October 7, 2022 (DES MOINES, IA) – At yesterday’s (Thursday’s) meeting, the Enhance Iowa Board awarded Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) grants totaling $1 million to pool projects in Hubbard and Laurens and a Sports Tourism grant to Des Moines in support of the USA Archery Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) Target Nationals.

The details for the projects receiving CAT grants follow:

Project Name: Hubbard Pool, Hubbard
Total Project Cost: $3,178,015
Amount Awarded: $500,000
Project Description: This project includes the demolition of the city’s existing pool and construction of a new 3,600-square-foot facility with two diving boards, a toddler slide, basketball hoop, volleyball net and ADA accessible hard surface parking.

Project Name: Let’s Create a Splash Together – The Laurens Pool Project, Laurens
Total Project Cost: $2,976,469
Amount Awarded: $500,000
Project Description: This project includes the construction of a 3,100-square-foot swimming pool with five 25-meter swimming lanes and a 1-meter diving tower, a new bathhouse and concession stand.

The details for the project receiving a Sports Tourism grant follow:

Event Name: USA Archery JOAD Target Nationals, Des Moines
Event Dates: July 12-16, 2023
Total Project Budget: $47,070
Amount Awarded: $23,535
Description: The Junior Olympic Archery Development Nationals is a USA Archery sanctioned event open to youth archers competing in the recurve, compound, fixed pins and barebow divisions. Event marketing and promotion will include airport baggage claim and other airport signage the week of the event, digital billboards around Des Moines welcoming the group and customized Snapchat filters for attendees to utilize and promote Des Moines while visiting.

The Enhance Iowa Program provides financial incentives to communities for the construction of recreational, cultural, educational or entertainment facilities that enhance the quality of life in Iowa. To date, 103 CAT grants have been awarded by the board, totaling $33,283,183. The next Enhance Iowa Board meeting is scheduled for November 3, 2022.

(Audubon, Iowa) – Officials with the City of Audubon late this (Friday) morning, announced that a Boil Advisory issued Tuesday, has been LIFTED. Again, the Boil Advisory is no longer necessary. The City had issued a boil advisory Tuesday evening, after several residences on the north side of town lost water services due a broken water main.

The homes listed in the advisory included those on Division Street, north of Broadway Street, and the area north of Northwestern Avenue between U.S. Highway 71 and Division Street.

Individuals with questions should contact Audubon City Hall by calling 712-563-3269.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Governor Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) have announced $14.1 million in grant funding for the following four projects through Destination Iowa. The $100 million program, announced in April, invests in transformational projects that will bolster the quality of life in Iowa communities and attract visitors and new residents.

The Hoover Presidential Foundation has been awarded $5,000,000 toward an overhaul of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch and the addition of 2,250 square feet of updated and interactive displays. The redesign and renovation will modernize the visitor experience, taking guests on a journey of learning about Iowa’s only U.S. president and his wife, First Lady Lou Henry Hoover. The award represents 25% of the total project investment of $20,309,426.

The Webster County Conservation Board and the City of Fort Dodge have been awarded $4,000,000 toward the Central River District Park and Discovery Center. The center will offer meeting spaces, indoor and outdoor classrooms, a large interpretive area, and a scenic overlook with views of the Des Moines River. The award represents 17% of the total project investment of $19,906,495, which also includes a 1.3-acre stormwater treatment wetland and in-stream recreational features such as a whitewater drop, fishing pools and access points.

The City of Mason City and Cerro Gordo County have been awarded $4,500,000 toward several projects that will enhance the area as a biking/mountain biking destination. These components include new single-track trails, a new bike park and pump track, and key connectors in the North Iowa trails system. The award represents 40% of the total project investment of $11,873,265 and will also play a key role in providing direct access to all trails, adding trailside amenities, and adding improvements to the Ingebretson Campground.

Cinema Paradiso, LLC has been awarded $600,000 toward transforming an unoccupied Davenport structure into a two-screen movie theater called The Last Picture House. With connections to Hollywood, the movie theater will be the home of exclusive events featuring actors alongside local filmmakers and film screenings. The space will also include a social lounge, cocktail bar, and a rooftop bar. The award represents 16% of the total project investment of $3,719,075.

IEDA began accepting applications on May 9 and will continue to review applications as they arrive through December 31 or until funding runs out.  Applications are scored based on eligibility, completeness, and the project’s ability to meet the program goal of creating transformational tourism attractions. Cities, counties, nonprofits and other organizations can apply for Destination Iowa grants through four separate funds: Economically Significant Development, Outdoor Recreation, Tourism Attraction, and Creative Placemaking.

Funded projects must be completed by June 30, 2026. For more information on the Destination Iowa program, visit iowaeda.com/destination-iowa/. Funding for this program is being made available through the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

Des Moines, IA – A man from Victor, Iowa, plead guilty on October 5, 2022, to conspiracy to defraud the United States. According to court documents, Daniel Shawn DeRycke, age 59, admitted he conspired with one or more other persons to impede and obstruct the Internal Revenue Service in the assessment and collection of income taxes. DeRycke admitted that from April 2017 to March 2019, through his business, DeRycke’s Crop Depot, he engaged in conduct to help customers reduce income tax owed by accepting backdated checks, generating false expense invoices, and exchanging checks to give the appearance of an expense that was not in fact incurred by the customers.

DeRycke is scheduled to be sentenced on February 3, 2023 and faces up to 5 years in prison. DeRycke has agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $189,919. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

IRS Criminal Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge Charles Miller says “This investigation is evidence to criminals that you cannot falsify figures on your own tax returns, let alone aid others with documents to bolster lies to the federal government on their tax returns. IRS Criminal Investigation special agents will continue to be on the front lines to defend the American tax system from fraud and deception.”

