(Radio Iowa) – Sac County’s Jail in Sac City has been in operation for over 80 years and the county’s voters will decide in November whether a new jail should be built. The Sac County Board of Supervisors is proposing that a new county jail be built across the street from the current one, then the old one would be used by the county sheriff’s office. The supervisors have voted to put a nearly 11 million dollar bond referendum on the General Election ballot to finance the two-phase project.

According to the state jail inspector, Sac County has the second oldest jail in Iowa and it does not meet current safety standards, putting staff, inmates and the public at risk. Iowa’s oldest county jail is in Pocahontas. Last November, Pocahontas County voters overwhelmingly approved eight-and-a-half million dollars in bonding for a new 18-bed jail.

(Radio Iowa) – Voters in Iowa’s second largest school district will decide next month on whether to continue a levy for school facility maintenance and equipment. Cedar Rapids Community Schools Superintendent Tawana Grover says for 50 years, the voter-approved Physical Plant and Equipment Levy — or PPEL — has been an important pot of money for the district.

Last year, voters said no to the district’s bond for new buildings. This special election does not include any projects from that plan. Some of the district’s buildings are over a hundred years old. Since the district has already been putting aside the money for 50 years, Grover says re-upping will -not- impact tax rates.

If renewed, PPEL would provide more than 10-million dollars over ten years for facilities, equipment, security and other improvements. Today (Wednesday) is the first day voters in the district can receive absentee ballots or vote early in-person. Special Election Day is September 10th.

DES MOINES – As part of a new three-year, $150,000 “Financial Inclusion Grant Program” addressing barriers to financial well-being for minority populations in Iowa, the Iowa Credit Union Foundation (ICUF) has announced the organizations receiving the first $50,000 in grant funding. The new program was launched in response to the findings of the recent ICUF statewide report “Economic Realities of Communities of Color,” which identified challenges faced by Iowa’s most vulnerable communities.

Financial Inclusion Grants direct funding to organizations serving minority populations in policy areas covered by the report: affordable housing, business ownership, childcare, education, employment, and health access and outcomes.

After announcing the program last Fall, ICUF collaborated with credit union partners across Iowa to identify qualifying organizations working in their communities. Credit unions were able to nominate mission-aligned nonprofits this Spring, who were then invited to apply for grants ranging from $5,000-$10,000. Eight nonprofit organizations were selected from the proposals received, for a total of $50,000 in first cycle of Financial Inclusion Grant funding. These organizations serve minority communities in a variety of geographic regions in Iowa, representing both urban and rural parts of the state.

Ena Babic Barnes, Executive Director, ICUF said “The Iowa Credit Union Foundation is excited to announce the first grant recipients in the Financial Inclusion Grant Program. These selected organizations represent the critical work required to tackle barriers to financial well-being for all Iowans. We take pride in supporting their impactful work and believe that highlighting their contributions will significantly advance economic equity and foster greater financial inclusion across our State.”

The recipients of the first round of ICUF Financial Inclusion Grant funding include:

• $10,000 to the Multicultural Development Center of Iowa in Iowa City, addressing Business Ownership
• $10,000 to Athletics for Education and Success in Fort Dodge, addressing Childcare and Education
• $5,000 to 24/7 BLAC in Waterloo, addressing Affordable Housing and Business Ownership
• $5,000 to The Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success in Cedar Rapids, addressing Education and Health Access &Outcomes
• $5,000 to the Four Mounds Foundation in Dubuque, addressing Affordable Housing, Education, and Employment
• $5,000 to One Economy Financial Development Corporation in Des Moines addressing Business Ownership
• $5,000 to Knock & Drop Iowa in Des Moines, addressing Health Access &Outcomes
• $5,000 to Boys & Girls Club of Siouxland in Sioux City, addressing Childcare & Education

Founded in 1995 as the philanthropic arm of the Iowa Credit Union League (ICUL), ICUF’s mission is guided by the credit union philosophy of ‘people helping people’. Guided by this philosophy ICUF works to champions financial wellbeing for all. For more information, visit www.IowaCreditUnionFoundation.org.

[UPDATED](Radio Iowa) – The man convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of Algona Police Officer Kevin Cram in September of 2023 received a sentence of life in prison this (Wednesday) morning in Kossuth County District Court. Forty-four-year-old Kyle Lou Ricke was found guilty following a four-day trial in Dickinson County last month. Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown prosecuted the case and said prior to the sentencing that Ricke earned the mandatory sentence of life with no parole.

Ricke took his opportunity to make a statement before his sentencing.

Several of Officer Cram’s family members read victim impact statements before Judge Nancy Whittenburg handed out the sentence of life without parole. Ricke will be transferred to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center at Oakdale for further processing by the Department of Corrections.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Court of Appeals has denied an Ottumwa man’s request for a new murder trial. Christopher Yenger was found guilty two counts of first-degree murder for throwing a Molotov cocktail at a rural Wappello County house after getting his nose bloodied in a fight there in 2006. Two men died in the fire. Yenger appealed the convictions, saying his attorneys were ineffective for not calling an expert witness to challenge the state’s arson investigation.

The Appeals Court ruling says his attorneys made a strategic decision to not call the expert witness because there was no reasonable likelihood that the outcome of the trial would have been different if the expert testified.

Yenger was not arrested and convicted until ten years after the fire when a witness came forward to tell what happened. He is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole in the deaths of Nathan Messer and Seth Anderson.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says President Biden has every right to be irritated about his situation. Grassley — the longest serving Republican in the U-S Senate — watched Biden’s speech at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night.

Grassley and Biden served in the Senate together for 28 years. When asked earlier this summer whether Biden was fit to serve as president, Grassley said he was not going to dump on Biden about his age, but was focused on critiquing Biden’s policies.

Grassley, who is nine years older than Biden, made his comments after visiting a business in Plymouth County. Grassley says he’s completed his annual tour of Iowa’s 99 counties with a final stop in Woodbury County.

In a post on social media, Grassley said he celebrated his 44th tour of Iowa’s 99 counties by having both a strawberry malt and a Reece’s Blizzard at a Dairy Queen in Sioux City. Grassley was elected to the U-S Senate in 1980 after serving six years in the U-S House.