Iowa Democrat Senator Tom Harkin has announced five Iowa regional planning organizations have been awarded a total of $304,000 to help establish a comprehensive economic development strategy in their regions.

Locally, the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area Planning Agency received $60,000 to serve the counties of Mills and Pottawattamie in Iowa, and Washington, Douglas, and Sarpy in Nebraska and the Southwest Iowa Planning Council received $60,000 to serve the counties of Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Montgomery, Page, and Shelby.

The projects will bring together the public and private sectors to create an economic development roadmap to diversify and strengthen the regional economy. Specifically, it is expected these funds will help develop a process and strategy that supports job creation and private capital investment. The funding was made available through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA). 

Many Iowans leave their dogs and cats outdoors much of the time during the warm months, but this week’s severe weather serves as a reminder that those pets need solid shelter, especially during storms. Pam Wiese, at the Humane Society, says Iowans can take other proactive steps to protect their pets, should they become separated in the case of a terrible storm. “We have learned from Katrina and many of the tornadoes, that microchipping pets is really a great way to insure that if there’s any way possible to get them back, you can,” Wiese says. “It’s a permanent form of ID, it doesn’t twist off or leave in high winds and it’s a much better way to permanently identify your pet than any other way that we know.”

Wiese says some animal shelters in the state offer microchipping of pets for as little as ten-dollars. “It’s great to have a collar and tags on your pet as well,” Wiese says. “Joe, on the street, may find him and bring him back but if he’s got a microchip, no matter if he’s caught in winds or under a building or stuck in mud or whatever, we will be able to find that microchip, and in fact, even if he’s deceased.”

Microchips aren’t just for dogs and cats, either. They’re only about the size of a grain of rice and can be implanted into every sort of pet from parrots to horses.

(Radio Iowa)

Area veterans who have signed-up to participate in the upcoming Honor Flight to Washington, D-C, also have an opportunity to see a movie featuring real footage of an elite group of U-S soldiers sent on a dangerous mission in Afghanistan, free of charge. A local veteran, Sgt. Nathan Allen, was shot in the chest during the March 29, 2011 mission, while trying to help another wounded soldier. Allen, a 2006 Atlantic High School graduate, is retired from the Army and currently resides in Manhatten, Kansas.

Melanie Petty, with the Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund, says they’ve purchased 200 tickets for the “Hornet’s Nest” movie. The block of tickets was purchased because there is a prerequisite of 500 tickets being pre-sold in order for the film to be shown in Atlantic. It had previously only been shown in select theatres during the month of May, and opens nationwide today (June 6th).

The Frederickson Fund wants to donate a ticket to each veteran taking part in the honor flight later this month. Honor Flight Vets interested in a free ticket to see the movie the week of June 12th through the 18th should contact Melanie Petty by no later than Tuesday, June 10th.

Petty says she has a list of those going on the flight, so she’ll simply check their names off as they call her, at 249-3696. If you get her voice-mail, please leave your information.

w/ Ric Hanson

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WINTERSET, Iowa (AP) – The pilot of an ultralight aircraft was flown to a Des Moines hospital after his aircraft crashed near Winterset. Madison County authorities say the aircraft struck ground in a field west of Winterset about 8 p.m. Thursday.

Authorities say 54-year-old Patrick Cook, of Winterset, suffered head, leg and abdominal injuries.  A witness told officers that the aircraft hit a power line before crashing.

The Iowa National Guard is rededicating readiness centers in Dubuque and Council Bluffs that have undergone renovation. Guard spokesman, Colonel Greg Hapgood, says it’s part of an ongoing maintenance program. “Renovations usually have to do with new heating, air conditioning, ventilation, paint, electrical wiring, they’ll generally create better spaces for soldiers to train and learn in. And so this will certainly improve the utility for both of these armories in Iowa,”Hapgood says. There have been armories for the Iowa National Guard around for years, and they are now becoming more modern facilities.

“The term armory for the most part is interchangeable with readiness centers, but we are really moving toward the term readiness centers, because that’s a lot more accurate depiction of what these facilities are used for,” Hapgood says. The Dubuque Readiness Center was rededicated Thursday afternoon.

The Council Bluffs Readiness Center and Field Maintenance Shop rededication is set for today (Friday) at 11 a-m. The four-point-five million dollar ($4.5) project began in October 2012 and features a complete renovation of both original facilities, which were built in 1993. The existing Readiness Center facility included the addition of some space along with new ceilings, wall and floor coverings, energy-efficient heating and conditioning systems and windows. The Field Maintenance Shop received an additional four-thousand square feet of space, including work bays, radiant heat and air equipment, new storm sewer, fencing, windows, and a new heating and cooling systems.

Colonel Hapgood says the completion of these facilities keeps them on track with maintenance plans. “Generally our philosophy with the Iowa National Guard is that we want every facility to be renovated within the last 20 years, or be newly built within the last 20 years, and we are absolutely on schedule for that,” Hapgood says. The centers not only serve as training facilities for the Iowa National Guard, but Hapgood says they can be rented out for use by the community. He says they provided a good link between the citizen soldiers and the communities they serve.

“The communities really are the hub in the Iowa National Guard. Those communities absolutely support our soldiers, airmen and families, and it’s an invaluable relationship for us,” according to Hapgood. The Council Bluffs Readiness Center is home to approximately 250 solders with Detachment 1, Company F, 334th Brigade Support Battalion; Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry; Detachment 1, Company B, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry; and Company D, Iowa Army National Guard Recruit Sustainment Program.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa State Patrol reports five people were transported to Burgess Hospital in Onawa, following a collision about 4-miles north of the Onawa exit on Interstate 29, late Thursday morning. Officials say a 1997 Toyota Camry driven by 29-year old Abdirahman Awad, was traveling northbound at mile marker 116 at around 11:50-a.m., when for reasons unknown, the car went out of control, crossed the median, and collided head on with a southbound FedEx delivery truck, in the southbound lanes of travel. Both vehicles came to rest on the Interstate.

The driver of the semi, 38-year old Jimmy Ring, Awad, 41-year old Corey Dwight Zautke, and two unidentified passengers in the Toyota, were all transported to the hospital for treatment of what were described as non-life threatening injuries.

The accident remains under investigation.