(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Community Foundation reports applications are now being accepted from organizations providing charitable services in Cass County. As part of this spring grant cycle, approximately $125,000 is available to support Cass County nonprofit organizations and community projects. The deadline to apply for funds through the online application process is February 1, 2022. Beginning December 15, application details, a fact sheet, and a link to the application form can be found online by selecting Cass County under County Listing at www.swiowafoundations.org. Applications will only be accepted through the online system.

This cycle of grants is made possible through the State of Iowa County Endowment Fund Program and is funded by a percentage of the state’s commercial gaming tax revenue, which is distributed annually to participating community foundations associated with counties without a state-issued gaming license. Only organizations providing services in Cass County are eligible to apply. They must be able to demonstrate broad community/county support and be an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) public charity, a local municipality, or a fiscally sponsored project.

The Cass County Community Foundation aims to improve the quality of life in Cass County by supporting community needs in the areas of civic engagement, culture, health, education, and social services. The objective of the grant program is to fund projects that will have a lasting impact in Cass County. The Cass County Community Foundation will entertain requests for capital and program support. General operating support will only be considered for extenuating, non-recurring circumstances.

Please contact Stacey Goodman (stacey@omahafoundation.org) or Sydney Calcagno (sydney@omahafoundation.org) at 800-794-3458 with application-related questions. All completed grant applications will be considered at the March board meeting, with applicants being notified of funding decisions by the end of March.

The Cass County Advisory Board Members are Chair, Kristi Burg of Massena; Vice Chair, Mark D. Kyhnn, CPA of Atlantic; Secretary/Treasurer, Sue Hunt of Atlantic; Sandy Bierbaum of Griswold; and Gaylord Schelling of Atlantic.

(Audubon, Iowa) – The Audubon County Community Foundation today (Wednesday) announced that applications are now being accepted from organizations providing charitable services in Audubon County. As part of this spring grant cycle, approximately $125,000 is available to support Audubon County nonprofit organizations and community projects. The deadline to apply for funds through the online application process is February 1, 2022. Beginning December 15, application details, a fact sheet, and a link to the application form can be found online by selecting Audubon County under County Listing at www.swiowafoundations.org. Applications will only be accepted through the online system.

This cycle of grants is made possible through the State of Iowa County Endowment Fund Program and is funded by a percentage of the state’s commercial gaming tax revenue, which is distributed annually to participating community foundations associated with counties without a state-issued gaming license. Only organizations providing services in Audubon County are eligible to apply. They must be able to demonstrate broad community/county support and be an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) public charity, a local municipality, or a fiscally sponsored project.

The Audubon County Community Foundation aims to improve the quality of life in Audubon County by supporting community needs in the areas of civic engagement, culture, health, education, and social services. The objective of the grant program is to fund projects that will have a lasting impact in Audubon County. The Audubon County Community Foundation will entertain requests for capital and program support. Requests for general operating support will not be considered.

Please contact Stacey Goodman (stacey@omahafoundation.org) or Sydney Calcagno (sydney@omahafoundation.org) at 800-794-3458 with application-related questions. All completed grant applications will be considered at the March board meeting, with applicants being notified of funding decisions by the end of March.

The Audubon County Community Foundation Advisory Board Members are Chair, Joel Hoegh of rural Brayton; Vice Chair, Steven B. Hansen of Audubon; Secretary/Treasurer, Megan Wagner of Audubon; Gina Benton of Exira, Bob Blomme of Audubon; Pat Kaiser of Audubon; and Donna Olson of Kimballton.

The 7:08-a.m. broadcast News from Ric Hanson.

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(Johnston, Iowa) – The National Weather Service, today (Wednesday), reports widespread very strong winds are anticipated this afternoon and this evening, but severe thunderstorms are possible as well. A line of severe thunderstorms is expected to move rapidly west to east across central Iowa between 4pm and 8pm at speeds of 60 to 70 mph. The primary severe weather threats will be damaging winds and a few tornadoes. With non-thunderstorm winds already gusting from 60 to 70 mph, winds in thunderstorms could reach 80 mph or more.

Conditions could change very rapidly today with little reaction time as storms approach. Monitor weather conditions closely with safe shelter available and nearby.

(Elk Horn, Iowa) – Members of the Exira-EHK School Board, Monday, voted to approve a One-dollar per hour raise for all classified staff. That includes bus drivers on routes and in the second semester, custodians. According to Superintendent Trevor Miller, the move comes amid competition from other, potential employers, and a shortage of workers. The Board, he said wanted to show its appreciation for the hard work the classified staff does.

To his knowledge, Miller said it’s the first time the Board has issued a raise for classified staff in the middle of the year. In other business, the Exira-EHK Board approved one new hire during their meeting, Monday: Jordan Webster will take over the District Leadership Team position.

(Radio Iowa) – State liquor sales for the fiscal year that ended in July broke the record set the previous year. Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division spokesman, Jake Holmes, says alcohol sales hit nearly 416 million dollars.  “That amounts to a 13-point-two percent increase over fiscal year ’20. For comparison, F-Y ’20 saw about an eight percent increase over F-Y ’19. Typically we’ve seen about four or five percent year-over-year. But eight percent and 13 percent are very large increases,” Holmes says.

The last fiscal year was the first time sales topped the 400-million-dollar mark. The pandemic was credited for the increase in the 2020 fiscal year, its impact is likely behind the continued booze buying in the last fiscal year. “It’s hard to say for certain — but a safe assumption would be that there’s some sort of correlation with the pandemic — because that’s really when we started to see these big increases, obviously,” he says.

