(Radio Iowa) – State officials have approved a loan to a southwest Iowa county to cover debris removal costs from last year’s Missouri River flooding. More than 450 homes in Hamburg and other areas of Fremont County were flooded in early 2019. FEMA officials initially agreed to pay about 146-thousand dollars for debris removal, then notified the county FEMA would only provide about a tenth of that to settle the contract. The 131-thousand dollar state loan was approved by the state Executive Council this week.

Fremont County will have 20 years to pay off the loan — the annual installments will be about 65-hundred dollars. There were about seven-thousand residents living in Fremont County in 2018 according to the U.S. Census and only eight other counties had smaller populations.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa voters are casting ballots early in person or by mail at a record pace for the Nov. 3 election with several days of early voting still remaining. The Iowa secretary of state’s office reported that 685,234 absentee ballots have been returned to county auditors statewide by Friday morning. Those include people who voted by mail or early in person at auditor’s offices or satellite voting locations.

While Democrats typically lead in early voting in Iowa, their advantage this year is significantly bigger than 2016 or 2012. About 51% of the ballots returned have come from registered Democrats compared to 31% from Republicans and 18% from those that do not belong to either party.

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports that on Saturday, Oct. 24th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m,. the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will provide the public the opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs. Bring your pills for disposal to 2814 200th St, Sidney, Iowa 51652 (Sites cannot accept liquids, needles, or sharps, only pills or patches.) The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

This October’s event is DEA’s 19th nationwide event since its inception 10 years ago. Last fall, Americans turned in nearly 883,000 pounds of prescription drugs at nearly 6,300 sites operated by the DEA and almost 5,000 of its state and local law enforcement partners. DEA, along with its law enforcement partners, has now collected nearly 6,350 tons of expired, unused, and unwanted prescription medications since the inception of the National Prescription Drug Take Back Initiative in 2010.

To keep everyone safe, collection sites will follow local COVID-19 guidelines and regulations.  This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.

In addition to DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, there are many other ways to dispose of unwanted prescription drugs every day, including the 11,000 authorized collectors that are available all year long. For more information, visit DEA’s year-round collection site locator. The FDA also provides information on how to properly dispose of prescription drugs. More information is available here: https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/where-and-how-dispose-unused-medicines.

For more information about the disposal of prescription drugs or about the October 24 Take Back Day event, go to www.DEATakeBack.com.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests. At around 12:25-a.m. Friday (today), 64-year old Jay Lester-Joseph Roth, Jr., of Omaha, was arrested following a traffic stop on I-29 southbound. He was taken into custody for Possession of a Controlled Substance, Open Container, and Depositing or Throwing litter onto the highway. Bond was set at $1,000. And, at around 10-a.m. Thursday, 25-year old Rajaah Ramonn Jones, of Omaha, was arrested at the Douglas County, NE., Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Violation of Probation. He was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Federal experts are warning that Iowa has among the nation’s highest coronavirus death and infection rates, and say residents should avoid gatherings in most counties to protect themselves from the virus. A White House Coronavirus Task Force report found that the virus infected and killed about twice as many people per capita in Iowa as the national average between Oct. 10 and Oct. 16.

The report says new case numbers have climbed for weeks and the state’s test positivity rate also rose. Iowa hospitals are facing a surge of coronavirus patients, with a record 536 hospitalized on Thursday.

The Audubon County Community Foundation has announced that grants totaling $46,500 were awarded to Audubon County nonprofit organizations and community projects. With these grants, the Audubon County Community Foundation has distributed over $2.3 million in grants and scholarships over the last 23 years.

The following organizations were awarded grants by the Audubon County Community Foundation Advisory Board:

All grantees met the criteria as Audubon County nonprofit agencies or organizations with charitable missions supporting community needs in the areas of civic engagement, culture, health, education, and social services. Only organizations providing services in Audubon County were eligible to apply. These grant funds were made possible by the generosity of donors to the Audubon County Community Foundation and the following charitable funds through the community foundation: Audubon Masonic Association Endowed Fund; Audubon State Bank/Stephen Garst Endowed Fund; Charles T. and Kathleen K. Manatt Endowed Fund; Leon and Iva Milliman Endowed Fund for Audubon County, Iowa; Fred and Evelyn Nissen Endowed Fund for Audubon; and Merle and Norma Petersen Endowed Fund.

Board members of the Audubon County Community Foundation are Chair, Genelle Deist of Audubon; Vice Chair, Joel Hoegh of rural Brayton; Secretary/Treasurer, Megan Wagner of Audubon; Gina Benton of Exira, Bob Blomme of Audubon; Steven B. Hansen of Audubon; and Donna Olson of Kimballton.

For information about donating or establishing an individual foundation/fund, please contact Stacey Goodman, Iowa Foundations Director, at 800-794-3458 or stacey@omahafoundation.org.