CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa nonprofit nursing home chain wants dozens of its facilities reclassified to residential properties for property tax purposes. If Care Initiatives succeeds in its quest, communities where the facilities are situated would get about half as much tax revenue from the facilities, which mostly are classified as commercial properties.

Care Initiatives has appealed 15 rejections to the Iowa Property Assessment Appeal Board. The company cites Iowa law, but several county assessors dispute that nursing homes are used primarily for human habitation.

Care Initiatives owns and operates facilities located locally, in Atlantic, Avoca, Bedford, Corning, Creston and Panora.

An Atlantic man was arrested twice in one week on Public Intoxication charges. The Police Department reports 54-year old Roy Milczarek was taken into custody Saturday. He was being held in the Cass County Jail pending an appearance before the magistrate.

Milczarek was also arrested last Wednesday, on the same charge.

The cool April weather will delay one of the favorite summer delicacies of Iowans. Growers say sweetcorn planting was slowed and it won’t be available in great supply until after the Fourth of July. Ron Deardorff of Adel, grows 160 acres of sweetcorn in central Iowa. He uses some custom planting techniques to help the corn survive cooler weather. 

He says they lay down plastic and then he has a special planter that pokes a hole in the plastic and drops in a seed. It basically creates a little greenhouse underneath the plastic. Deardorff supplies various stores and vendors with sweetcorn and also supplies it to the annual “Adel Sweetcorn Festival.” Deardorff has been growing the Iowa favorite for almost 30 years, and says genetics have improved the quality of the corn over the years.

He says the corn is sweeter, the plants are healthier, the stalks are better to support the ears. “The corn we were planting 25 years ago wouldn’t even compare to the wonderful stuff we have nowadays,” Deardorff says. The advances also mean the sweetcorn can be stored longer before it loses its flavor. Deardorf plants the corn in about 20 different stages so new corn is maturing right up to labor day. Iowans cook sweetcorn in a variety of ways and eat it with butter and salt and other additions — but Deardorff likes it best fresh without condiments. 

“The true test of corn is raw right there in the field, it’s not covered up by butter, salt and pepper or anything,” he explains, “…I’ll probably eat more raw corn than I do cooked corn.”

With a good crop, Deardorff will produce about one-point-five million roasting ears this growing season. Fuel, fertilizer and seed costs are up this year, which means sweetcorn is expected to see a little increase in price this year once it hits the stores and stands across the state.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)

BOUTON, Iowa (AP) – Financially troubled Xenia Rural Water District has problems with its water, too. The district has sent several warnings about higher-than-allowed levels of nitrite and arsenic in its water. Arsenic can cause cancer, and nitrites can be harmful to infants. The district provides water service in all or part of 11 counties west and northwest of Des Moines as well as in Worth County.

Mark Christianson is supply and treatment manager for Xenia. He told The Des Moines Register that the district is using the sodium permanganate to treat the arsenic problems. And the district is attacking the nitrite problem by using a different process to inject chlorine. The district hopes to cancel the nitrite warning by July.

Officials say the water problems aren’t a result of the district debt problems.