Students in Cass and Audubon Counties have an opportunity to receive scholarship funds from two area endowed scholarships administered through the Community Foundations of Southwest Iowa. For students in Cass County, the Cass County Community Foundation is accepting applications for the Dustin McCurdy Endowed Scholarship Fund.The McCurdy Scholarship provides two scholarships of approximately $500 each to high school seniors from Cumberland Anita Massena High School (C-A-M).

Students in Audubon County, can submit their applications for the Exira Lions Club/Harold and Beverly Ann Godwin Endowed Scholarship. The Fund will award one scholarship for $1,000 and is open to any high school senior from the Exira-EHK School District pursuing a two or four year degree, full-time, at any accredited vocational/technical or educational institution or a college or university.

In both counties, applications are available from your high school guidance counselor.  Applications are due to your guidance counselor no later than March 31^st.  

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on Wednesday, of a Glenwood man on a drug charge. 24-year old Thomas Michael Cash was arrested for allegedly possessing Drug Paraphernalia. He was taken into custody and around 6:30-a.m., and held in the Mills County Jail on $300 bond.

Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today (Thursday) announced a series of town hall meetings will be held across Iowa, with regard to “The importance of giving students a great education in science, technology, engineering and math.”

Reynolds is co-chair of the Governor’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Advisory Council along with Mary Andringa, CEO of the Vermeer Corporation. The Council’s goal is to raise student interest and achievement in STEM and building a stronger STEM workforce.

The tour this spring will update Iowans on the progress being made by the Council, showcase student STEM presentations and seek feedback from community members about how the Council should set STEM priorities moving forward. Governor Branstad, Mary Andringa and local business leaders will join Reynolds at select town halls.

The public is welcome to attend STEM town hall events, one of which will be held in Corning on Tuesday, March 6th, beginning at 1:30-p.m. Lt. Gov. Reynolds and Gov. Branstad will be in attendance for the meeting, to be held in the Southwest Valley High School Auditorium.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors are set to hold their weekly meeting Friday morning, here in Atlantic. On their agenda for the 8:30-a.m. session, is approval of an Iowa DOT Preconstruction Agreement for the reconstruction/bridge deck replacement of a bridge on County Road M-56 over I-80 (at the Marne exit).

The Board will also act on a Resolution to encourage the implementation of a recommendation from the 2011 Citizen’s Advisory Council (CAC), with regard to: Increasing the state fuel tax rates across the board by 10-cents; increase the “Fee for New Registration” from 5-to 6-percent, and, allocate new funding to go to the TIME-21 Fund up to the $225-million cap, with the remaining new funding  to be distributed consistent with the Road Use Tax Fund (RUTF) distribution formula.

The TIME-21 Fund is an additional source of State revenue is dedicated primarily to maintenance and construction of certain primary highways in the state (60 percent), but also of secondary roads (20 percent) and municipal streets (20 percent). TIME-21 was created by the legislature in 2008, as a response to a “perfect storm” of factors threatening to create an estimated $267 million per year funding shortfall, hindering the state’s ability to adequately maintain and improve public roadways in Iowa