The Cass County Auditor’s Office reports requests for Absentee Ballots in advance of the December 8th Special Election to fill a vacant Iowa State Representative District 21 Seat, may be sent or brought to the County Auditor’s office. Last day to request an absentee ballot to be voted by mail is December 4th, 2015.

An Absentee Ballot is one cast prior to ‘election day’ by mail or at the County Auditor’s office. If you need to vote by mail: A written request may be mailed or hand delivered to the County Auditor’s office. (Absentee request forms are available at the auditor’s office and on the Secretary of State’s web site: sos.state.ia.us). A ballot along with instructions on how to complete the ballot will be mailed to the requester.

For the ballot to be counted the completed ballot then must be returned either by personal carrier to the office of County Auditor before close of polls on December 8 or returned by mail postmarked no later than December 7. All ballots must be returned whether voted or not voted.

In order to vote in Iowa a person must be registered in the person’s current county of residence, under the person’s present name, and at the person’s current address. Registration forms are available at the county auditor’s office, many State of Iowa service offices and on the Secretary of State’s web site: sos.state.ia.us.

The county election commissioner recommends that persons not currently registered or who have moved since last registering and are planning to vote in the December Special General Election, pre-register in the office of the County Auditor as soon as possible. You may register or re-register and vote absentee on the same day. Last day to pre-register for this special election is Monday, November 30.

Persons choosing to vote at the Cass County Courthouse prior to December 8 may come to the Cass County Courthouse during the regular office hours of 8-a.m. and 4:30-p.m., Monday thru Friday, up through the day before the election, complete a request form, and then cast a ballot immediately. In addition to regular office hours, the office of Cass County Auditor will be open Monday, November 30, 2015 from 8-a.m. to 5-p.m., and Saturday, December 5, 2014 from 9-a.m. to 5-p.m.

Council Bluffs Police Chief Tim Carmody reports eleven community members from across Council Bluffs are coming together to study the facility needs of the Council Bluffs Police Department, and to assist technical consultants in preparing an analysis that will help the city determine the best possible option for an adequate home for the police department.

The study group members come from all walks of life and reside or work in areas that cover all sectors of the community. They will meet several times over the next three months to tour the current police station, tour modern law enforcement centers, scout potential locations throughout the community, and forward their recommendations to the city officials. Meetings began this week at the Council Bluffs Public Library.

The meetings are open to the general public to observe, but space is limited. The city recently retained Hoefer Wysocki Architects of Leawood, Kan. to perform the formal technical analysis to determine appropriate space and functional needs for the police department, as well as conduct a site location analysis with the assistance from a local engineering firm, JEO Consulting Group. The all-volunteer community study group will work closely with the technical project team to inform the technical analysis efforts and also to gain any information they require to provide non-binding recommendations to the city.

The study group will have a neutral facilitator to assist their research and with forming their recommendations to the city. An extensive public information effort will be centered on the study group’s work, culminating in an open house public meeting in mid-February to gain public comment on the group’s recommendations before those recommendations are provided to the city.

Additional information will be available at the study group’s kick off meeting and throughout the analysis process.

On Monday, November 23, 2015, the Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS), will package full Thanksgiving meals that will be donated to one family in need in each of Iowa’s 99 counties.  The Iowa DPS recognizes that there are many families in need this holiday season and organized a collection within the Department raising over $5,000.

Fareway Stores, Inc. offered their assistance by gathering a full-sized turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, a five pound bag of potatoes and a pie for each of the 99 families.  The remaining funds will be distributed to 15 food banks around Iowa.

“Our Department serves this entire state through our six divisions and several bureaus.  We are in all 99 counties working on a daily basis. We felt this would be a great way to give back to the communities we live in and serve, especially when they are in need this holiday season,” DPS Commissioner Roxann Ryan said.

Iowa State Patrol Troopers, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Special Agents and other Iowa Department of Public Safety members will hand deliver the meals to the families, as well as the checks to the food banks that afternoon.

The Department of Public Safety would like to thank Fareway for their assistance in making this project possible.

The upcoming weekend is typically a very busy one for Iowa grocery stores as consumers stock up on supplies for next week’s Thanksgiving dinner. Despite fears turkey prices would skyrocket due to this spring’s bird flu outbreak, U-S-D-A economist Annemarie Kuhns says turkey prices have actually dropped in the past week and are only up a few cents a pound from a year ago.

“This is the main attraction for your Thanksgiving meal and retailers tend to offer deep discounts on their turkeys to bring people into the store,” Kuhns says. Iowans may find frozen turkeys selling for as low as 59-cents a pound, however, many of those beloved side dishes may cost more to prepare. Sweet potato prices are up nearly 28-percent from a year ago while russet potatoes are up more than eight-percent.

Egg prices are up significantly from 2014, in large part, due to the bird flu outbreak. She says a dozen eggs will run you a full dollar more. “On average, $2.97,” Kuhns says. “They cost $1.97 at this time last year.” Kuhns says the price of green beans, milk and cranberries are all down this year. Iowa remains the nation’s number-one hog producer and Kuhns says now is a good time to buy ham as prices are down a half-a-dollar. “Per pound ham prices are about $4.13 this year,” she says. “Last year, they cost about $4.63.”

Overall, it’s estimated the Thanksgiving dinner will cost about six-percent more than last year’s big meal.

(Radio Iowa)