U.S. Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa and the Internal Revenue Service made the announcement. The Internal Revenue Service, United States Department of Agriculture – Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating the case.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Governor Kim Reynolds has announced the appointment of Colonel Mark A. Muckey, as Deputy Adjutant General for the Iowa Air National Guard. Muckey, a Sioux City native, was selected by Governor Reynolds for his outstanding military achievements and leadership capabilities demonstrated through nearly four decades of military service.   On Thursday, Reynolds said “Like the Iowa National Guard itself, Colonel Muckey has proven ‘always ready’ to protect and serve. For almost forty years, he has served our nation with distinction all over the world, and his highly decorated military resume speaks to the courage and skill he brings to every deployment. I want to congratulate Colonel Muckey for his coming promotion to Brigadier General and thank him for once again answering the call.”

Col. Mark Muckey

Muckey is a command pilot with more than 4,000 flying hours primarily in the C-130H Hercules and KC-135R Stratotanker. He has numerous deployments including Operation Joint Forge, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He joined the military in 1984 through the Academy of Military Science and most recently has served as the commander of the 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City.   Muckey has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma State and is also a graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College. His significant military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Air Medal with oak leaf cluster, Aerial Achievement Medal, and Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters.

With this appointment, Col. Muckey will be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. Muckey replaces Brigadier General Shawn Ford who retired in early August. Colonel Muckey and his wife Susan live in Ankeny.

(Pottawattamie County, Iowa) – Police in Council Bluffs, the Southern Iowa Fugitive Task Force, and officials with the U.S. Marshals Headquarters, on Thursday (Oct. 6), arrested one of Texas most wanted fugitives. The arrest in Council Bluffs of Paul Anthony Basaldua. Although considered to be armed and dangerous, Basaldua was taken into custody without incident.

He was wanted for the alleged aggravated sexual assault of a child, aggravated sexual assault, and indecent contact with a child by sexual contact. Basaldua has a criminal history of assault, robbery, weapon, drug and theft charges, and more.

Authorities didn’t say where in Council Bluffs the man was arrested.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report the arrest on Thursday, of 27-year-old D’Angelo Monson. The Glenwood resident was arrested for Burglary in the 2nd Degree. He later posted a $10,000 cash or surety bond, before being released.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Democratic challenger Mike Franken agree U.S. military support of Ukraine is critical. Some of Grassley’s G-O-P peers have said U.S. assistance should be cut off.  “I hope that the American people will be patient to understand that helping Ukraine now will save us a lot of money later on if Putin is stopped right now,” Grassley says. Franken says if Ukraine falls, Russian president Vladamir Putin will order more invasions. “Yet another chapter of extending the great white Russia into neighboring countries,” Franken says.

The candidates made their comments last (Thursday) night during a debate on Iowa P-B-S. At nearly the same time, President Biden told a crowd in New York that Putin is not joking about using tactical nuclear weapons. Franken, a retired Navy admiral, says if that happens, U.S. aide workers should be sent to assist burn victims — and some will be unarmed but specially trained American soldiers. Grassley says that’s unwise. “I think it’d be very dangerous to send people, soldiers in without weapons so they could defend themselves,” Grassley said.

Franken replied: “If you’re going to be a broad shouldered nation in the world…then you’ve got to take those risks. That’s why we join the military…We swear the oath: ‘I will support and defend the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.'”   Last (Thursday) night’s hour-long forum was the only debate between the two candidates before the November 8th election.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Two U-S residents (citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia), have entered pleas of guilty in Des Moines, to two out-five counts of unlawful conduct with respect to documents in furtherance of trafficking or forced labor. A Federal Grand Jury in the Southern District of Iowa, had previously returned a five-count indictment against the defendants, 46-year-old Nesly Mwarecheong, and 51-year-old Bertino Weires, for recruiting two young men from Micronesia to come to the United States for the purpose of coercing their labor in a meat processing plant for the defendants’ financial gain.

According to their plea agreements, the defendants convinced the two victims to leave their homes in Micronesia in December 2019 and travel to the United States by promising them they could work in the United States and send money back to their families. Once in the United States, the defendants confiscated the victims’ passports and obtained jobs for them at a meat processing plant in Ottumwa, Iowa. Each week, the defendants took the victims to cash their paychecks before seizing almost the entire amount and leaving the victims with only $20 each week. The defendants used various means to compel the victims’ labor and services, including confiscating the victims’ passports and social security cards, imposing debts on them, limiting and monitoring their communication with family, physically and socially isolating them and creating a system of total financial dependence on the defendants. In so doing, the defendants created a situation where the victims either had to continue complying with the defendants’ demands or risk being homeless and without a means of supporting themselves in a foreign country where they did not speak the language and had no means of returning home.

“These defendants used the allure of jobs in the United States to entice the victims, and then exploited them and profited off their hard work,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice remains committed to partnering with federal, state and local officials to investigate and prosecute human trafficking offenses, which have no place in our society.”

The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Chief Judge Stephanie M. Rose on Feb. 15. The defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which consider a number of variables. As part of the defendants’ plea, they have agreed to pay nearly $70,000 in restitution to the victims.

Investigator Jeremy Tosh of the Ottumwa Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Virginia Bruner and Ryan Leemkuil for the Southern District of Iowa and Trial Attorney Christina Randall-James of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuted the case. Information on the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking. Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org.