RED OAK, Iowa – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Small Business Committee, Monday, announced her Small Business of the Week: Classroom Clinic of Carroll County. Throughout this Congress, Ranking Member Ernst plans to recognize a small business in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties.

“Telehealth access has become a valuable tool for families to reach a provider, especially in our rural communities. I’m recognizing Sue and her team at Classroom Clinic for their outstanding efforts to provide mental health care to our young Iowans,” said Ranking Member Ernst.

Psychiatric nurse practitioner Sue Gehling founded Classroom Clinic in 2019 to help address the mental health needs of students and provide additional support to teachers and staff. Sue spent most of her life in rural Iowa and saw an opportunity to serve the future generations in Iowa schools through her small business. Using a team-based approach to the telehealth model, the Classroom Clinic provides rural school districts with the ability to increase mental health services for students. Today, Classroom Clinic has worked with four districts, including seven schools, and has provided mental health care services to over 250 Iowa students.

Senator Ernst joined her colleagues in introducing the bipartisan Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act, an effort to ensure Iowans continue to receive critical care through telehealth services on a permanent basis.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa City leaders are expected to vote today (Tuesday) to approve a two-year pilot program that would end fare requirements on city buses, making it free to ride starting this fall. The plan is in Iowa City’s strategic plan and has been widely supported by city council members. City Councilor Megan Alter says it aligns with the city’s goals to reduce barriers in the city while also helping meet carbon reduction plans.

Iowa City Transit’s rider number still lag behind pre-pandemic levels. Last year’s ridership stood at just 26-percent of what it was in 2019. The department hopes free busing will help increase demand. Bus fares make up about eight-percent of Iowa City Transit’s revenue.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man following a traffic stop early this (Tuesday) morning. Officers conducted the traffic stop at around 1:47-a.m., near Highway 48 and Ratliff Road. Following a records check, they arrested 45-year-old Matthew Larry Eichelberger, of Red Oak, for Driving Under Suspension. Eichelberger was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on bond amounting to $491.25.

(Cass County, Iowa) – Atlantic and Massena are hosting mobile food pantries this month, on Wednesday afternoon June 14th. A mobile pantry is a traveling food pantry that delivers food directly to families in need for a one-day distribution. People from surrounding towns and communities are welcome. Mobile food pantries are available free of charge. Anyone in need is welcome, and no documentation is required. Each car can take food for up to two households at a time. Both Atlantic and Massena will be distributing the same food products. If supplies run low in Massena, families will be directed to Atlantic.

Full details about the June 14 Mobile Pantries, as well as dates for upcoming mobile pantries in 2023 are listed below:

·         Atlantic: Atlantic High School front parking lot, from 4-6 p.m. Enter from 14th Street and follow signs. Questions call 712-243-1132.

·         Massena: Southwest Iowa Egg, 74877 Clark Avenue, Massena, Iowa – Enter from west and drive across the scale for pick up.  Time:  4:30-5:00 p.m.

Upcoming Atlantic 2023 Mobile Food Pantries

Please note: Atlantic 2023 Mobile Food Pantries are being held at different locations during the school year (Cass County Community Center) and summer months (Atlantic High School).

Time: 4-6 p.m.

·         Atlantic High School (1201 E. 14th St. Atlantic, IA 50022): July 12, August 9

·         Cass County Community Center (805 W. 10th St., Atlantic, IA 50022): October 11

Upcoming Massena 2023 Mobile Food Pantries

Where: Southwest Iowa Egg Coop (74877 Clarke Ave. Massena, IA 50853)

Remaining 2023 Dates: July 12, August 9, October 11 (NOTE: Registration may be required by the Monday prior to distribution for these pantries. More information will be released prior to the pantries, and will be posted on the Cass County Local Food Policy Council’s Facebook page listed below.)

Box pick-up time: 4:30-5:00 p.m.

Mobile pantry dates, times, and locations are subject to change. For the latest information on mobile pantries in Anita and Atlantic, visit https://foodbankheartland.org/food-resources/find-food/. For the latest information on Massena pantries, call (712) 779-3447.

For information on upcoming events and local food, farmers markets, and food access activities, follow the Cass County Local Food Policy Council’s Facebook page @CassCountyLocalFood.

OELWEIN – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) investigated reports of dead fish in the unnamed tributary to Otter Creek that flows through Oelwein  in Fayette County. “This is a natural kill caused by extremely warm water temperatures and low flow conditions on the stream,”said Theresa Shay, fisheries technician with the Iowa DNR.

