ATLANTIC, IA (May 13, 2021) – Produce in the Park kicks off the 2021 farmers market season on June 3rd. Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoege says the market is excited to have live music, prepared foods, and community groups at the park in 2021.

Produce in the Park is a community-oriented farmers market held every Thursday evening (4:30-6:30 PM) from June 3 through September 30 in the Atlantic City Park. Shoppers at the market will find delicious fresh produce, baked goods, meats, farm-fresh eggs, and a variety of crafting products such as candles, soaps, and lotions.

Produce in the Park also offers the chance to learn about community organizations, and plenty of space to relax and distance while enjoying live music and dinner in the shady city park. “Produce in the Park is a great place to chill after work on Thursdays,” commented Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bailey Smith. “Grab dinner and relax in the shade while listening to live music. Don’t forget to bring your lawn chair!”

While Produce in the Park is welcoming community organizations back to the park in 2021, safety remains a top priority. To minimize the spread of COVID-19, Produce in the Park asks customers to bring their own lawn chairs and blankets, maintain a respectful six-foot distance from others, and mask when distancing isn’t possible.

Produce in the Park 2021 summer farmers markets are sponsored by the Atlantic Community Promotion Commission, First Whitney Bank & Trust, Cass County Tourism, the Nishna Valley Family YMCA, Cass County Health System, and the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce.

Produce in the Park continues to accept vendors for the 2021 season. Both food and craft vendors are invited to join the market. Vendors can register for the entire season, or sign up for just a few weeks. More information on vending at Produce in the Park can be found at www.produceintheparkatlanticiowa.com. Questions on vending can be directed to Market Manager Brigham Hoegh at produceintheparkatlanticiowa@gmail.com or (712) 249-5870.

Stay up to date on the latest with Produce in the Park by signing up for the Produce in the Park newsletter at www.produceintheparkatlanticiowa.com, and following Produce in the Park on Facebook @ProduceInThePark and Instagram @ProduceInTheParkAtlanticIA.

Two people were injured Thursday night in Guthrie County, when a pickup rear-ended a tractor. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2009 Chevy Silverado pickup driven by 23-year old Kaleb Michael Borders, of Copperas Cove, Texas, was traveling north on Justice Road, north of 140th Street at around 8:42-p.m., when it struck the rear of a northbound 1970 International 856 tractor, driven by 60-year-old Steven Kevin Derry, of Audubon.

Borders was transported by Mercy One Helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. Derry was taken by Bayard Fire and Rescue to the Audubon County Memorial Hospital.

The crash remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by Guthrie and Greene County Sheriff’s Deputies.

(Radio Iowa) – Two brother farmers from Iowa will spend time in prison for tax evasion. Sixty-one-year-old Scott Stecher, and 58-year-old Doug Stecher or Clarion were each sentenced to one month in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion in December. The brothers admitted that they diverted income from their farming operations to hide it from the I-R-S and evade paying income taxes from 2011 through 2013.

The information shows Doug Stecher hid 719-thousand dollars of income paid 240-thousand dollars less in income tax. Scott Stecher hid 448-thousand dollars of income and paid 183-thousand-785 dollars less in income tax as a result.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans with a private pool or hot tub who have leftover chlorine disinfectant from last year are lucky. One-and-a-half MILLION pounds of chlorine was destroyed in an explosion last fall at a plant in Louisiana and Iowa Parks and Recreation Association C-E-O Steven Jordison says that has caused the price of chlorine tablets to spike this year. “I think that the realization is that because pools are now opening up for the spring, summer and fall season, reality has now set in from the incident tha that happened last fall,” Jordison says.

There are two other factors driving up demand for chlorine tablets. Jodison says an estimated 300 swimming pools impacted by the February storm that struck Texas are being replaced, repaired and refilled — plus the number of backyard pools rose dramatically due to the pandemic.

“If you still have chlorine from last year and it is a triclor or diclor and there are going to be different street names for this whether you go to a Menard’s, a Walmart, a Target, a Lowes, a Thiessens — whatever your local retailer might be — they’ll have different names for that chlorine. It will have a stabilizer in it, so if it’s granular, it’s safe,” Jordison says. “You can still use that chemical that you’ve got to get going to start with the season.”

If hoarding becomes an issue with the pellets or tablets of chlorine that are used in private pools and hot tubs, Jordison says be careful if you buy online. “Make sure exactly what you’re getting, the strength that you’re getting and how quickly they’re going to be able to flip it for you to be able to receive,” Jordison says.

Some people with their own pool or hot tub use systems that convert salt into chlorine. Pools owned and operated by cities, hotels, home owners associations and recreation facilities use a different kind of LIQUID chlorine disinfectant and Jordison says it is NOT made at the plant in Louisiana that was damaged last fall.

(Radio Iowa) – A recent cancer patient returned to a Sioux City hospital today (Thursday) to give a special thank you to the nurses who took care of him. Russ Guthridge of Aurelia and his wife released 50 white doves outside of St. Luke’s UnityPoint Health Center as a sign of love, new beginnings, and blessings to his caregivers. “I wanted to show how much I appreciate the nurses and what they did for me. I was here three weeks, and without the nurses, it would have been very difficult,” Gutheridge says. Haley Brewer is one of the nurses who cared for Gutheridge.

“This is beautiful, you know we’ve never had anything like this at St. Lukes. I’ve never gotten to see something like this. It was just a wonderful, wonderful way to say thank you,” Brewer says. The doves took off, circled the hospital and began their 60-mile flight back to Aurelia. Gutheridge has trained the doves for nearly 15 years — and says they always find their way home.

