The Cass and Audubon County Community Foundations presented grants amounting to more than $117,590 each, to various non-profit agencies in their respective Counties, last Friday, who had submitted their application in-time for the Feb. 1^st deadline.

Cass County Community Foundation grant recipient representatives.

Included among the grant recipients in Cass County, was:

• The Anita Public Library, $2,000 for LED lighting in the Adult Fiction Room.
• The Ann W. Wickman Child Development Center, $10,000 for expansion & renovations.
• Atlantic Coca Cola Center & Museum, $1,000 for shelving/backroom storage.
• Atlantic Lions Club, $2,000 to renovate the 1875 schoolhouse at Sunnyside Park.
• Atlantic Parks & Rec, $12,000 to install a picnic shelter at the Schildberg Rec Area.
• Atlantic Police Reserves, $2,500 for body camera systems for the A-PD.
• Atlantic Soccer Association, $2,000 for soccer goals with nets.
• Atlantic Youth Sports Organization, $10,000 to renovate existing bathrooms.
• CAM Shooting Team, $1,000 to construct benches at the practice field.
• Cass Co. Conservation, $6,000 to update playground equipment at the Cold Springs Park campground.
• Cass Co. Historical Society, $10,000 to preserve & protect artifacts.
• Cumberland Public Library, $3,000 for computers & maker space items.
• Friends of the Griswold Public Library, $3,000 for bookshelf & furniture additions.
• Friends of the Outdoor Classroom, $3,000 to expoxy finish the concrete floor in the new kitchen addition.
• Griswold Volunteer Fire Dept., $3,000 for a rope rescue truck cache kit & Life Safety rope.
• Griswold Volunteer Rescue, $3,000 for patient mobilization equipment.
• Griswold Youth Sports, $5,000 for ball field improvements.
• Hitchock House Advisory, $8,000 for tuckpointing to the Hitchcock House.
• Marne Fire & Rescue, $6,000 to replace old bunker gear.
• Massena Historical Society, $4,000 for Heritage Park improvements.
• Massena Volunteer Fire & Rescue, $4,000 for a new Grass Attack vehicle.
• Nisnha Valley Family YMCA, $17,095 to repair & update the indoor pool

Altogether, the Cass County Community Foundation provided $117,595 in direct grants to Cass County Non-profit Agencies. The Audubon County Community Foundation provided $117, 594 in direct grants to non-profit agencies in Audubon County. The recepients include:

• Audubon Community Cinema, $10,000 for Rose Theater renovations.
• Audubon County Fair Board, $5,000 for electrical lines for new campsites on the fairground.
• Audubon County Historical Society, $5,000 to tuckpoint the exterior of the Nathaniel Hamlin Park Museum.
• Audubon Recreation Foundation, $32, 797 to install bowling lanes in the rec center.
• Brayton Fire Dept., $5,000 for equipment updates to the grass attack unit.
• Exira Community Club, $32,797 for Phase 4 of the Rec Reno project.
• Exira Public Library, $2,000 to install a patron drinking fountain & fireproof the book drop.
• Friendship Home Foundation, $20,000 to renovate the upper level of the Friendship Home.
• And, The Children’s Nest, $5,000 for Indoor/Outdoor Classroom equipment and to renovate the laundry room.

Both Community Foundations work with individuals, families, businesses and organizatins, to create permanent funds that address changing, vital community needs. By donating to either Foundation, you’ll be eligible to receive a 25% Endow Iowa Tax Credit for each donation, in addition to any Federal Tax benefits for which you may qualify.

For more information about donating or establishing an individual foundation or fund, contact Stacey Goodman, Iowa Foundations Director, at 1-800-794-3458.

The Creston Police Department reports four people have been arrested on drug-related charges. Saturday night, 18-year old’s Dylan Linch, Madison McCaulley, Sydney Martin and Garrett Abel, all of Creston, were arrested in the 700 block of S. Walnut Street, in Creston. Abel and Martin were arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense. McCaulley and Linch were arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Abel and Martin were released on $1,000 bond, each. McCaulley and Linch were cited at the scene and released.

