w/ Max Dirks
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The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, approved a $400,000 guaranteed loan to local developer Pat McCurdy, for a 24-unit apartment building near the existing Walnut Hills apartment complex on east 10th Street. The funds, at 4-percent interest, would not be paid to McCurdy unless he receives the go-ahead for the $2.1-million dollar project from the State, as part of an application he has submitted for additional, grant or loan opportunities. The loan guarantee also serves to add points to McCurdy’s application, when it comes time to approve the larger grant or loan. It should be known by January 2015 whether or not the process can move forward.
In other business, the Council held a public hearing on a revised Urban Revitalization Plan (URP), during which there were no comments submitted, either written or spoken. The Council then moved forward with approving a Resolution establishing a URP for the City, with the proposed modifications, as explained by Mayor Dave Jones and SWIPCO Community Development Specialist Barb Barrick.
The modifications include removing the area south of 14th Street from the “blighted” definition. Anyone making improvements on the homes south of 14th Street would be eligible for a tax abatement of up to $75,000 of the actual assessed value of the improvements. Anyone living north of there is eligible for a full abatement, up to $250,000.
Duplexes constructed after January 1st, 2014 are being classified as single-family residences instead of commercial, and would be eligible for tax abatement, if they previously were qualified as “Commercial.”
Following the Public Hearing, the Council approved a Resolution establishing the Urban Revitalization Area, and after some discussion, the first reading of an ordinance designating the 2014 City of Atlantic URP. There was considerable confusion over what time frame the abatements would cover, as far as improvements to structures were concerned. John Lund, Assistant to City Administrator Doug Harris, tried to clarify the matter, citing his conversations with Cass County Assessor Brenda Nelson.
Lund said according to Nelson, it depends on completion of a project. For instance, anyone who applies for a home improvement tax abatement now, must have those projects completed by Jan. 1st 2015, in order to be on the tax roles and receive an abatement next year.
If the project was not complete by Jan. 1, 2015, there won’t be any partial abatements. Instead, the full abatement would come during the following calendar year, if it amounts to a 10-percent increase in valuation of the property.
MATTHEW A. ERICKSEN, 29, of Carroll (& formerly of Elk Horn) died Tue., Aug. 5th, at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll. Funeral services for MATTHEW ERICKSEN will be held 10:30-a.m. Sat., Aug. 9th, at the Brayton Lutheran Church in Brayton. Kessler Funeral Home in Exira has the arrangements.
Friends may call at the funeral home, where the family visitation begins at 6:30-p.m., Friday.
Burial will be in the Oakhill Cemetery, west of Brayton.
MATTHEW ERICKSEN is survived by:
His parents – Marty & Lisa Ericksen, of Audubon.
His sister – Courtney Ericksen, of Audubon.
His grandfather – Eldon Ericksen, of Lewis.
Other relatives and friends.
400 AM CDT THU AUG 7 2014
EARLY THIS MORNING…CLOUDY WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS. SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE HEAVY RAINFALL. EAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 50 PERCENT.
TODAY…CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH MID MORNING…THEN SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS BEFORE NOON. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE HEAVY RAINFALL THROUGH MID MORNING. HIGH IN THE MID 70S. NORTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 30 PERCENT.
TONIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EVENING. LOW IN THE LOWER 60S. NORTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH. CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS 20 PERCENT.
FRIDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 70S. NORTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.
FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE MID 60S. HIGH IN THE UPPER 70S. EAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.
SATURDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE MID 60S.
SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH AROUND 80. LOW IN THE MID 60S.
ADAIR-MADISON-UNION-RINGGOLD COUNTIES; 359 AM CDT THU AUG 7 2014
…FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS CANCELLED…
THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA HAS BEEN CANCELLED. THE MAIN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS AND HEAVY RAINFALL HAD DEVELOPED FURTHER SOUTH OVER MISSOURI. ALTHOUGH THERE WERE MODERATE SHOWERS OVER MUCH OF SOUTHERN IOWA THEY REMAINED TO THE NORTH AND EAST OF THE WATCH AREA AND ARE NOT EXPECTED TO PRODUCE HEAVY RAINFALL EVEN IF THEY SHOULD SHIFT INTO FAR SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA. AS A RESULT THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS CANCELLED.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Board of Regents has a suggestion for its own cost-cutting consultant: start providing receipts to justify employee expenses. Regents said Wednesday they would start requiring Deloitte Consulting to submit receipts, like university employees do, to document claims for travel, lodging and food. The move came after The Gazette in Cedar Rapids reported that Deloitte submitted $220,000 in expense reimbursements without documentation, under its $3.3 million contract to find savings.
