Atlantic, Iowa – Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) is offering communities in the region a unique opportunity to obtain an affordable housing solution through the Homes for Iowa program. Reservations are needed now to ensure a spot for 2024 construction.

Housing in rural Iowa continues to be a struggle as demand continues to surge and supply remains low. Homes for Iowa (HFI) may help meet that demand for low to moderate income households. Pre-constructed homes can be reserved and delivered to be put on a prepped site and foundation.

HFI is a public-private partnership with Iowa Prison Industries. The non-profit organization trains and staffs a home building operation near the Newton Correctional Facility. The minimum-security offender crew builds the homes with training from Homes for Iowa. HFI sells the homes to the public through area Councils of Governments and coordinates moving logistics. The homes are quality 2×6 stick built construction that come ready for utility hook-up.

These new construction homes come with the affordable price-tag of $80,000 for a 2-bedroom and $95,000 for a 3-bedroom, delivery included. Several floor plans are available to choose from. The initial homeowner must earn below $113,000 taxable income (after credits and deductions) based off their most recent tax return. Some other requirements may apply.

Ft. Madison 2BR exterior

Ft. Madison Green Oaks

All offenders in the program enter voluntarily, typically through a recruitment and interview process. Crew members receive training in all aspects of the homebuilding process and can earn numerous certificates. Skills they can carry with them as they move out of the system.

Homes for Iowa has already successfully constructed and placed over 75 homes in 36 counties throughout the state of Iowa. Find out more about the program by visiting https://www.swipco.org/housing-swihtf/homes-for-iowa/ If an area county, community, or stakeholder is interested in procuring these homes in their area then contact SWIPCO’s Ann Anstey, Grants Specialist II in the office at (712)243-4196 or (866)279-4720 ext. 260 or email ann.anstey@swipco.org.

Homes need to be reserved as soon as possible if they are desired for a 2024 placement. It would also be a good time to get plans made and a place in line for projects beyond the next calendar year.

SWIPCO is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

Des Moines — The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Friday (oct. 27), announced the first influenza-related death of the 2023-24 respiratory virus season. The individual was an older adult (61 to 80 years) from southern Iowa.

Influenza (flu) strains, along with other respiratory viruses are circulating in the state. Iowa’s most recent Respiratory Virus Surveillance Report shows the virus at a low level of activity, and hospitals are currently reporting low patient admission rates. Although flu activity in Iowa is currently low, Iowans can take a few simple precautions to keep themselves and their families healthy throughout the respiratory virus season.

“During respiratory virus season, it’s important for Iowans to prioritize their health and the well-being of their community,” said State Medical Director Robert Kruse. “Iowans should practice good hygiene, stay home when they’re sick and consult their healthcare providers about vaccines and other preventive measures against influenza and other respiratory diseases.”

Vaccination protects from serious illness and death from respiratory diseases like flu, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). HHS encourages Iowans to talk to their doctor or other trusted health care provider about vaccines, especially those with chronic health conditions who may be at higher risk for serious illness.

Additional Tips to Stay Healthy:

• Stay home if you are sick to keep others safe.
• Clean high touch surfaces in your home frequently with household disinfectants.
• Practice hand hygiene frequently with soap and water or hand sanitizer for at least 20 seconds.
• Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue, or if a tissue is not available, cover them with an upper shirt sleeve, not a hand.
• Avoid social gatherings if you or your children are ill.
• Keep children home from daycare or school who have fever, cough, congestion, runny nose, or sore throat, and until they are fever-free for 24 hours without medications that reduce fever.

If you or a loved one is sick and needs medical care, contact your healthcare provider. Your provider can offer advice on whether you or your child needs to be evaluated in person, tested for flu or other respiratory diseases, and the best location for care. Iowans should not visit a hospital emergency department for minor respiratory symptoms.

Iowans with questions about vaccines should speak to their health care provider. Locate healthcare providers with vaccines at https://www.vaccines.gov/.

A south-central Iowa town is looking at using treated wastewater as a potential new source of drinking water. The town of Osceola draws its drinking water from West Lake, but the lake is six feet below normal after three years of drought. City Administrator Ty Wheeler says the city’s treated wastewater is cleaner than the raw water of the lake.

The town will need approval from the Department of Natural Resources before it can begin including treated wastewater in the drinking water supply. Osceola residents are currently under water use restrictions. Wheeler says the new water treatment system is much different than what water treatment used to be.

Wheeler says the recirculated water source could come online as soon as next year if they get approval from the state. It would be the first city in the state to reuse wastewater for drinking water. Wheeler made his comments on the Iowa Public Radio program River to River.

Parts of northwest Iowa may get a few inches of snow this weekend, and the Iowa Department of Transportation is preparing its fleet of snowplows, end loaders, and motor graders to keep thousands of miles of roads safe for the rest of us. D-O-T spokesman Pete Hjelmstad (HELM-sted) says when you start adding it all up, they cover a lot of ground.

