(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds today (Thursday) issued a disaster proclamation for Allamakee and Clayton County in response to a sudden structural failure of a border bridge on February 25. The bridge is located in Lansing, Iowa on Iowa Highway 9 and connects to Wisconsin Highway 35. The proclamation is effective immediately and continues through March 30, 2024.

The governor’s proclamation activates the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Emergency Repair (ER) Program which authorizes emergency relief funding to cover the costs of repair or reconstruction of federal-aid routes that have suffered severe damage as a result of sudden structural failure.

Gov. Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for Allamakee and Clayton Counties in response to a sudden structural failure of a border bridge on February 25.

(Radio Iowa) – The Food Bank of Siouxland got a record-breaking donation today (Thursday) from Perdue Farms and the Feeding America program. Food Bank Director Jacob Wanderscheid says Perdue delivered 80-thousand pounds of frozen chicken breasts.

“This will be the biggest single donation that we received at one time of a greatly needed product in chicken,” he says. “Protein is the number one item that gets asked for, and top three of the categories that get distributed.” He says it will fill up their freezer space.

“We did work with Perdue to try to get it in two different shipments so that we could get the first shipment to get into the warehouse. We have room for the second one and we’re working with our partners like Hope Food Pantry in Sioux Center distribute this.It should start leaving our warehouse by Monday,” Wanderscheid says. Gary Malenke is the senior vice president of Perdue Farms in Sioux Center, and says the Siouxland donation is part of a larger overall effort.

Jacob Wanderscheid next to a pallet of chicken. (KSCJ photo)

“Today is the single largest donation that Perdue has ever made the history of the company,” he says. “Over three-point-three million pounds of product being delivered across the United States today. really kind of in recognition of leap day and you know the need for another day to feed ourselves.”

The Siouxland area covers 11 counties and it is estimated that more than 25-thousands resident don’t have enough food, including 42 percent of all children.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds unveiled a new mobile workforce office today (Thursday) that’ll travel around the state to help connect out-of-work Iowans with new jobs. Reynolds says it’s part of her initiative to focus on “re-employment.” She says her bill passed in 2022 to limit unemployment benefits to 16 weeks maximum has reduced the average amount of time Iowans get benefits.

“Nine-point-six weeks on unemployment that is the shortest amount of time in more than 50 years. And significantly better than the national average of more than 14 weeks,” Reynolds says. Reynolds says the mobile workforce office will help with the state’s ongoing efforts to alleviate the state’s workforce shortage. She says about 60-thousand jobs are open, many in the health care field.

The 32-foot workforce bus cost nearly half a million dollars and was paid for with a mix of COVID relief funds and other federal grants.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston cited a man for Failure to Provide Proof of Insurance (accident related), Wednesday. Authorities say a 1997 GMC pickup driven by 16-year-old Justin Ray Loudon, of Creston, was turning south from Swan Street onto Maple, when the pickup sideswiped a 2006 Chevy Impala that was legally parked on the west side of the street in the 600 block of N. Maple. The accident happened at around 3:45-p.m.

The pickup sustained $500 damage. Damage to the car owned by Michelle Henry, of Creston, was estimated  at $1,500. No injuries were reported.

(Iowa DPS) – An endangered person advisory is being issued for seven-year-old Milla Keahna. Milla was reported missing to the Meskwaki Nation Police Department. Milla was reportedly last seen with her mother, Starla Mae Marie Lincoln, or possibly her father, Redmond Keahna.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Milla, Starla, or Redmond is asked to call 911 or the Tama County Communications at 641.484.3760 and dial 1 for dispatch, the Meskwaki Nation Police Department tip line at 641.481.0840, or call the Marshall County Crime Stoppers at 641.753.1234, Text 274637 and “Marshall” followed by tip message, or online: marshallcountycs.com.

Milla Keahna

(Radio Iowa) – A report from the U-S Department of Energy found Iowa churches are below the national average for use of renewable energy, though a church in northeast Iowa is helping to change that. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Decorah is one of just 17 houses of worship in Iowa that uses solar power, according to the report. Jim Fritz has been a member of the congregation for about 30 years and first proposed the idea. He says it started in his own backyard.

“We had also done a lot of solar at our house, and I’d done about all I possibly could, and didn’t feel like I’d done enough,” Fritz says, “so we live two blocks from the church and I thought, ‘Ok, let’s just go down there instead.’” In the past year, the church has devoted itself to switching over to renewable energy. Fritz says three of the church’s rooftop furnaces were failing, and all five were ugly, so the solution was simple.

“You either go back to what you’ve been doing for the last however long and continue to spew emissions,” Fritz says, “or you can do something creative and clean up an eyesore.” The church replaced all five furnaces with 102 solar panels and is now operating at net zero. The switch to solar will allow the church to offset an estimated 25 tons of carbon emissions per year.