Another report is showing thousands of working Iowans are not making enough money to cover basic needs such as food, housing, health care, and transportation. The “Cost of Living in Iowa” report, released today (Wednesday) by the Iowa Policy Project (IPP), finds 19-percent of working households in Iowa do not earn enough to cover a “basic needs family budget.” Peter Fisher is the author of the report and the IPP’s research director.

“We found almost one in five Iowa working families do not earn enough to achieve self sufficiency,” Fisher said. The IPP report indicates single parents in Iowa are struggling the most. “Approximately 12-percent of married couples with children living at home don’t earn enough. It goes up to 27.5-percent for single persons and a whopping 62-percent for single parents,” Fisher said. The report also finds 17-percent of Iowans living in urban areas do not earn enough to meet basic needs, while the figures rises to nearly 22-percent for those living in more rural Iowa counties.

“I think that reflects two things; one is we found higher costs of living in rural areas, largely because of substantially higher health insurance costs, longer commutes and higher transportation costs,” Fisher said. “When you combine that with poorer job opportunities and lower pay, in general, in rural areas and you end up with a significantly higher percentage of families struggling to get by.” The IPP report follows a United Ways of Iowa report released last week that found nearly one-third of Iowans struggle to afford basic living expenses. Fisher says the United Way report included more Iowa families who are living in poverty.

“Those fractions are not really comparable for a couple of reasons, one is they’re looking at all families, all households in the state, whether of not there’s somebody employed,” Fisher said. “They’re including senior families and families headed by somebody with a disability, for example, who can’t work. We’re looking only at families with a full-time worker, so we’re looking at working families.” This is part 2 of a three-part report from the Iowa Policy Project. In April, the IPP released part one, outlining basic-needs budgets for various family types across the state.

(Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s officials in Union County, Wednesday afternoon, said a woman from Lenox was arrested Tuesday evening in Taylor County. 24-year old Breanna Serena Sarratt was taken into custody at around 7-p.m. on a Union County warrant for Possession of Methamphetamine. Sarratt was being held in the Ringgold County Jail for Union County, on $1,000 bond.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa casino supervisor, dealer and patron are charged with conspiring to cheat at roulette and split thousands of dollars in illicit winnings. A criminal complaint alleges the trio carried out the scheme on several occasions in February and March at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs. In all, they allegedly split between $20,000 and $30,000 in earnings.

The conspiracy involved moving and adding additional chips to winning numbers, accepting late bets and placing additional wagers for guests. But it unraveled after a player noticed the cheating and complained to casino management, which alerted the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

The DCI said that roulette supervisor Jonathan Rumery, dealer Jonathan Waugh and player Cody Schroeder have been arrested. All three face felony charges.

LAKE VIEW – A personal water craft exploded Tuesday on Black Hawk Lake in Sac County, sending two people to the hospital. 40-year old Chris Forman, and his 41-year old wife Angie, of Omaha, Neb., were operating the personal water craft when it flipped over. After finally being able to get the vessel upright, gasoline had apparently leaked into the engine compartment causing it to explode while being started shortly after 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

Both of the passengers were thrown into the water by the blast, but were wearing
life jackets. They were taken to Loring Hospital in Sac City where they were kept
overnight.

The Lake View Fire Department, Lake View Police Department and the Sac County
Sheriff’s Department assisted at the scene.