(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report a woman was arrested Wednesday for Domestic Abuse Assault and Criminal Mischief. 38-year-old Robyn Salmons, of Glenwood, was being held in the Mills County Jail on a $600 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The co-owner of the central Iowa bar that’s home of this year’s “Best Burger” competition winner says their business has picked up dramatically since the announcement. Marianne and Matt Pacha opened their “Flight Bar and Grill” in Huxley one year ago, and were hoping that milestone would help them plan. “We said, as soon as we hit the year mark, we’ll be able to know, like, usually the season is like this or that. And then this kind of threw things out the window — it’s gonna be a whole new data we’ll have to figure out — but all for good reason. We are thrilled about this,” Pacha says.

She says they had been 200 to 300 burgers in a week and Tuesday they sold 260. The couple didn’t have any background in running a restaurant, but she says her husband worked in grocery retail, and they knew there was a need for the establishment in the community. “We were a young couple have built a house here. And after we moved in, we were like let’s go grab a drink. We’re tired from the day. And there wasn’t really a place to do that at the time,” she says.

The name of the establishment comes from the Ballard school district, which mascot is the Bombers, and then they have flights of beer too. They donate one dollar from every burger sold to the Ballard Education Foundation to help support the school district. Pacha says their foundation is a double burger with several ingredients. “Lots of love and lots of fresh ingredients. We source our beef exclusively from Midwest farms. They’re also smash burgers. So cooked in their own fat, a crisp outside, but nice to see inside. We use a really high-quality brioche bun and we also have in-house aoli we use on all of our burgers,” she says.

The Foundation burger at the Flight Bar & Grill, in Huxley.

The contest is held ever year by the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association and Iowa Beef Industry Council. Pacha says seeing all the extra people come in great because it puts more eyes on the community. “It’s exciting to get more people into Flight — but Huxley as a whole, it’s such a wonderful community we have so much to offer. We have new people come in, say ‘We didn’t even know this was here. We didn’t know there were so many new houses going up. We didn’t know you know, insert fact here.’,” Pacha says. “So it’s really exciting that people are learning that actually has more to offer than just you know, small town I am. Well, we have a great school district.”

You can find Flight just off Highway 69 on the south side of Huxley. They are open Sunday-Thursday from 11 a-m until 10 p-m, and Friday, Saturday from 11 a-m until 11 p-m.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa Governor Reynolds has announced that applications for Students First Educations Savings Accounts (ESAs) will be accepted starting May 31, 2023. The Students First Act was signed into law earlier this year and will provide state funding for eligible students who attend accredited nonpublic schools starting in the 2023-2024 school year.  Additionally, the State Board of Education today adopted administrative rules that specify definitions for the program, eligibility requirements for participation, parameters for the application process, and program administration and accountability.

“As we prepare to accept applications later this month for Iowa’s landmark Students First ESA program, the rules approved today will provide families with the details they need to consider their options and prepare to apply,” stated Governor Reynolds. “We are one step closer to providing choice in education for Iowa families regardless of income or zip code.”

All incoming kindergarteners and all K-12 students currently enrolled in a public school district are eligible for the ESA program. Families whose children currently attend an accredited nonpublic school are also eligible for ESAs based on their annual income during the first two years of the program. For the 2023-2024 school year, income eligibility is 300 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL); and 400 percent FPL for the 2024-2025 school year. Beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, all K-12 students in Iowa will be eligible for an ESA regardless of income.

The following rules specify some eligibility requirements for students currently attending an accredited nonpublic school:

• Parents or guardians of students currently enrolled in an accredited nonpublic school will verify their income eligibility using “net income” from their 2022 state tax form.
• Household size will be determined by the number of people who reside together and are related by birth, marriage, adoption, legal guardianship, or by placement in the home through a state agency. “Household” includes parents, student applicants, and other children who share at least one parent by birth, adoption, a parent’s current marriage, or placement in the home through a state agency.
• Students must be enrolled full time at an accredited nonpublic school.

The administrative rules are posted in their entirety on the Iowa Department of Education’s ESA webpage, along with answers to frequently asked questions about the program. Parents interested in applying for an ESA are encouraged to sign up for notifications when information is updated on the website.  Parents will complete and submit applications through an online system which the Department of Education, Office of the Chief Information Officer, and other state agencies are now implementing with Odyssey, the vendor selected to administer the ESA program. Webinars will be offered to assist parents with the application process when the system launches on May 31.

Applications will be accepted from May 31 through June 30, 2023, for the 2023-2024 school year.