(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Senior Alumni Scholarship Foundation (SASF) recently held their annual meeting and welcomed new members Melanie Petty and Steve Wallingford. The SASF was created by Atlantic alumni with the goal of providing need-based scholarships to graduating seniors of AHS.

Funding for the foundation is provided by donations from Atlantic alumni. Generous donations from individuals and previous classes have allowed the foundation to grow. The first $500 scholarship was given out in 2003, and this year is being expanded again to reach as many students as possible.

The SASF will award five, $2,000 scholarships to the Class of 2024. Students must have a GPA of 2.5 and higher to qualify. Applications are online at the Atlantic High School website and are due April 8th of this year. Students are encouraged to apply and contact Gina Honke for more information.

Photo L to R Front Row: Deb Schuler-Secretary, C.J. Heitoff- President, Billie Hoover
Back Row Mark McNees, Cathy Baragary- Executive Director, Melanie Petty, Linda Robinson- Executive Director, Cathy Hansen, J.C. Van Ginkle, Steve Wallingford, and Jackie Sampson. Not pictured are Ted Robinson- Vice President, Tammy Wickman, Mark Smith- Treasurer and Denise Masker.

Alumi, or friends of the Atlantic High School, who would like more information on donating to the 501c3 foundation are encouraged to visit the website at atlanticsasf.org or visit the Atlantic High School Senior Alumni Foundation Facebook page.

(Photo & info. courtesy Mark McNees)

The Iowa Arboretum in Boone County will debut a first-in-the-Midwest feature at its facility this spring, according to spokesman Mark Schnieder. “We’re going to be opening Treehouse Village, which is an all-inclusive tree house suspension bridge and outdoor nature play area,” Schnieder says, “and it will give people elevated and ground level experiences in tree houses and in a really neat play area.”

He says the Treehouse Village will be a welcome addition to the arboretum near Madrid, with several features just for people in wheelchairs, including a swing and a zip-line.

A portion of the Treehouse Village (Iowa Arboretum photo)

“The whole project is located in our woodland area across from our main campus, so we’re still about gardens, which is very important to us, and growing trees,” Schnieder says. “This is a new element that will bring families, bring people, bring grandparents with their grandchildren to the arboretum to experience nature and be outdoors.”

Almost $1.7 million dollars has been raised for the Treehouse Village project, with a fundraising goal of $2-million.

(Radio Iowa) – A capital campaign is being launched to build an indoor Olympic-level bicycle motocross, or BMX, track and cycling park in central Iowa. One of the effort’s organizers, Bobby Kennedy, operations manager of the Des Moines Street Collective, says the proposed facility would be an excellent resource for community wellness that would promote access to sports and recreation. Kennedy says BMX involves both bike racing and freestyle.

“Basically, you’re racing on a short course, like a quarter mile, and you’re going over what we call pumps. You have doubles, tables, things that basically either force you to adjust yourself on the bike as you’re moving, or to go into midair,” Kennedy says, “and freestyle is more what you’d see like in a skate park where you can do tricks, jumps, things like that.”

The plans call for a 200,000 square foot facility that could cost between five and nine-million dollars. “What we’re hoping to put in is a full BMX race track, but then also a skills park,” Kennedy says. “It’d be a place where you can practice drops like ledges, a pump track, and then dirt winds as well. We’re aiming big, so it’d be nice if we had some actual single-track style, maybe wooden features where people could practice mountain biking in the winter.”

Photo courtesy 80/35 BMX

There’s also discussion of building a steeply banked track, called a velodrome, for bike racing within the facility. Cycling is huge in Iowa and Kennedy says there are no indoor tracks near this level in the state. “The nice thing about an indoor track is constancy, which is not how you talk about Iowa weather,” Kennedy says. “So basically, we’re looking at something that people would be able to use on a day-to-day basis, no matter if it’s 120 degrees outside or negative 20.”

Under the capital campaign, backers have 12 months to raise $47,000 to pay for a feasibility study on the track, and Kennedy says they’ve already raised $16,000 toward the goal.

(Radio Iowa) – A state tax rebate for film, TV and documentary productions may be modified and revived for a trial run after a 15 year hiatus. Republican Representative Bobby Kaufmann, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is sponsoring a bill to create a two-year, $10 million pilot project to provide a 30% tax rebate for qualified expenses. “I’ve been convinced by seeing movies that would have been filmed here going to other states and to other countries,” Kaufmann told Radio Iowa.

