AMES, Iowa – America’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Iowa, has announced that Elizabeth Christensen is the new Regional Director for the Iowa Western SBDC at Iowa Western Community College, located in Council Bluffs. Elizbeth Christensen will advise and train entrepreneurs and existing business owners in Pottawattamie, Shelby, Harrison, Page, Mills, Cass and Fremont counties. Elizabeth started in early June and is excited to continue supporting western Iowa businesses.

“I am delighted to introduce Elizabeth Christensen as the new Regional Director for the Iowa Western SBDC and welcome her to our team,” says Lisa Shimkat, America’s SBDC Iowa State Director. “With her outstanding expertise, dedication to empowering small businesses, and exceptional skills, I am confident she will be instrumental in advancing our mission. Together, we will further cultivate innovation, growth, and prosperity in Iowa’s dynamic small business community.”

Elizabeth has worked with owners on marketing, processes, and growth in local small businesses for the last 20 years. Elizabeth was an undergraduate alumnus of the UNO Business Management School and is a 2020 graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a Master’s in Entrepreneurship of Technology. As an undergraduate and intern with Omaha’s Sunbelt Business Brokerage, she learned the ropes prospective business owners consider as new operators and carried that message of tenacity into other areas of her life.

During those nascent years, she worked with several family-based businesses and a theater-based organization, and she got a taste for supporting sustainable practices, sustainable growth, and herding cats. Elizabeth moved into information technology project management after relocating to Arizona, but still serving a small business environment. She supported many small business owners in cloud transformation, IT security, network development, and implementation projects there.

As a PaaS project manager, she worked with over 120 American college and university administrative teams to implement a new transcript and diploma platform. Elizabeth supported personal friends and family through business ideation and startup phases, including business plans, financial projections, and identifying high-value business processes for their services. As a technology startup professional, she worked with various space startups in different phases, implementing solutions for their strategic growth, including managing stakeholders’ long-term project schedules and submitting for government SBIR/STTRs.

Elizabeth Christensen, Iowa Western SBDC Regional Director

Elizabeth returned to Council Bluffs in 2020 to raise a family near her parents and continues participating in the community with economic development and business projects. Her hobbies include chaos gardening, being a patron of the arts, and raising her toddler, whom she adores.

America’s SBDC Iowa is an outreach program of Iowa State University’s Ivy College of Business and the Office of Economic Development and Industry Relations. Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Veteran. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies may be directed to the Office of Equal Opportunity, 3410 Beardshear Hall, 515 Morrill Road, Ames, Iowa 50011, Tel. 515-294-7612, Hotline 515-294-1222, email eooffice@iastate.edu.

Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, America’s SBDC Iowa has 15 regional assistance centers located strategically across the state. Since the program’s inception in 1981, the SBDC has helped Iowa businesses and entrepreneurs through no fee, confidential, customized, professional business counseling and practical, affordable training workshops.

For more information on America’s SBDC Iowa programs or services, call (515) 294-2030 or visit www.iowasbdc.org, https://www.facebook.com/AmericasSBDCIowa, or https://twitter.com/IowaSBDC.

AMES, Iowa – July 2, 2024 – Road closures for counties that participate in the Iowa County Engineer’s Association’s 511 traveler information website can now be found on the state’s 511 system, 511ia.org, during large-scale disasters such as flooding or winter events.

To find the county information, visit 511ia.org, and choose the “County Closures” layer. County information will show up on the map in blue. County road closures are currently only available on the website but should be available on the Iowa 511 app soon.

Road closure information is currently available for 79 counties. To find counties participating in the 511 traveler information system visit https://shorturl.at/JkcV5.

Note that county information is input by the participating county, while information for state and U.S. routes is input by the Iowa Department of Transportation. You may see variety in the way data is shown on the map. If you have questions about individual county closures, please contact the contact listed in the event details when you click on the closure icon.

