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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday, passed an ARPA Daycare Funding Resolution, using a portion of the more than $1.2-million the County received from the Federal Government, for COVID Relief. Board Chair Steve Baier read from the Resolution which listed daycare’s in the County and how much each would receive.
Funding for the Anita Daycare Center and a request for playground equipment funding, was tabled until the Board receives additional, necessary information. The Supervisors then discussed possibly providing funding for the Head Start school north of Atlantic, for hard surfacing so the children have space to ride bicycles and develop motor skills.
The Supervisors also signed a letter of support (with no financial commitment required), for the Land Committee, which is a subdivision of the City of Atlantic’s Housing Committee. Committee representative Christina Bateman the City has agreed to exercise its option to purchase land from Jim Comes family off of Olive and 22nd Street. The agreement will close on or before Oct. 3rd.
The letter of support she requested is so that it many be included with an application for a Destination Iowa Grant from IEDA for the Prairie Hill Development Project, which is estimated to cost over $2.8-million. That includes the cost of land acquisition ($830,000), infrastructure needs in the area ($1.8-million), and $200,000 for a trail. The application seeks to obtain up to 25% of the project cost from IEDA (The Iowa Economic Development Authority).
Bateman says they look to submit their grant application online, on May 9th. The Board also heard from Cass County Veteran’s Affairs Coordinator Mitch Holmes, with regard to funds flowing into the County from the Veterans Administration to assist local Veterans.
Holmes said also, there are other benefits, such as Veteran’s burial, that are one-time pay outs.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Healthy Cass County is celebrating by promoting mental health events scheduled for May 2022. All events below are free and open to the public. Following the list of events is information on the partner organizations that make these events possible, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwest Iowa (NAMI Southwest Iowa), Southwest Iowa Mental Health and Disability Services Region, Senior Life Solutions, and Angels Care Home Health.
May 2022 Cass County Mental Health Events (Free and Open to All)
All month: NAMI’s “Meet Little Monster” a mental health activity and coloring book will be available as take-home packets for youth at all Cass County libraries. Provided by NAMI Southwest Iowa.
These programs are made possible by Health Cass County partners:
Healthy Cass County is sharing a series of press releases for Mental Health Awareness Month. The next update will highlight free mental health programs and training available to businesses
and organizations in Cass County on request. To see that information and access additional mental health resources now, visit https://www.extension.iastate.edu/cass/ or call the Cass
County ISU Extension Office at 712-243-1132.
Police in Creston report a man from Ottumwa was arrested Monday night in the 400 block of N. Oak Street. Authorities say 24-year-old Tyler Jay McElroy was charged with Burglary in the 2nd Degree. His cash or surety bond was set at $10,000. And, at around 1:36-a.m. today (Tuesday), 18-year-old Tina Sue Joann Richards, of Creston, was arrest for Trespass/1st offense. She was cited and released
(Radio Iowa) – Cold, windy spring days have left Iowa’s morel mushroom harvest delayed. By this date, mushrooms hunters are typically thick in forested areas collecting the delicacies that only appear for a short time every spring. Matt Moles is park manager for the Iowa DNR’s Waubonsie State Park in Fremont County. He says his office has been receiving numerous calls from people asking if morels have been popping up yet in the park. “Don’t get disheartened yet with the weather patterns,” Moles says. “I’ve picked mushrooms anywhere between the very tail-end of March through two or three weeks into May in this part of the state. What we need right now is a little bit more ground moisture and probably a few more warmer days.”
While a few hunters have started reporting success in parts of southern Iowa and southeast Nebraska, Moles says a good rain followed by some warm days could lead to a jump-start in the season. “Usually what I notice in a year like the one we’re having now in a Spring that shapes like the climate we’re having now, is that the mushroom growth is really kind of fast and furious,” Moles says. “They pop-up, they produce their spores and then they get picked or they go away. I would not look for a prolonged season this year. Once you start getting reports of people picking them, you probably should get out there fast and do your thing.”
A Morel mushroom (ISU Extension photo)
Morel mushrooms need soil temperatures between 50 and 54 degrees to thrive. Moles says there are plenty of good hunting spots in southwest Iowa. “There’s a lot of pseudo-science with mushroom hunting, which kind of makes it fun,” Moles says. “It really is a good idea to target dead or dying elm trees, ash trees or cottonwood trees. We’re really fortunate here in the southwest part of the state that we have a lot of public land to choose from. I think Fremont County might have — per size of the counties — more public land than most other counties do in the state. There are a lot of great wildlife management areas and park areas for us to pick from.”
