The state unemployment rate held steady at two-point-seven percent for the third straight month in July. Iowa Workforce Development spokesperson Jess Dougherty says the number of people entering the workforce continues to increase.

He says the workforce participation has steadily worked its way back since the pandemic.

Some economists say they see concern among businesses about ongoing inflation and the state of the national economy. Dougherty says that is an issue in Iowa as well.

The service industries saw some losses in July.

The demand for employees continues to be strong, so when something like the recent closing of a trucking company happens, those 180 workers can often be absorbed into other companies.

Total non-farm employment has gained 14-thousand-400 jobs since last year. Education and health care gained the bulk of those jobs.

A southwest Iowa man is facing dozens of child sex abuse charges for allegedly abusing a child for the past decade.

Forty-two-year-old Ryan Kissell had been employed as a coach by Creston schools, but was hired in May to teach and coach in the Nodaway Valley School District in Greenfield. Court records indicate the alleged abuse was not connected to school activities in Creston and did not happen on school property. The Creston News Advertiser was first to report that Kissell was arrested yesterday (Wednesday) and, according to a Creston Police report, the alleged abuse of a child has been going on since 2013. Kissell has been charged with one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, 24 counts of lascivious acts with a child and 21 counts of second degree child sex abuse.

According to statement from the Nodaway Valley School District, Kissell has been placed on administrative leave. He had been hired to be a special education teacher at the high school in Greenfield and as head football coach for the Nodaway Valley/Orient-Macksburg football team. School is scheduled to start next Wednesday in the district.

A group of lawmakers is recommending that new guidelines be developed for grants from the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. The grants are for things like car or home repairs or medical expenses. Republican Senator Mike Klemish of Spillville says there could be different metrics than just income and asset tests, so the grants can address true emergencies.

Republican Representative Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids says the bright line tests of a veteran’s income and assets are causing problems.

The Iowa Veterans Commission ran out of money when it raised income and asset tests for the grants and the governor used pandemic relief funds to address the deficit. Fund managers are recommending grants again be limited to veterans with an income at not more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level who have no more than 15-thousand dollars in assets that could be quickly converted into cash. Todd Jacobus (juh-KOH-bus) is commandant of the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs.

Jacobus says veterans are keenly aware of the grants are limited to low income veterans and removing these restrictions would likely prompt a flood of applications.

Senator Nate Boulton, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the Education Savings Accounts Republicans established to cover parents’ private school expenses will soon have no income or asset limits and this program for veterans should abandon its plan to limit who qualifies.

According to the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, there are 185-thousand veterans living in Iowa and six percent of them are at or below the federal poverty line.

Each of Iowa’s 99 county sheriffs is being asked to report on what local crimes they’re seeing that may be tied to international cartels, from illegal drugs to human trafficking. U-S Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s sending letters to every Iowa sheriff, asking for their input.

Cartel-driven crimes are “soaring” in the U-S, according to Grassley, but he says the local impact often remains unclear because there isn’t comprehensive data.

With Interstates 35 and 80, Grassley says Iowa is at an intersection of major smuggling routes, and Iowa law enforcement officers monitor those routes every day. Grassley, a Republican, blames Democrats for the situation.

Grassley also blames the U-S Drug Enforcement Administration for repeatedly stonewalling requests for records and hampering congressional oversight.

A Texas pastor who’s running for president says it’s time to end the country’s political divide and deal with some the crises America faces. Ryan Binkley spoke at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair.

Binkley emphasized his unity message during his “Fair Side Chat” with Governor Kim Reynolds, too.

Binkley says doing things like balancing the federal budget, securing the border and fixing the health care system all require the two parties to work together to resolve. Binkley is the lead pastor of a church in a suburb of Dallas. Binkley is also a businssman and co-founder of a mergers and acquisitions firm based in Texas.

The final days of the Iowa State Fair promise to be sweltering, as Iowans are being warned about a late summer heat wave that’s approaching for the weekend. The past few evenings have felt almost like fall with lows in the 50s and 60s, but National Weather Service meteorologist Cory Martin says daytime high temperatures will be climbing again very soon.

Many of Iowa’s crops are at critical growth stages and Martin says there’s very little chance for rain, well into next week.

With high temps likely climbing into triple digits this weekend, Martin says it’s certainly possible the weather service will issue heat advisories, or even extreme heat warnings.

The long-range forecast indicates those high temperatures will last at least as far as next Tuesday, with the prediction of 95 degrees that day in Des Moines.

At their meeting on Wednesday night the Atlantic City Council set September 6th as a public hearing date for the sale of land at 1014 3rd Street Place to the Atlantic School District. The building trades program at the school would build a home on the property valued at $100,000 or greater in exchange for a reduced sale price of $1 from the city.

The Atlantic Community School Foundation had voted unanimously on May 11th to fund a request from Atlantic High School Industrial Technology teacher Dexter Dodson for $150,000 to allow the construction trades program students to build a home from start to finish in the community.

The construction trades program has previously built a garage and helped erect the greenhouse at the Atlantic High School. Dodson and Noah Widrowicz, Middle and High School Industrial Tech teacher lead the program which has prerequisite classes to the building trades class. Construction is expected to begin in the 2023-2024 school year when approved.

The Atlantic City Council approved the first reading of a pay increase for City Council Members and the Mayor that would go into effect following the next election cycle.

The Personnel and Finance Committee met on July 26th to review survey results and endorsed moving the Mayor’s salary to $12,500 and the Council’s pay to $50 per meeting. The increase for the City Council would go into effect on January 1, 2024 and for the mayor on January 1, 2026 following the next election.

The current salary for Mayor is $10,000 and for Councilpersons pay is $40 per meeting. Those pay rates were last adjusted in 2015. Atlantic City Administrator John Lund said they used the Estherville Iowa Community Survey of communities with populations between 4,925 and 8,375 to base the new rates on.

One man was injured during a motorcycle versus deer collision in Greene County on Wednesday night. According to the Iowa State Patrol a 1982 Honda Night Hawk motorcycle driven by 27-year-old Trevor Michael Baugh of Jefferson was eastbound on 250th Street West of C Avenue in Greene County at about 9:43 p.m. when a female deer collided with the cycle, causing Baugh to be thrown off.

Baugh sustained serious injuries and was transported to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Carroll by Carroll County EMS and later transported by air ambulance to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines.

No further details are known at this time.

(Iowa DOT) If you are driving on U.S. 169 near Mount Ayr in the coming weeks you need to be aware of a road construction project that may slow down your trip.

Starting on Monday, August 28th until Thursday, September 28th, weather permitting, construction crews will need to close U.S. 169 from Iowa 2 south of Mount Ayr to the Missouri state line so a bridge on the roadway can be removed and replaced with a culvert. Crews will then need to repave the roadway over the installed culvert.

While construction work is taking place you will be directed around the work zone on a marked detour route in Iowa and Missouri using Iowa 2, Interstate 35, U.S. 69, U.S. 136, and U.S. 169.

Help keep everyone on the road safer. Drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, you should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

The latest traveler information is available anytime through the 511 system.