(Clarinda, Iowa) The Page County Sheriff’s Department has issued a report on arrests occurring from June 19th through the 30th. Those arrested are as follows:

6/19/2024: Seth Martin Kuipers (45) of New Market Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for ineligible to carry weapons; Darrion Michael Dale Foster (22) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for violation of probation. Arrested by the Page County Sheriff’s Office at the Pottawattamie County Jail.
6/20/2024 Aaron Scott Kincheloe (47) of Leander Texas. Booked into the Page County Jail for harassment, disorderly conduct and public intoxication.
6/21/2024: Inez Nicholas Lunz (59) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for enticing a minor. Arrested by the Page County Sheriff’s Office; Sherry Danette Young (46) of Polo Missouri. Booked into the Page County Jail for theft; Merlin Glenn Lininger (51) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail to serve time.
6/22/2024: Christian Lyle Lauritsen (27) of New Market Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for OWI; Jody Ann Berry (62) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a prescription drug.
6/23/2024 Justin Allen Sickler (45) of Council Bluffs Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for theft.

6/24/2024 Lesley Ann Wright (45) of Sidney Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for assault on persons in certain occupations (X2). Arrested by the Page County Sheriff’s Office.
6/25/2024: David Allan Charles (61) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for theft; Justin Allen Sickler (45) of Council Bluffs Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for violation of probation; David Dale Morelock (38) of Farragut Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for theft; Rodney Eugene Allely (56) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for reckless use of fire and interference with official acts.
6/27/2024: Cody Dean Nevada Carlson (33) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for harassment and contempt of court; Zachary Lynn Sherlock (47) of Quitman Missouri. Booked into the Page County Jail for contempt of court; Demica Nicole Parrish (30) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for domestic abuse.
6/28/2024: Shanna Dawn Hernandez (45) of Omaha Nebraska. Booked into the Page County Jail for possession of a controlled substance; Cindy Joe Gray (44) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for possession of a controlled substance (X2); Lowell Richard Wilcox (54) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for possession of controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and drug tax stamp violations.
6/29/2024 Merlin Glenn Lininger (51) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail to serve time.
6/30/2024 Rachelle Dawn Hunt (52) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for an outstanding warrant. Arrested by the Page County Sheriff’s Office.

A charge is merely an accusation and that the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report 68-year-old Sheryl Lynn Franzen, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10:22-a.m. today (Tuesday), for Theft in the 5th Degree. Franzen was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Residents of the Riverside neighborhood in Sioux City expressed frustration with the city’s flood response at the city council meeting. Susan Bart was the first to speak at Monday’s meeting. “Where we’re our city leaders when we’re in time of need? I am flooded out I got three lots along the Big Sioux in my backyard,” She says. “I’m flooded out and I had a sewer leak prior to the flooding. On Sunday, MidAmerican turned off my gas, so they were well aware of what was going on. Yet no sirens, no nothing.” Steve Kurally was awake and started warning neighbors as the floodwaters rose. He says they could have used more warning from the city.

“I don’t know who is in charge of that, but that really could have been used some improvement. I’m not here to, by no means to criticize anybody I think in the city, they came a long way through that flood. I mean they were working diligently trying to build the temporary levees and man and the pumps and all of that,” he says. Bonnie Whitlock was emotional as she talked about he flood damage. “I’ve lost two cars. I’ve lost my babies pictures and everything if I would have had some warning, I could have gotten that stuff up,” Whitlock says. “I’ve lost everything in my home. All my drywall is gone. All my flooring is gone. My furniture, my appliances, everything is gone. My husband and I are just retired.”

Mayor Bob Scott says he will meet soon with City Manager Bob Padmore to discuss what happened in Riverside and how they can move forward. “Let’s just say that I’ve told Bob that after this quiets down with his staff in a couple of weeks we need to have a real sit down and talk about what we did,”Scott says. “I think we were in denial that river was going to go as high as what did unfortunately it just kept rising and rising.”

Scott said he expected to be back out at the flood scene today (Tuesday)