The State of Iowa’s previous tax incentives for TV and film productions were halted in 2009 after auditors found the majority of tax credits were misused. Iowa is now one of 13 states that do not offer tax incentives for film and TV productions.

Todd Rognes, chief administrative officer of Renovo Media Group in Clear Lake, told lawmakers today that Renovo recently helped produce a movie with a script partially set in Iowa, but Hollywood decision makers chose to have it filmed in Kentucky since that state provides tax incentives for filmmakers. “States around Iowa — Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri — all have credits,” Rognes said. “Nebraska just rolled out a credit program.”

Rognes said “Wildcat” — a movie with stars Liam Neesen and Laura Linney that will be released in May — got $2 million in incentives from Kentucky. “So, ultimately we had to decide to not do it in Iowa and take it to Kentucky, so there are scenes in the film where the main character is walking through a park in Iowa City that we filmed in Louisville. There’s a scene with one of the main characters in a classroom in Iowa and we filmed it in Louisville,” Rognes said. “We would have loved to have done that here.”

Renovo president Lisa Crnic speaks at House Ways and Means Committee Feb. 21, 2024. (RI photo)

Lisa Crnic, a Des Moines native, recently joined Renovo as its president after 17 years in Hollywood where she helped develop and produce hits like “Clifford, the Big Red Dog” and “The Smurfs” movie. “I’ve been with Renovo for the last four or five months and, you know, we have all the relationships and the experience and whatnot to really bring high level films here,” she said, “but one of the first questions being asked by producers — and kind of the non-starter is: ‘What is your film incentive?’”

Crnic told lawmakers another movie they’d hoped to film in Iowa likely will be shot in Ireland, due to that country’s incentives for filmmakers. “Another film we’re looking at called ‘The Great Nothing’ that we’re hoping to shoot in the fall and hopefully, you know, have this rebate in place and bring to Iowa — which the producers have said, ‘We’re happy to shoot this in Iowa’ — is a really heartfelt family film that Ryan Gosling’s looking at producing and starring in right now,” Crnic said.

Crnic and Rognes made their comments during a public presentation to members of the House Ways and Means Committee meeting earlier today.

(Radio Iowa) – The Teamsters have staged an hour-long protest outside the Iowa Capitol over a bill about certification votes for unions representing state and local government workers. “We’re standing up, we’re fighting back, we’re united and this is just the beginning,” Teamsters Local 238 Secretary-Treasurer Jesse Case said during a news conference on the Capitol steps.

The Teamsters represent public sector workers who drive school buses and snow plows and work at water and sewage treatment plants. “The public sector bargaining law wasn’t broken in 2017 and they broke it and now they want to break it some more,” Case said. “Well, guess what? We’ve had enough and our members are not obligated to go above and beyond the call of duty while they’re under attack.”

The bill Case is criticizing would decertify union representation for public sector workers if their manager fails to send a list of local union members to the state. Republicans who back the bill say some managers haven’t been following that requirement and some recertification votes haven’t been held. Case said some public sector employees are being asked to be on-call outside of work hours — a violation of their union contracts.

Democratic lawmakers joined union members for news conference led by Jesse Case, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 238. (RI photo)

“I’m telling you right now, the next time that there’s a union busting bill signed into law, people across this state will start feeling the affects of service,” Case said. “…People don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to push snow when they’re not being paid to be on call.”

As part of today’s protest, a convoy of vehicles drove around the Capitol in Des Moines, honking their horns for an hour. A plane flew over the Capitol with a banner that said “Kill Senator Dickey’s Union Busting Bill.” Senator Adrian Dickey of Packwood leads the committee that approved the bill that sparked today’s protest.

“We’re going to be rolling through Senator Dickey’s senate district soon and educating people and doing press conferences,” Case said. “If he wants to bust unions…he’s going to bust business. He’s going bust services provided to people in this state.”

A 2017 Iowa law requires union recertification votes before contract negotiations, which happen every couple of years.

(Adel, Iowa) – The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office reports a stand-off that took place this (Wednesday) morning in Waukee, ended peacefully. Authorities say just before 9-a.m., Dallas County Deputies arrived at 680 SE Jonas Circle in Waukee to execute a court ordered writ of removal on the property. Deputies knocked on the door to see if the resident had vacated the property, per the court order. After knocking on different doors with no answer, Deputies heard two loud noises that sounded like gunshots that came from inside the residence.

Deputies immediately backed off and set up a perimeter while contact was attempted with the resident. Phone contact was eventually made and lone occupant inside the residence was talked into coming outside where they were detained without incident. The resident was believed to be having a mental health episode and was taken for a mental health evaluation and treatment.

