DES MOINES, Iowa – Finding a forever home is a goal for all children in Iowa foster care, and while that’s not the reality for many of them, the state is finding success in efforts to smooth their transition out of the system and into adulthood. Carol Behrer, executive director of Youth Policy Institute of Iowa, says navigating life’s path can be especially tough for foster youth, so support in areas such as housing, education and employment is critical.

“The services available through the Iowa Aftercare Services Network are helping these young people meet their basic needs, but also learn the skills, develop the competencies that they need to become successful adults,” she points out.

In Iowa, there are around 6,000 children in foster care at any given time, with from 400 to 500 of them turning 18 and aging out of the system each year. One way that Iowa could provide more assistance for foster youth is by joining the federal program that includes funding for foster care services beyond age 18.

“States now have the option of continuing to receive that federal support up to the age of 21,” Behrer explains. “Iowa has not yet taken that option, although more than half the states have.”

(Iowa News Service)

Owners of the state’s gas stations and convenience stores are asking Iowa lawmakers to set up a state grant program to replace aging underground storage tanks for gas and diesel. Dawn Carlson is president of the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa, representing more than two-thousand business locations in the state. “A majority of these tanks are approaching or exceeding their useful life of 25-30 years and therefore over time they will become suceptible to leaks and other environmental hazards,” Carlson says. “and they are certainly not compatible with ethanol blends higher than 10 percent.”

Since 2006, the state has been offering grants to retailers who promise to offer E-85 to customers. The grants of up to 50-thousand dollars each are to help retailers pay for new equipment to dispense the higher blend of ethanol. Carlson’s group is asking for an expansion of that program, so tanks that have been in use for more than 25 years can be replaced with a “green” underground storage tank. “By removing and replacing these tanks we will be protecting the environment and also help ensure that fuel does not leak into Iowa’s groundwater,” Carlson says. “Additionally, underground storage tanks currently in place were not designed for these higher level blends. Installation of new tanks that are compatible with up to E 100 will enable retailers to sell higher blends of renewable fuels in the future.”

Carlson suggests the expense of a new underground tank may be out of reach for many Iowa retailers.
“While many of our members display the logo of a major oil company at their store, they are indeed owned and operated independent of the oil companies,” Carlson says. In 1989 state officials set up a fund for removal and clean up of underground storage tanks that are already leaking. Over six-thousand sites have been evaluated over the past 25 years. According to the Legislative Services Agency the state has spent over a quarter of a billion dollars removing the tanks and cleaning up the underground leaks.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Creston report three people were arrested over the weekend. On Sunday, 54-year old Thomas Morton Mullins, of Creston, was arrested for 2nd offense Public Intoxication. Mullins was being held in the Union County Jail on $1,000 bond.

On Saturday, 22-year old Marlana Reed and 20-year old Mariah Noelle Johannes, both of Creston, were arrested at the Wal-Mart store on charges of Theft in the 5th Degree. Both women were released on a citation to appear in court at a later date.