(Radio Iowa) – Many Iowa music venues are still waiting for federal funding to help them keep their doors open during the pandemic. The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant offers money to live music venues that lost revenue due to COVID-19. Tobi Parks owns X-B-K, a small performing arts venue in Des Moines. She says venues have waited long enough and need the money now. “Every month that the expenses are coming again is another month that a venue ends up unfortunately closing its doors,” Parks says, “and we are in a desperate position.”

Congress approved the grant program in December of 2020, but it’s up to the U-S Small Business Administration to release and assign the funding. The grants are split up based on economic losses. Parks says many Iowa venues had losses and are in critical condition financially as they wait for the funds to arrive. “We are hanging on by a thread right now and that funding needs to come as soon as humanly possible,” she says.

The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, run through the S-B-A, allows for more than 16-billion dollars in grants. Parks made her comments on the Iowa Public Radio program, “Talk of Iowa.”

(Radio Iowa) – U-S Marshals who’ve been tracking an accused drug dealer through several states for the past year arrested the man on a Iowa farm late yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon. In June of last year, 39-year-old Untavious Davenport was indicted by a Missouri grand jury on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl. U.S. Marshals were called in after Davenport fled Missouri. They followed a trail to Chicago, then through other states and ultimately to a rural area just north of the town of Zwingle, which has fewer the 100 residents.

After days of surveillance, authorities identified Davenport outside of a farmhouse according to a news release from the U-S Marshals Service and Marshals from Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri along with Dubuque County law enforcement officers took Davenport into custody. He’s being held in Linn County’s jail in Cedar Rapids as federal officials seek his extradition back to Missouri.

(Radio Iowa) – With the 4th of July weekend just ahead, many Iowans will be declaring their independence from the pandemic by taking vacations for the first time in many months. Meredith Mitts, spokeswoman for Triple-A Iowa, says people are packing up for road trips and jaunts via airplane. Nationwide, more than 47-point-7 million Americans are projected to be plotting getaways between July 1st and 5th. “That means that we are nearly recovered from the pandemic levels,” Mitts says. “This is the second-highest Independence Day travel volume we have on record, trailing only behind 2019 with just 2.5% fewer Americans traveling this year compared to 2019.”

The travel predictions for the upcoming holiday represent an increase of nearly 40-percent compared to last year, what Mitts says is a remarkable figure. “Some of it is just pandemic fatigue and staying home is really getting to people,” Mitts says. “The summer is nice. People are wanting to get back out. Part of it is just that desire to go see people and be able to see things again. It’s been a long time since many people have traveled.”

While all modes of travel will see increased demand this Independence Day, road trips will dominate this summer. Despite the highest gas prices in seven years, Triple-A projects more than 91-percent of holiday travel will be by car. Gasoline prices in Iowa are now averaging two-89 a gallon, a significant hike from two-oh-five a year ago. “So, quite a big difference between 2021 and 2020, but that’s to be expected as there weren’t people traveling last year, there wasn’t this demand,” Mitts says. “We’re back to basically the pre-pandemic levels. We always see an increase around a holiday weekend and during the summer as people are taking to the roads.”

Iowa’s cheapest gas is in Council Bluffs at two-85 a gallon, while it’s most expensive in Dubuque at two-96. The national average is three-oh-seven.