(Radio Iowa) – Two Iowa food banks now have a semi load of snack foods to give out along with their other offerings.
Food Bank of the Siouxland spokesperson Valerie Peterson says the snacks delivered Wednesday included everything from potato chips to pretzels.

The donation is part of the company’s employee appreciation week. Peterson says it’s okay to include a few snacks with the food they give out.

Peterson says it’s something they can add for people and it doesn’t cost them anything.

The food bank in Waterloo also got a load of the snack foods.

(Radio Iowa) – A Waterloo program that helps older adults live on their own is resuming service after its federal funding was restored. The Senior Companion Program pairs volunteers who are 55 or older with elderly adults to help them with housekeeping, meal prep, and transportation. The program lost its federal funding in June and if it didn’t receive new funding before September 30th, it would have shut down completely. Vicky Buss (BUS) has volunteered with Senior Companion for almost 14 years.

When the program paused its services, Buss kept meeting with her clients weekly. When she told her clients she could return to work full-time after the funding was restored, they were thrilled. The program runs out of Hawkeye Community College, where Sonya Carlson is the program’s director.

The national service agency AmeriCorps awarded the college over 400-thousand dollars for three years to run the program. All volunteers are expected to be able to return to work. This year is the program’s 50th anniversary.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s made it clear that any staff member at the three-state supported universities should be fired if they celebrated the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The board that governs Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I gave university administrators until next week to investigate inflammatory social media posts related to Kirk’s death that were linked to university faculty or staff. The Cedar Rapids Gazette is reporting that Iowa State University officials have fired financial aid advisor Caitlyn Spencer, who wrote on social media that Kirk got what was coming. Reynolds says the Board of Regents has clear authority to fire people over social media posts.

Governor Reynolds says she expects lawsuits will be filed by university staff who are fired. The Oskaloosa high school teacher who was fired last week for his social media post abaout Kirk has filed a lawsuit in federal court.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the Iowa Senate have selected Mike Klimesh (KLIH-mehsh) of Spillville as Senate Majority Leader. Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports.

(Creston, Iowa) – A man from Creston suffered what authorities said were suspected minor injuries, during a single-vehicle accident Wednesday evening, southeast of Creston. The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports a pickup driven by 69-year-old John Allen Hoepker was traveling south on Iris Avenue, near 1803 Iris, at around 5:42-p.m., when the vehicle entered the west ditch.

The pickup went over a driveway and struck a fence post before coming back onto the road and entering the east ditch and coming to rest. Hoepker – who was not wearing a seat belt – was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Creston. No citations were issued.

Damage to the pickup amounted to an estimated $1,000. The fence post, belonging to William Stuart, of Creston, sustained about $50 damage, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says there have been exceptional gains in the reading, writing and math skills of Iowa’s K-through-12 students.

Tests scores show there was an 11 percent increase in reading proficiency among last year’s third graders who are now 4th graders. That’s after year one of a state law that requires all early elementary students to have their reading skills screened every other week. Tens of thousands of students got on-line tutoring to improve their ability to read. Iowa Department of Education director McKenzie Snow says science proficiency rates rose in all tested grades.

The number of students who were chronically absent has dropped nearly six percent in the past year. And 45 percent of high school seniors had some sort of outside the classroom experience about a potential career.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – One person died during a fiery crash Tuesday night northeast of Atlantic. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the accident happened at around 11:39-p.m., on Highway 71 just south of Fayette Road.

The Patrol says a 2008 Chevy Cobalt was traveling north in the southbound lane of Highway 71 when it collided head-on with a 2016 Kenworth semi driven by 59-year-old Michael Conn, of Maryville, MO.

Following the collision, both vehicles came to rest in the east ditch off of Highway 71. The driver of the car died at the scene. Their name was not released, pending identification by the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny. The semi driver was uninjured.

The road remained closed for several hours following the crash. It finally opened at around 9:40-a.m., Wednesday. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by Cass EMS and Atlantic Fire and Rescue. All Atlantic units had cleared from the scene a little after 6:30-a.m. (Wednesday).

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A separate accident with minor injuries happened just before midnight on I-80, near the Cass/Pottawattamie County line, at mile marker 53 eastbound, where a semi rolled into the ditch. The truck was hauling construction equipment. The driver complained of pain, but was not transported to the hospital. A Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputy assisted rescue crews at the scene. No other information is currently available.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa City Police have arrested three people on multiple charges in a human trafficking investigation involving two massage parlors. Radio Iowa’s Dar Danielson reports.

(As said) – Iowa City Police say the investigation and found the owners of two Paradise Spa locations, 60-year-old Zhenshi Liu and 56-year-old Junping Ren provide sex to male clients. They also required numerous female workers to provide sex to the clients while working more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Police say the two laundered two-point-six million dollars in cash from the massage parlors by buying two residential properties. They also face charges of pandering for prostitution and pimping. Zhenshi Liu is also accused of sexually assaulting a customer. The couple’s son 33-year-old Yang Liu of Hoover, Alabama is accused of assisting in laundering the money his personal accounts.

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The Iowa D-C-I, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the F-B-I assisted Iowa City Police in the investigation, along with several local and county law enforcement agencies.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is hoping negotiations among the leadership of both parties can find an agreement before the federal government shuts down on September 30th. The Republican from Red Oak says the Senate Democrat leader is threatening a shutdown if changes aren’t made to the House funding bill.

Ernst made her comments at an Iowa National Guard groundbreaking ceremony in Sioux City Tuesday. She expects there will be some type of plan to keep the government going once everyone gets back from their break.

Ernst says the American people are the ones who will be hurt by a shutdown.

Ernst’s fellow Republic U-S Senator, Chuck Grassley, says he believes there will be a compromise with Democrats. He says Democrats have always in the past approved a continuing resolution that keeps funding the government at the same level to give them time to finish work on budget bills.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has set December 9th as the date for a special election to fill the House seat Republican Mike Sexton of Rockwell City resigned from on Friday. Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports.