(Sioux City, Iowa) – A man who robbed the Country Store in Denison, Iowa, was sentenced Thursday (August 4, 2022), to 17 years in federal prison. The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa reports 24-year-old Nhial Biliew, from Denison, received the prison term after a guilty plea to one count of interference with commerce by robbery. Evidence in the case revealed on June 23, 2020, Biliew used a gun to rob the Country Store in Denison. Biliew had previously been convicted for (1) Interference with Official Acts; (2) Theft, in the 4th Degree; (3) Possession of Drug Paraphernalia; (4) Providing False Identification Information; and (5) Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree.

Biliew was sentenced in Sioux City U-S District Court to 204 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Biliew is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

The case was investigated by Denison, Iowa Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Crawford County Sherriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Forde Fairchild.

(Harlan, Iowa) – Shelby County Auditor/Commissioner of Elections reports “Absentee ballot REQUESTS for the September 13th Special Election for the Harlan Community Schools Bond Measure, are now available.”  He said also, “Methods to obtain a request and other information include:

1.       Call 712-755-3831 ext.6 only one request per person is allowed from the Auditors office.

2.       Producing copies of the blank request is allowed.

3.       Vote absentee in person starting August 24th

4.       Absentee in person voting in the Auditors office is available through September 12th.

5.       The Auditor’s office is open from 8:00 am until 4:30 pm.

6.       Email mmaxwell@shco.org to receive an absentee ballot request that you may print at home.

7.       The Auditor’s office is not allowed to place an un-voted ballot in the mail system after August 29th.

8.       Absentee ballots MUST be received in the Auditor’s office by 8:00 pm September 13th, 2022.”

The proposed $22.9 million bond issue covers two-thirds of the cost of renovations to all four facilities within the Harlan School District. School officials say the other third of the cost, or roughly $9.1 million, would come from the district’s Secure and Advanced Vision for Education, or SAVE, funds. One of the primary goals of the bond is to replace – with a new, modern facility – the current intermediate building. Constructed in 1965, the oldest building in the Harlan School District serves three through five. The plan is to construct the new building, which is nearly the size of the current facility, on the current playground, and then to tear down the old facility to build a new playground.

The District plans to invest $14-million into the High School, to update the classrooms which are surrounded by metal walls and limited electrical outlets. If approved, the bond would include a $2.33 increase to the district’s property tax levy, which is nearly $1.75 less than the last time school officials asked for a bond, in 2018. That effort failed. The increase is roughly an additional $9.57 a month on a household valued at $100,000 or $0.27 per acre.

Auditor Mark Maxwell reminds voters who intend vote absentee, to get their voted ballots to the Auditors office as soon as possible after receiving a ballot in the mail.  Also, if you have changed residence since the last time you voted, get your new address updated now to make your voting process more efficient on election day, by eliminating added paperwork the day of voting.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Abnormally dry or drought conditions now cover more than half of Iowa. The latest Drought Monitor map was released Thursday morning. The map shows 56% of the state rated as abnormally dry, which now includes Polk and Jasper counties. Areas of northwest and southeastern Iowa are now so dry they’re dealing with drought conditions. Two-thirds of Cass County, most of Adair, Madison, Adams, Union and Montgomery Counties are experiencing a Moderate Drought, while other areas to the north and northeast are considered “Dry.”

According to the report, 30.6% of Iowa is experiencing moderate drought, up from 17.2% a week ago.  9.1% of Iowa is experiencing severe drought, a 1.4% increase from last week, while 3.2% of the state is dealing with extreme drought.

Iowa Drought Monitor, 8/4/22 (click on image to enlarge)

 An island of D1 category moderate drought introduced two weeks ago in southeast Iowa is expanding across the southern and central part of the state into southwest Iowa. Plymouth County and the northern portion of Woodbury County in northwest Iowa are dealing with extreme drought conditions.

(Radio Iowa) – There are batteries in our cars, our laptops, and even our toothbrushes, and now batteries are helping power homes and businesses in Cedar Rapids. Alliant Energy has launched a pilot project which includes six large batteries at the city’s Deer Run substation. Utility spokesman Tony Palese says it’s an effort to complement Alliant’s growing renewable energy portfolio. “Oftentimes, these battery systems are paired with renewable resources, like wind and solar. That can help smooth out those variations in energy production and shift energy to times that customers really need it,” Palese says. “So if it’s peak demand, if it’s shifting to night when the sun’s not out, or when the wind’s not blowing, these systems help us meet those customer needs.”

The system stores energy from the grid at times of the day when demand is low and releases it when it’s needed to power homes and businesses. The five-megawatt battery system can store enough electricity to power about five-thousand homes for two hours. “This battery project is really designed to help meet that peak load demand and we’re excited to be able to study how it performs in the real world,” Palese says. “We understand the capabilities of the system and the technology, but really finding out how it’s going to function, what the best uses are, and how to most effectively utilize the system.” Alliant has been using battery storage systems for several years, but he says battery technology has advanced to enable this new type of project which is designed to deliver greater efficiency and affordability.

“This all fits into our clean energy blueprint,” Palese says. “That’s really our roadmap to transition to more cost-effective, renewable energy, something that’s become especially important as we work to sustain that economic and environmental health of the communities we serve.” This is Alliant’s fourth battery storage project in Iowa, joining those in Decorah, Marshalltown and Wellman. The Cedar Rapids project doubles the company’s battery storage capacity in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Starting today (Friday), Summit Carbon Solutions will start providing state regulators with lists of landowners along its proposed pipeline who have not agreed to voluntary easements. Justin Kirchoff, president of Summit Ag Investors, says hundreds of people HAVE signed contracts to let the carbon pipeline run through their property. “We’ve got about 750 landowners that have decided to sign voluntary easements with us today, so that’s about 270 miles of pipeline easements,” Kirchoff says. Summit submitted an application to the Iowa Utilities Board for a pipeline permit earlier this year. State regulations require disclosure of which parcels along the route are not yet secured voluntarily.

“That process will take about a month,” Kirchoff says, “and then, obviously, as we move forward and continue to sign voluntary easements which remains 100% of our focus today some of those names will come off the list.” Kirchoff says people understandably have questions about carbon capture and the pipeline itself. “I think a lot of people have scar tissue, if you will, in terms of Dakota Access. We’re going to do things a lot different,” Kirchoff says. “First and foremost, over 60% of this pipe is going to be eight inches or smaller and you compare that with Dakota Access, which is 30 inches. Just the whole process of installation is going to be a lot less invasive.”

The Dakota Access pipeline, which cuts diagonally through Iowa, was first proposed nearly a decade ago. In 2017, it began shipping crude oil from North Dakota to a terminal in Illinois. Kirchoff says Summit has obtained voluntary easements from about a third of landowners in five states. The pipeline’s Iowa segment is to connect with a dozen ethanol plants in the state, to lower the carbon footprint of the fuel that’s produced. “We’re getting closer to fall here. Every other row of corn that’s harvested is going to wind up going to an ethanol plant,” Kirchoff says. “We think its an incredibly important market and if we want to be competitive long-term we think that it certainly makes sense that we implement projects like this that make ethanol plants in the near term more profitable and in the long term more competitive in various markets.”

Several county boards of supervisors have urged state officials to reject eminent domain requests connected to carbon pipelines. The eminent domain process would let the company seize land from property owners who haven’t signed voluntary easements. Summit and two other companies have proposed building carbon pipelines through Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest Iowa Farm Bureau Food and Farm index survey is showing the concerns people have with food prices. The Farm Bureau’s Zach Bader says prices were listed at the top of the list of concerns for the first time in nine years of the survey for a couple of items. “Price is listed as the most important factor that’s driving both meat and dairy purchases by Iowans that’s above eight other factors that were tested,” he says.

Bader says 79 percent of those in the survey done with Harris Polls, say they are concerned about the impact of government regulations on the prices. “Which is up from 62 percent in last year survey,” Bader says. “In fact, government regulation that increases food costs went from the sixth most concerning aspect of food production last year in 2021, to the most selected option.”

Bader says they didn’t ask for specifics on the regulation side. “We just left it as government regulation that increases food costs. So there’s, you know, regulations on the food chain all the way from the farm — all the way up to the manufacturing and whatnot,” he says.

Bader says the survey found among the Iowans who are the primary or have a shared responsibility for grocery grocery shopping responsibilities, 96 percent eat meat at least weekly, and 94 percent consume dairy, at least weekly.

(Winterset, Iowa) – A wind farm project featuring 30 turbines has been scrapped in Madison County. Officials with MidAmerican Energy told KCCI in Des Moines, that the utility company says it canceled the Arbor Hill project, because of the circumstances surrounding their original plans have changed, including the number of turbines they were allowed to construct.

In a statement to the television station, MidAmerican said “While the project in Madison County won’t proceed, we have proudly partnered with more than 4,000 landowners across Iowa to host wind turbines that are critical to our ability to deliver customers clean, renewable energy – in 2021, that amounted to more than 88% of the energy our Iowa customers used.”

