The marching band from Sioux City Bishop Heelan High School will perform at halftime of the Peach Bowl in Atlanta on Saturday. Jeana Larson is the school’s band director. “To be a national stage in front of like 90,000 people will be such a big deal for them,” Larson says. “They’ve worked really hard and have certainly earned this opportunity.” The Peach Bowl’s music festival committee sends representatives to marching band competitions around the country to scout for bands. Larson says she got a letter LAST December, inviting the band to perform in this year’s Peach Bowl. “You look at it and you go: ‘Is this legit?’ Larson says., laughing. “You’re not sure, so you ask people and you call around and you find out that, yes, it’s a real opportunity.”

Yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, 62 students and 20 adults boarded buses and left Sioux City, bound for Georgia. Larson says before the bowl game itself, there’s a competition for the invited bands. “Our show that we did this fall, we will be performing that at the field show competition, which will be a really neat opportunity because it’s with these other bands from across the country,” Larson says. “just to see how we stack up.”

Cahill Kirkpatrick is the drum major for the marching band. “I’m excited and being with nine or 10 other bands from the across the nation and knowing you can go in there and beat them, but still have to work together a couple of times — it’ll be fun.”

All the invited bands will be on the field during pregame on Saturday and there will be a mass performance of the National Anthem. The game itself features teams from the Big Ten and the S-E-C — 10th ranked Penn State and Ole Miss, which is ranked 11th. Kirkpatrick says band members have been advised to cheer for the Big Ten’s Nitany Lions. “Some of them don’t know football and it’s like: ‘Who do we cheer for?'” Kirkpatrick says. “You cheer for the ones in blue and white, not blue and red.”

Bishop Heelan’s concert band and jazz band are performing at other Peach Bowl related events.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports five arrests since last Saturday. On Christmas Day, 33-year-old Tyler Jason Chambers, of Glenwood, was arrested for Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree, with bond set at $1,000. There were three arrests in Mills County on Dec. 24th:

• 41-year-old Kelly Elizabeth Roker, of Glenwood, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault and Interference w/Official Acts. She was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.
• 34-year-old Mark Thomas Krueger, of Grand Blanc, MI, was also arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault. He too, was being held without bond.
• And, 33-year-old Cole Raymond Smith, of Malvern, was arrested Sunday, for Public Intoxication. Bond was set at $300.

Saturday evening, Mills County Deputies arrested 40-year-old Steven Thomas Turner, of Omaha, NE, following a traffic stop on I-29 at Highway 34. Turner was charged with Possession of Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $1,300.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – The Guthrie Center Community School District’s Board of Education will meet 7-p.m. Thursday (Dec. 28), in the AC/GC High School Media Center, in Guthrie Center. During their Work Session, the Board will discuss preparations for their January 4th meeting.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisor’s in Adair County met this (Wednesday) morning in Greenfield. During their short session, the Supervisors approved Claims, Taxable Mileage for Supervisor Jodie Hoadley in the amount of $343.88, and an Actuarial Services Agreement with HUB International.  Auditor Mandy Berg and Vice-Chair John Twombly discussed renewal of the agreement.

In other business, the Adair County Supervisors approved a Fiscal year 2024 Budget Amendment. Auditor Berg explained the changes to the published budget are with regard to the sale and purchase of a piece of equipment for the Secondary Roads Department.

The public hearing on the FY24 Budget Amendment is set for January 10th at 9:10 a.m.

The Board also presented long-time County employees Rich Wallace and Loren Long with retirement plaques and celebrated their years of service.

(Radio Iowa) – An animal shelter in northeast Iowa is seeing an unusual spike in its year-end number of animals. The Cedar Bend Humane Society, based in Waterloo, is caring for nearly 500 cats, dogs, and smaller animals. Felicia Arias, the shelter’s volunteer and outreach coordinator, says that number is startlingly high, across the board. “We’re already seeing more than what we’d typically see within a year,” Arias says, “more animals coming in stray or lost, more animals coming in through Animal Control, more medical cases.”

Arias says part of the strangely high number may be related to the so-called return to normalcy, following the COVID-19 pandemic. “It might have something to do with folks going back to work from COVID, animals over that period of time not being as socialized as they normally would when folks were allowed to go out,” she says, “so the quarantine period may have had something to do with it.”

Arias says about half of the shelter’s animals are available for adoption.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa [KETV] — Council Bluffs police identified a man who died after being struck by a car early Sunday morning. Authorities  say 74-year-old Juan Avalos died during the accident that happened around 3:20 a.m. near the intersection of Poplar Drive and Birch Street. Avalos was near a vehicle on the street when he was struck. Authorities said the female driver of the car was not injured.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – 2024 Republican presidential candidate and political outsider Vivek Ramaswamy back on the campaign trail after the Christmas holiday with another 33 planned stops in four days across the Hawkeye State as he nears the historic “Double Grassley” milestone. In southwest Iowa, his stops on Thursday include: Council Bluffs; Missouri Valley: Harlan; Audubon, Atlantic, Greenfield and Stuart.

Other western Iowa appearances Thursday, include Jefferson and Rockwell City. For more information or to obtain tickets, visit the candidate’s website.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports 24-year-old Dean William Mongar, of Creston, was arrested today (Wednesday), at around 12:36-a.m.  Mongar was taken into custody in the 500 block of Levy Street on a charge of Public Intoxication. His bond was set at $300.

A resident of Creston living in the 800 block of W. Adams Street reported to police on Sunday, that someone had entered his home during the night and taken his medications. The loss was estimated at a little more than $31.

(Lewis, Iowa) – You’re invited to join the Southwest Iowa Soil Health (SWISH) group for the second meeting of their winter meeting series. The meeting in Atlantic on Jan. 3, 2024 will feature T.J. Kartes with Saddle Butte Ag. T.J. will be talking about how cover crops can fit into every operation. He will discuss how to get started, how to move forward, and when and how to adapt the plan. Come prepared with all your cover crop questions. The event takes place at the Wallace Learning Center at the Armstrong Research and Demonstration Farm near Lewis (53020 Hitchcock Ave.), from 10-a.m. until Noon on Jan. 3rd.

The meeting is free and open to everyone, so feel free to bring guests. Reservations are not required to attend (note that lunch is not provided but light snacks may be available). If you have questions about the SWISH group, please reach out to Aaron Saeugling, ISU Extension and Outreach Field Agronomist for Southwest Iowa, at 712-243-1132 (or e-mail clonz5@iastate.edu) .

DES MOINES, Iowa – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director in Iowa Theresa Greenfield has announced that the Agency is hiring two Climate Change Fellows in Iowa to help with the record number of applications from farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses seeking funding for clean energy projects under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). USDA is hiring a total of 40 Climate Change Fellows nationwide.

Greenfield says “Iowa ag producers and small business owners are investing in clean energy systems through the REAP program. Their investments are climate smart and will lower their energy costs. These non-partisan positions will help handle the renewable energy portfolio within Rural Development. The Biden-Harris Administration is working to lower energy costs for Iowans.”

The new positions are being funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, and they are part of the USDA Climate Change Fellows Program, which hires new staff with a range of skills to carry out USDA’s activities to address climate change and find solutions to agricultural challenges, enhance economic growth and create new streams of income for farmers, ranchers and producers.

Three of the new positions will report to USDA Rural Development’s national office. To apply, visit this USA Jobs posting.

Initial appointments may be for up to two years. Additional one-year extensions may be made up to four years. Most states will receive additional funds, announced at a later date, to provide REAP technical assistance in addition to these staffing positions.