June 18, 2021 (DES MOINES) – Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Economic Development Authority today (Friday) announced $400,000 in grant funding awarded to 26 projects that will help grow and revitalize rural communities across the state. Gov. Reynolds said “The Rural Innovation Grant program and the Rural Housing Assessment Grant program help turn innovative ideas into reality for so many small communities across Iowa, paving the way for opportunity and prosperity for generations to come. The Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative continues to bring together stakeholders from all walks of life who are focused on growing our rural communities.”

Iowa Lt. Governor Adam Greg says “We’re building on the success of last year’s launch of these transformative grants with a second round of projects that will serve as models for rural revitalization across the state. The governor and I look forward to seeing the projects that step forward to apply.”

The Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative developed the following grant programs in 2019 for rural communities of fewer than 20,000 people:

• The Rural Innovation Grant program supports creative ideas to overcome rural community development challenges, such as workforce development and housing shortages.  In the KJAN listening area:
• The City of Griswold was awarded $10,000 to install food lockers downtown for regional delivery w/Ramsey Market. The total project cost is $65,00; The City of Lenox was awarded $20,000 for activation of an alley into a pocket park, w/a curb bump out. The total project cost is $80,000; The City of Manning was awarded $7,600 towards the total cost of $11,400, for Conceptual design for three housing developments & community input processes.; and, the Southwest Iowa Nature Trails Project by the City of Imogene, was awarded $20,000 towards the $35,140 cost of a bike trail beautification with a mural, sculpture and community spaces.

The Rural Housing Assessment program supports efforts to expand access to quality housing tailored to communities. The program leverages data from the Iowa Finance Authority’s Profile of Iowa tool and provides support through a partnership with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. The grants cover 26 projects across the state, including: The Cities of Mount Ayr and Onawa, which were awarded $10,000 each, to facilitate with ISU Extension and Implementation. Atlantic, Grinnell, Livermore, Rock Valley, Sheldon and Shenandoah also received Rural Housing Assessment grants, and will participate in readiness assessment and implementation process in partnership with Iowa State University Office of Extension and Outreach.

A full list of grant recipients is available at iowaeda.com/empower-rural-iowa.

Officials with the Creston Police Department report a Des Moines man, 21-year-old Steven Michael Hildebrand, was arrested Thursday at 809 W. Adams St., in Creston. He was charged with Theft 2nd Degree, Possession of Controlled Substance 3rd, and a Union County Warrant for Failure to Appear Theft 5th. Hildebrand being held in the Union County Jail on a $10,000 cash or surety bond.

Last week, the Mayor of Audubon issued a Water Emergency in effect until September 1, 2021. Thursday, City officials in Exira issued a Mandatory Water Conservation Notice. The Regional Rural Water Association is asking citizens of Exira to abide by the following restrictions:

(Radio Iowa/KJAN) – Fireworks are now on sale in Iowa, mostly from tents, but just because you can buy the booming noisemakers doesn’t mean it’s okay to set them off. In May, the Atlantic City Council set July 2nd, 3rd and 4th, from Noon until 11-p.m. each day, as the dates and times for fireworks celebrations in advance of and on, Independence Day. State law says cities and counties cannot ban the sale of fireworks, but municipalities -can- forbid their use. Clinton Mayor Scott Maddasion has a reminder for residents of that eastern Iowa community. “I’ve already gotten a few emails about this, people are amping up for it,” Mayor Maddasion says. “The state of Iowa allows fireworks to be sold in the state of Iowa, but the discharge of fireworks in the city limits of Clinton is still illegal.”

Many Iowa communities have banned the use of fireworks by the general public, while still allowing professional displays. Since fireworks were legalized in Iowa, critics have bemoaned how contradictory the law appears — mandating that fireworks be legal to sell but then allowing cities to ban them from being used. “It is extremely difficult and the state legislature’s put us in that position and that’s their choice,” he says. “We’ve got some people in town that sell the fireworks and I’m sure they make good money off it and that’s good for them. I don’t want to hinder anybody’s business in that sense.”

Police in a number of Iowa cities have had a difficult time in past summers ticketing and stopping those who ignore the local ordinances and set off fireworks. Maddasion explains why it’s difficult to enforce. “It’s just like anything else, innocent until proven guilty and you have to be caught in the act to be prosecuted,” Maddasion says. “Please call the PD if someone is doing that. They’re going to do their best to not only monitor the fireworks stuff but monitor all the other things that they’re doing on a daily basis.” The mayor is urging all Iowans to be good neighbors, especially during the upcoming 4th of July weekend. “Please, please, please, let’s limit or eliminate completely the amount of fireworks that are going off,” he says. “There’s a lot of things that come into play. We’ve got veterans with PTSD and the explosions can cause issues there. We have a lot of other folks that just don’t like it, which is fine, too, so I can’t say it enough, please, don’t discharge fireworks.”

Fireworks are legal to sell in Iowa from permanent structures between June 1st and July 8th and from tents and other temporary structures from June 13th through July 8th. It’s also legal to sell them in the state during a short period around New Year’s Eve.