(Radio Iowa) – A federally funded program is ending soon that’s helped some 17-thousand Iowans stay in their homes with the lights on. In addition to paying for back rent, the Iowa Finance Authority’s Rent and Utility Assistance Program has higher income barriers, opening it to many more Iowans than comparable rent assistance programs. Lynette Jacoby, director of social services in Johnson County, says the challenge will be to find programs that can fill the gap. “We know though at the local level that there isn’t funding,” Jacoby says. “We can’t fill a gap of $350,000 a month in rental assistance.” Jacoby said the program’s 170-million dollar impact was not just for residents, but also landlords who would have lost income from emptied units or the eviction process.

The Iowa Finance Authority says the program will stop accepting new applicants at the end of August, following the national trend of dialing back COVID-era assistance programs. Luke Elzinga works at DMARC, which runs a network of food pantries in the Des Moines area. He says when people have fewer resources to cover rent, they’ll have to make it up somewhere else.  “A lot of the time, people will make sure their rent is paid first so they can remain housed and then figure out how they’re going to feed themselves,” Elzinga says. “That oftentimes looks like turning to a food pantry.”

The program ends as DMARC, like other food pantries, was already reporting record levels of demand for food assistance.

(reporting by Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Mike Franken, the Democrat challenging Republican Senator Chuck Grassley’s bid for reelection, says politicians owe it to the next generation to do better. “I now see the political charged environment that now haunts us and it’s the Iowa that I don’t recognize…where you’re not so sure if you’re friends with your neighbor any more,” Franken says. “People, we cannot have this future. We must have a new dawning…There’s far more things that make us the same…than what separate us.”

Franken is a retired Navy admiral. He suggests it’s hard to imagine the national unity so evident after the 9/11 attacks 21 years ago has largely evaporated. “We must do better,” Franken says. “We must think about the future of America, not get balled around with the difficulties and the political leadership in Washington, D.C.” Franken made his comments Monday afternoon on the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. He drew cheers by reciting New Deal programs like rural electrification that Democrat Franklin Roosevelt promoted and the Great Society programs of the Johnson presidency.

“Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security,” Franken said. “These are basic Democratic principals we are all reliant on today.” Franken said Democrats have a history of leaning forward and he says if elected, he’ll promote doing things like rebuilding the energy grid. A spokeswoman for Grassley’s campaign says Franken wants Iowa to be more liberal and is out of step and out of touch with Iowans.

(Radio Iowa) – Ryan Melton, the Democratic candidate in Iowa’s fourth congressional district, is opposed to construction of pipelines that capture carbon from Iowa ethanol plants. “The big concern is that three companies are asking the Iowa Utilities Board here in Des Moines to allow them to use eminent domain to take private landowners’ land away to plant these carbon capture pipelines and we know eminent domain is not for that purpose,” Melton says.

Melton says the projects will benefit private corporations and the government’s eminent domain process is supposed to be used for projects that have a public purpose. “If you do the research on this, you do the digging on this, carbon sequestration plants have closed by the multitudes because it’s a failed technology,” Melton says. “It over-promises and under-delivers.”

Melton, who lives in Nevada, is challenging Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra’s bid for a second term in the U.S. House. In a column by Feenstra that was published in several newspapers last year, Feenstra said carbon pipelines have the potential to boost the ethanol industry AND ensure Iowa farmers continue to have a strong market for their corn. Melton says the further north and west you go in Iowa, the more concerns you hear about the proposed pipelines. “Why would you give the burden of a risk of carbon capture pipeline leak, why would you put that burden on us — on our shoulders on the ground, just so corporations could rake in massive profit from that, for a failed technology that is not a climate solution? Melton asked the crowd at the State Fair. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Melton says the focus, instead, should be to expand wind and solar power generation to reduce the use of carbon-based energy sources. Melton made his comments on the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair.

(Atlantic, Iowa/updated – The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Board of Directors, Monday evening, accepted with thanks for her nearly three-years of service on the Board, the resignation of Board Member Ashley Hayes, who has accepted a position with SWIPCO, that would put her in a conflict of interest when it comes to her new position on the organization’s Community Development Team.

Parks Board member Ashley Hayes (Center).

Her resignation went into effect at the conclusion of the Board meeting. Parks & Rec Board Chair Jolene Smith…

The Board opted to find a person to fill the seat by appointment, rather then call for a Special Election. The person appointed will only serve until the next election. In 2023, the seat will be filled by election and is for a period of two-years. The Atlantic City Council is expected to accept Hayes’ resignation and approve whomever the Board selects. Resumes for the Parks Board seat will then be accepted from August 18th through the 24th. Persons wishing to serve on the Board must include a letter indicating why they want to fill the vacancy. With whomever the Board appoints, citizens have the right to petition for an election.

In other business, Parks and Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen reminded the Board and residents, the last day for swimming at the Sunnyside Pool in Atlantic is August 28th.

Brad Rasmussen presents checks to the Parks & Rec Dept. (8/15/22)

And, Brad Ramussen provided the Parks and Rec Board with a handful of checks. The first was for next year’s youth Art in the Park.

(Carolyn Bruck provided the $50 donation). Brad Rasmussen writes children’s books, and turned over the profits to the Parks and Rec Department.

(He contributed $500 to help defray the cost of the Block Party.) Two other checks totaling $1,000, will be used toward the restoration of the Bandstand at Sunnyside Park.

And, the Board approved updating a study for expanding the Atlantic Sports Complex to include additional soccer space, as long as the cost for the Snyder and Associates’ Engineers study does not exceed $11,150. The last time a study was conducted was at least five-years ago.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Monday, said there were six separate arrests conducted over the past week. On Monday (8/15), 26-year-old Gustavo Angel Gomez-Perez, of Fall City, NE., was arrested at around 5:08-a.m. on I-29 at mm 32, for OWI/1st offense. (Bond $1,000)

Sunday night, 50-year-old Clint Thomas Curtis, of Des Moines, was arrested at Highway 34 and 221st Street, for Domestic Abuse Assault, Obstruction of Emergency Communication and Driving with an obstructed view. He was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

Saturday evening, 45-year-old Justine Elaine Gregory, of Glenwood, was arrested on Highway 34 for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Poss. of drug paraphernalia, with bond set at $1,300.

There were two arrests Friday, in Mills County: 30-year-old Davonte Laronne Clark, of Omaha, was arrested on I-29 at mm 48, for Theft in the 1st Degree, Poss. of a Controlled Substance, and Eluding. (Bond $16,000); and, 43-year-old Deanna Lyn Hamilton, of LeMars, was arrested at around 2:21-a.m. Friday for Domestic Abuse Assault. (No bond).

And, on Aug. 10th, 50-year-old Brian John Beebe, of Hastings, was arrested on a Pottawattamie County warrant for Failure to Appear (Bond $25,000), and on on Mills County Poss. of a Controlled Substance charge. (Bond $1,000)