(DES MOINES) – The Iowa Finance Authority (IFA), Tuesday, marked national homeownership month by recognizing Iowa’s strong housing market, record numbers of homebuyers using IFA’s mortgage programs and the launch of a new first-time Iowa homebuyer toolkit that will educate homebuyers on the homebuying process amid a highly-competitive market. IFA Executive Director Debi Durham says “The competitive housing market means that homebuyers need to be informed of the process and ready to act quickly. To fulfill this need, IFA has launched a new webpage and first-time homebuyer toolkit that will provide routine tips delivered via email about purchasing a home in Iowa and the resources available to buyers.”

The new first-time Iowa homebuyer resource will provide homebuyers who sign-up to receive information with routine tips such as a new Iowa homebuyer guide, home purchase checklist, information about credit scores in relation to purchasing a home and much more. The new resource is available at iowafinance.com/welcomehome. According to Iowa Association of REALTORS® CEO Gavin Blair, “Iowa’s housing market is seeing near record levels in both terms of high numbers of sales and prices as well as low average number of days on the market and available inventory. “This combination of trends makes for an extremely fast-paced market. The new tool offered by IFA to prepare homebuyers is very well-timed and will be useful for a wide-range of buyers.”

IFA offers mortgage and down payment and closing costs assistance programs through a network of more than 400 lenders throughout the state. These partnerships allow eligible Iowans both the convenience of working with their local lender and access to down payment and closing costs assistance of up to $5,000, available exclusively through IFA Participating Lenders. Nearly 3,000 Iowans realized their dream of homeownership through IFA’s homeownership programs last fiscal year, the most in any single year in the program’s 43-year history. Nearly 90% of these homebuyers also used an IFA down payment and closing costs assistance program to help with their home purchase.

Iowa households earning $139,580 or below and purchasing a home at $381,000 or below may be eligible for homeownership assistance through an IFA program.

The Iowa Department of Public Health in their latest COVID-19 update, reports 75 additional, positive cases of COVID-19 from over the previous 24-hours. The Coronavirus dashboard shows there are a pandemic total of 402,822 positive cases, and six additional deaths, for a pandemic total of 6,084. Deaths at Iowa’s Long-Term Care facilities are 2,369.

There remain four LTC outbreaks in Iowa, with 30 positive cases among patients and staff, and one person recovered. Iowa’s 14-day positivity rate is steady at 1.9%, while the 7-day positivity rate is down slightly, at 1.9%.

Iowa’s hospitalization data show: 74 people are hospitalized with COVID-19; 19 patients are in an ICU; 13 COVID patients were admitted to a hospital, and seven patients are on a ventilator. In RMCC Region 4 (hospitals in western & southwest Iowa), there are two people hospitalized with COVID-19. No one was in an ICU, no one was admitted over the previous 24-hours, and no one was on a ventilator.

In the immediate KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County (since the beginning of the pandemic) and the total number of deaths (Since the beginning of the pandemic) in each county to date:
Cass, 1,477 cases; 54 deaths
Adair, 993; 32
Adams, 354; 4
Audubon, 546; 10
Guthrie, 1,313; 32
Harrison County, 1,935; 73
Madison County, 1,788; 19
Mills County, 1,797; 24
Montgomery, 1,115; 38
Pottawattamie County, 12,337;173
Shelby County, 1,375; 37
Union County, 1,380; 35

(Radio Iowa) Two boys described by Cedar Rapids Police as under the age of 12 suffered life-threatening injuries late Wednesday afternoon as their electric scooter collided with a car.Cedar Rapids Police say the boys were riding the scooter in an alley, pulled onto a busy street at about four o’clock and were hit.

The children were taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for treatment. K-C-R-G T-V reports the boys were riding a rental scooter from a Cedar Rapids ride-sharing program run by a Chicago company.

Nearly 71 years after being reported killed in action during the Korean War, Army Cpl. Eldert J. Beek is returning home to his family in Iowa. As we mentioned in May, Beek, was 20-years-old
and originally of Sibley, Iowa, will be honored during a graveside service next Monday, June 14th, beginning at 11:00 a.m.  The ceremony takes place at the Evergreen Cemetery, in George, Iowa. Full military honors will provided by the Iowa National Guard. The Iowa National Guard says the public is welcome and encouraged to attend the service.

In late 1950, Beek was a member of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was reported killed in action on Dec. 1, 1950, when his unit was attacked by enemy forces near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. Following the battle, his remains could not be recovered.

On July 27, 2018, following the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in June 2018, North Korea turned over 55 boxes, purported to contain the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War. The remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on Aug. 1, 2018, and were subsequently accessioned into the DPAA laboratory for identification.

CPL. Eldert J. Beek. KIA 12 Dec. 1950, North Korea.

To identify Beek’s remains, scientists from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis. Beek’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Beek’s military awards and honors include the Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal (with three Bronze Service Stars), Presidential Unit Citation-Navy, Combat Infantryman Badge, United Nations Service Medal, Republic of Korean-Korean War Service Medal, and Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation.

(Des Moines)- Nine Iowa unclaimed veterans and two spouses will be laid to rest on June 18 at Iowa Veterans Cemetery in Van Meter, and the public is strongly encouraged to attend. KCCI TV reports Hamilton’s Funeral Home, along with the Missing in America Project, will secure their final resting place. The group consists of Army, Navy and Marine Corps veterans. One World War II veteran and his wife will also be laid to rest in the ceremony. Many of those veterans died alone, and had no one to claim their cremated remains, and end up on the shelf of a funeral home. In other instances, the urn of an Army Veteran was stolen from a home and ended up at an intersection in Des Moines. It had been stolen from his sister’s house after she died.

The service will take place at Hamilton’s Funeral Home on Westown Parkway on Friday, June 18 at 12:30 p.m., followed by burial with military honors at 2 p.m. at Iowa Veterans Cemetery. A Patriot Guard procession to the cemetery will go down Westown Parkway, until Jordan Creek Parkway, and then onto Interstate 80 going westbound.

The funeral home’s director says she hopes the public will attend and people will bring their children. She also hopes it will raise the public’s awareness, and the others in her business will check their shelves and make sure that they don’t have people the abanonded cremains of those that have served our country.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa counties can now recognize emergency medical services as “essential” and pay for those services through property taxes, under a bill signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds on Wednesday. Sheila Frink, director of the Anamosa Ambulance Service, says many departments are desperate for funding.“There’s still so many rural services out there that are surviving because they’re having pancake breakfasts and raffles,” Frink says. “I mean, they spend as much time fundraising as they do taking care of patients and that’s sad.”

Unlike fire and police services, local governments in Iowa are not required to provide E-M-S. Under the new law, county supervisors can declare the work essential and seek approval from voters for a new property tax to support those services. Brian Rowe, of the Anamosa Ambulance Service, says many rural services are struggling to retain staff at the same time call numbers are rising.  “We’re seeing sicker and sicker patients,” Rowe says. “Patients sometimes can’t get to a doctor, don’t have a family care provider, whatever the case may be. So they try to stick it out at home and then when they just can’t do it anymore, they call us.”

Rowe says the change is the most significant he’s seen in his 43-year career. Advocates say the shift is sorely needed, especially in rural Iowa communities, where residents often rely on a dwindling number of volunteer E-M-Ts.

(reporting By Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)