The City of Audubon is moving forward on their water and sewer improvement plans after some decisions were made at the City Council’s regular monthly meeting on Monday.

City Clerk Joe Foran said part of the water improvement plan is to replace some meters so billing can sync up for everybody each month and a contract was awarded for that work.

Foran said they will be signing the contract with Building Crafts for the meter work within the next month and work will likely start within the next couple of months.

The sewer improvement plan is moving forward as they entered into an agreement with JEO for phase 2 of the Wastewater Collection System Improvements.

Some lining will be done to improve the sewer system with the grant money.

Foran also said the council passed a third reading of a city wide urban revitalization plan.

The Council also discussed some bus traffic flow changes at the elementary school and advertising for a Public Works Assistant due to a retirement in the department.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa – Progress Iowa announced today that twelve Presidential candidates will attend and speak at the 5th annual Progress Iowa Corn Feed on Sunday, July 14th at NewBo City Market in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer will deliver welcoming remarks, and Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand will serve as official timekeeper, ‘auditing’ the length of candidate speeches. This year’s Progress Iowa Corn Feed is free and open to the public, with online registration required at IowaCornFeed.com.

The twelve confirmed presidential candidates scheduled to speak are Senator Michael Bennet, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Mayor Bill de Blasio, former Congressman John Delaney, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, former Governor John Hickenlooper, Governor Jay Inslee, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Congressman Seth Moulton, Congressman Tim Ryan, and Marianne Williamson.

Attendees will participate in an activist fair when doors open at 12:00 p.m., with informational booths hosted by local organizations, candidates, as well as Presidential campaigns. There will be live music when doors open from Cedar Rapids band Full Circle, as well as family friendly activities that make the Progress Iowa Corn Feed accessible to all, for a fun-filled afternoon. Lunch will be available for purchase from vendors at the NewBo City Market, and a supporter pack is available from Progress Iowa that includes lunch tickets and promotional giveaways. The speaking program is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. and will end by 4:00 p.m.

Organizers are expecting more than a thousand to attend this free event, and encouraging participants to sign up early for the required online registration at www.IowaCornFeed.com.

Progress Iowa is a multi-issue progressive advocacy organization with a network of more than 75,000 progressives. Year-round, Progress Iowa advocates for a stronger middle class, first-class public education, and fairness for all Iowans under the law. For more about the 5th annual Progress Iowa Corn Feed visit http://IowaCornFeed.com

w/ Chris Parks

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The Creston Police Department reports four arrests on Monday, July 8th.

At 8:45am Officers arrested 38-year-old Joshua Smith of Creston for Violation of Parole. He was arrested at 905 Townline Street in Creston on the Department of Corrections Warrant. He was later transferred to the Newton Correctional Facility.

At 2:45pm Creston Police arrested 57-year-old Rodney Bell of Creston at the Law Enforcement Center on a Union County Warrant for the charge of Domestic Abuse Assault with Injury. He was later released from the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

At 3:15pm 39-year-old Haley Miller of Des Moines was arrested at the Law Enforcement Center on a Union County Warrant for the charge of Violation of Probation on the original charge of Theft 3rd. She was being held in the Adams County Jail awaiting a bond hearing.

At 4:36pm Creston Police arrested 31-year-old Todd Reinier of Des Moines in the 700 block of East Taylor Street in Creston for Possession of a Controlled Substance 1st Offense. He was later released from the Union County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Creston Police also received two incident reports on Monday. At 7:06am a report was received from two residents at 1501 North Lincoln Street that their parked vehicles were vandalized. One vehicle had two tires punctured and the hood keyed. The other vehicle had one tire punctured. The damage was estimated at $100.

At 8:42pm a resident at 612 Grand Avenue reported that a package that was delivered to his residence was taken from outside of his door. The estimated loss was $62.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say an employee has died at a hotel bowling alley in Davenport.

Police and medics were called to the Hotel Blackhawk a little after 10 p.m. Sunday. They found 27-year-old Brittany Russell unresponsive in the bowling alley. She was pronounced dead there.

Police say a preliminary investigation shows she was the victim of an accident. Details haven’t been released.

Police say Russell was employed by the Blackhawk Bowl and Martini Lounge.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man has been given 60 years for the slaying of a woman in Cedar Rapids.

Station KCRG reports that 25-year-old Zackary Ildefonso was sentenced Monday. He’d pleaded guilty in May to voluntary manslaughter and other crimes. Prosecutors had reduced the charges in return for Ildefonso’s pleas.

