The West Pottawattamie Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) in partnership with Iowa Western Community College (IWCC) has received a $20,900 DNR-REAP Conservation Education Program Grant, to host Rainscaping Loess Soils and Sustainable Living classes. Cass County Conservation is partnered with them to bring the classes to the Atlantic Campus of Iowa Western. The Intro to Rainscaping Workshop is free to the public, and will be held November 3rd, 2012.

Topics covered at our Atlantic IWCC workshop: Green Roofs, Permeable Paving Systems, Rain Gardens, Worm Composting, and after lunch break Rain Barrel Class. This workshop will be held at the Atlantic IWCC, Saturday November 3, 2012 9 AM-Noon, 12:30-1:30 is the Rain Barrel Class. If you would like to build a Rain Barrel there is a $40/barrel fee.

To register for classes go to http://www.iwcc.edu/continuing_education/

Go to Green Living Classes for the Intro to Rainscaping series for the general public and Environmental Training for the Professional Series Classes. IWCC Continuing Education Certificates will be offered for those taking the Professional Series Classes. For more information contact Danelle Schmielau at 712-328-2489 Ext 307, or Matt Mancuso at 712-325-3448

Two of Iowa’s largest retail food chains are partnering for a new program to save customers money on gasoline. Des Moines-based Hy-Vee grocery stores and the Ankeny-based Casey’s General Store convenience stores are launching the promotion. Hy-Vee spokeswoman Ruth Comer says customers can sign up for free. “When they purchase items that are featured in the weekly Fuel Saver ad, savings discounts are added to their fuel saver card,” Comer says. “They can then swipe that card at the gas pump at any Hy-Vee or Casey’s store and save money. The more of the items they purchase, the more they’ll save on each gallon of gasoline.”

She says the discounts on the items range from two cents to 25-cents, but they’ll add up. “A typical savings each week, if a customer buys one of everything that’s featured in the ad, would be $2 a gallon,” Comer says. “If they buy multiple items, they can save even more, up to getting their gas for free.”

It replaces a gas saving program at Hy-Vee where customers used to have to keep track of receipts and bring them into the gas station/store for the discount to apply. Hy-Vee has 234 stores in eight Midwestern states, including 106 gas stations. Casey’s has 17-hundred stores in 12 Midwestern states.

(Radio Iowa)

Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert reports the Fire Danger Index in Shelby County will remain in the “Low” category through Monday. Seivert noted the current rain and the moist field conditions as reasons the danger of grassland and field fires is low. He cited also, the fact the there are currently no bans on open burning anywhere in southwest Iowa.

The Council Bluffs Convention and Visitors Bureau has been awarded $1000 from the Western Iowa Tourism Region (WITR) to help provide funding for magazine advertising to attract Group Travel and to promote Culinary Tour itineraries. “Rise to the Occasion” is a new group travel itinerary created by Diane Hestness, Group Travel Director for the Council Bluffs CVB.  The itinerary is all about having a hand-on experience with foods.  Hestness says “Culinary tours are very popular right now. To secure new motor coach business, we created this tour that’s centered around culinary experiences in Council Bluffs and Pottawattamie County.”

In order to get a little help in publicizing this new itinerary, the CVB sought and was awarded a Western Iowa Tourism Grant.  WITR Regional Director, Michelle Walker, reports that western Iowa continues to see an increase in private and public investment in tourism related projects and services. And, WITR and the Travel Federation of Iowa continue to communicate about the economic significance of tourism by sharing the revenues received by local and state taxes and the number of travel related jobs.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Council Bluffs officials say the Missouri River flooding last year will cost the city about $4.5 million. Finance director Art Hill  says the city’s total estimated cost for dealing with the 2011 flooding is expected to be $19.4 million. The city’s portion includes its required 15 percent share of costs eligible for federal assistance, as well as $1.9 million in costs that were not eligible for assistance. The state and federal governments are paying the rest of the bills.

The costs include infrastructure repairs, debris removal and the purchase and demolition of structures damaged by high water. Hill says Council Bluffs won’t have to raise taxes to pay flood bills, because the money will come from what he says is the city’s healthy general fund.

w/ Ric Hanson

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Authorities in Red Oak report one person was arrested Wednesday night on drug charges. According to Red Oak Police 21-year-old Devon James Lamb, of Red Oak, was taken into custody in the 300 block of East Market Street. Lamb faces charges that include Possession with Intent to Deliver/methamphetamine, Possession of a Controlled Substance/marijuana, and interference with official acts. Lamb was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $100,000 bond.

For a Pottawattamie County woman, Christmas came early this year. Officials with the Iowa Lottery say 35-year old Kristina Barber, of Council Bluffs, won $30,000 on the Holiday Crossword scratch game after stopping for groceries at the No Frills Supermarket on Valley View Drive in Council Bluffs. Barber said by the time she got about five numbers, she started shaking and didn’t stop until she had finished the ticket.

Once she had finished the ticket, she went to her local gas station to verify what she believed was her $30,000 top prize ticket. She told the Iowa Lottery, “I started dancing around the gas station, and then I went home and called my husband.” Barber is a nurse at an Omaha doctor’s office and hasn’t made any plans for the money. She claimed her prize last Wednesday at the Iowa Lottery regional office in Council Bluffs. The Iowa Lottery says there are 31 top prizes of $30,000 still up for grabs in the “Holiday Crossword” game.

Showers and thunderstorms rumbled through western Iowa early this morning, ahead of a cold front making its way through the state. In  Atlantic, our 24-hour rainfall total at 7-a.m. amounted to seven-tenths (.7″) of an inch at the KJAN studios. The temps began to fall as well as the rain, with a 5-degree decline between 5-and 7-a.m. The 24-hour high was 78-degrees, while the 24-hour low at 7-a.m., was 46.

Other area rainfall amounts reported as of 7-a.m., include: .33″ in Massena; .2″ in Lyman; .9″ just east of Oakland; .94″ southwest of Avoca; A spotter near Malvern reported .75″ of rain; Villisca had .19″; Shenandoah .2″; Red Oak .25″; N. of Marne 1.3″

If you have a rain amount you’d like to report, give us a call at 1-800-283-5526.

w/ Ric Hanson

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