(Elk Horn, Iowa) – A restaurant that opened just a few years ago in Elk Horn, has closed its doors permanently. According to a social media post, the Muller family, which owns and runs Grace on Main (formerly known as The Danish Table: Hygge Kitchen) announced Sunday that “After much consideration and prayer [we[ have made the choice to permanently close our doors.”

The notice said also, “We would like to thank everyone who passed through our doors and supported us over the past four + years.” The Mullers said “As we close our doors, we are excited for the opportunities the Lord has put before us.”

Owners Ilee and Michael Muller moved to Iowa from California, where Michael had worked and gained extensive experience in fine dining and bartending. Their restaurant featured many unique offerings and hosted intimate dining experiences for 20 people at different times during the year, called the “Gathering Table,” which featured a select five-course meal.

The family weathered through the pandemic, and health issues before deciding to close their business. The lot where the restaurant resides was formerly home for many years to the Danish Inn Restaurant, before that business closed in 2015, and the building was demolished three-years later.

A new building was constructed on the site that became an instant hit loved by food critics, residents and visitors.

(Iowa News Service) – A new report says Iowa has created more than 200 new child-care providers in the state, which is among the nation’s leaders in working parents who need it. The jobs were created with pandemic relief funds, and bolstered by money from local businesses. Iowa set aside $3 million in COVID relief aid to create the Child Care Solutions Fund, which established more providers and is making money available to pay them.

Businesses in the seven Iowa communities that took part in the program kicked in another $1.4 million, to increase the notoriously low wages and improve health benefits. A Program Manager at Common Good Iowa, Sheila Hansen, said the investments will make a big difference on the ground. “It created around 275 child-care slots and about 105 child-care providers,” said Hansen. “And then it impacted around 1,200 child-care personnel.”

The Iowa Women’s Foundation and the Common Sense Institute of Iowa released the report. The state recently launched a website that shows parents in real-time who has child-care openings, so they can see what’s available when they need it. While the pilot program was created with pandemic relief money, the report says expanding it statewide would cost Iowa about $28 million a year. Hansen said she thinks it would be a wise investment, in a state that desperately needs more child-care services.

“Iowa leads the nation with both available parents in the workforce,” said Hansen. “The need for child care is really immense. And if they’re not in the workforce and they want to be, you know, and they struggle to find child care, then they’re not really contributing.”

The report estimates if every mother with kids had access to child care and wanted to work, at least 150,000 more women would join the Iowa labor force.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Montgomery County will hold their regular weekly meeting beginning at 8:30-a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3rd, in their Boardroom at the courthouse in Red Oak. The only action item on their agenda, is to approve or disapprove of Homestead and Military Credit Applications.

Other business includes regular Board committee and Secondary Roads Department, reports.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council is set to meet 5:30-p.m. Wednesday (Dec. 4, 2024), in their Chambers at City Hall. Action items on their agenda include:

• An order to approve pay application number three to the Henley Group, LLC, for the Sunnyside Park Splashpad Project.
• The passing a resolution approving the Calendar Year (CY) 2025 Budget for Atlantic Municipal Utilities.
• And, the Second Reading of an ordinance amending the City’s Code of Ordinance, with regard to ATV and Snowmobile use in the City.

The Council will hold a Public Hearing, Wednesday, on a proposed amendment to the Urban Renewal Plan (URP) for the Southeast Urban Renewal District (URD), followed by action on a resolution to approve the amendment as presented. During their meeting on Aug. 3rd, the Council held a public hearing an passed a resolution adopting the original Prairie Hills Subdivision Project to the Southeast URD.

City Administrator John Lund notes “Amending the Urban Renewal Area to include the new Urban Renewal Project, is a prerequisite to formal debt being incurred and eligible for TIF (Tax Increment Financing) capture under a development agreement, as proposed in a resolution setting the public hearing and date for, approval of a development agreement with Vision Atlantic, which includes an annual appropriation for TIF payments. The council will act on that resolution during their meeting Wednesday.

The final order of business for the Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, is to act on an Order approving the Annual Urban Renewal Report, as required under the Code of Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Four different business groups are calling on state utility regulators to adopt a series of reforms to address both the cost and the supply of power for Iowa consumers. Bob Rafferty represents Iowa Business for Clean Energy, one the groups that participated in a recent study that asked a basic question:  “How do we evolve the way we regulate this electric grid so we can have the most reliable, lowest cost and cleanest electric grid 10 and 20 years from now?” Rafferty says the study has four major recommendations that would allow the state-regulated utilities to make infrastructure improvements, while ensuring rate increases in the electric bills businesses and individuals pay are reasonable.

“The business community is united, big and small, on this issue,” Rafferty says. “We need reform.” The Iowa Utilities Commission recently issued an order that increased Alliant Energy’s rates for Iowa businesses by 15 percent. Residential rates went up six percent. Rafferty says that should be an eye opener because Alliant’s Iowa customers now pay electric rates that are higher than the average residential and commercial rates in 37 other states.