Prosecutors say Ildefonso fatally shot 33-year-old Heidi Stephens on Nov. 20, 2017, after an argument about a purse that he had stolen from her. He also shot at Andrew Shank in an attempt to kill him during the same dispute.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest early Tuesday morning of 20-year-old Cordell Ryan Straw of Villisca for Driving While Suspended. Straw was arrested at 12:32am following a traffic stop near 240th Street and Highway 71, North of Villisca. Straw was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $566.25.

(Radio Iowa) — Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper says his first abandoned foray into property development taught him not to give up on “a great idea” — like his current campaign for the White House. “I’m going to keep pushing as long as I feel people are heaing something in me that for them is a solution to this crisis of division,” Hickenlooper says, “all this animosity that this country’s filled with right now.”

Many of Hickenlooper’s national staff and advisers left the campaign after urging the 67-year-old to run for Colorado’s U.S. Senate instead. Hickenlooper says throughout his career, he’s faced critics who say he’s not the right person for the job of running a brew pub, being mayor of Denver or governor of Colorado, but he persevered.

“How do you win if you’re at one percent in the polls nationally? You win Iowa,” HIckenlooper says. “That’s how you win. You go out and you walk back and forth across Iowa and you drive cars across Iowa and you convince people that…you’re the best person for the job and…that you can win Iowa and most people in Iowa they feel that if you win Iowa, you’re going to become the next president.”

Hickenlooper says he may not be the smartest candidate in the race, but no one will work harder. “There’s not slick slogans and you know it’s going to take a while to turn the tide, but I believe I am different than anybody else,” Hickenlooper told reporters, “and I think when people get to know that and hear it, they’ll begin to talk about it to their neighbors.”

Hickenlooper spoke to crowds in Des Moines, Creston and Ottumwa Monday. Hicklooper describes himself as a “pragmatic progressive” and argues he can win in swing states Donald Trump won in 2016.

(Radio Iowa) — A 38-year-old California congressman who was born in northwest Iowa has ended his presidential campaign and will seek re-election to the U.S. House instead.  Eric Swalwell formally launched his candidacy in April. He ended it with an announcement Monday, outside a union hall in Dublin, California.

Swalwell has been a frequent visitor on the Iowa campaign trail since 2017. He often talked about being born in Sac City and living in Algona, where his father was a policeman before the family moved to California. Swalwell was among the 20 presidential candidates who met the fundraising and polling criteria to be invited to last months’ televised debates, but he struggled to raise money and gain attention in the crowded field.

Swalwell did not signal he’ll endorse any of the competitors who remain in th erace, but Swalwell told reporters the party’s nominee must be able to take a punch and throw a punch at Trump on the debate stage — AND unite the country. As Swalwell exits, a California billionaire Tom Steyer is reportedly considering jumping into the race.

Tom Steyer has spent millions on voter turn-out efforts since 2013. More recently, Steyer bought ads calling for President Trump’s impeachment. Steyer held a news conference in Des Moines in January — to announce he was NOT running for president, but multiple media have been reporting he’s reconsidered.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 2:15 a.m. CDT

TIPTON, Iowa (AP) — Video and documents show an Iowa trooper pointed his gun at a motorcyclist and knocked him down for no apparent reason during a traffic stop, then falsely charged the man with eluding law enforcement. Dashboard camera video shows then-Iowa State Patrol officer Robert Smith pulling over motorcyclist Bryce Yakish for speeding on Sept. 25, 2017. What appears to be a routine stop escalates immediately when Smith runs from his car with his gun drawn and strikes Yakish in his helmet’s face shield.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A southwest Iowa man has won his free speech legal battle with a sheriff’s department and two officers who charged him with harassment for writing a social media post that profanely criticized a deputy. Jon Richard Goldsmith will be paid $10,000 by the Adams County Sheriff’s office as settlement of a federal lawsuit he filed in May alleging violations of his rights to free speech, retaliation and false arrest.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A judge has sentenced an Iowa woman to up to 40 years in prison for charges related to the murder of a woman and the burning of her body. The Des Moines Register reports Judge Thomas Bice on Monday sentenced 28-year-old Mackenzie Knigge, of Clare, to 40 years with the possibility of parole after 24½ years. Knigge pleaded guilty June 6 to charges related to the killing of 26-year-old Jessica Gomez, of Fort Dodge. Her burned body was found in 2017 in a field near Clare.

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities continue searching for a missing boater in eastern Iowa. The Linn County Sheriff’s Office called off the search Sunday evening in and along the Cedar River in Palisades-Kepler State Park. The missing man is believed to be 59-year-old Ricky Lee Veenstra of Cedar Rapids.