SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City woman is the sponsor of a new U.S. Coast Guard ship named for her late uncle, who was killed in 1945 defending his ship from attack. The Sioux City Journal reports that, as the new ship’s sponsor, Donna Fuller was tapped Saturday to give a short speech prior to the commissioning of the USCGC Rollin Fritch, 154-foot fast response cutter, at Cape May, New Jersey.

On Jan. 8, 1945, Rollin Fritch was on board the USS Callaway off the Philippine coast when it was attacked by Japanese kamikaze pilots. Fritch stayed at his gun, firing at airplanes in an effort to save his shipmates when a kamikaze crashed into his position, killing him at age 24. Fritch was posthumously awarded a Silver Star.

The Iowa Department of Corrections reports a man who failed to return from Work Release has been listed as escaped. 30-year old David Michael Evans was placed on escape status after failing to return to the Fort Des Moines Work Release Facility from his place of employment. Evans was transferred to Work Release on Oct. 12th.

His 40-year sentence out of Polk County, for Assault While Participating in a Felony and two counts of Prohibited Acts/Drug related, began Jan. 18th, 2013. Evans is a white male, 5-feet 11-inches tall.

David Michael Evans

He weighs about 190 pounds, has brown hair, blue eyes, and has several tattoos. They are located on his abdomen, right ankle, upper left arms, back, left and right calf, chest, left and right fingers, left and right forearm, neck, left and right thigh, and right side.

Anyone with information as to his location is asked to contact the Des Moines Police Department of Polk County Sheriff’s Office. You may also contact your local law enforcement agency.

From pork tenderloins to sweet corn to Jell-o, a new book is out focused on Iowa foods and the flavors that make the state so delicious. The book, “A Culinary History of Iowa,” traces the popular tastes of Iowans through the years, according to author Darcy Dougherty Maulsby, of Rockwell City.  “We do have great cuisine,” Maulsby says. “It’s funny. When the book came out, I had some people questioning, ‘Iowa has a culinary history?’ We sure do. I said, ‘Just starting thinking what defines Iowa food,’ and everybody always comes up with an answer.” Maulsby says she’s done research for the book by exploring all four corners of the state and everything in between.

“I’ve been working on it in bits and pieces for almost 20 years in my career as an ag journalist,” Maulsby says. “I’ve traveled the state and met with some of Iowa’s finest chefs and lots of great old-school farm cooks. I’ve seen the spectrum of really awesome Iowa food and it’s been so much fun to collect all of these stories and photos in one place.” Some might categorize it as a cook book but Maulsby says it’s more than that.

“It’s the story behind the things that define Iowa food,” Maulsby says. “Whether that’s Maid-Rites, Dutch letters from Pella, there’s so many fun stories, Laura Ingalls Wilder turns up in there, the Younkers Tea Room, all of these amazing traditions, meat lockers, sweet corn, all of the things that make Iowa food great.” Find the book at the Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites as well as at: www.darcymaulsby.com.

(Radio Iowa)

Six companies were awarded financial help from the State of Iowa Friday, for planned expansion projects. The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) board approved tax benefits and direct financial assistance to the projects which are expected to create over 100 jobs. One of the projects involves a newly-formed company in southwest Iowa’s Adams County. Daryl Lilly, founder and CEO of Aero  Technologies, says his company will manufacture heavy duty industrial cleaning equipment and products. He told the I-E-D-A board that the plant near Corning will create 25 jobs.

“But, it’s our intent to hopefully grow at a pace that will ultimately deploy significantly more than that number,” Lilly said. The project is estimated to cost around $1.1 million and the IEDA board awarded Aero Technologies $225,000 in direct financial assistance, plus tax benefits. Lilly said work on the facility will begin soon. “We hope to be in a position to be manufacturing product in 2017,” Lilly said. “We certainly plan to be doing that.”

The IEDA board awarded $105,000 and tax benefits to a gelatin manufacturing plant in Woodbury County. GELITA USA officials says they’ll create 21 jobs by expanding their operations in Sergeant Bluff. Meanwhile, a fireplace and stove maker is moving production lines from a facility in Kentucky to its distribution center in Mount Pleasant in southeast Iowa. The IEDA board awarded Hearth & Home Technologies tax benefits for the project which is expected to create 28 jobs. The other awards approved Friday involve projects in Altoona, West Des Moines, and Sioux City.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Numerous Iowa law enforcement agencies will participate in special Thanksgiving holiday traffic enforcement effort next week. The Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau enforcement program begins Sunday and runs through Nov. 27 and will coincide with a nationwide “Click It or Ticket” campaign. The goal of the campaign is to increase the awareness of and compliance with Iowa’s seat belt and child restraint laws.

This year alone, Iowa has seen more than 335 traffic fatalities, and nearly half of those involved people not wearing a seat belt. Over the 2015 holiday, five people were killed on Iowa roads.