Creston Police report also, 24-year old Thompson Jones, of Creston, was arrested Friday night at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, for Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree. He was later released on a $300 bond.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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An eastern Iowa man faces a burglary charge after an incident at a rural residence near Belmond on Saturday afternoon. Wright County Sheriff’s deputies were contacted by the property owner that 36-year-old Andrew Schroeder of Waterloo was in the residence without permission. It was reported that Schroeder may have access to weapons inside the residence and that he is currently on federal probation. Schroeder had locked himself in the residence and law enforcement made multiple unsuccessful attempts to reach him by phone and a public address system from outside the residence. The incident ended at about 7 Saturday evening when the North Iowa Special Operations Group made entry into the residence. Schroeder was taken into custody without incident. Schroeder is being held in the Wright County Jail in Clarion with a $10,000 cash only bond with a preliminary hearing for April 12.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska woman has been accused of a fatal stabbing in Sioux City. The stabbing occurred early Sunday morning. Police have not released the victim’s name but said he or she died after being taken to a hospital. The suspect soon was arrested after officers stopped her car because it matched the description of a suspect vehicle.

The woman was taken into custody on a charge of first-degree murder. She’s been identified as 20-year-old Melissa Camargo Flores, of Dakota City, Nebraska. She’s also been treated for a stab wound.

Officials with the Shenandoah Police Department report 33-year old Kyle Chase, of Red Oak, was arrested Saturday, in a bean field north of Sportsmans Park. Chase faces charges that include interference with official acts and threats of terrorism. Chase was being held in the Page County Jail, on a $5,300 bond. No other details concerning his arrest were released over the weekend.

Immigrant populations are starting to fall in rural labor markets, according to an Iowa State University study commissioned by the National Pork Producers Council. I-S-U economist Chris Boessen, one of the study’s authors, says the pork industry is making gradual yet major shifts.  “In the last couple of decades, the hog industry has changed dramatically from operations using a lot of family labor, sometimes paid, sometimes unpaid family labor,” Boessen says. “That’s more or less gone away as we’ve intensified and gone to more of a high-tech, capitol-intensive, more-concentrated production.”

Boessen says the study shows the labor market has changed in Iowa and across the region. “You have a lot of growth, a lot of hiring in the hog industry, it needs a lot of workers,” Boessen says, “but at the same time in the last few years, the labor market’s really tightened up from 10% unemployment in 2009 to 4% and really below 4% in a lot of the main hog states here, especially in the Midwest.” The change in U-S immigration policy has contributed to a shortage of foreign ag workers, but Boessen says it’s more than just that. “We’re moving into a period now where we’re going to worry less about a wave of immigrants and worry more about how we’re going to manage a workforce where we have fewer immigrants,” Boessen says. “The immigrants who are here are aging and retiring and there’s lots of things happening in other countries, immigrant-sending countries. People are getting better educations, better economies, more opportunities.”

As conditions improve elsewhere, he says immigrants have less motivation to come to the U-S. N-P-P-C officials say in addition to this study, data compiled by U-S-D-A’s Economic Research Service shows a reduction in the foreign-born workforce prompted by a change in immigration policy would not be offset by native born workers and permanent residents. The council is backing Congressional legislation calling for an H-2-C visa to allow non-seasonal foreign ag workers to stay in the U-S for up to three years.

(Radio Iowa)

Members of the Elk Horn School District’s Board of Education will meet this evening (Monday), beginning at 6-p.m. in the Conference Room at the Elk Horn Building. During their session, a Public Hearing will be held with regard to the Budget, followed later on during the New Business part of their agenda, by discussion and action on the 2018-19 Budget.

Other discussion/action items include those related to: Transportation; Issuance of Bonds; Approving METC as telephone/internet provider; Approval of a late Open Enrollment request and 2018 Graduating Class (pending completion of all graduating requirements); and a Contract recommendation, followed by approval of hires, transfers, resignations, etc.

The CAM School Board is scheduled to meet 6:30 this (Monday) evening, in the CAM High School Media Center. The meeting opens with Public Hearings on the Proposed 2018-19 Certified Budget and School Calendar.

Following the hearings and discussion, the CAM School Board will receive a presentation with regard to the Lego League/Robotics and strength/condition program. Discussion/action items include: Open enrollment applications; Contracts; approval of the 2018-19 School Calendar and Certified Budget, as well as movement on the pay scale.

A single-vehicle, rollover accident Sunday night in southern Polk County claimed the life of a central Iowa man and resulted in injuries to a woman. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2003 Toyota Sequoia, driven by 41-year Aisha Rucker, of Des Moines, was traveling east on Highway 5 a little after 8-p.m. and crossing the bridge over Highway 28, when the SUV went out of control on the icy bridge deck.

The vehicle entered the south ditch and rolled several times, where it came to rest to rest in a gore between eastbound Highway 5 and the on-ramp to northbound 28. Aisha Rucker, who was wearing a seat belt, was transported by West Des Moines Ambulance to Methodist Hospital. Her passenger, 18-year old Malik Allen Rucker, of Des Moines, was transported by Norwalk Ambulance to Methodist, where he died from his injuries.