Other tips from the Iowa DNR include searching the base of slopes and areas with mossy ground or creek beds where moisture is present.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Republicans hosted the the second of two “Know your candidates” forums Monday evening, in Atlantic, at the Cass County Community Center. Among the candidates in attendance were two candidates for State Auditor: Mary Ann Hanusa, from Council Bluffs, and Todd Halbur, from Clive. He’s a native of Carroll.
Todd Halbur
Mary Ann Hanusa
Hanusa is a former staffer to U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley and White House aide in both Bush administrations. She said the State Auditor is a watchdog for your tax dollars. Incumbent Democrat Auditor Rob Sand, she said, has used his office to launch baseless investigations into the Governor’s Office.
Hanusa pointed to her record of “accountability in state government” as a reason she should win the election.
Todd Halbur says he’s a life-long Republican and involved in politics, but this is his first time as a candidate. His wife Diane is a native of Griswold. He says he’s running because there’s been a lack of CPA’s in office for too many years.
He said he’s running for the office State Auditor because for a year, not one candidate stood up as a CPA or a even a banker.
Halbur is a former banker, a small business owner and former CFO for the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division.
Other Candidates in attendance in advance of the June 7th Primary, included: Senator Jim Carlin – candidate for the U-S House of Representatives; Gary Leffler – candidate for U-S House/3rd District; and Candidates for State Auditor, Todd Halbur and Mary Ann Hanusa.
Representatives were also on-hand for Senator Charles Grassley, who is running for re-election to the U-S Senate, and Nicole Hasso, Candidate for U-S House in the 3rd District. State Senator Zach Nunn was unable to attend to a family matter.
A traffic stop at around 11:18-p.m. Monday, in Red Oak, resulted in the arrest of a man from Clarinda. Red Oak Police report 59-year-old Robert Charles Harvey, III, was arrested for Driving While Barred. Harvey was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.
(Radio Iowa) – The governor has signed a bill into law that will increase the penalties for those convicted of making, possessing or selling heroin to be the same as for similar crimes involving meth. Representative Ross Paustian is a Republican from Walcott. “Heroin addition and overdoses are a growing problem across Iowa that must be addressed in multiple ways,” Paulstian said. “Treatment alone won’t stop the spread of this dangerous. Heroin dealers must face meaningful penalties to keep them off the streets.”
Representative Kristin Sunde, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says heroin is particularly problematic right now, especially when it’s laced with fentanyl. “There are going to be higher consequences if they’re caught dealing,” Sunde says. “I think that’s fair enough and I think it’s one way to try to make some difference here.”
The bill would make those caught with 100 grams or more of heroin eligible for a 50 year prison sentence. Under current law, someone would have to be caught with a ten times that much — at least a kilogram of heroin — to get that stiff a sentence. Twenty-five Democrats in the legislature opposed the bill. Representative Ras Smith of Waterloo says more work must be done to reduce heroin use. “Our goal should be to not only make sure that we punish those who are flooding our streets with heroin, but also work to save lives,” Smith says.
Representative Ako Abdul-Samad, a Democrat from Des Moines, says putting a serious dent in the heroin trade requires treatment for addicts. “We want to get heroin off the street. We want to get the heroin dealers off the street without a doubt, but we also need to do it comprehensively,” Abdul-Samad said. “We need to address is so we’re also dealing with the addict. The key is the dealers will be in business as long as there’s a customer.”
The bill passed the House and Senate in March and will go into effect on July 1st. It was among 26 bills Governor Kim Reynolds approved yesterday (Monday).
(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Republicans hosted the the second of two “Know your candidates” forums Monday evening, in Atlantic, at the Cass County Community Center. Candidates in attendance included: Senator Jim Carlin – candidate for the U-S House of Representatives; Gary Leffler – candidate for U-S House/3rd District; and Candidates for State Auditor, Todd Halbur and Mary Ann Hanusa. Representatives were also on-hand for Senator Charles Grassley, who is running for re-election to the U-S Senate, and Nicole Hasso, Candidate for U-S House in the 3rd District. State Senator Zach Nunn was unable to attend to a family matter. Candidates for State Auditor in attendance included Mary Ann Hanusa and Todd Halbur. Both hope to defeat Democrat Incumbent Auditor Rob Sand. Each candidate received the same six questions ahead of time to decide how they would respond.
