The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) has launched two new programs to help businesses and non-profits during COVID-19. Officials say the Small Business Utility Disruption Prevention Program will assist small businesses and non-profits economically impacted by COVID-19. The program will cover utility bills for service provided during the months of disruption to their business.

Eligibility:

• Iowa-based for profit and nonprofit businesses with 50 or fewer employees
• Must have a physical location (non-residential) in Iowa
• Must be registered with the Iowa Secretary of State to do business in the State of Iowa (or with the County Recorder for sole proprietors)
• Must not be an ineligible business type:
  Adult Entertainment; Construction, Internet Sales, without corresponding storefront; Medical; Private Clubs, Professional Services; Professional Sports; Religious Institutions, with the exception of those offering social services including daycare, food bank, preschool, shelter, etc.
• Have not received funds provided by the State of Iowa’s Small Business Relief Grant (SBRG) funding
• Have not received any funds provided by the State of Iowa’s Nonprofit Recovery Fund
• Must have experienced a COVID-19 loss of revenue on or after March 17, 2020, that resulted in unpaid bills for electric or natural gas utility service provided between March 17, 2020, and June 30, 2020
• Applicants’ average monthly electric usage must not exceed 25,000 kWh for electricity or 2,500 therms for natural gas (review with your utility bill and/or contact your utility provider to confirm)
• Businesses must be open

To learn more or to apply, visit https://www.iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/Business/energy-recovery. The deadline to apply is August 21, or till funds are exhausted.

The Iowa Non-Profit Recovery Fund will provide short-term relief to non-profit organizations that have seen reduced revenue and/or increased costs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible non-profits may be awarded a grant of up to $25,000 based on income, expenses, outstanding obligations and other state and federal assistance received.

To be eligible:

• Must be a 501(c)(3), 501(c)(6) or 501(c)(19) based in Iowa
• Experienced a documented, involuntary loss of revenue and/or increase in expenses that occurred after March 1, 2020 due to COVID-19.
• Annual operating budget of more than $25,000
• Twenty-five or fewer full-time equivalent employees
• A primary mission to serve the program’s priority service populations

For more information or to apply, visit www.iowabusinessrecover.com. The application deadline is August 14 at 5 PM and is a first come, first serve basis grant.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports a woman from Missouri was arrested today (Wednesday), on a Page County warrant. 31-year old Brandy Rochelle Baker, of James Port, MO., was taken into custody on a Warrant for Failure to appear for sentencing on original charges of Theft in the 2nd Degree, and 4 counts of Forgery.

Baker was arrested at the Atchison County Missouri Jail and transported to the Page County Jail where she is being held on $10,000 bond, pending further court proceedings.

UPDATE 10:08-a.m. – FOUND SAFE!

Police in Omaha police have issued an Endangered/Missing Advisory a Nebraska woman. Jan Lemaster is an 86-year-old white female. She is 5’4″ 135 with grey hair. LeMaster may be driving a light blue 2005 Buick Lesabre, with a Nebraska license plate UWY170. Authorities say the woman suffers from dementia, and should not be driving. If you see Jan Lemaster or the vehicle, please call 911 or the Omaha Police Department at 402-444-5636.

Jan Lemaster

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County report the arrest Tuesday evening, of a Glenwood woman. 35-year-old Robyn Leigh Salmon was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance. Her bond was set at $25,000.

(Radio Iowa) – The public works director in Spencer says it appears the fire at the city-owned landfill near Graettinger has been extinguished. Fire departments were first dispatched to the scene a month ago. Spencer Public Works Director Mark White says fire crews were called out two other times when smoke was seen rising from the landfill. “The first one was on the 7th of July and the second one was on the 14th of July,” he says. “…It is a little different to fight a landfill fire. A lot of material has to be dug out, extinguished and we were fortunate during all of the events to have a contractor on site with an excavator.”

White says Spencer city staff has spent quite a bit of time at the site, digging material out of the burn zone and hauling in clay that’s been spread on top. “It’s all been in the same spot, so most likely it’s something deep within that’s been smouldering for quite some time,” White says.

A report about landfill fires prepared for the State of Missouri indicates more than eight-thousand fires are reported at landfills in the United States each year and the vast majority are contained before the landfill is compromised.

(Radio Iowa) – Leaders in Iowa City and surrounding Johnson County are taking more steps to try and slow the spread of coronavirus. The County Board of Health has approved an ordinance mandating the use of face coverings in public, which the county attorney says -will- be enforceable. Kim Bergen-Jackson, administrator of Oaknoll Retirement Residence in Iowa City, says the order will help save the lives of her residents. “This is not a political problem for me. It is not a hoax or a joke,” Bergen-Jackson says. “We’re not gambling with your life, but the lives of my friends, my 70-, 80-, 90- and 100-year-old friends, who want to be here to live another year older.”

The ordinance now goes to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors for final approval. State officials say local governments don’t have the authority to issue such mandates. Meanwhile, nearly 300 faculty members and graduate student instructors at the University of Iowa signed a petition calling for a priority to be placed on online classes this fall. The U-I is moving many large classes online, but says face-to-face instruction will still be prioritized for classes with fewer than 50 students. Megan Knight is an associate professor in the U-I Department of Rhetoric. “A lot of my colleagues feel sort of caught between a rock and a hard place,” Knight says. “They’re really frightened about job insecurity and they’re frightened of the risk of face-to-face classroom teaching during a global pandemic.”

Johnson County Supervisor Royceann Porter says she’s concerned because the university says it will not require students to be tested for COVID-19 before returning this fall. “That’s thousands and thousands of people coming into our city that’s not even being tested or won’t have to quarantine,” Porter says. “We don’t know what they have when they get here.”

Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa are also holding some in-person classes this fall.
(By Kate Payne and Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) – Public health officials in Dubuque County are dealing with a rise in COVID-19 cases, as local governments, hospitals, emergency managers, and others work to respond to the pandemic. The White House task force calls the city and county a “red zone.” Mary Rose Corrigan, the city of Dubuque’s public health specialist, says one challenge is confusion about when people who’ve had COVID-19 can go back to work. A few companies tried, erroneously, to require a negative COVID test.  “Research has shown us that people continue to test positive, even though they’re not symptomatic or contagious,” Corrigan says. “We’re trying to get the word out to worksites and others that those isolation guidelines are what they need to follow.”

More than 15-hundred cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Dubuque County, along with 29 deaths. Many people in the Dubuque area travel between Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin for work. Corrigan says others who take overnight trips should make decisions based on each situation.  “If a person from Illinois comes over to Dubuque and goes for a walk in the woods at a state park, there’s not much risk there,” Corrigan says. “If they come over to Dubuque and they go to a bar and spend the night at two restaurants and four different bars that are crowded, that’s a different risk.”

Corrigan says assess the risk and make contingency plans ahead of time, then follow your plan if the situation changes. One long-term care center in the county has had an outbreak and the Public Health Incident Management Team is working with all area nursing homes, which can now order their own testing, but it’s hard on residents as they can’t have visitors. Corrigan says the team is also providing education and information to school districts which are now deciding how to hold classes.