(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund (SWIHTF) have announced that Sherri Clark, the Executive Director of Nishna Productions, Inc. has joined its board of directors. The SWIHTF is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the housing options for low to moderate income individuals in the Southwest Iowa counties of Harrison, Shelby, Cass, Mills, Montgomery, Fremont and Page. Over the past 5 years the trust fund has rehabilitated over 120 homes, assisted more than 100 homebuyers secure $8 million in home mortgages, and demolished 18 dilapidated houses that were beyond repair. The SWIHTF is administered by the Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) in Atlantic.

Housing trust fund board chairman, Red Oak City Administrator Brad Wright said, “I’ve known Sherri a long time and she brings years of non-profit management experience to the housing trust fund board team. The organization she leads, Nishna Productions, Inc., is an outstanding provider of services to our disabled residents and she understands how fundamental the need for affordable housing is for everyone.” 

In addition to Wright and Clark, the SWIHTF board members are Kelly Mahlberg with West Central Community Action, Renee Riedel with Cornerstone Bank, Trent Svendsen with Midstates Bank, Debbie Waterbury with Atlantic HomeRealty, Stephanie Bowden with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, and Dr. Mike Wells, Superintendent of Schools in Hamburg and Essex. The trust fund is funded by grants from the Iowa Finance Authority and the Iowa West Foundation, as well as the generous support of the boards of supervisors of the counties it serves.

(Clive, Iowa) – The Iowa Pork Producers Association has announced the five finalists for Iowa’s Best Breaded Pork Tenderloin. The announcement serves as the organization’s kick-off of October, “ National Pork Month.” The finalists are:

Massena — Main Street Bar & Grill
Corydon — Ludlow’s Steakhouse
Olaf — St. Olaf Tavern
Van Meter — 5th Quarter Bar & Grill
Waukon — Lid’s Bar & Grill

(Click on the image to enlarge the map)

Qualifying pork tenderloins must be hand-breaded or battered. In addition, the Iowa restaurant serving them needs to be open year-round and offer the sandwich as a regular menu item. Food trucks, concession stands, seasonal eateries, and catering businesses are not eligible. IPPA will announce the first- and second-place winners later this month, dubbed #Porktober22 on social media channels as part of the month-long celebration of pig farmers and the great product they produce. The annual quest to find the state’s juiciest, most flavorful tenderloin sandwich starts with public input. Each spring, tenderloin fans have about two months to nominate their favorites. This year IPPA received 4,812 votes for 449 establishments.

Judging of the top 40 took place this summer. That list included the five restaurants with the most nominations in each of IPPA’s eight districts, which “helps ensure statewide representation,” according to Kelsey Sutter, IPPA’s marketing and programs director. IPPA members and industry affiliates anonymously visited those locations and scored the tenderloins based on pork taste and quality; physical characteristics; and presentation. From there, IPPA’s restaurant and foodservice committee reviewed those 40 evaluations and selected the five contenders to advance to the next round. That same committee appointed a panel of three judges to travel to each of the finalists to determine the first- and second-place winners.

The winning restaurant will receive $500, a plaque, a banner to display, and statewide publicity that will drive new business. The runner-up is awarded $250 and a plaque from IPPA.

(Radio Iowa) – Some farmers in northwest and north-central Iowa are finding their crops damaged from last week’s cold snap. Angie Rieck Hinz, a field agronomist with the Iowa State University Extension, says the frost had the greatest effect on soybean fields. “There are some later-planted soybeans that were impacted by that frost because we did get cold enough those mornings that we were below 32 in some places,” Rieck Hinz says, “so usually we think a killing frost is about 28 degrees for soybeans.” Some pockets of the state did dip into the upper 20s at least two mornings, and a number of fields got nipped. Most farmers will still be able to save the majority of their crops. “It’s just going to take a little bit longer for them to dry down, so harvest is usually delayed a little bit,” she says. “We want them at a certain moisture and it’s going to take a little bit longer after they’ve been frosted to get to that point.”

The color on the soybeans is a key factor after a frost. “We’re always concerned about handling those frost-damaged beans or putting them into the commercial market because if the beans weren’t mature and they were still a little green, it’s pretty easy to get docked at the co-op for those green soybeans,” Rieck Hinz says. “We would advise never to put those green beans or greenish beans directly into the market.” She says aerating the soybeans may bring about a color change so they’re more of a mature tan. Most of Iowa’s corn crop is mature and ready — or close to ready — for harvest, so frost damage to the corn was minimal. “We, in some cases, were at full maturity or at black layer, but there were some fields that were still in that really late dent stage, so we can anticipate some minor yield loss there.”

