(Villisca, Iowa) – An accident this (Tuesday) morning, in Villisca, caused about $15,000 damage to the Villisca Post Office. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, at around 8:14-a.m., a 2016 International box truck owned by Ryder Truck Rental, Inc., was entering the Post Office parking lot, when the box portion of the truck the struck a canopy attached to the west side of the building at 500 S. 3rd Avenue.

The truck, driven by 60-year-old Frederick L. Adams, of Greensboro, NC, sustained about $4,000 damage to the cargo box. No injuries were reported, and no citations were issued.

(Audubon, Iowa) – The Audubon School Board received some good news Monday night. Superintendent Eric Trager tells KJAN News, the Board was informed enrollment in the District is up.

Mr. Trager updated the Audubon School Board on the Building Project. He said at 1-p.m. Wednesday, they’ll open the bids received for the project.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa National Guard says around 65 airmen from the 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City and the 132nd Wing in Des Moines have received orders for stateside deployment. Captain Kevin Waldron of the 185th says they will be part of Operation Allies to bring Americans and vulnerable Afghans back from Afghanistan.

Waldron says one of the things about being in the National Guard is you never know when and where you may go.

The Biden Administration wants to bring 97-thousand Afghan refugees into the country. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says it is important to help those who supported America during the war. But, he says there have to be conditions.

The Republican says those Afghans would be here legally based on their background.

Thirty of the airmen being deployed are from the 185th in Sioux City, and 35 are from the 132nd in Des Moines.

(Griswold, Iowa) – The Griswold School Board, Monday evening, approved the continuation of an Early Retirement Policy for one more year. Superintendent Dave Henrichs said their policy calls for the Board to review the status of the offering each year. This year, there is a slight change.

Applications for Early Retirement are due at the end of February, 2022. The District Policy says only five applications will be accepted, on a first-come-first served basis. The Griswold School Board received some good news Monday, with regard to the enrollment numbers.

At the beginning of their meeting, the Griswold School Board Monday held a closed session with regard to the potential hiring of a custodian and a slightly different compensation package than normal. Henrichs said the Board would typically just approve personnel matters in their Consent Agenda without discussion, but Henrichs said he wanted the Board to have all their questions answered before the individual was considered for employment.

In separate action, the Board approved a handful of resignations, new hires, and the termination of a contract.

Henrichs said also, there are 27 Ash trees in varying stages of decay. The Board approved a bid from a tree service to remove the trees and replace them next spring. The trees that are dying have been affected by the Emerald Ash Borer.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa wind turbine blade maker is closing in December, eliminating more than 700 jobs, at the same time the federal government is announcing plans to heavily invest in new off-shore wind farms. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’ll make the case to President Biden to consider manufacturing those blades for the massive new project at T-P-I Composites in Newton. “It’s hurting those families so we’re going to encourage the Biden Administration to build those in Iowa if the government’s got anything to do with it,” Grassley says, “because we’re the home of wind energy.” The administration announced a plan last week to build large-scale wind farms all along the East and West Coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico. Grassley says he’ll act as a sort of emissary to the White House on Newton’s behalf. “I would sure be glad to do that for any business that’s connected with wind energy,” Grassley says. “As the father of the Wind Energy Tax Credit, I want to keep it going.” T-P-I is

Jasper County’s largest employer and General Electric is T-P-I’s largest customer. G-E bought a Denmark-based wind turbine blade maker in 2017 and plans to get most of its blades from that company, a rival of T-P-I. The Newton company says it has -no- orders from G-E for 2022 and thus, will shut down by December 31st. Grassley also vows to approach the leaders of G-E, saying “it’s the least I can do,” to get that business shifted back to the Iowa.  “It can’t be because wages are cheaper in Denmark than they are in the United States because I think Europe is pretty competitive with the United States so I don’t know what the reason is,” Grassley says. “The only thing I can do is contact GE since that’s where the contract is, as far as I know.”

Appliance giant Maytag once employed three-thousand people in Newton but closed its factories and headquarters there in 2007. It was a “big boost” for the community, Grassley says, when T-P-I moved in, even taking over some of Maytag’s old buildings. “The loss of jobs in Newton, just like when Maytag closed down, is of great concern to me because those working families are going to be unemployed now,” Grassley says. “I bet some of them are probably people that used to be Maytag workers.”

One potential wrinkle, Grassley says those off-shore wind turbines are typically larger than even the massive blades that are used for land-based turbines, so it’s possible T-P-I would have to reconfigure its manufacturing process to accommodate orders for the new project. The U-S Secretary of the Interior says the agency plans to start leasing federal waters to wind power developers by 2025 all along most of the nation’s coastlines — from Maine to the Carolinas, in the Gulf of Mexico, and off California and Oregon.