“If you were to ask me would our sales have jumped like this if there wasn’t a pandemic — I couldn’t confidently say that was true,” Holmes says. He says sales saw a shift during the height of the pandemic, but things seemed to have returned to a balance. He says the off-premise establishments did see quite an increase in sales for take-home liquor when restaurants and other establishments got shut down — but he says the sales for bars and restaurants did come back after the shutdowns.

One type of seller has continued to see increases in licenses in the last fiscal year. “The Class E licensees — so think those places where you can buy liquor to go, so grocery stores, gas stations liquor stores, things like that — that’s been trending up over the years and it’s at the highest it’s ever been at this point. A lot of the on-premise licenses — it was difficult during the pandemic, we had some close and then some reopen,” Holmes says.

The pandemic led to supply chain issues for a lot of businesses. Holmes says I-A-B-D was not immune to them — but was able to manage.  “Because A-B-D is the sole wholesaler of liquor in Iowa, and with the relationships that we have with those suppliers — we so far have been able to manage those shortages relatively effectively.– and ensure that those products are still being delivered efficiently,” according to Holmes.

He says they have always kept a good supply of the most popular items — and the shortages came in those brands that were not among the top sellers.

Police in Red Oak arrested a woman Tuesday night, who was wanted on a Cass County warrant for Forgery. Authorities say 56-year-old Lorisa Louise Buckley, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 9:10-p.m. in the 200 block of W. Reed Street, in Red Oak. She was transported to the Montgomery-Cass County line and turned over to Cass County Deputies, before being transported to Atlantic. Buckley was being held in the Cass County Jail on a $5,000 cash or surety bond.

(Radio Iowa) – An insurance agent from Spirit Lake will fill a vacancy in the Iowa Senate. Unofficial results from Tuesday’s special election in senate district one show Republican Dave Rowley defeated his Democratic opponent by a wide margin. This is Rowley’s first run for elected office.

“However, I served as chair of Dickinson County Republicans and co-chair over the last 10 years,” he says, “so that helped a lot to get acquainted with the political scene.” Rowley will be sworn into office on January 10th, the first day of the 2022 legislative session. Reducing and ultimately eliminating the state’s personal income tax is a goal Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Senate’s Republican leader have embraced.

“The State of Iowa is probably in one of the best positions it could ever be to at least take a hard look at that,” Rowley says. Rowley says as a resident of northwest Iowa, he sees first hand some of the migration South Dakota gets because it does not have a state income tax.  “I do know that once people reach retirement age, they look very hard at their state income tax,” Rowley says. “South Dakota seems to have a fairly good model and it does appeal to a lot of people.”

Rowley will replace Republican Zach Whiting who resigned from the state senate to take a job in Texas. Rowley will represent Clay, Dickinson, Lyon, Osceola and Palo Alto Counties for the next year. He intends to seek reelection in 2022, but in a new state senate district that includes his home county of Dickinson as well as Clay, Emmet, Kossuth and Winnebago. “My experience in insurance…in the last 30 directly in western Iowa, I have some very good friends that are in those counties,” Rowley says, “and I’ll definitely be reconnecting with a lot of the people that I know.”

Rowley, who has lived in Spirit Lake since the 1990s, works at an insurance agency in Estherville. Unofficial results show Rowley received 75 percent of the votes cast in the special election. He defeated Democrat Mark Lemke, a retired businessman who also lives in Spirit Lake.

DES MOINES – Today (Tuesday), Gov. Reynolds and four other governors sent a letter to the Department of Defense requesting the withdraw of vaccine mandate directives to National Guard members that are in Title 32 duty status.

The Governor’s office says the U.S. Supreme Court has for decades affirmed that the National Guard is under the command and control of the Governor of each state until those members are called up to active-duty status under Title 10. Therefore, Gov. Reynolds is requesting the federal government abide by the law, allowing her to retain authority over the Iowa National Guard members and allow them personal choice without penalization of their status with the National Guard.

“The federal government continues to overreach further into the lives of Americans and especially those serving our country and protecting our very freedoms,” said Gov. Reynolds. “These are the very men and women who have selflessly devoted their lives to protecting us and responding to major disasters and times of crisis at the drop of a hat to provide peace and comfort, and now the federal government is giving them an ultimatum to get the vaccine or be separated from serving their country. It’s unconscionable to think the government will go so far as to strip these honorable men and women of the nation’s top duties if they don’t comply. They protect the very freedoms that the federal government apparently doesn’t believe they too deserve.”

The letter was sent to Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III by Governor Mark Gordon, Wyoming; Governor Mike Dunleavy, Alaska; Governor Kim Reynolds, Iowa; Governor Tate Reeves, Mississippi; and Governor Pete Ricketts, Nebraska. The deadline for U.S. National Guard members to be vaccinated was Dec. 2.

According to reports, nearly 50,000 military members across all branches refuse to get vaccinated at this time.

(Radio Iowa) – Two juvenile suspects have been arrested after separate online threats led to some Sioux City schools being placed on lock-down Tuesday. A 14-year-old girl was taken into custody after a threat against Sioux City East High School after allegedly posted a picture of a gun and stating she was headed to the school. Police say she had created a fake profile on Snapchat and made the post to alarm people, but had no plan to carry out the threat. She’s been charged with Class D felony counts of terrorism threats and harassment.

In an unrelated incident, a 15-year-old oby was identified and taken into custody for making a threat against Sioux City West High School. The Woodbury County Attorney’s Office is considering charged against the boy. Because of the threats, a middle school and Bishop Heelan Catholic High School were also locked down as authorities investigated.

Sioux City Police say students and staff at all the schools were safe in their buildings.