Mills County Emergency Management officials said Tuesday, that in the regular meeting of the Mills County Board of Supervisors (Board) held on February 4, 2020, the Board signed an application to be submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for funding, under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, on the property buyouts for the unincorporated area of Mills County. The total cost of the project is $17,342,050.00.

In conjunction with the application, the Board also signed a resolution authorizing the local match of fifteen percent (15%) for the project, or $2,601,307.50. Seventy-Five percent (75%), or $13,006,537.50, of the funding will be federal funds and the remaining ten percent (10%), or $1,734,205.00 will be funded through the State of Iowa. Mills County officials anticipate the application will be submitted to FEMA later this week. Local authorities expect a 30 to 60-day time frame for FEMA to review, process, and award the funds to Mills County.

Local match funds are expected to be provided through a Community Development Block Grant and other funding sources instead of the Flood Recovery Fund as originally planned.
On February 6, 2020, local officials and engineers will be meeting with members of the Iowa Flood Board in Des Moines to discuss and identify time sensitive projects located within the various levee and drainage districts in Mills County.

The Interim Mortgage Assistance Program is still active and available to those qualified individuals in need of assistance. Officials encourage those qualified individuals in need of assistance to fill out the application on the Mills County Flood Page or in person at the Mills County Auditor’s Office to begin the process. As a reminder, property owners must provide a mortgage statement from the lender, a forbearance letter (if applicable), and tax and/or insurance statements if not paid through an escrow account, along with any other correspondence with the mortgage holder that shows a need for assistance.

Qualified property owners should contact Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) by email at SWIPCO@swipco.org or by telephone at 1-866-279-4720 if they have any questions.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Joe Biden’s third presidential bid is entering a critical stretch after a disappointing finish in the Iowa caucuses. It sent the former vice president on to New Hampshire with a skittish donor base, low cash reserves and the looming threat of billionaire rival Michael Bloomberg and his unlimited personal wealth.

On Tuesday, Biden insisted he had a “good night” in Iowa even as incomplete returns showed him in fourth place, well behind the top moderate candidate, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and barely ahead of fifth-place Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. That makes even some Biden backers nervous about whether he can regain front-runner status.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Democratic Party officials in Iowa have released more than 60 percent their delayed caucus results. Confusion and chaos still hang over Iowa and its first-in-the-nation presidential contest. Frustrated presidential candidates plowed ahead in their quest for nomination, most of them already in next-up New Hampshire.

All claimed to be encouraged by Iowa voters in Monday’s voting, especially Vermont Sen. Bernie Senators and Pete Buttigieg of Indiana. Republican President Donald Trump mocked them all and their party and said he was the only one who could claim a victory in Iowa.

Initial data released by the Iowa Democratic Party shows Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders ahead in the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. The tally of state delegate equivalents released Tuesday shows Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar trailing behind.

The party released 62% of results from all 99 counties after a daylong delay sparked by technical problems. It was unclear when the remaining results will be released by the party, which says it is still verifying data from caucuses across the state.

Updated at 4:20 PM CST  

Pete Buttigieg – 26.9%, 363 votes

Bernie Sanders –  25.1%, 338

Elizabeth Warren –  18.3%, 246

Joe Biden –  15.6%, 210

Amy Klobuchar – 12.6%, 170

Andrew Yang – 1%, 14

Tom Steyer – 0.3%, 4

Deval Patrick – 0%, 0

John Delaney – 0%, 0

Michael Bennet –  0%, 0

Michael Bloomberg – 0%, 0

Tulsi Gabbard –  0%, 0

Uncommitted – 0.1%, 2

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court says it will not review evidence in the case of a man charged with killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts in 2018. The lawyers for Cristhian Bahena Rivera have argued that much of the evidence prosecutors plan to use at trial should be suppressed because his cooperation was coerced and he wasn’t initially read his legal rights.

The Des Moines Register reports that Justice Edward Mansfield denied the review Tuesday. A district court judge had ruled the evidence was admissible. Rivera’s lawyers appealed the decision, leading to a delay of Rivera’s first-degree murder trial.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is defending Iowa’s first in the nation caucus status as Democrats struggle to get results released. Reynolds, a Republican, says the state must fight to remain first after a mobile app created to compile and report caucus results malfunctioned and delayed the count. She says Iowa fights every year to stay first and political leaders must demonstrate that adequate measures have been taken to ensure accurate results.

She says the parties worked together after the 2012 caucuses when Republicans named Mitt Romney the winner only to find later that Rick Santorum had more votes.

(Radio Iowa) — The former University of Iowa professor who wrote a book titled “Why Iowa?” after the 2008 Caucuses sees irony in the title today. “Iowa has been challenged in its position for many, many election cycles, but we always had a pretty good response, I though, as to ‘Why Iowa?'” Not being able to get the results out in a timely fashion adds to the piling on and I think it makes things really difficult moving forward.”

David Redlawsk says fixing the smartphone reporting app’s glitches isn’t just important for getting results out today. “Buckle up for the state of Nevada. I understand they’re using the same app that seems to have failed here,” Redlawsk says. “I hope they’re going to go 24/7 on testing that thing.” Nevada’s Caucuses are scheduled for February 22nd. Redlawsk is now the dean of the University of Delaware’s political science department, but he’s been in Iowa since August, following the campaign and planning to update his book.

He’s heading back east now and unsure if that’s what he’ll do. “I need some time to figure out what’s next,” Redlawsk says. “I admit I have some concern that this research project itself just isn’t going to play out the way I had hoped, but I do think there’s something else there.”

Redlawsk recorded hours of interviews with Iowans as well as candidate events. He says exploring grassroots politics independently of what happened Caucus Night may become his focus.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowans who get a hankering for a midnight snack will soon have to head for a convenience store and not the nearest Hy-Vee. Starting next Monday, the West Des Moines-based grocery chain will stop keeping its stores open around the clock. Some stores, including in Atlantic, have already cut back on its hours of business.

Hy-Vee spokeswoman Tina Potthoff says few customers do their shopping between midnight and six A-M, so all current 24-hour stores will be scaling back their hours.

“We’re encouraging customers to check with their local Hy-Vee stores to get the exact times for their specific locations,” Potthoff says. “We have always had stores that were not 24 hours so this is just moving the rest of our stores to that scheduling model.” Some stores will close from 11 P-M to 6 A-M, for others, it may be midnight to 5 A-M. Despite the downsizing of store hours, Potthoff says there will be no downsizing of staff.

“We’ve been receiving some questions about whether or not people will be losing their jobs during this transition,” Potthoff says. “That is not the case. Everyone who works overnight hours, even though we’ll still need staffing overnight, those individuals that would typically be working or serving customers overnight will be moved to a busier shift during the day.” The chain has about 83-thousand employees and is Iowa’s largest grocer. Potthoff says plenty of other types of businesses are dumping ’round-the-clock hours.

“The trend is — really, we’re seeing many retailers not go 24-7,” Potthoff says. “There are others that are out there that are moving to more of the early morning to midday to nighttime feel for their customers and aren’t necessarily keeping their doors open for all hours of the day.” Hy-Vee has 265 stores. About half of them are in Iowa. The rest are in seven other Midwestern states.