(Radio Iowa) – Northwest Iowans still face a long road to recovery three months after devastating flooding hit the region. The Big Sioux River forced dozens of people from their homes in the Riverside neighborhood of Sioux City, including Deanna Mercure. “It was rough, and it still is. It’s been the longest three months of my life,” Mercure says. “I was just devastated, thinking, ‘What am I going to do? I don’t want to leave this house.’ It just all fell in place with everybody that stepped up.”

Mercure says she received 26-thousand dollars from FEMA to help with home repairs and is hoping to secure another 50-thousand in state funding. However, she admits that isn’t enough and she still needed to take out a home equity loan. Jeanne Derby’s home, also in the Riverside neighborhood, was heavily damaged when the Big Sioux River poured out of its banks. Even though it will still take some time before she can move back in, Derby is thankful for help from the federal government, the state, and local organizations.

“The community came together. When I didn’t have clothes, people dropped clothes off, people dropped shoes off,” Derby says. “People I didn’t know showed up to help tear my walls off. It was amazing.” A local Long Term Recovery Group was formed to help flood victims connect with much-needed services. So far, FEMA has approved more than three-million dollars for 325 households in Woodbury County. The deadline to apply for individual assistance from FEMA ends on October 22nd for Woodbury and several other Iowa counties impacted by natural disasters this summer.

File photo of this summer’s flooding in Sioux City’s Riverside neighborhood. (KSCJ photo)

Counties included: Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Humboldt, Lyon, Monona, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Pottawattamie, Scott, Sioux, and Woodbury.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Central Community College will be consolidating classes in Storm Lake in a new, 10 MILLION dollar facility. The community college has offered courses and certification programs in Storm Lake, but out of three different locations in the community. Jesse Ulrich, the president of Iowa Central Community College, hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for the college’s Training Center in Storm Lake. “Our purpose at Iowa Central is very simple. We want students to come to Iowa Central. We want them to finish their degrees and their certifications in the shortest amount of time possible with the least amount of student debt so they can go on and have a better life,” Ulrich says. “This building represents a lot of that.”

The two-story building has 16 classrooms, an academic resource center, and a testing center. Ulrich says new programs for certified nurse assistants, welders and electricians will be added on the Storm Lake campus. It will also serve as a career academy for students in local high schools (those school districts are Storm Lake, Alta-Aurelia, Sioux Central in Sioux Rapids, Newell-Fonda and Pocahontas Area and St. Mary’s Catholic High School in Storm Lake). “These schools really came together as a consortium to talk about what the needs were in this building,” Ulrich says. The building will host community education and classes for English language learners at night. Governor Kim Reynolds says community colleges like Iowa Central are key to developing well-trained, capable workers.

Gov. Reynolds listens as Iowa Central Community College president Ulrich addresses crowd at building’s grand opening. (KAYL photo)

“Each of those jobs reflect the incredible power of these institutions to transform lives,” Reynolds said. Iowa Central’s main campus is in Fort Dodge. It operates a satellite campus in Webster City as well as the courses offered in Storm Lake.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Sept. 27, 2024) — Food Bank of Iowa’s second Drive Away Childhood Hunger golf tournament, held Sept. 26 and presented by Nationwide, raised $169,588 to help Iowa kids facing food insecurity. The private Talons Golf in Ankeny welcomed 124 golfers, who enjoyed lunch donated by Fareway and the rare opportunity to tour Dennis Albaugh’s vintage car collection. Lou Sipolt served as master of ceremonies and auctioneer at the evening reception, sponsored by the Murphy Family Foundation. Funds raised will support Food Bank of Iowa’s 162 school pantries (and counting!) and its BackPack Program, which serves 4,100 elementary students at 103 schools every week during the school year.

More than 15% of Iowa children face hunger, and 42% rely on free and reduced-price school meals. Children who live in poverty and lack proper nutrition face delayed development, impaired coping skills, behavioral problems and learning difficulties. Food Bank of Iowa CEO Michelle Book says “Thanks to the generosity of Dennis Albaugh and his team, our tremendous sponsors and golfers, we raised enough to provide more than 282,000 meals for Iowa kids who don’t know where they’ll find their next meal. We are incredibly grateful to all who contributed to this successful day.”

In addition to Nationwide, Talons Golf, Fareway and the Murphy Family Foundation, other sponsors included Advanced Automation, Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Bank Iowa, Casey’s, ClaimDOC, Doll Distributing, Elder Corp., Innovative Communication Technologies, the Iowa Barbecue Store, Iowa Wild, John Deere, Foster Group, KRM Custom Homes, Mom’s Meals, NCMIC, Peterson Financial Group, the Pork Checkoff, Prairie Meadows, Ruan, Sammons, Sigler, Simonson, Sysco, Top Gun Contractors, the Underwood Family Foundation, Waldinger, Warehouse Barbecue Co. and Willis Automotive.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak have arrested a woman on a Theft charge. 35-year-old Brynn Elizabeth Hudson, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10:30-a.m. Friday (today), in the 100 block of W. Coolbaugh Street. Hudson was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and charged with Theft in the 4th Degree/Theft from a building (a Serious Misdemeanor). Her bond was set at $1,000.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Auditor Kathy Somers has announced members of the Board of Supervisors may attend a special meeting Tuesday morning, at the invitation of the Charles E. Lakin Foundation and the Community Foundation for Western Iowa. A quorum of the Board may be present, but NO deliberations among the Board members, or action, will be taken. The meeting will take place at 10-a.m. at the Bluebird Hill Venue (56741 655th St.), in rural Atlantic.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors hosted a discussion with Erik Johnson, Cass County EMS, on Thursday, September 26th, to learn more about the proposed EMS Tax Levy to enhance emergency medical services. Johnson, who serves as the Program Coordinator for Iowa United First Aid, shared with the Ambassadors that by making EMS an essential service, taxes that are already being collected will be put into a new, separate EMS fund. EMS is not considered an essential service in Iowa, and with an Iowa law, passed 2021, county boards are allowed to ask county voters to voice their opinion on this issue.

The levy proposes an EMS levy that will allow up to 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value to be set aside specifically for EMS. The county vote on November 5th must receive at least 60% to pass.

Pictured Left to Right: Krysta Hanson, Kelsey Beschorner, Ruth Sears, Colt Doherty, Jim Kickland, Dr. Keith Leonard, Lana Westphalen, Dolly Bergmann, Brett Altman, Erik Johnson, Tori Gibson, Chris Parks, Scott Bennett, Jeff Christensen, Sue Liston, Gabby Wahlert, BJ Hart

Erik shared that if the EMS levy does not pass this year, funding for additional EMTS, new equipment, supplies and training may not be available in a time of need.

For more information about the proposed EMS levy, follow Cass County IA EMS Essential Services on Facebook or contact your local County Supervisor.