Officials with the Wellmark Foundation today (Thursday) announced 19 recipients of its 2014 Healthy Communities small grant program. The Healthy Communities small grant program supports projects of $25,000 or less with the goal of being a catalyst in bringing groups together within a community to impact health improvement. A total of 112 applications were received for this year’s Healthy Communities small grant program.

Among the 15 communities selected to receive funding in Iowa, was:

• The City of Atlantic, which received $25,000 for the Bull Creek Trail Reconstruction Project.
• The City of Manning, $25,000 for the City Park Connector Trail.
• and Mills County Public Health, $25,000 for “Eat Healthy Mills County.”

Stephanie Perry with the Wellmark Foundation, said “We are pleased to support these 19 community-focused projects in Iowa and South Dakota. These grants provide communities support to help implement or enhance childhood obesity prevention initiatives and/or community-based wellness and prevention programs.”

The 19 Wellmark Foundation awards amount to more than $404,000. To view a summary of each recipient’s Healthy Communities small grant, visit the Wellmark Foundation website: www.wellmark.com/foundation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa congressional candidate says he sometimes carries a handgun into the Senate chamber while working there. State Sen. Brad Zaun is an Urbandale Republican, and he told The Des Moines Register during a meeting with its editorial board that he’s concerned about Capitol security. Zaun says other Iowa House and Senate members have carried handguns into their chambers, but he didn’t name them.

Secretary of the Senate Michael Marshall told the Register that administrative code bars people from carrying dangerous weapons in Capitol complex buildings. Zaun said in response to Marshall’s statement that he will stop taking a gun into the Capitol.

Zaun is seeking the Republican nomination in the June 3 primary for the 3rd District congressional seat being left vacant by the retiring Tom Latham.

The Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund has donated $1,000 to the Nishna Valley Family YMCA’s 2014 annual Partnership with Youth Campaign, as Chairman’s Roundtable Members.

Pictured are Trevor’s siblings, Grant Petty and Laena Frederickson.

Fund spokesperson Melanie Petty says “The YMCA has been a large part of our lives for many years and we are proud to support them in their “The Y. So Much More” Campaign.”

Authorities in Montgomery County say a traffic stop early this (Thursday) morning near the intersection of Highways 34 and 48 in Red Oak, resulted in an arrest. 26-year old Skyler Lee Baker, of Red Oak, was arrested for Operating a motor vehicle While Revoked/OWI related, and Failure to Provide Proof of Insurance. Baker was brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held on $1,000 cash bond.