Just over two miles of stream was affected by the warm water. Less than 1,000 fish were killed. Species primarily affected include smaller minnows, dace and suckers.  Shay said investigators saw live fish of multiple species in the same locations that appeared in good condition.

If you see dead fish when you are at a lake or river, call the DNR’s 24-hour spill line at 515-725-8694 as soon as possible. Quick reporting can help DNR staff identify the cause of a fish kill and potentially stop a fish kill in progress.

DES MOINES, IA – An Ottumwa man and woman were convicted of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by filing hundreds of fraudulent tax returns and of defrauding applicants out of unemployment insurance benefits and the Iowa Workforce Development out of benefits payments.

On May 22, 2023, Thein Maung, 47, pleaded guilty to 49 fraud and tax charges. On June 2, 2023, a federal jury convicted Phyo Mi, 21, of 16 fraud charges. According to court documents and evidence presented at Mi’s four-day trial, Maung and Mi ran a fraudulent tax-preparation business out of their family’s Ottumwa home. In exchange for a cash fee, Maung and Mi prepared and filed their customers’ tax returns. Maung and Mi primarily catered to immigrants and refugees who worked at meat-packing facilities in Iowa and who had little or no ability to read, write, or speak English.

Without their customers’ knowledge or approval, Maung and Mi included on their customers’ federal tax returns, schedules, and forms, fraudulent items, such as false claims for residential energy credits, business-expense deductions, or moving-expense deductions for members of the United States Armed Forces. The effect of Maung and Mi including fraudulent items on the tax documents was to increase the refunds their clients received and increase Maung and Mi’s customer base.

In all, from 2018 to 2022, Maung and Mi caused over 1600 tax returns to be filed from their Ottumwa residence. The fraudulent tax returns claimed over $3.5 million in residential energy credits. From 2018 to 2022, Maung and Mi received approximately over $200,000 in cash fees from their customers. In addition, on their customers’ returns, Maung and Mi sometimes directed portions of the fraudulent refunds be sent to financial institution accounts accessible to Maung and Mi.

Maung and Mi also offered to help customers apply for unemployment benefits from Iowa Workforce Development. Without their customers’ knowledge or approval, Maung and Mi submitted materials to Iowa Workforce Development directing that their customers’ benefits payments be sent to financial institution accounts that Maung and Mi had access to. From October 2020 through March 2021, Maung and Mi directed nearly $100,000 in fraudulent unemployment insurance benefits payments be sent from Iowa Workforce Development to their accounts, instead of to the eligible claimants.

“This guilty verdict brings Phyo Mi and Thein Maung to justice. They created and implemented this massive energy credit and false deduction scheme to fund their greed at the expense of trusting taxpayers,” said Special Agent in Charge Thomas F. Murdock of the IRS Criminal Investigation St. Louis Field Office. “This conviction should serve as notice that we will vigorously prosecute those criminals who engage in any form of tax fraud.”

Sentencings for both Maung and Mi are scheduled for September 27, 2023, in Des Moines, before Chief United States District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The investigation was conducted by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Ottumwa Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Kyle Essley and Laura Roan prosecuted the case.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Concerns Hotline has seen a nearly 25 percent increase in calls over the past 12 months. Anyone in Iowa may call the hotline, but the round-the-clock service is primarily meant to answer questions about farm and agribusiness finances. Tammy Jacobs oversees the hotline for Iowa State University Extension.

“We see a lot of issues between husband and wife, if it’s a partnership within the family, there’s issues with the partnership in the family” Jacobs says. “so we hear a lot about the relationship issues but after we’re talking to the people, it really stems from those financial concerns.” Trained people answer the calls and make referrals to services that might help. An attorney is available to provide free legal education. The conversations are kept confidential. Jacobs says it appears commodity prices are creating stress, especially among family farming operations.

“We really hear a lot about the succession,” she says, “and how…they’re weary and fearful about losing that farm that’s been around in the family for so long which can really be a huge stress on an individual to try to make sure that they’re doing everything they can do in order to make sure farming enterprise and continue that legacy.” Last year’s launch of the nationwide 9-8-8 suicide hotline hasn’t really impacted the number of calls to the Iowa Concerns Hotline according to Jacobs.

“We tout ourselves as being more stress counseling,” she says. The Iowa Concerns Hotline was launched in 1985, during the Farm Crisis. It was originally called the Rural Concerns Hotline, but the name was changed to Iowa Concerns Hotline after the floods of 1993 to indicate it’s not just for farmers. In the past 12 months, the Iowa Concerns Hotline fielded nearly 65-hundred calls.