High temperatures for the next several days are expected in the 70s with lows in the 50s, ideal harvest weather, with more cold moving in Thursday and Friday.

(Creston, Iowa) – Two people were arrested on separate charges Saturday, in Creston. Authorities say 21-year-old Alaynna Jo Wagner, of Creston, was arrested a little after 2-a.m. at Summit and Maple Streets, for OWI/1st offense. She later posted a $1,000 cash or surety bond, and was released. And, at around 10:35-p.m., Saturday, 39-year-old Sean Michael Wall, of Creston, was arrested in the 600 block of Livingston, for Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was later released on a $1,000 C/S Bond, after seeing a magistrate.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council is expected to act on approving several matters to come before them during their regularly scheduled meeting, Wednesday evening. First up is an Order to close selected streets on Oct. 8th, in preparation for the Atlantic Fireman’s Parade, which begins at 6-p.m. on that date (click on the parade route map to enlarge). The Parade Lineup starts at 4-pm, at 3rd and Olive.

Their meeting takes place in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall, beginning at 530-p.m., Wednesday. During the meeting, the Council will act on Orders sending to the Planning & Zoning Commission, proposals to vacate a Country Oaks alley Right-Of-Way (ROW) and the Midtown Apartments ROW. City Administrator/Zoning Commissioner John Lund, says both dead-end streets serve no current or future public purpose or strategic value to the City, and as such is recommending the Council approve passing on their recommendation to the P&Z for further review and report.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council will act to approve a Resolution with regard to a public hearing on a proposal “To enter into a General Obligation Land Acquisition Loan Agreement and to Borrow Money Thereunder, in a Principal Amount not to Exceed $700,000.” The Council adopted an identical Resolution during their meeting on Sept. 7th, but it was brought to City officials’ attention that the public hearing was published a few days later than Iowa Code requires. Therefore the Council needs to restart the proceedings for the issuance of the debt, to purchase property from the Comes Family Trust, intended for development of housing.

The Council will also act on passing a Resolution “Approving the Transfer of Funds for the First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2022-2023,” which is simply a (Routine) means to transfer funds (as needed), between the City’s 62 separate funds, in order to make the City’s budget work effectively. And, the Council will hear the Third and Final Readings of Ordinances pertaining to amendment of:

• The Mowing of Properties
• The Removal of Solid Waste
• and the Removal of accumulateD snow/ice from City sidewalks.

With regard to the latter, Councilmen Pat McCurdy, Jim Behrens, and Lee Sisco, have voted No previously, due to questions/concerns over how much snow must be removed from sidewalks, and the time frame for doing so.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic High School Principal Heather McKay reports AHS English & Journalism Teacher Allison Berryhill, is slated to receive the Iowa Council of Teachers of English’ 2022 Distinguished Service Award. The award is the highest given to an English teacher in the state. The presentation will be made at the conference luncheon on Friday, Oct. 14, at Stoney Creek Inn in Johnston, Iowa.

Ms. McKay says “BIG congratulations to Ms. Berryhill! Thank you so much for your hard work and representing our school and community in such a positive light!”

Allison Berryhill

(Radio Iowa) – University of Iowa researchers have identified 60 new genes associated with autism. Researcher Jake Michaelson says this builds on a lot of other studies of the disease. “The single greatest contributor to autism, is genetics….we were very certain about that. But the paradox of that is that we don’t know exactly which genes,” he says. Michaelson is an associate professor of psychiatry, and says identifying the new genes helps unravel some of the mystery. “We’re chipping away and building up our understanding of what parts of the genome are involved in brain development in ways that can lead to autism,” he says, “So the human human genome has about 20-thousand different genes.”

He says there’s lots of different kinds of autism –and some kinds of autism have very serious medical implications.  “So things like seizures, or implications for learning in education, like intellectual disability, and those don’t occur in all cases of autism, but they, but there are enough different developmental mechanisms involved that just by understanding what genes are playing a role, we can identify, oh, well, there might be a way that we can intervene and and reduce these medical issues that people are suffering,” according the Michaelson.

He says there needs to be a lot more study done to come up with some answers. “We’re just at the beginning of this, you know, we think that we probably need three or four times the number of participants that we have now to really start to reliably identify the remaining genes that are out there,” Michaelson says. “And so I guess the good news on that front is that if people are out there, and they haven’t yet participated, the name of the study is SPARK, and they can enroll online sparkforautism.org/U-Iowa,” he says.

Michaelson says they seem to always be talking about the deficits and the problems and the challenges of autism — but he says they need to also understand the strengths that go along with that. He says that can lead to resilience and cultivating those strengths and developing the talents that are there as autism research moves into the future.