One of the questions the candidates were asked, was how to recruit more people to serve in law enforcement. All of the candidates said they “Backed the Blue.” Senator Jim Carlin – candidate for the U-S House, suggested signing bonuses in conjunction with a federal subsidy.
Nicole Hasso’s spokesperson said “Defunding the Police is insanity,” and “rebuilding law enforcement agencies,” by providing them with the all the resources they need is necessary.
Gary Leffler said it’s not all about the money, it’s “Does the community support us?” His nephew is a law enforcement officer in South St. Paul, MN. Leffler says officers in blue need to know the public supports them, “actions speak louder than words.”
On the topic of attacking the Opiod problem in America, Senator Carlin said the drug companies need to be held accountable, and additional measures need to be taken to stem the flow of Fenanyl, which comes primarily through the mail, from China. He said he supports the continued construction of the border wall with Mexico, and criticized Senator Grassley for voting to stop construction of the wall in 2019.
Hasso’s representative said it was a very personal thing to the candidate, since her mom and other family members struggled with drug addiction for a long time. Once again, the border wall was the subject said to be part of the solution to the problem.
Gary Leffler also supported build the wall. He said the problem also exists in “Our back yard,” and have a comprehensive plan to address the situation. That includes using the resources of the county, state and federal government to work together to reduce the flow of drugs.
On the subject of education, Jim Carlin said “parents have a legitimate concern about the direction things are taking,” because “The left is after our children. It’s using our public school system where it can. It’s using our colleges and universities.”
He supports the idea of parents being subsidized if they want to send their children to a private instead of public school. There was also a question about what support or procedures could be implemented to improve the educational climate, and therefore allow recruitment and retaining of quality teachers, especially with regard to discipline.
Gary Leffler said while rural schools tend to watch over their own, urban schools are nothing more than glorified babysitters.Teachers and administrators, he said, “Just want to be respected again.”
Other questions and answers touched on energy independence and health care.
(Radio Iowa) – Republican legislators have approved a bill that would let Iowa child care providers ask parents who get state money to cover child care fees add onto that with their own money. Under the bill, parents in Iowa’s child care assistance program could agree to pay the difference between the state subsidy and what would typically be charged to parents who do not get government assistance for child care. Senator Mark Lofgren, a Republican from Muscatine, says the bill is a recommendation from the governor’s child care task force.
“It allows families to work with child care providers to work with child care providers to negotiate rates,” Lofgren says, ” and to use child care providers might not normally have accepted child care assistance families.” Democrats like Senator Sarah Trone Garriott of Windsor Heights say it makes no sense, since Iowa parents who qualify for child care assistance live at or near the poverty level.
“These are working parents who don’t have an extra dollar,” Trone Garriott says, “let alone an extra $100 a week per child to make up the difference.” Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the state needs to increase child care assistance for working families instead.
“I mean just last week we had a bill where the governor wanted gas stations across our state to sell E15 and what did the legislature do? It provided money to gas stations to sell what the governor wanted them to sell,” Pedersen said. “If we want to fix the workforce problem in our state, we know we need child care, but why are we putting it on the backs of working parents?” Senator Carrie Koelker, a Republican from Dyersville, says taxpayers cannot fill all the holes in the child care system.
“I’m a mother of four and when I had my children it was my responsibility to provide them with a quality life and it was my decision on what child care center I brought them to. It was my job, if I wanted to bring them to child care centers, that I needed to provide a living and go out and work for that,” Koelker said. “I didn’t expect that on the backs of the taxpayers.”
House Republicans passed the bill in early March and it cleared the Senate today (Monday) with the support of all Republicans present.
(Radio Iowa) – Three members of a northeast Iowa family who got double federal loans on their farmland and then declared bankruptcy have been sentenced. Fifty-three-year-old Aimee Rosenbaum of Lawler pleaded guilty to the conversion of property pledged to a farm credit agency and bankruptcy fraud. She was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison and ordered to pay more than 170-thousand dollars in restitution along with some 12-thousand dollars in fines and attorney fees.
Her 58-year-old husband Donald Rosenbaum of Cresco, was given two years probation and a one-thousand dollar fine for pleading guilty to bankruptcy fraud. Their son 27-year-old Marshal Rosenbaum from Fredericksburg was sentenced to three months in prison and three months of home confinement — and ordered to pay restitution — after pleading guilty to the conversion of property pledged to a farm credit agency.
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