The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission, Tuesday, approved an update to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) Intended Use Plan (IUP) Project Priority List, for state fiscal year 2020, during their meeting in Des Moines. Among the projects where planning and design (P&D) loans were approved, were those in Lewis, Malvern and Adel. In Lewis, a Water Treatment and Distribution System P&D loan of $120,000 was approved. In Malvern, a $228,000 P&D loan was approved for the construction of a new water treatment plant. And, in Adel, a $1.025-million DWSRF loan for P&D water treatment improvements was approved for Adel.

An Infrastructure and Engineering-related improvement loan was approved for Mt. Ayr in a revised loan application. The city will receive $4.1-million for a water main replacement project and water plant demolition, and a supplemental loan of $275,000 for the movement of a prefabricated booster pump station to a new location, to improve pressure for the water system.

Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees, co-chair of the beer garden for RAGBRAI, reports Atlantic native Paul Kay, who owns and operates a brewery in Burlington, IA, will have two of their craft beers featured at the RAGBRAI beer garden in the Atlantic City Park, this Sunday. Paul Kay grew up in Atlantic and his family still farms north of town. His brewery’s Kolsh Fordy Five and Royal Jelly 6-4-3 Honey Wheat beers, will be available during the bicycling event, which will draw thousands of people from across the State, Country and the world. The brewery was established in the Fall of 2015. (To learn more visit http://www.parksidebrewing.com/index.html)

McNees said “As a committee we are thrilled to be able to feature beers with a local connection and encourage area residents to come down to the garden and sample them as they watch the riders enter town, or come down and enjoy some as they partake in the entertainment that evening featuring Freakabout and Hairball.”

The beer garden can be found near the City Park stage, Sunday. It will be open at 1-p.m. and close at 10:30-p.m. If you would like to volunteer to serve and process transactions at the beer garden, contact the Atlantic Chamber Office at 243-3017.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Pope Francis has selected a priest from the Dubuque Archdiocese to become bishop of the Des Moines Diocese. The selection of the Rev. William Joensen was announced Thursday. His ordination and installation is scheduled for Sept. 27. Joensen replaces Bishop Richard Pates, who turned 75 last year and, as required by the church, submitted his resignation. He’s held the post since 2008.

Joensen grew up in Ames and attended Iowa State University. He was ordained in 1989 and served in parish ministry for six years before beginning graduate studies in philosophy. He’s been a philosophy professor at Loras College in Dubuque and assisted at parishes in and around Dubuque. The Diocese of Des Moines includes 80 parishes in 23 counties in central and southwest Iowa.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports 24-year old Matthew Allen Strong, of Harlan, was transported from the Shelby County Jail to the Pott. County Jail, Wednesday morning. Strong was being held in the Pott. County Jail on a warrant for Violation of Probation. 47-year old Steven Allen Durham, of Wahoo, NE., an inmate at the Saunders County, NE., Jail, was transported to the Pott. County Jail, Wednesday afternoon, to address two warrants for Violation of Probation.

A Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy who stopped to assist a motorist at Highway 6 and Railroad Highway, late Wednesday night, spoke with subjects in the vehicle who admitted they had been drinking. The driver, 23-year old Madison E. Lambert, of Omaha, was subsequently arrested for OWI/1st offense. 21-year old Anthony Joseph Tucci, of Omaha, was arrested at the same scene, for Public Intoxication and Interference with Official Acts.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Federal authorities have accused a nurse with a scheme to fraudulently obtain painkillers from her patients in eastern Iowa. Prosecutors say 31-year-old Katie Boll, of Manchester, is charged with 13 counts of acquiring controlled substances by fraud, deception or subterfuge in 2018 and one count of tampering with a consumer product. Prosecutors say she used mouthwash to dilute liquid morphine, resulting in injury to a patient. U.S. District Court records say Boll’s pleaded not guilty. Her trial in Cedar Rapids is scheduled to begin Sept. 16.

Authorities say Boll was a nurse for the Good Neighbor Society in Manchester when she schemed to acquire hydrocodone, morphine and other painkillers from at least 14 patients in her care.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a Guatemala man charged with killing an Iowa woman and her two children had been deported twice from the U.S. and is believed to be in the country illegally. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday night that 31-year-old Marvin Oswaldo Escobar-Orellana gave Des Moines police a false name, Marvin Esquivel-Lopez.

Shawn Neudauer, an ICE spokesman, says Escobar-Orellana was deported in 2010 and again in 2011. In 2010, he was convicted of illegal entry into the U.S. He’s accused of shooting 29-year-old Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez, her 11-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son. Police say he had been living at the family’s home and that they found no evidence that he had a personal relationship with the victims.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday morning, moved to fill a vacancy on the Grove Township board of trustees. The vacancy was created by the death of the clerk in June. One application was on file for the position. After a motion was made by Supervisor Steve Green and seconded by Supervisor Frank Waters, the Board unanimously agreed to appoint Michael Wray McDermott as Grove Township Clerk. The appointment s for the remainder of the four-year term that ends Dec. 31, 2019.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — The three presidential candidates who addressed a crowd of A-A-R-P members in Cedar Rapids yesterday (Wednesday) showcased the Democratic Party’s debate about how to achieve universal health care coverage. Former Maryland Congressman John Delaney suggests a “Medicare for All” policy endangers Democrats. “As a matter of politics, I think if we run on telling half the country, because literally over 150 million Americans have private health insurance, that we’re going to make that illegal and you have to get some new government program, they’re not going to trust us,” Delaney said, “and they’re not going to vote for us.”

Delaney calls his alternative “Better Care” — giving Americans under the age of 65 the option of being covered with a basic, federally-funded health care plan or taking a tax credit that’s equal to the plan’s annual estimated premium. Tulsi Gabbard, a congresswoman from Hawaii, is a “Medicare for All” supporter. “Really what this is is about making sure that every single person who is in need of care is able to get that care, regardless of how much money you make or how little money
you make, how much you have or what pre-existing condition you have,” Gabbard said.

While Americans will pay higher taxes, Gabbard says health care costs will be “drastically” lowered by eliminating the administrative costs of private insurance — plus the efficiency of having just one billing system. Colorado Senator Michael Bennet says the public opposes “Medicare for All.” “We have to raise massively in this country to pay for it,” Bennet said. “…There’s nothing nuanced about almost 200 million people having to go on a government plan just becuase Bernie Sanders says it’s what everybody should have.”

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is a leading proponent of Medicare for All. Bennef is proposing an alternative he calls “Medicare X” — creating a Medicare-like public option Americans could buy. Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan was scheduled to speak as well, but event organizers were notified about an hour before the forum was to begin that Ryan would not attend. A-A-R-P and The Des Moines Register will host two more candidate forums. The first, on Friday afternoon, will be held in Sioux City.. Saturday’s forum will be held in Council Bluffs.

The Creston Police Department says a man living in the 1000 block of N. Poplar Street, in Creston, reported Wednesday that sometime between 8-p.m. Tuesday and 7-a.m. Wednesday, someone took his wallet containing cash and credit cards. The wallet was taken from his vehicle parked outside of the man’s home. The loss was estimated at $40. And, 72-year old Hyvis Oerlyn Thatcher, of Creston, was cited Wednesday in Creston, for allowing an animal to run at large in the 500 block of W. Montgomery Street. Thatcher was released on a Promise to Appear in court.