(Radio Iowa) – Railroads play a vital role in Iowa moving people, farm commodities and all sorts of products, but they can also be lethal to pedestrians, especially kids. A new report ranks Iowa 7th worst in the country for the number of fatal accidents in 2021 involving trains and children under 19. Mark Chandler, senior research associate at Safe Kids Worldwide, says since trains are so big and loud, people assume they’ll be able to get out of the way if one comes along. “That’s a big misperception with folks is that they think they’ll hear a train coming but they actually don’t make that same ‘clickety-clack’ sound that they used to in the past,” Chandler says. “And they may not always have a horn to warn trespassers either. Adding to that, we see kids often wear headphones near the tracks, so in that case, they virtually can’t hear the train coming at all.”

There were eight accidents in the state last year involving children and trains, four of which resulted in deaths. Chandler says his organization’s research finds that many parents don’t consider it a priority to talk to their kids about the extreme dangers of walking or playing near railroads. “Even with parents that live close to train tracks, this is not something that’s top of mind for them,” Chandler says. “Fewer than half of parents surveyed said they’d ever talked with their child about how to be safe around railroad tracks. And then also when it came to modeling behavior, half of the parents admitted that they themselves take risks around railroads, things like walking along the train tracks and driving around the gates.”

People walking along the tracks may think they’re far enough away from the train to avoid getting hit, but Chandler says trains typically extend out at least three feet on either side of the tracks. “Trains weigh several thousand tons and that means that they can take up to a full mile to stop. That’s about the length of 15 football fields,” Chandler says, “so by the time that a train conductor actually sees a person or a vehicle on the tracks, it’s often too late for them to stop.”

The eight train accidents in Iowa involving children last year were in five counties: Black Hawk, Clarke, Mitchell, Muscatine and Polk. One of the deaths was in Black Hawk County while the other three children killed were all in Clarke County. There was also one injury in Clarke County. Chandler urges Iowa parents to talk with their kids about the hazards and to help create a community of rail safety advocates. Nationwide, a child is killed in a train collision every five days.

On the web at https://www.safekids.org/RailSafetyStation

(Radio Iowa) – It was a busy weekend for campaign gatherings in Iowa. Republican Governor Kim Reynolds held her 4th annual fall fundraiser and there were two fundraisers for Democrats. Governor Reynolds rallied with a crowd at the state fairgrounds Saturday, touting policy moves she and the Republican-led legislature have made to cut taxes, get rid of some gun regulations and pass new abortion restrictions.

“The Iowa Democratic Party has lost sight of hardworking Iowans and if elected all the good things we’ve done over the last four years…that would all be undone,” Reynolds said. Reynolds also promised that if she’s reelected, she’ll try to block Biden Administration policies. Reynolds cited the lawsuit that she’s already joined, challenging President Biden’s plan to cancel student loan debt. Reynolds said it’s unfair to shift those expenses to other taxpayers.

That’s a shout out to the Republican challenging the Democrat seeking reelection as attorney general. The Iowa Democratic Party held a fundraiser Sunday afternoon, with candidates drawing cheers for defending abortion rights and supporting unions. Deidre DeJear, the Democrat challenging Reynolds, urged the crowd to focus on finding common ground with potential voters.

DeJear argued Iowans agree about more than they disagree about and she accused Republicans of trying stoke divisions. “The other side’s attack on us is to pit us against one another,” DeJear said, “to magnify our differences. “Mike Franken, the Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, described the 2022 election in stark terms. “All of us are here, I think, with this overarching thing that bugs us,” Franken said, “and that is: we need to save democracy.” Franken held a fundraiser of his own Saturday afternoon in West Des Moines. He told the crowd these are serious times for the country.

Grassley spoke briefly a few hours later at the governor’s fundraiser, but did not mention Franken. A spokeswoman for Grassley says the senator will work to put the economy back on the right track, while Franken would be in lock-step with President Biden.

(Union County, Iowa) – A semi tractor trailer hauling grain rolled over Sunday evening in Union County, causing suspected serious/incapacitating injuries to the driver. The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports a 2009 Peterbilt semi driven by 65-year-old Ronald Lynn Gray, of Mount Ayr, was traversing a curve in the road on westbound 190th Street at around 4:55-p.m., when Gray lost control of the rig.

The vehicle rolled over, losing its cargo of grain, and came to rest on the passenger side. Gray was partially ejected and had his left leg pinned outside the driver’s side window of the cab, between the frame of the truck, and the ground.

He was mechanically extracted from the vehicle by EMS personnel, and transported to the hospital in Creston, for treatment of leg pain and other injuries. The tractor-trailer – registered to Wurster Farms, Inc., from Creston – sustained $30,000 damage and was declared a total loss.