“We turn them loose for weddings, funerals, special occasions,” Gutheridge explains. “They know exactly where they are and how to get there.” He says the birds also take part in racing events and can return home from up to 600 miles away.

(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand is investigation potential overpayments the Scott County Auditor approved for election workers. Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz (MORE-its) approved increasing pay for workers in the June, 2020 Primary Election to 15-dollars an hour. State Auditor Rob Sand says that may have been a misuse of federal Help America Vote funds made available to Iowa counties by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s office. Moritz made the pay decision on her own, without approval from the Scott County Board of Supervisors.

Moritz retired as Scott County Auditor last month.

(Radio Iowa) –  Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne is sponsoring a bill designed to force big corporations to disclose how many jobs they outsource to other countries and if they’re using so-called tax havens in other countries to avoid paying U.S. taxes.  “In 2017, US corporations booked $32 billion of profits in Bermuda despite having 547 employees there. That’s something like an efficiency rate of $130 million per employee. Come on. I know Iowans are efficient when it comes to work, but that’s crazy,” Axne says. “That’s $32 billion in profits that’s been off-shored — they’re not paying taxes on that.”

Axne’s bill has cleared the U.S. House Financial Services Committee and similar legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says it’s a fairness issue. “The large, multinational corporations are shifting those profits around and avoiding taxes,” Axne says, “while our Main Street businesses are paying their taxes and they’re struggling to make ends meet.”

If Axne’s bill becomes law, corporations with shareholders would have to publicly disclose details about operations on a country-by-country basis. Axne says it would show how many employees are based outside the U.S. and how much company revenue and profits are being claimed as being earned outside the U.S. “Once you disclose this, there is an obvious understanding of how much money we’re missing out in taxes because businesses are taking advantage of opportunities that the everyday Iowan, the everyday American doesn’t even know about,” Axne says, “or even have a chance to do.”

Axne’s bill would work in tandem with tax changes the Biden Administration is seeking to reduce the incentives for corporations to shift profits to low-tax countries in order to avoid U.S. corporate taxes.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports deputies with the Page County Sheriff’s Office, Wednesday, arrested Justin Allen Williams. He was taken into custody at the Boone County Iowa Sheriff’s Office. Williams was wanted on two active Page County Warrants for Violation of Probation. He was transported to the Page County Jail and held on a $20,000 cash or surety bond.

The Iowa Department of Public Health on Thursday (today as of 10-a.m.) reported 295 new positive COVID-19 tests and five additional deaths. At 10 a.m., the health department reported 398,791 total positive tests, 353,564 total recoveries and 5,994 total deaths since the pandemic began. Twenty-four hours earlier, the health department reported 398,496 total positive tests and 5,989 total deaths. State data shows 1,216,277 people have been fully vaccinated in Iowa, with 2,538,058 total doses administered.

Iowa’s COVID-19 positivity rates continue to decline. In the last 24 hours, the 14-day average dropped from 3.7% to 3.6% and the 7-day average dropped from 3.4% to 3.2%. There have been 4,929,002 virus tests administered in Iowa. COVID-19 hospitalizations are up slightly from 159 to 162 overnight. There are 42 patients in ICU and 19 patients on ventilators. In RMCC Region 4 (hospitals in western & southwest Iowa), there are: 10 patients hospitalized with COVID or symptoms of the virus; three people with COVID are in an ICU; No new admissions to area hospitals are reported, and no one was on a ventilator in the latest report.

Iowa is again down to a single long-term care facility with a COVID-19 outbreak. The Risen Son Christian Village, in Pottawattamie County, reports nine positive cases among residents and staff. There have been 2,333 deaths reported in Iowa’s care facilities.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County; The # of new cases since yesterday {+} if any; and the total number of deaths in each county to date:
Cass, 1,470 cases; {+6}; 54 deaths
Adair, 985; {+0}; 32
Adams, 349 {+0}; 4
Audubon, 530 {+0}; 10
Guthrie, 1,298 {+2}; 30
Harrison County, 1,930; {+2}; 73
Madison County, 1,763; {+5; 19
Mills County, 1,791; {+5}; 22
Montgomery, 1,111;{+0}; 38
Pottawattamie County, 12,226; {+7}; 168
Shelby County, 1,369 {+2}; 37
Union County, 1,364; {+1}; 33

(Radio Iowa) – The Carroll City Council has approved providing 100-thousand dollars in matching funds if a state grant application to repave part of the Sauk Rail Trail comes through. The 33-mile trail runs from Swan Lake State Park just southeast of Carroll to Lake View, near Black Hawk Lake State Park. Carroll City Council member Carolyn Siemann says she’s gotten feedback on the project from residents. “I have to say after we discussed a while back a couple of people said they’re happy we’re expanding, but they also know upkeep and maintenance is so important, too,” she says, “so there is enthusiasm for this.”

The trail is eight-foot wide and Carroll City City Manager Mike Pogge-Weaver says the plan would be to put a five-inch concrete surface on top of the asphalt. “There are some areas where the trail has deteriorated to a level where they’ll remove existing asphalt and replace with concrete and then additionally, under bridge underpasses, they’ll remove the asphalt and put in concrete, so they don’t raise the level in those areas,” he says, “just for clearance reasons.”

The Carroll County Board of Supervisors also has voted to provide 100-thousand dollars in matching funds if a one-MILLION dollar state grant comes through. The Iowa D-O-T has has set aside five million dollars for repairing trails and grant applications are due next week.

(More on the web at http://www.sauk-trail.com/)