Board President Bruce Rastetter says Deloitte’s contract did not require its employees to submit receipts. But he says the regents didn’t want the “relatively small expenses” being questioned to reflect poorly on the larger initiative, which could save millions. He says Deloitte has been receptive to providing receipts going forward, and the contract may be amended to require them.
A District Court Judge has approved a motion to suppress evidence filed by the defense attorney in the case of an Oakland man charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of a Cass County woman. Eric Nelson, attorney for 63-year old Robert Reynolds had claimed in his motion, that an interview with Reynolds by the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office should be thrown out as evidence. The Daily NonPareil says Fourth District Court Judge Greg Steensland agreed.
Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber said that during the interview Reynolds asked to speak with an attorney but eventually waived his Miranda rights. Steensland ruled that authorities shouldn’t have pushed Reynolds for the waiver after the suspect asked for an attorney, saying a recording of the interview can not be used at Reynolds’ first-degree murder trial, scheduled for Sept. 30th.
Reynolds is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of 64-year old Patricia Kinkade-Dorsey. He allegedly shot the woman on April 8th and during an interview with law enforcement, reportedly admitted he and Kinkade-Dorsey had a verbal dispute inside his residence, and that he then left the area to locate a firearm which he allegedly used to fatally shoot Kinkade-Dorsey.
Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker said he wasn’t fully aware of all the particulars in Steensland’s decision and declined to comment. Wilber said he still feels confident about the state’s case against Reynolds moving forward.
Redemption was a big theme Wednesday in Cedar Falls, as the U-N-I football team held their annual Media Day activities. The Panthers suffered through an injury-plagued, 7-5 season last year. But the Panthers have eighteen starters back this season, Panther coach Mark Farley says that group will play a large role in dictating how the new season goes. “That will be the basis of this football team. There’s good talent at some of the younger positions, but it always goes back to if you’ve got talent and leadership — guys that are invested in the program because they’ve been here — those are the ones who will battle for you in those tight situations that will make the difference between a good season and a great season,” Farley says. “The opportunity is there. We have to take advantage of that opportunity.”
The 2013 season saw the Panthers lose starters to injury at several key positions, including wide receiver, middle linebacker, and in their secondary. But according to Farley, the upside of dealing with those setbacks is a deeper team this season. Farley says they probably have more depth and more talented depth this year than they have had in the past. He says those are players who have the ability to come in and have the knowledge to play the game.
The Panthers open their season at Iowa on August 30. Farley says that playing an F-B-S team to begin the season presents a whole separate set of challenges. “We have to get this team to a very high level again for that first football game. If we don’t it’s going to be a very long afternoon. So we’ve got to get to a very high level,” Farley says. “Once we get to that level now you’ve got to sustain that for 12 more weeks — very hard to do. Sometimes the way you want to build a program is to keep growing it through the season and then everybody says you are better in the second game than you were in the first. We’d better be good in the first or we won’t have anything left in the second.”
According to Farley, 105 U-N-I players spent their summer in Cedar Falls preparing for the season. He says that shows their commitment on and off the field. “Now that’s different from other universities because at the F-B-S you get scholarships in the summer. At the F-C-S, if you stay, you pay. And you stay there because you want to be there, you stay there because you want to be there for your teammates. That number changes at F-C-S,” Farley says. “When you have 105 guys in the weight room all summer long working, when it is on them, that just shows the commitment and what they want to do with their team and what they want to do with their talent. That says a lot for them.”
U-N-I was picked to finish 3rd in the Missouri Valley Football Conference by the league’s coaches. The Panthers are 15th in the preseason F-C-S poll released by The Sports Network.
(Radio Iowa)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Quarterback Andy Dalton is armed with a new contract that could keep him with the Bengals through the 200 season. It may just set the market for Chiefs counterpart Alex Smith. On Thursday night, Smith will get a chance to prove whether the two of them are truly comparable when the Chiefs play the Bengals in the preseason opener for both teams.
Dalton has led Cincinnati to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons, but he’s yet to win a playoff game. The Bengals were bounced by the Chargers last season. Smith helped to turn around a two-win team prior to his arrival, going 11-5 and making the playoffs last year. But the Chiefs blew a 38-10 second-half lead in a 45-44 playoff loss in Indianapolis, leaving Smith and the rest of the team eager for the start of a new season.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Xander Bogaerts drove in both runs, including a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, as the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Wednesday night. The matchup of Shelby Miller and Joe Kelly, former teammates who were each other’s best man, was a high quality draw that brought out their best. Each allowed a run in seven innings.
Junichi Tazawa worked a perfect eighth and Koji Uehara worked around two hits in the ninth for his 23rd save in 25 chances. Boston won for just the third time in 14 games and snapped St. Louis’ three-game win streak. Trevor Rosenthal allowed two hits and a walk in the ninth.