The Shenandoah Police Department has been notified of a scam. Authorities want everyone to know that the Shenandoah P-D is NOT fundraising for new uniforms, and they are NOT calling people individually.

If you do wish to donate to the Shenandoah police Department you may contact us at 712-246-3512. Thank you.

(Radio Iowa) – Advocates for prisoners says Iowa’s new system of screening mail that’s sent to inmates is confusing and hard to navigate. All non-legal mail is sent to a third-party company to be opened, screened and scanned, then a color copy is sent to the inmate. Professor Alison Guernsey, in the University of Iowa College of Law, says communication between inmates and people on the outside is valuable in maintaining strong connections.

Guernsey says, “I think taking that away from people really contributes to the overall dehumanization that prison inflicts and makes it harder for people to feel like they are still members of their families, still members of their community.”

The new policy was instituted after it was found people were soaking letters in drugs and sending them to inmates who could chew the paper to ingest the drugs. Guernsey, who’s director of the UI’s Federal Criminal Defense Clinic, worries about whether the policy could have negative effects for inmates. “My first gut instinct, when I heard that Iowa DOC was transitioning to a photocopy mail system,” Guernsey says, “was that it was yet another way in which we deny people that we incarcerate a bit of their humanity.”

Guernsey says communication between inmates and people on the outside is valuable in maintaining good relationships and she says this new policy chips away at that. “There is value and humanity in the physical mail that people receive,” she says, “from the smells of their house, to the ability to touch the words on the page and maybe feel the cursive of their husband or wife, or to be able to see the crayon drawing that their seven-year-old child made for them.”

Nancy O’Geary Smith has a son in an Iowa prison and used to send him mail frequently, but she says the new system is confusing and made it difficult to communicate in a system that already has a lot of rules and policies. “It’s very frustrating,” O’Geary Smith says. “They say they want interaction with loved ones, but what they are doing is a contradiction. It is the definite opposite.”

The policy was instituted in July over concern about drugs, particularly a synthetic drug known as K-2, getting into prisons through the mail. The Iowa Department of Corrections says people can continue to send mail to inmates through the postal service, as long as the senders are properly addressing the envelopes with the right information and the mail meets guidelines.

(Catherine Wheeler, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa)  – Campaign finance reports show all but one of the Republicans running for statewide office have a fundraising advantage over their Democratic challengers. That fundraising advantage translates to a sizable campaign spending edge in the governor’s race in particular. Campaign finance reports show Republican Governor Kim Reynolds spent about five million dollars from mid-July to mid-October. Democratic challenger Deidre DeJear spent one-fifth as much and had about 366-thousand dollars left in her campaign account last week. Rob Sand, who’s seeking a second term as state auditor, was the only

Democrat running for statewide office to raise more than their G-O-P challenger. Todd Halbur, Sand’s opponent, ended the reporting period with just about four-thousand dollars in his campaign account. Sand had 600-thousand.

Rick Stewart, the Libertarian candidate for governor, raised about 54-thousand dollars for his campaign from mid-July to mid-October. That includes 25-thousand dollars of his own money. His campaign finance report indicates Stewart spent less than three-thousand dollars on his gubernatorial campaign over that three month period.

Atlantic, IA – SHIFT ATL in Atlantic, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, is delighted to announce the purchase of the Sunnyside Putt ‘Em Up from Tim and Cindy Teig.

SHIFT ATL President Jessie Shiels says “After the Teig’s announced they were retiring, we, as a group, thought this could be an exciting opportunity to further our mission by continuing to provide a great recreational opportunity for our community. The space that Tim and Cindy created and maintained for the past 40 years is an incredible asset to Atlantic, and we are honored to be able to carry on their legacy. ”

Pictured left to right: Kat Niemann, SHIFT ATL Board Member, Alexsis Fleener, SHIFT ATL Board Member, Cindy & Tim Teig, Emily Kennedy, SHIFT ATL Board Member, and Jessie Shiels, SHIFT ATL Board Member. Not pictured, Makenzie Bandow, SHIFT ATL Board Member.

The Sunnyside Putt ‘Em Up is currently closed for the season and a grand re-opening will be announced at a later date. Follow SHIFT ATL on Facebook at facebook.com/shiftatl for updates.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s unemployment rate of two-point-seven percent for September is slightly higher than the previous month. Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend says it was a tenth of a percent increase. “Certainly the uptick in unemployment is an indication that Iowa is not entirely immune to some of the financial and economic conditions that are being faced around the country with the increase in inflation, supply chain issues,” Townsend says. Several sectors of the Iowa economy recorded job losses last month, while Iowa manufacturers added 600 jobs.

“They’re up over 8800 jobs over the course of a year, so that was good,” Townsend says. “In September we saw the health care and social assistance industries shed a thousand jobs. Trade, transportation and utilities also shed a thousand jobs and finance and insurance also shed 600.” Those 600 job losses were primarily in the insurance industry. The number of Iowans above the age of 15 who are working or looking for a job was about the same in August and September. Federal data shows that so-called labor participation rate in Iowa peaked in 1996 at more than 73 percent and got close to that level at the end of 2008. Over one-point-six million Iowans were working last month — a labor participation rate under 68 percent.

“I do think it’s a good sign for our labor force that the labor force rate remained the same,” Townsend says. “…We do have over 83,000 jobs available in Iowa today.” Townsend says it’s still a buyers market in Iowa if you’re looking for work. “Starting wages are up, employers are looking for new ways to attract a workforce, including changes to shifts, changes to work,” Townsend says, “whatever they can do to retain a good workforce.”

The new state law that reduced how long unemployed Iowans are eligible for benefits took effect July 1st and its potential effect in the state’s unemployment rate could be reflected in October’s data.