The legislature has unanimously approved a a bill designed to set new guidelines for the “wholesaling” of single family homes or properties with up to four residential units. Senator Mike Bousselot, of Ankeny, says the bill requires that only licensed real estate brokers can act as a wholesaler — negotiating a contract with the property owner for an agreed upon price and then selling the home to someone else or an investor.

“Many of us have probably seen the signs around the state and in our communities where they say: ‘We will buy your property.’ Oftentimes, though, those folks aren’t actually taking title to that property, but may be in fact taking advantage of the folks trying to sell their house, in the need of that cash for their home,” Bousselot says. The bill requires more transparency in these kind of wholesale real estate transactions. Bousselot says research shows private equity firms engaged in wholesaling are driving up not only the sale price of homes, but also rental costs.

“By 2030, institutions may hold some 7.6 million homes, or more than 40% of all single family rentals on the market,” Bousselot says. “We need to make sure Iowans have the informtion they deserve when they are selling their home, whether that’s to a wholesaler or to an institutional investor who might be taking advantage of them.” Senators approved the bill Monday (today). It passed the House last month and now goes to the governor for her consideration.

MARION COUNTY, Iowa [KCCI] — Why did the turkey cross the road? Well, it didn’t. Instead, it crashed into a passing semi-truck on Highway 14 in Marion County on Friday morning.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page that a turkey smashed through the windshield of the semi-truck, causing significant damage. Thankfully, the driver sustained only minor cuts from the shattered glass.

The turkey did not survive. No word on what the truck driver had for dinner on Friday night.

(Radio Iowa) – The updates to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA process delayed the normal opening of applications and is holding up the aid awards.

UNI financial aid director Tim Bakula says all three state schools had financial aid offers out to students last year by mid-February. This year some students weren’t even able to get their FAFSA completed right after the process opened. “I myself am a parent of a high school senior. I attempted to log in on January first and was met with outages that basically informed me that the FAFSA would only be open for several hours a day,” he says. “And that lasted for potentially up to the first week of January, with wider expanses of time being available as the month of January wore on.”

Bakula says the universities should be seeing the results in the next couple of weeks. “The massaging out of the Department of Education indicates that the first half of March is when all colleges nationwide would be receiving their first batch of institutional student information records or FAFSA results there,” Bakula says. He says they hope to begin awarding financial aid around the middle of April, which he says will impact students. “It presents from a family’s perspective, a much more condensed timeline to make decisions on which colleges to attend, especially for those students that were waiting on awards to ensure that the school they were selecting was accessible and affordable for them from a financial standpoint,” Bakula says.

University of Iowa financial aid director Brenda Buzynski says the colleges and universities have been the guinea pigs for the upgraded system. “They’ve had limited time for testing. And bottom line, what’s happening is that schools, we at the universities basically are ending up being their testers,” she says. Buzynski says they have learned to plan and program for the unknown. “We’ve had very little concise information, and there’s been changes to just about everything midstream,” Buzynski says. Undergraduates students receive 67 percent of the student financial aid at the UI, ISU and UNI. In 2223, 41% of the regent’s undergraduate financial aid came from the federal government, 41% from the regents institutions, 18 % from private organizations and 1% from the State of Iowa.

Buzynski and Bakula made their comments in a report during last week’s Board of Regents meeting.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The first day of filing nomination papers in Cass County (IA) in advance of the June Primary, saw two candidates submit their papers with the required number of signatures. The candidates include Kathy Somers, Republican incumbent for Cass County Auditor, who was elected to the position 2022 to fill a vacancy , and Republican John Westering for Cass County Sheriff.

In January, current Cass County Sheriff Darby McLaren had announced he was not running for re-election. He stated he was throwing his support behind Westering in his bid for Sheriff. Westering has served the past 15-years as Deputy Sheriff in Cass County.

Candidates for County Office have until 5-p.m. March 22, 2024, to file their nomination papers.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic ® RAGBRAI Committee is ready to entertain cyclists, visitors and community members alike at “Atlantipalooza” on Monday, July 22, 2024.

Kelsey Beschorner, Publicity Committee member, says “The ride from Red Oak to Atlantic is 40 miles, and we anticipate the riders and supporters spending a good amount of time in Atlantic. With that in mind, the committee went with a music festival theme and plan to have live entertainment all afternoon and into the evening.”

The tag line “Technically, it’s all downhill from here” pays tribute to the RAGBRAI 2024 route being the “hilliest” route to date, and with Atlantic being at the highest elevation, it’s technically all downhill from here. T-shirts will be printed with the new logo for sale in the community and to RAGBRAI guests.

Atlantic last served as a host community in 2019, welcoming just under 20,000 people to town. The committee, made up of 25 committee chairs, and over 300 day-of volunteers, raised a record $50,000 that was divided between the Atlantic Police Department, Atlantic Volunteer Fire Department, Atlantic School Boosters Club and the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce. Chamber Executive Director Bailey Smith says she’s looking forward to having another record year.

The official Atlantic RAGBRAI website, www.atlanticragbrai.com, is live and will be full of information in the coming weeks. This will be the hub for local community members and for RAGBRAI riders to get information about housing, vendor opportunities, entertainment, maps, volunteering and more. If you are interested in lending a helping hand, fill out the volunteer form found on the website.

The Atlantic RAGBRAI Committee will continue to meet regularly to plan various activities for the July 22nd overnight celebration. As information is available, it will be shared with the community and on the website. In the mean-time, everyone is encouraged to follow Atlantic RAGBRAI on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AtlanticRAGBRAI for all things RAGBRAI Atlantic.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – The Page County Sheriff’s Office today (Monday), released a report on arrests that took place between Feb, 15th and March 3rd.

2/15/2024 Cameron Craig Hilligorss (24) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for Lottery forgery or theft.

2/17/2024 Amy Jo Liles (37) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for OWI. Arrested by the Page County Sheriff’s Office; Alex Jeremy Hansen (39) of New Market Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for driving while suspended.

2/18/2024 Mark David Norman (44) of Coin Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for Domestic abuse. Arrested by the Page County Sheriff’s Office.

2/21/2024 Kimberly Ann Smith (48) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for public intoxication, disorderly conduct and interference with official acts.

2/22/2024 James Robert Beckwith (49) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for OWI.

2/23/2024 Paige Jamie Ruthe Vincent (34) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail to serve time; Dustin Eugene Kalkas (41) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail to serve time; Katie Michelle Ross (29) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for public intoxication, assault on peace officer and interference with official acts; Thomas James Slater (36) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for OWI.

2/25/2024 Sherry Danette Young (46) of Polo Missouri. Booked into the Page County Jail for possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, gathering where controlled substances are used and drug tax stamp violations.

2/26/2024 Paul Nathaniel Falk (40) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for contempt of court; Kenneth James Johnson (41) of New Market Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for contempt of court. Arrested by the Page County Sheriff’s Office.

2/28/2024 Christopher Russel Marsh (38) of Macedonia Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for violation of probation

3/1/2024 Sean Dylan Watson (28) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for 7 counts of theft in the 5th degree; Dustin Eugene Kalkas (41) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page CountyJail to serve time; Paige Jamie Ruthe Vincent (34) of Clarinda Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail to serve time; Jay R. Trachte (72) of Shenandoah, Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for possession of controlled substance (X2)

3/2/2024 Brittany Lane Comstock (30) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for OWI and Bribery.

3/3/2024 Brandon Keith Stogdill (39) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for violation of probation; Matthew Dillon Childs (18) of Shenandoah Iowa. Booked into the Page County Jail for driving while revoked.

A charge is merely an accusation and that the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.