August 4, 2022 – (Des Moines) Today, Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) Director Debi Durham joined officials from MidAmerican Energy and Mills Economic Development Foundation to commemorate the certification of Mills Crossing through IEDA’s Certified Sites Program. This is the state’s second mega site to be certified and the first located in western Iowa.

“Having certified sites gives us a tremendous advantage in attracting new development opportunities,” said Debi Durham, executive director of IEDA and the Iowa Finance Authority. “The mega site is uniquely suited to companies requiring substantial infrastructure, such as automotive manufacturers and other large-scale industries, making Iowa an attractive location for these larger projects.”

The Mills Crossing site, developed by MidAmerican Energy, is located on a BNSF Railway dual track main line and is minutes from I-29 and I-80 via four-lane U.S. Highway 34. The site has approximately 1,641 acres, including 1,338 contiguous, developable acres.  As a certified mega site, Mills Crossing offers prospective users a strategic advantage for rapid development, access to a population center of one million-plus people and a centralized location in the U.S. connected to markets and ports throughout the country.

“MidAmerican is a leader in renewable energy development and that’s a differentiator for global companies that have their own aggressive sustainability targets to reach,” Kathryn Kunert, MidAmerican’s vice president of economic integration and connections, said. “Having 88.5% of their electricity coming from renewable sources at no net cost instantly puts any business locating at Mills Crossing ahead of the game.”

Iowa launched the state’s Certified Sites Program in 2012 to address the lack of project-ready industrial sites in the state. It is an independent, third-party program with certification through the nationally recognized site selection firm Quest Site Solutions. Iowa’s rigorous certification process is designed to consider national site location standards, as well as Iowa’s natural assets and the needs of the state’s targeted industry sectors of advanced manufacturing, biosciences and finance and insurance.

Site certification remains one of the fastest growing trends in the site selection business, and by introducing certified sites to the market, Iowa is better able to compete for projects. To date, Iowa has attracted more than $1.3 billion in capital investment due to the availability of these development-ready sites. Certification is a time and cost-savings benefit for end users. It also assures business prospects that site due diligences have been completed and mitigation and infrastructure plans are in place – meaning sites are relatively “risk-free”.

The mega site category is only one of seven within the Iowa’s Certified Sites program. Sites must be comprised of at least 1,000 acres to qualify for “mega site” status. Mills Crossing: Your Green Advantage in American’s Heartland, will join 28 other certified sites located across Iowa, in addition to several sites that are currently working through the various phases of the program.

For more information on Iowa’s Certified Sites Program, visit iowaeda.com/locations.

Atlantic, Iowa — The Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) has a new face in the Community Development department. Ashley Hayes has joined the staff as a Community Development Specialist. She will work with SWIPCO communities to continue to improve the region through community and economic development activities and planning.

“I have been a resident of Southwest Iowa for most of my life and have a great appreciation for our communities and the people,” said Hayes. “SWIPCO is an excellent way to assist our area communities and to further help them continue to thrive in this region of rural Iowa.”

Hayes is a graduate of Atlantic High School and has a bachelors in psychology from Buena Vista University. She brings many years of experience in city government and economic promotion through her time on the city council in Atlantic and as the program coordinator at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce. Hayes

“SWIPCO Community Development Specialists are Jacks of all trades and must be able to link community needs with the resources that are out there,” said John McCurdy, Executive Director of SWIPCO. “Ashley’s varied experience, including in city government, bring valuable insight and skills to our organization as we work with our most important clients, the cities and counties of Southwest Iowa.”

Hayes lives in Atlantic with her son and remains active in various volunteer organizations in the community, including Atlantic Rising.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Sheriff’s Office, today (Thursday), said they were made aware on Tuesday (Aug. 2nd), of an incident of animal abuse, cruelty and killing, involving two dogs in the rural Cumberland area. The two dogs had been missing since July 27th, 2022 and were found dead near a bridge on 660th Street, close to Tucson Road. Their rear legs  had been bound and they were found to have been shot in the head.

A reward leading to the prosecution of the person or persons responsible is being offered by the family. It has grown from $1,000 to $5,840, as of this post (2:40-p.m., 8/4/22).

These dogs, “Bella” and “Pepper” were found dead. They are owned by the Lank family. (Photos provided by Levi Lank)

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office has investigated and will continue to investigate any information that comes to our office pertaining to this incident. Please, if you have any information regarding the case, contact the Cass County Sheriff’s Office at 712-243-2206.