Even if your area of the state is only expecting a dusting of snow, Hjelmstad says you’d be wise to familiarize yourself with your vehicle’s break-down equipment.

Before the foul weather arrives, he says it would also be a good idea to gather a few important things in your trunk or cargo area, especially if you’ll be hitting the road this weekend.

On average, the Iowa D-O-T uses more than 136-thousand tons of salt and nearly 32-million gallons of brine each year to help maintain safe travel on the state’s primary highway system.

Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn, a Republican from Bondurant, says the immediate priority for the new speaker of the U-S House is bringing a series of budget bills up for a vote on the House floor.

Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson was elected House Speaker this week after the previous speaker was ousted by eight fellow Republicans upset about passage of a temporary spending measure that avoided a federal government shutdown, but it expires November 17th. Nunn supports the House G-O-P’s new plan to try to reduce federal spending below the level the former House speaker and President Biden agreed to this spring.

President Biden has also proposed a spending package with funding for Israel, Ukraine and U-S border security. Nunn says the new House speaker is right to plan for separate votes on those issues.

Nunn says the House should first priority should be on spending to secure the southern border, then vote to provide assistance to Israel. Nunn says the U-S needs to have a conversation when it comes to funding for the war in Ukraine.

Nunn made his comments today (Friday) during a news conference in Des Moines. Nunn discussed a bill he’s co-sponsoring that would direct federal officials to draw up a plan to increase capacity a nursing schools. Several people in Nunn’s family are nurses, including his mother.

Nunn cites a state report from 2020 that indicated 70 percent of Iowa health care facilities were struggling to find nurses. Nunn held his news conference at the Iowa Primary Care Association’s headquarters. About 25 percent of the nursing jobs at the non-profit’s clinics in Polk, Marshall and Story Counties are unfilled.

(Radio Iowa) – Court documents show a former northeast Iowa policeman accused of stalking and assault is planning to plead guilty, but not to those charges. Corey Harguth reports.

Scheevel is one of a handful of former officials in the small town of Armstrong who’ve been charged with a variety of crimes. Two former city clerks pleaded guilty after a special investigation released by the state auditor’s office in 2017 found Armstrong’s finances were a tangled mess.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has reversed a Court of Appeals decision that overturned a murder verdict in eastern Iowa. The Iowa Court of Appeals overturned the second-degree murder verdict against Johnny Blahnik Church in the stabbing death of Chris Bagley of Cedar Rapids in 2018. The Court of Appeals based its decision on a jury instruction that was given by the judge after the jury deliberated for several hours and was deadlocked at 11-1.

The Supreme Court ruled the facts and circumstances do not support the conclusion the district court’s verdict-urging instruction coerced or potentially coerced the jury’s verdict.

Church was sentenced in December 2021 to 57 years in prison.

(Radio Iowa) – An excursion boat that’s been sailing in West Okoboji Lake since 1986 is being restored. Jon Pausley is C-E-O of Arnolds Park Amusement Park, where people buy the tickets for an hour-long, narrated cruise around the lake on the Queen Two. Pausley says the boat has been showing her age. “One of the engines just went out completely and we knew we had to do some work to replace it,” Pausley says. The boat was recently inspected. “To find out if there was still life left in the hull and making sure everything was good enough to make some restorations,” Pausley says, “and decided instead of replacing the Queen, we should restore her and get another generation down the road.”

The diesel-powered boat was lifted out of the water earlier this week. Pausley says the Queen should be back on the water by Memorial Day. “Going to get new engines, new generators, new electrical and finish out the windows project, then try to get ahead a little bit on some of the interior beautification of the boat,” Pausley says. That phase of the project might have to wait until after the 2024 sailing season. Pausley says they did consider replacing the boat. An anonymous donor — who was married on the Queen Two — is financing the restoration — at an estimated cost of up to a million dollars

“People love the Queen 2 and there’s a lot of nostalgia and a lot of history and a lot of love for this boat,” Pausley says. “The decision to go ahead and just restore her and make her what she once was again as best we can for a 38 year old vessel…we decided to go that direction.”

The Queen Two has an open air upper deck and an enclosed lower deck. The original Queen sailed the Iowa Great Lakes for 89 years until it was retired in 1973.

(Radio Iowa) – Today (Friday) is the last day on the job for the president of Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. Lori Sundberg is retiring after being appointed president in 2017. Sundberg was Kirkwood’s first female president and she looks back on her six years in office. “I think probably the biggest accomplishment was getting through the pandemic,” Sundberg says, “and keeping the institution financially strong during that time, but also, really trying to figure out how to support students during a really critical time.”

Sundberg’s retirement will bring in a new president: Kristie Fisher, a Kirkwood graduate who has been president of Iowa Valley Community Colleges in Marshalltown since 2019. Kirkwood has an enrollment that exceeds 12-thousand students.