around 24,000 items. After he sat down and conducted another count, he found his collection of pencils amounted to 69,255. The collection includes everything from local business advertisements to a 100-year-old pencil, and even one with a high school basketball schedule. In July, counters from the American Pencil Collectors Society counted the pencils. Then, Bartholmey submitted the proposal to the Guinness World Records. Three months later, the record was certified.

While Bartholmey’s collection rewrote the record books, he says he’s already on the hunt for more. The childhood hobby that started after a flea market visit with his grandpa turned into one for the recordbooks. ‘It’s pretty unbelievable to know I hold that title and officially have the largest collection in the world!’ Bartholmey wrote in a statement.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports the arrest at around 12:40 this (Monday) morning, of 27-year-old Carlos Ivan Cortez, from Lenox. Cortez was arrested at the intersection of Elm and Page in Creston, and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance-Marijuana 1st Offense, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and OWI 1st Offense. He was taken to the Union County Jail and held on a $2,300 cash or surety bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services plans to sell some of its land at all five of its state-owned facilities. H-H-S owns and operates mental health institutions in Cherokee and Independence, the Boys State Training School in Eldora, and the Woodward and Glenwood Resource Centers. Glenwood is slated to close next year. H-H-S Director Kelly Garcia says one reason they’re selling some of the land at the Cherokee facility is to help address that area’s housing crisis. “We’ve had a few team members where we’ve tried to recruit moving from out of state and they cannot move because there is zero housing,” Garcia says.

Like many Iowa communities, affordable housing is at a premium and these parcels of land should both bring a good price and create new places to build. “We had already been thinking about really making sure we’re not holding on to land and parcels that we don’t need to anymore,” she says, “but also being good stewards of the sale of that property.”

Garcia says the department plans to host a town hall meeting in Cherokee on Wednesday about the sale. Land surveys are already complete and the properties should be on the market soon.

(Radio Iowa) – The preferred design for a new Interstate-80 bridge in the Quad Cities will be unveiled at an online hearing on Wednesday and the public will be given a chance to comment. The current I-80 bridge over the Mississippi opened for traffic in 1966. The bridge replacement project would cover six miles on I-80 — from LeClaire, Iowa, to Quincy, Illinois. Steve Robery of the Illinois D-O-T says the bridge is nearing the end of its useful life and maintenance projects have been more costly and more frequent in the past several years.

“That impacts traffic in a negative way,” Robery says. “…There’s very narrow shoulders there on the existing bridge so we often have to close down a lane of traffic and that causes back-ups.” The Iowa and Illinois Departments of Transportation launched an engineering study in 2020. In October of last year, the agencies announced bridge design alternatives had been reduced from seven to four and it’ll be narrowed to one this week.

“What we plan to do at the meeting on the 15th is to present the information that we’ve worked on in the past year,” Robery says, “…(and) explain our justification for it.” Robery says construction could start in mid-2028 or 2029. Phase One of the project is likely to be done by the middle of next year.

“Phase I is the environmental and engineering study. Phase II is the development of the plans and specifications used to actually build the bridge. That process is two to three years in itself on a major bridge,” Robery says. The bridge and the lanes leading to and from it will have a larger footprint. That means some land has to be acquired for the project and Robery says that could take up to two years.

(Radio Iowa) – State and federal officials have announced confirmed cases of bird flu at four sites in the past three days. On Saturday, the Iowa Department of Agriculture announced a hatchery in Kossuth County for game birds like pheasants and quail had been hit by the highly contagious virus.

A backyard flock of mixed species in Cerro Gordo was also identified. On Friday afternoon, officials revealed bird flu had been confirmed in a commercial operation in Taylor County. One-point-two million chickens were laying eggs in the facility. There was also confirmation Friday the virus had been confirmed in a small flock of birds in Jones County. So far this fall, officials have identified bird flu — or highly pathogenic avian influenza — at 13 sites around the state.

The governor has issued proclamations that authorize state agencies to assist in the proper disposal of birds that are being euthanized to try to contain the spread of the virus.

(Radio Iowa) – South Carolina Senator Tim Scott has suspended his presidential campaign. Scott made the announcement on the Fox News Channel program Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy. Scott said the message is clear that voters are telling him not now. Scott had cancelled events in Iowa this weekend. His campaign said he had the flu. In late October, Scott’s campaign announced he was going all-in on Iowa.

A few days later a Des Moines Register/N-B-C News Iowa Poll found former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s support growing, while just four percent of likely Iowa Caucus goers said they intended to vote for Senator Scott.

Scott said on Fox News last (Sunday) that he does not intend to endorse a presidential candidate and is not interested in being the party’s vice presidential nominee.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – No injuries were reported following a house fire Sunday afternoon, in Atlantic. Atlantic Fire was paged out to 2821 County Club Drive at around 4:19-p.m.  According to Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel, witnesses alerted dispatch when they saw smoke coming from the residence.

A quick assessment of the scene determined there was a working house fire. Chief Cappel says the homeowner had inhaled some smoke, and was sitting outside the home. He was treated at the scene by Cass EMS. It was then that crews began to make an an interior attack on the fire.

Once they were inside, crews entered the basement and encountered heavy black smoke both upstairs and downstairs. The fire downstairs was quickly knocked-down, Cappel said. The heat was so intense downstairs, though, a few windows were broken and the fire essentially flash extinguished itself.

The fire he said, originated with a burning candle. Cappel thanks the Atlantic Police Department and Cass EMS for their assistance. All crews returned to their quarters by around 5:45-p.m .

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors will meet at 8:30-a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14th, in their Courthouse Meeting Room. On their agenda is approval of the 1st Tier Canvass of the Nov. 7, 2023 City/School Election results.

The Board is then expected to receive a presentation from Angela Moerke, Crime Victim Advocate with the Family Crisis Center, along with a request for a $250 donation. New business for the Board includes approving a Class-C Retail Alcohol License Renewal for the Red Oak Lanes, and discussion/possible action with regard to a new desktop computer for the Montgomery County Attorney’s Office.