Multiple fire departments were dispatched to a structure fire in Glenwood this (Sunday) morning. According to the Mills Scanner Facebook Page, crews from Oak Township, Pacific Junction, and Silver City and Malvern were paged out at around 5:30-a.m., to the area of N. Chestnut/4th Street, in Glenwood, where a two-story home was fully engulfed in flames. At least one person suffered from smoke inhalation and was being treated in an ambulance.

The fire, which was visible from south of town, has reportedly spread to another structure, as well. Additional information was not immediately available.

At least three school districts in the immediate KJAN listening area will hold their regular, separate monthly meetings, Monday.

In Elk Horn, the Exira-EHK Board meeting gets underway at 5-p.m. in the Conference Room. During the meeting, the Board will discuss 2022-23 Enrollment and the Southwest Iowa Super Board Meeting. Their action items include (But are not limited to): approving the Elk Horn Section 9-10 Roof Repair Contract with Elevate Roofing, in the amount of $82,331; the first reading of several District Policies, including “Employee Expression,” Instructional Materials & Selection of those materials, Objection to Instructional and Library Materials, and a form to request a student be prohibited from checking out specific library materials. Other action includes the hiring of Lexi Griffin – Prom Sponsor, Sandra Nissen – ESL Teacher, and Elise West – Elementary Vocal Music.

The Griswold School Board meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., Monday in the Conference Room, and includes the second reading of certain Board 500 series policies, and discussion with regard to Board of Directors Redistricting. New Business/Action items include: approval of an LED Project; MS Gym Painting Project; Activation status of the Early Retirement Policy; Information concerning the Certified Enrollment Report; Approval of Veteran’s Day Program Expenses, and, the first reading of numerous other Board Policies.

And, the Audubon School Board meetings begins 7-p.m. Monday in the High School Board Room. Action items include (But again are not limited to, the following):

• Multiple policy revisions in the 400 and 600 series, and Policy Review (707 series)
• Approve change orders for the Building Project
• Approve a settlement with Denovo
• Approve Flex Fund Resolution to Expand Funds
• Approve a Resolution to consider continued participation in the Instructional Support Program
• and any Personnel matters to come before the Board.

(Statewide) – One person died, five others were injured, during three separate accidents Saturday, in Iowa. According to the State Patrol, the crashes occurred in Ida, Muscatine and Jackson Counties. The first crash happened in Ida Grove at around 12:07-p.m., Saturday.

Authorities say a 2021 Kia Seltos LX driven by 35-year-old Alan J. Kennedy, from Ida Grove, was southbound on Highway 59 west of Susan Lawrence Drive, when for reasons unknown, the car crossed the center line and entered the northbound lane before striking a 1999 Ford F-350 pickup that was pulling a livestock trailer. Kennedy suffered life-threatening injuries, and was flown by medical helicopter to a hospital in Sioux City. The driver of the pickup, 71-year-old Kenneth Ray Hurley, of Odebolt, was not injured.

The second crash happened at around 3:45-p.m. Saturday, northwest of Muscatine. The Patrol says a 2010 Harley Davidson motorcycle operated by 42-year-old Juan Carlos Sanchez, of Muscatine, was northbound on N. Mulberry Road, when the cycle went out of control, entered the east ditch, and rolled. Sanchez, and his passenger, 32-year-old Melissa Diane Gordy, of Muscatine, were injured and flown by separate helicopters to the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. The crash remains under investigation, but authorities say alcohol is believed to have been a contributing factor.

And, at around 8:35-p.m., Saturday, 61-year-old Gregg Thomas Obryant, of Sabula, Iowa, died when the 2001 Chevy Silverado pickup he was driving, left the U-S Highway 52 Sabula/Savanna Bridge, struck a guardrail and veered over-corrected, into the path of a 2010 Ford F-150 pickup. Obryant was not wearing a seat belt. The driver of the other vehicle, and his passenger, both of whom are from Savanna, IL, were injured and transported by ambulance to Mercy Hospital, in Clinton.