The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, Waukee Police Department, and the West Des Moines Police Department were involved in the incident. The incident remains under investigation.

Iowa Counties impacted: Buena Vista, Fremont, Pottawattamie and Shelby

DES MOINES, Iowa, Feb. 21, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director in Iowa Theresa Greenfield today announced that the Agency is investing $21,457,000 in loans and $4,695,000 in grants to provide clean, safe water and promote economic growth in rural Iowa communities as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.  The investments in Iowa are part of a larger national announcement made today by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack totaling $772.6 million for 216 projects. A full list of projects from today’s national announcement is available online.

The six investments for Iowa came through the  Water and Waste Disposal Loans and Grants program. This program provides funding for clean and reliable drinking water systems, sanitary sewage disposal, sanitary solid waste disposal, and storm water drainage to households and businesses in eligible rural areas. In southwest Iowa….

–City of Randolph in Fremont County received a $351,000 loan to provide additional financing to help improve the lift station and sewer collection and lagoon systems. The project will help reduce excessive infiltration and inflow levels which have caused hydraulic overload and discharges more frequently than allowed by permit. The project will help improve water service and promote the health and safety of community residents, businesses, and visitors.

–Regional Water received a $4,324,000 loan to expand water service. This project will construct 12.25 miles of rural potable water piping infrastructure to two housing developments under construction in rural Pottawattamie County. The project will promote the health and safety of the rural community’s residents, businesses, and visitors.

USDA staff stand beside the East Nishnabotna River near Audubon, site of a 2020 USDA-funded water project

–Harlan Municipal Utilities received a $2,644,000 loan to provide additional funding to improve the water system in the city of Harlan. This project will drill four new wells, construct four new well houses, install new raw water mains to connect the new wells to the existing distribution piping, and install new electrical conduit in the well field. The aged raw water transmission main currently limits available capacity to the treatment plant, which presents a health risk during an extended demand period. Once completed, the project will provide adequate water supplies and will promote the health and safety of the residents of the rural Shelby County community.

–City of Elk Horn received a $2,739,000 loan to improve the controlled discharge lagoon wastewater treatment facility. This project will replace aged components and remove accumulated sludge. This project will slipline and seal sewers and manholes to reduce infiltration and inflow. Once completed, the project will mitigate an imminent health and sanitation hazard, enable the city to meet wastewater standards, and promote the health of residents of the rural Shelby County community.

ANKENY, Iowa [KCCI] —An Ankeny teacher was booked Wednesday into Polk County Jail after being accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student. Rachel Whiteside, 34, of Ankeny, is facing several charges stemming from alleged exploitation of a student. Whiteside, a teacher and coach in the Ankeny Community School District, engaged in sexual conduct with a student in the district between 2015-18, according to Ankeny police. The victim recently reported the relationship to the district, leading to a police investigation.

Whiteside is charged with third-degree sexual abuse, four counts of sexual exploitation by a school employee, and lascivious conduct with a minor. The charges of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation are felonies.

Whiteside is listed on the Ankeny Community School District website as a staff member at Northview Middle School and an assistant varsity softball coach at Ankeny Centennial High School.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Adair County met in a regular session this (Wednesday) morning, and approved several items on their agenda. The Board approved Board Chair Jerry Walker’s signature on about a dozen letters with regard to Ag & Family Farm Disallowances. Auditor Mandy Berg explains.

The Supervisors also approved a Child Abuse Prevention Grant Draw-down, and Walker’s signature on the form. They also approved FY2025 Insurance renewal forms for Medical, Dental, and Vision, along with ISAC County plans for FY 2025 Elections, and Assured Partners Commission Disclosure and related administrative agreements.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater requested and was granted Board approval to begin the process of hiring a Sheriff’s Department replacement for a dispatcher/jailer scheduled to retire on April 8th. Vandewater said it takes three months (sometimes longer) to train an individual for the position.

In his report to the Board, Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman presented a proposal for repairs to the North 6/Grand River Bridge.

The proposal was accepted, and the repairs will be paid for through the Local Option Sales Tax. Kauffman said also, South Central Iowa Regional 9-1-1 contacted him about replacing street signs in Adair County.

Kauffman said new posts and mounting fixtures would amount to another $100-thousand dollars. He said the current signs are at least 20-years old. The materials would be purchased in the next fiscal year, with SCIR paying the invoice for the signs. Kauffman will have to make some adjustments to his budget to account for the extra expenditure.

He said it’s a good deal for the county, because some signs are damaged each year.