The Shelby County Emergency Management Agency reports a portion of Elmwood road will be closed for today (Tuesday) only. The section of Elmwood Road near 1150th Street is closed for a pipe replacement. The EMA says work will be completed by the end of today and the road will reopen Wednesday.

Minnesota and Missouri are now allowing lottery sales as people gas up their vehicles and pay at the pump, but Iowa Lottery C-E-O Terry Rich isn’t ready to ask Iowa legislators to allow those kind of transactions at gas pumps here. “It’s a subject that has and needs a lot of safeguards,” Rich says, “and I sure wouldn’t feel positive about doing something until I’m fully convinced that we have all the safeguards in place for amount of money people might be able to spend and/or the whole safeguards in terms of social impact.”

Minnesota began testing Powerball ticket sales at gas pumps last year. Missouri began testing the concept this fall at 15 gas stations as well as 100 A-T-Ms in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas. Rich says the technology to allow those gas-pump ticket sales is rather expensive and that’s one reason he’s not yet sold on the concept for Iowa gas stations.  “We really want to see what the financial impact is,” Rich says. “I don’t like to spend money unless I know that it’s going to be a positive financial return for the State of Iowa.”

This fall Delaware’s lottery began offering on-line casino games like blackjack and roulette. New Jersey is on the verge of doing that, too, but the games won’t be operated by that state’s lottery. The neighboring state of Illinois is selling Powerball and MegaMillions tickets online.  “There are so many safeguards that we want to make sure and ensure are in place,” Rich says. “We think those are in place now, but we’ll continue to test those and look at that, but it’ll really be determined by what the public and, I think, the other gaming entities in Iowa do to see what our next step is.”

Iowa’s casinos have been lobbying legislators to pass a law that allows the casinos to offer on-line poker games, but the effort has stalled in each of the past two years.

(Radio Iowa)

Some are criticizing the decision of retailers who have decided to open their doors on Thanksgiving Day instead of waiting for Friday to kick off holiday shopping. Iowa State University retail and small business specialist, Ron Prescott, says one of the reasons stores are making the move is because they think it will get them sales. “The whole things is actually consumer driven. People are interested in shopping earlier,” Prescott says. “Now that may come from the recession, where people are interest in spreading out their paychecks over a longer period of time.”

While consumers want to shop earlier, Prescott says they may not go along if things continue moving up on the calendar.  “I think there is going to be a point where people say ‘enough is enough’ and we’re encroaching on our holiday season a little bit too much,” Prescott says.

But for this year anyway, opening on Thanksgiving isn’t the limit. “Up to this point, it doesn’t seem like that’s the trend, at least in 2013,” Prescott says. While some retailers are trying to get the jump on holiday shopping, Prescott says overall he’s seen something else that he views as good for the economy. “Employment is up for retailers this holiday season — you know everybody is concerned about unemployment. And it’s just not temporary,” Prescott says.

He says many retailers are hiring full-time employees, and that means they have a positive view of the economy and for business beyond the holidays.

(Radio Iowa)

The Cass County Board of Supervisors is set to meet Wednesday, in Atlantic. During their 9-a.m. session, the Board expects to hear a funding request from Elizabeth Tobak, with “I Care About Kids,” with regard to the programs’ parenting classes.

The Board will also act on the abatement of taxes on properties owned by the City of Atlantic, and move to allow or disallow military exemptions and homestead credit applications for taxes collectible during the 2014-2015 Fiscal Year. And, they’re set to approve Sub-recipient agreements for two federally funded projects: Longview Homes 10-unit apartments and the Longview Homes construction project. In addition, Weed Commissioner Larry Randel will present his annual Weed Control report.

In Greenfield, the Adair County Board of Supervisors will meet at 9-a.m. in the Adair County Boardroom at the Courthouse. During their meeting the Board will hear from County Engineer Nick Kauffman, with regard to the awarding of a bridge contract. Kauffman will also discuss the LEP Policy and Approval of a service contract, the snow removal ordinance, and other matters.

And, at around 9:30-a.m., Auditor Mindy Schaefer will discuss a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Debt Resolution, TIF certification, and a Geographic Informations System (GIS) Workshop agreement.

As the holiday season approaches, the focus on aviation often turns to people flying home for the holidays and last minute gifts arriving via air cargo. In addition to those activities, there are many uses of aviation throughout the year that support Iowa’s economy and move people and goods to and from the state. The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation has captured some of those activities by holding a statewide aviation photography contest highlighting aviation activity in Iowa.

General Aviation – First Place | Todd Dalsing (Photo from IA Aviation contest )

Winning submissions for the 2013 Iowa Aviation Photography Contest are posted at http://www.iowadot.gov/aviation/photocontest/photogallery.html and the photos can be downloaded directly from the Flickr website at http://www.flickr.com/photos/iowadot/sets/72157637806812583/.