They were identified as 63-year-old John W. and 60-year-old Beth A. Ritchie. John Ritchie was not wearing a seat belt. The crash remains under investigation.

(Shelby, Iowa) – A structure fire between Shelby and Avoca, south of Interstate 80, this (Saturday) afternoon, resulted in the loss of a residence, but no one was injured. Multiple agencies responded to the blaze at 31338 410th Street (near 410th & Tamarack), at around 1:24-p.m.

The blaze was declared under control at around 2:30-p.m. The home was a total loss.

Firefighters from Hancock, Walnut, Avoca, Shelby, Minden, along with other agencies, responded. Additional details are currently not available.

Photo submitted

The Red Oak Police Department reports an early morning arrest on Saturday. At 1:31 a.m. Officers arrested 52-year-old Brian Keith Yochum of Red Oak at the intersection of Highway 34 and Eastern Avenue. Yochum was charged with OWI 1st Offense. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – An attorney representing thousands of employees at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics says the health system has agreed to pay 15 million dollars to settle a wage dispute. Earlier this year a federal judge ruled the health system owed as many as 11-thousand current and former employees of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for delaying overtime payments by more than a month. Iowa law requires all wages earned to be paid within 12 days of the end of the pay period.

Documents being filed in federal court indicate the university admits no wrongdoing, but is offering the 15 million dollar settlement to avoid additional litigation costs. The lawsuit was filed in 2019, on behalf of health care workers and support staff. Under the agreement, employees who may have been underpaid are to be contacted and given 45 days to opt out of the settlement. Then, the full list of employees who’ll be getting payments will be developed.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa legal organizations are partnering to address the urgent need to secure a more permanent immigration status for Afghan arrivals. The Afghan Legal League of Iowa will use a federal grant to coordinate support for the around one-thousand Afghans in the state. The University of Iowa’s Center for Human Rights, the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice and Drake University College of Law’s legal clinic will expand their capacity to take on more cases.

Drake University’s Suzie Pritchett says it’s a resource the state badly needs. “I think the community and networks that it’s going to create are going to benefit non citizens throughout Iowa beyond the length of this two year project,” she says. Many Afghans came to the U-S as parolees, which only guarantees a legal status for two years. Now, these evacuees need to apply for permanent residency.

The project will also help to establish a virtual help desk. Pritchett says it’s a way for unrepresented Afghans from across the state to call in for general legal advice.

(By Kendal Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Democratic Congresswoman Cindy Axne of West Des Moines says former President Trump needs to speak with the House panel investigating what happened on January 6th of 2021.  “I think we’ve seen from the January 6th commission and the hearings that they’ve been having that the president absolutely had a hand in this,” Axne says, “and we know from the tapes that he did not step in to keep people safe as the violent mob breached the capitol.”

Trump has called the commission a show trial and he’s unlikely to comply with the subpoena the commission issued yesterday (Thursday). Trump released a letter today (Friday), saying there were no real Republicans on the commission. Republicans Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming are on the panel. Axne says the pair are patriots who are defending democracy.  “Our democracy and undermining it should not be something that’s political,” Axne says. But Axne acknowledges the subpoena could inflame partisan tensions in the country.

“Unfortunately it may,” Axne says, “but we have to get to the truth.” The January 6th Commission will be dissolved at the end of the year, just before the new congress that’s elected this November convenes in January. Axne is the only Democrat in Iowa’s congressional delegation. The five Republicans representing Iowa in the U.S. House and Senate have not commented on the January 6th Commission’s subpoena for Trump.

Tomorrow (Saturday), Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion will campaign in Iowa Falls with 2016 Iowa Caucus winner Ted Cruz. Cruz is on a bus tour through 17 states in support of Hinson and two dozen other G-O-P candidates.

(By FFA Reporter Charli Goff) – Each year, the Southwest District and Iowa FFA officers plan and facilitate Greenhand Fire Up Conferences for FFA members in the Southwest District. The workshops were leadership focused with an emphasis on the experiences that occur in the lives of beginning high school students These workshops are geared toward engaging members into FFA as the year kicks up. Atlantic welcomed 29 FFA chapters and 362 from all over the Southwest District on Wednesday, October 12th.

