On Monday, November 23, 2015, the Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS), will package full Thanksgiving meals that will be donated to one family in need in each of Iowa’s 99 counties.  The Iowa DPS recognizes that there are many families in need this holiday season and organized a collection within the Department raising over $5,000.

Fareway Stores, Inc. offered their assistance by gathering a full-sized turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, a five pound bag of potatoes and a pie for each of the 99 families.  The remaining funds will be distributed to 15 food banks around Iowa.

“Our Department serves this entire state through our six divisions and several bureaus.  We are in all 99 counties working on a daily basis. We felt this would be a great way to give back to the communities we live in and serve, especially when they are in need this holiday season,” DPS Commissioner Roxann Ryan said.

Iowa State Patrol Troopers, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Special Agents and other Iowa Department of Public Safety members will hand deliver the meals to the families, as well as the checks to the food banks that afternoon.

The Department of Public Safety would like to thank Fareway for their assistance in making this project possible.

The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce and Atlantic Community Promotion Commission have teamed-up to bring you a one-day chance to buy local baked goods and more, just in-time for your thanksgiving festivities. Emily Ullerich-Paulsen is one of the many area resident/vendors who will be working hard this weekend in order to prepare for the Harvest market, set to take place from 3:30-until 7:30-p.m. Monday, Nov. 23rd, at the Cass County Community Center, in Atlantic. She says there’ll be a wide variety of crafts, produce and baked goods on hand.

Ullerich-Paulsen says there’ll be varieties of squash, sweet potatoes and even tomatoes at the Harvest Market, plus honey, organic soaps and lotions, some of which are made from goats milk. The event also offers you a chance to purchase handcrafted items for those hard-to-please persons on your Christmas shopping list, including jewelry.  She says you’ll probably be able to find scarves, Christmas wreaths and more.

Emily plans to bring homemade baked goods, including hand-and regular-sized pies, raspberry Danishes, cinnamon rolls and more. She and the more than two-dozen other vendors will also be taking orders for their baked goods.

There’s also kids activities, tasting samples, and much more at the Harvest Market. There’s no charge for you to check out all that’ll be offered.

The upcoming weekend is typically a very busy one for Iowa grocery stores as consumers stock up on supplies for next week’s Thanksgiving dinner. Despite fears turkey prices would skyrocket due to this spring’s bird flu outbreak, U-S-D-A economist Annemarie Kuhns says turkey prices have actually dropped in the past week and are only up a few cents a pound from a year ago.

“This is the main attraction for your Thanksgiving meal and retailers tend to offer deep discounts on their turkeys to bring people into the store,” Kuhns says. Iowans may find frozen turkeys selling for as low as 59-cents a pound, however, many of those beloved side dishes may cost more to prepare. Sweet potato prices are up nearly 28-percent from a year ago while russet potatoes are up more than eight-percent.

Egg prices are up significantly from 2014, in large part, due to the bird flu outbreak. She says a dozen eggs will run you a full dollar more. “On average, $2.97,” Kuhns says. “They cost $1.97 at this time last year.” Kuhns says the price of green beans, milk and cranberries are all down this year. Iowa remains the nation’s number-one hog producer and Kuhns says now is a good time to buy ham as prices are down a half-a-dollar. “Per pound ham prices are about $4.13 this year,” she says. “Last year, they cost about $4.63.”

Overall, it’s estimated the Thanksgiving dinner will cost about six-percent more than last year’s big meal.

(Radio Iowa)

More area and State news from Ric Hanson.

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Officials in Council Bluffs report the City is expecting a rain and snow mixture during the morning and afternoon, today. That mix should change to all snow by 6-p.m. and continue until 11-p.m. Snow accumulation totals are expected to be between 2 to 3 inches.

Winds will be picking up this evening as the temperatures begin to drop, potentially causing slick road conditions into the evening. Council Bluffs Public Works will have crews out treating streets all day, however, as always, they ask that you drive with caution.

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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A Creston man was arrested Thursday evening on a firearms charge. Creston Police say 38-year old Jeremy King was taken into custody on four counts of Felon in Possession of a Firearm. King was being held in the Union County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

Two complaints against the Neola City Council were dismissed Thursday by the Iowa Public Information Board. The Daily NonPareil says members of the board accepted a recommendation finding no legal meeting was held when some members of the council met with city staff to discuss absentee ballots and political strategy in advance of the recent municipal elections.

The board went against a staff recommendation to accept a second complaint alleging the City Council should have involved its city attorney in a closed session following an audit finding by the state. The council instead had a special attorney for that issue involved in the closed portion of the meeting, during which the council discussed legal strategy.

Margaret Johnson, deputy director of the Iowa Public Information Board, said the state agency advanced a proposed administrative rule at Thursday’s meeting to clarify that when a governmental body cites a provision of Iowa Code to allow closed meetings “to discuss strategy with counsel,” the body’s legal council must attend either in person or electronically.

Johnson said the IPIB staff had asked the board to accept the complaint to further examine the definition of “counsel” for the purpose of a closed session. She said the board instead dismissed the complaint but asked for that background work to be done for an advisory opinion.

In a letter to the IPIB, the city had called the complaint “frivolous.” The complaint was filed by Teresa Ring, who said an audit finding alleging fraud by former City Clerk Deb Schierbrock was a “smear campaign,” and the audit prompted the closed session in question. Schierbrock, Ring’s sister-in-law, made an unsuccessful bid to become mayor of Neola. The audit was conducted by the state as part of an independent process from the city.