“For those communities to have the ability to compete economically, we need to find a way to start addressing that disparity so they can have a strong economic future,” Rafferty says. “Electric prices are only going to become more and more important as the economy becomes more and more dependent on electricity as opposed to gas.”

The business groups are asking that the Iowa Utilities Commission use what’s called “Integrated Resource Planning” when evaluating future electric rate increases. Rafferty says it’s a method that analyzes both the expected demand and supply of electricity in the future, with the goal of considering all options for arriving at the most affordable rates.

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Transportation’s 511ia.org website this (Sunday) morning, reports the right lane of Iowa Highway 44 eastbound between US 59 and County Road M47 (Harlan), is blocked because of emergency repairs. Additional details are currently not available.

(Wiota, Iowa) – A call to the Cass County (IA) Communications Center Saturday afternoon about a person experiencing a possible mental health crisis, ended with an individual driving a vehicle being transported to Cass Health. According to sheriff’s officials, the incident began at around 3-p.m.

A deputy located a vehicle driving erratically between Wiota and Anita. After he pulled-up behind the car and followed it, the suspect vehicle left the road and  ran into a power pole before coming to rest on a culvert at the edge of a driveway.

The female occupant of the vehicle refused the deputy’s commands to exit the car. Following a brief standoff, a negotiator arrived at the scene and successfully negotiated the woman’s exit. Reports indicated pepper balls were used some time during the incident, though. The woman was transported to CCMH for observation. The vehicle sustained extensive damage to the front end.

White Pole Road was closed for a time after being blocked in both directions during the incident.

IOWA (KCRG) – The Centers for Disease Control has issued a food safety alert regarding a multistate outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to cucumbers. 68 people across 19 states have gotten sick, including at least 2 people in Iowa. 18 people have been hospitalized, but no one has died.

The CDC says the cucumbers were grown by Agrotato, S.A. de C.V. in Sonora, Mexico and include cucumbers recalled in 26 states by SunFed Produce, LLC.

The CDC says anyone who bought whole fresh American cucumbers produced by ‘SunFed Mexico” between October 12 and November 27, should not eat the cucumbers. They should be thrown away or returned to the store.

Sioux City, Iowa (KTIV) – Another cleaning company has been fined thousands of dollars by the U.S. Department of Labor for employing children to clean Sioux City’s Seaboard Triumph Foods pork processing plant. Qvest LLC of Oklahoma was the cleaning contractor for the plant between September of 2019 and September of 2023.

The Labor Department says the first company fined for hiring minors, Fayette Janitorial Services of Tennessee, took over the contract from Qvest, and hired some of the same children Qvest had employed to clean the plant.

Court documents filed in the Northern District of Iowa show that Qvest will pay $171,919 in child labor civil money penalties, hire a third party to review and implement company policies to prevent the employment of children, and set up a process to report possible child labor law violations.

The Labor Department’s investigation found 11 children had been cleaning equipment in the packing plant, including saws used to cut the pork. Federal law prohibits children under age 18 from working in dangerous jobs like meat processing facilities.

In a statement released to KJAN on Dec. 3rd, 2024, Seaboard Triumph Foods Communications Manager Riley Kohn said:

“The legal filings against Qvest Sanitation by the Department of Labor (DOL) do not include any claims against Seaboard Triumph Foods (STF). STF did not employ any of the alleged individuals and has no evidence that any underage individuals accessed the plant. In addition, this vendor, who had express contractual requirements to follow all labor laws, has not been
present at the STF facility for more than a year, as the company’s sanitation needs are currently supported through an ongoing partnership with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).

“This situation underscores the problems facing employers throughout the country: individuals, including minors, obtaining jobs through their use of fraudulent identification documents, which are sophisticated enough to fool even the federal government’s E-Verify system. Businesses are victimized by this fraud,” notes Paul DeCamp, the former head of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, and counsel for STF.

“Safety, ethical practices, and compliance with regulations and industry standards are of paramount importance to STF. We expect the same from our vendors and partners, and we will not tolerate any vendor’s use of underage labor within our facility, and will also take measures to prevent fraud against our company.”

(Iowa City, Iowa – One person was killed and another injured during a crash in eastern Iowa’ Washington County, Saturday afternoon. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the accident happened southeast of Brighton shortly before 4-p.m.

Authorities say a 1999 Toyota Camry was traveling east on Highway 78, west of Toadflax Blvd, when the driver failed to negotiate a curve in the road. The car went out of control and ran off the left side of the road before rolling over several times.

The driver of the vehicle – who was not wearing a seatbelt – was ejected from the vehicle, and did not survive. A passenger  who was wearing a seatbelt, suffered non-life threatening injuries. They were transported to the U of I hospital by Washington EMS, for treatment.

The names of the driver and passenger are being withheld pending an investigation.