Atlantic FFA member Dylan Comes, the Southwest State Treasurer for the Iowa FFA Association, helped with other officers prepare and facilitated workshops of: authenticity, balancing priorities, communication, and FFA opportunities – in order to provide the first-year FFA members with skills they would use both within and outside of FFA. Comes said “It was great to see all of the younger members interacting with each other from a facilitators point of view.” “It was fun to meet new people and I made a lot of new friends. I also learned about FFA.” Miraylie Stuart.

Photo submitted

The goal was to engage FFA members in learning about the tools that would allow them to be successful in anything they are part of through high school and beyond. The goal was to engage FFA members in learning about the tools that would allow them to be successful in anything they are part of through high school and beyond. “It’s an easy way to learn the basics of FFA. I also had a lot of fun meeting new people” said Atlantic FFA freshman Mckenna Schroeder. Olivia Olson said, “It was fun meeting new people and talking to other FFA members to see what they do in their chapter.”

(Western Iowa) – The Community Foundation for Western Iowa, formerly Pottawattamie County Community Foundation, has announced that the Community Foundation is currently accepting applications for their “Make It Happen” nonprofit training program sponsored by D.A. Davidson.

The Community Foundation for Western Iowa created the “Make It Happen” program after witnessing an increase in requests for consultation in the areas of nonprofit agency endowments and fundraising. The Community Foundation was awarded an initial grant from the Iowa Council of Foundations in April 2019 to establish the 18-month training program designed to assist nonprofit partners in establishing solid fundraising tactics, building long-term relationships, and growing their sustainability.

The program is unique, in that it expounds on emerging research from Dr. Jenni Frumer, PhD, and focuses on what motivates donors and stakeholders toward philanthropy. Additionally, the program leverages strengths-based management principles to build and solidify internal organizational strengths toward fund development success.

The Community Foundation is delighted to announce that D.A. Davidson is generously sponsoring the 2023 “Make It Happen” training program that will support nonprofit partners by increasing their ability to put a comprehensive plan in place that focuses on the benefits of a strong, endowed funding stream and will not only ensure the organization’s long-term viability and strength, but will also effectively create a widespread culture of philanthropy throughout the Community Foundation’s western Iowa service area.

The partnership with D.A. Davidson will enable the Community Foundation to deliver this comprehensive, full-service fund development learning program to western Iowa nonprofit and community partners in a cohort format, spanning an 18-month period starting in January 2023 at no-cost to the selected participants. The “Make It Happen” training program consists of six-monthly meetings from January to June, and then moves to quarterly “Continuing to Make It Happen” sessions where participants are able to learn from subject matter experts based on their personal feedback and needs.

The inaugural 2020 “Make It Happen” cohort consisted of eight area nonprofit organizations: Council Bluffs Schools Foundation, FAMILY Inc., Golden Hills RC&D, Habitat for Humanity of Council Bluffs, Historic General Dodge House, Midlands Humane Society, and Trivium.

Organizations will be selected through an application process and the second cohort will begin in January 2023. Information on the program and how to apply can be found at: www.givewesterniowa.org/impact/makeithappen.
Community Foundation for Western Iowa The Community Foundation for Western Iowa, formerly Pottawattamie County Community Foundation, is your connection to creating a lasting legacy and ensuring western Iowa is strong, vibrant, and attractive for years to come. The Community Foundation provides a highly personalized plan tailored to each individual or family’s charitable goals, financial interests, and desired impact.

The Community Foundation for Western Iowa is nationally accredited by the Council on Foundations (www.cfstandards.org), is overseen by a volunteer board of leading citizens, and run by professionals with expertise in identifying the needs of western Iowa. As a tax-exempt public charity, 501(c)(3), that serves thousands of people who share a common interest in improving the quality of life in western Iowa, the Community Foundation also offers a 10% match (up to $250,000 per fund) for the creation of a charitable endowment fund or donation to an existing eligible endowment fund.