(Radio Iowa) – Going-out-of-business sales are underway at J-C Penney stores in Carroll and Marshalltown — and the company announced today (Wednesday) it will shed a thousand jobs, mostly from its corporate office in Texas.

J-C Penney filed for bankruptcy in May and announced then that it would close 152 stores. The company operates 11 stores in Iowa, nine of which will remain open under its current reorganization plan. Those nine stores are in Ames, Cedar Rapids, Coralville, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Dubuque, Sioux City, Spencer and West Des Moines.

WASHINGTON – Today (Wednesday), U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding $13.1 million in CARES Act Recovery Assistance grants to capitalize and administer Revolving Loan Funds (RLFs) that will provide critical gap financing to small businesses and entrepreneurs that have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic across Iowa.

Among the grant recipients, in southwest Iowa:

• The Southwest Iowa Planning Council, based in Atlantic, will receive a $550,000 EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to capitalize and administer an RLF that will provide loans to support businesses disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Montgomery, Shelby, and Page counties.
• The Region XII Council of Governments, in Carroll, will receive a $2 million EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to foster recovery and resiliency in the business community by capitalizing and administering an RLF that will provide loans to coronavirus impacted businesses in Audubon, Carroll, Crawford, Greene, Guthrie, and Sac counties.
• The Southern Iowa Development Group Inc., in Creston, will receive a $1.529 million EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to by capitalizing and administering an RLF that will provide loans to coronavirus impacted businesses in Adair, Adams, Clarke, Decatur, Madison, Ringgold, Taylor and Union counties.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said “President Trump is working diligently every day to support our nation’s economy following the impacts of COVID-19 through the CARES Act. These investments will provide small businesses across Iowa with the necessary capital to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic and, in turn, create a stronger and more resilient state economy for the future.”

The current EDA RLF grantees are some of the more than 850 existing, high-performing EDA RLF, Economic Development District, University Center, and Tribal grant recipients invited to apply for supplemental funding under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The CARES Act, signed into law by President Donald J. Trump, provides EDA with $1.5 billion for economic development assistance programs to help communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

Montgomery County Public Health, today (Wednesday), confirmed an additional, positive case of COVID-19 in the County, for a total of 16. The latest person confirmed to have the virus is an adult age 18-to 40, who is isolating at home.

As of today, 10 persons affected by the virus in Montgomery County have recovered, and two have died. Officials say 911 individuals have been tested for COVID-19.

Serology testing data* show 3 individuals are positive for COVID-19, 70 are negative, and 73 have been tested.

(*Serological tests measure the amount of antibodies or proteins present in the blood when the body is responding to a specific infection, like COVID-19. In other words, the test detects the body’s immune response to the infection caused by the virus rather than detecting the virus itself.)

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three arrests took place Tuesday. 42-year old James Allen Stanley, of Omaha, and 42-year old Sean Michael Gochenour, of Woodbine, were taken into custody at the Pottawattamie County Jail. Stanley was wanted for being a Fugitive from Justice, and on a warrant for Violation of Probation. He was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail on the Fugitive warrant, and on a $2,000 bond for Probation warrant. Gochenour was arrested on two warrants for Pretrial Release, the bond for which was set at $20,000.

And, 26-year old Dante Decarl Dirks, of Kansas City, MO., was arrested at the Mills County Jail Tuesday afternoon, for being a Fugitive from Justice. He was being held without bond in the jail.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — Sheriff’s officials in central Nebraska have identified two men killed in a head-on crash involving a car and semitrailer as Iowa residents. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release that the crash happened Tuesday evening on U.S. Highway 83 about seven miles north of North Platte. Investigators say a northbound car crossed into the southbound lanes directly into the path of the truck, which tried but could not avoid a head-on crash. Deputies say both vehicles caught fire, and two men in the car died at the scene. Authorities later identified the driver killed as 32-year-old Robert Islas and his passenger as 59-year-old Gilbert Vasquez, both of Sioux City, Iowa. The truck driver suffered minor injuries.