The Cass County Board of Supervisors met Wednesday morning, at the courthouse in Atlantic. During their session, the Board passed a motion by Supervisor Duance McFadden to approve an “Application for Industrial Property Tax Exemption (per Iowa Code( of A. M. Cohron & Son, Inc for reconstruction of an existing building due to economic obsolescence. The board also approved the portion of the project that is “new construction” with the understanding that this project is eligible for the five year sliding scale tax abatement.

Jeremy Middents, Housing Director with SWIPCO met with the county, the local government CDBG disaster recovery recipient for the flow through of grant funds. He reported that some funding was still available from the 2008 disaster recovery efforts after the 5th round. SWIPCO is the lead agency for the western Iowa ‘super region’. Six projects to construct housing in six cities have been presented and board approval is needed before applications may be submitted for consideration.

Supervisor Gaylord Schelling made the motion for the Board to certify that it has reviewed all six applications for Multi-family Construction Program-Round 6 CDBG funding and gives its approval for submission of the six applications. The Projects include: in Atlantic, a 24 unit apartment building; in Dunlap, 7 upper story apartments; in Avoca, a 20 unit apartment complex; in Woodbine, reconstruction of 3 apartments; in Perry, 20 townhomes; and in Guthrie Center, 10 upper story
apartments.

The Board also approved an  application for the Renewal of a Class C Beer Permit and Sunday Sales Privilege (effective 10/18/2014) for 21st Century Cooperative, in Massena. Their next meeting is Friday, August 29th.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Internal emails show Iowa’s workforce agency provided unemployment benefits earlier this year to people who didn’t seek them and that staff was urged to stay quiet about what had happened.

Iowa Workforce Development spokeswoman Kerry Koonce confirmed Wednesday that 85 people received excess unemployment payments in early March. Officials issued benefits to everyone who got them the previous week after a system malfunction meant they couldn’t process updated information from recipients. Koonce stressed that about 30,000 received accurate payments.

Agency emails provided to the Iowa Senate Government Oversight Committee show that after the malfunction, a manager emailed some staffers instructing them to provide no information about what happened and to blame “technical difficulties.”

The Oversight Committee is set to review what happened at hearings next week.

The Montgomery County Sheriffs Department has arrested a Corning woman. Storm Armstrong was arrested on a Montgomery County Warrant for narcotic violations. Armstrong was transported to the Montgomery County Jail from Adams County and was being held on a 10-thousand dollar bond.

Several Area farm families were recognized at the just concluded Iowa State Fair. Ag Secretary Bill Northey awarded families who have owned at least 40 acres for one hundred years in the case of Century farms and one hundred fifty years or more for a Heritage farm. Those awarded century farms in Cass County included; Bartlett and Janis Blake along Cecil Boos and Ronald Boos; In Adams County DeLong Orchard and Cady Farms; In Adair County Jo Beaman; in Montgomery County Mark Focht was recognized, in Pottawattamie County Jeff Bisbee, Lyle Cain Junior, the Bette M Fulton Revocable Trust, Lawrence and Sudan Koerhrsen, Ross Valley Farms, and in Shelby County Melvin and Janis Dinesen and Rodney Knudsen were part of the 344 Century Farms honored. In the heritage program 86 farms were recognized included the Dinesen’s and Knudsen from Shelby County and from Montgomery County the hunt Family Trust was honored. The Heritage Farm Program was started in 2006 on the 30th anniversary of the century farm program. In total more than 18-thousand Iowa farms have been designated Century Farms and over 7-hundred farms have received the Heritage Century Farms.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state Department of Human Services says someone left a baby at an Iowa medical center under Iowa’s safe haven law. The agency announced Wednesday that someone brought the boy to a medical center Aug. 13 and asked that he be declared a safe haven baby. State law allows parents or their authorized representatives to leave a baby who is 14 days or younger at a health care facility and remain anonymous.

The state withholds details about such infants. A court will terminate parental rights within a month. This is the 20th time the law has been used since its passage following a case in 2001, when a teen mother in eastern Iowa killed her home-delivered infant.

In all the previous cases, the babies have been adopted.

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials say a boil advisory has been issued for the city of Adel’s water system. The state Department of Natural Resources says one of Adel’s water towers was being serviced when the city lost electrical service Wednesday morning. This created a pressure loss in the distribution system.

The pressure has been restored, but water must be tested for bacteria before the boil advisory can be lifted. City officials and the DNR recommend that residents boil their water for drinking and cooking. They’re also encouraged to use bottled water.

w/ Mark Saylor

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (10.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Firefighters from Stuart and at least 13 other area fire departments battled a blaze that destroyed the Casey Community Building last night. KCCI-TV reports the blaze broke out shortly after midnight. A passer-by reported the building was fully engulfed in flames.Heavy rain that rolled through the area helped to smother the flames, but the building was a total loss, after the roof and other parts of the structure collapsed.

A cause of the fire had not been determined as of early this morning, but authorities said it did not appear to be suspicious.The following photo’s are from the Stuart Volunteer Fire Department’s Facebook page:

A fire has reportedly destroyed the Community Building in Casey. KCCI TV reports the large fire consumed structure overnight and the roof has collapsed. The building is thought to be a total loss.

More details as they become available.