State and local authorities are investigating this (Friday) morning’s death of a child in Carroll. Law enforcement officials and Carroll County Emergency Medical Services were called to the 500 block of West 3rd Street at approximately 7:10 a.m. on the report of a four-year-old male who was not breathing. The child was transported to St. Anthony Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The name of the child is being withheld pending notification of family members. The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa State Patrol assisted at the scene.

(Radio Iowa)

A black bear was hit and killed by a vehicle on Interstate-80 near Victor last (Thursday) night.  Authorities say a 27-year-old Texas man was driving west on Interstate 80 shortly before 9:30 Thursday night when his minivan hit the bear. The driver of the minivan wasn’t hurt and neither was his passenger, but the 250-pound bear died instantly.

The van wound up in a ditch and had to be towed away. Officials say the male black bear is the same one that’s been sighted several times recently in Poweshiek County.

(Radio Iowa)

The Empowering Adair County Foundation (EACF) has awarded funding for fifteen projects for the new annual grant cycle of 10-15-17. Organizations and their projects that received funding include:

• Adair County ISU Extension with their Project: Youth Hunger & Nutrition
• Adair County Fair Foundation with their Project: Adair County Fairgrounds Restroom & Shower Facility Improvements
• Adair County Farm Bureau Federation with their Project: Growing Ag Adventure & Who’s Your Iowa Farmer?
• Adair County Health Foundation with their Project: Adair County Memorial Hospital Structure Safety
• Adair County Historical Society with their Project: 1896 Penn Avenue Church Exterior Beautification
• Adair Public Library Board of Trustees with their Project: Façade Improvements
• Boys & Girls Club of Central Southwest Iowa, Inc. with their Project: Technology Learning Center and Advancement
• Casey Historical Society with their Project: The Abram Rutt Park Citizen’s Improvement
• Greater Fontanelle Community Foundation with their Project: 2018 Fourth of July Celebration Publicity, Sound and Entertainment
• Iowa Aviation Museum with their Project: Iowa Aviation Museum & Adair County Outreach Program
• Orient Rural Fire District with their Project: Jaws of Life
• Stuart Library Foundation: People Advocating for Library Success with their Project: Replacing Aging and Failing Computers, Part II
• Sunshine Day Care Center with their Project: Increased Safety
• The Wallace Centers of Iowa with their Project: Improving Country Life Center Grounds-Keeping
• Warren Cultural Center with their Project: Warren Cultural Center Programming 2018

Grant applications were scored and reviewed by the Empowering Adair County Foundation Committee members. Applications were scored on the following criteria: Completeness of Application; Benefit to Adair County Residents; Support of Entrepreneurial Activity, Community and Leadership Development; Identification of
Community Needs; and Addressing Community Needs. The Committee’s recommendations were sent on to the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines for final approval of grant disbursements.

Empowering Adair County Foundation (or EACF) was formed in 2005 to coordinate and provide philanthropic support for community betterment and to enhance the quality of life for communities in Adair County. The Foundation is governed by a 9-member board representing all areas of the county. Since inception, Empowering
Adair County Foundation has granted $1.38 million to help fund excellent projects in Adair County.

The Foundation has made some new policy changes this year. From this point forward, there will only be one grant cycle with an October 15th grant application deadline, For more information, visit the website www.extension.iastate.edu/adair and scroll down the homepage to the EACF logo and links. Other policy changes include the requirement that all grant recipients must complete a Six Month Progress report and Grant Final Report within twelve months (deadline for project completion is twelves months from receiving grant distribution checks). Photos of each project in progress and completed must be provided with the Final Report.

There are currently two seats open on the EACF Committee—one needs to represent the Bridgewater area and the other should reporesent the Stuart area. If you are interested in applying for the EACF Board please contact Deena Wells or visit the website for an application form.

For more information regarding EACF’s grant program, contact Deena Wells, Adair County ISU Extension at 641-743-8412 or dwells@iastate.edu.

Officials with the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce report Rob Stamp has been named the 2017 “Scrooge” for the City of Atlantic. Stamp earned his title by collecting the largest amount of donations for the Atlantic Area Chamber’s 15th Annual Scrooge Contest sponsored by Hockenberry Family Care. All contributions are donated to the Atlantic Food Pantry. The 2017 candidates included: Jack Jensen, Robinson True Value; Rob Stamp, Stamp Construction; Cody Weaver, MAHLE Engine Components and Nick Harris, Brocker, Karns & Karns. They collected a total of 9819.50 points. Two non-perishable food items equal one point and every dollar collected equals a point. The contestants will all serve as Grand Marshal in the Lighted Parade tomorrow evening beginning at 6 PM.

Bailey Smith, Executive Director at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce said “I love seeing a community come together for such a great cause,. The candidates did a great job getting the word out and collecting as many donations they could, whether it was cash or food donations. The Food Pantry benefits a lot of people in our community, so being able to have a contest like this that benefits so many individuals and families is great.”

Eleanor Hoover has been coordinating the contest since 2002 just one year after the inaugural Lighted Parade. She said “I am so proud of our Scrooge Candidates and our community for supporting the Atlantic food Pantry. Winning is not everything, but making the effort to win is.” The Atlantic Area Chamber would like to thank everyone who donated.

Less than two months after a long-term Union County employer announced it would be eliminating 250 jobs in Creston, there’s word another plant is closing. According to the Creston News Advertiser, CHS, Incorporated is closing Jan. 30th, 2018. The plant in Creston processes food ingredients. In a letter to the employees this (Friday) morning said the closure would be permanent. There was no immediate word on how many people were losing their jobs.  According to the CHS, Inc. website, the company is a farmer-owned cooperative, a Fortune 100 company that operates in more than 450 communities in 16 states and Canada.

In October, an Illinois-based company announced production at the Ferrara Candy Company in Creston, would be closing later this month, after more then 30-years in business. It’s 256 workers were offered “Severance and transition assistance.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — New construction activity on the Iowa side of the Missouri River may benefit an eastern Nebraska city. The Omaha World-Herald reports that work will begin Friday on a mixed-use campus in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The River’s Edge development is a part of a spike in construction across the river from Omaha, Nebraska.

Co-developers Noddle Cos. and the Iowa West Foundation expect the riverfront development to attract $170 million in investment along the river’s eastern side. A Noddle Cos. official says River’s Edge could also spark development across the river in Omaha and strengthen ties between businesses and communities on either side of the river.

The Riverfront Revitalization Planning Committee is continuing to plan for ways to improve the riverfront corridor. The group includes representatives from both Omaha and Council Bluffs.

Four civil rights groups in Iowa are asking the Iowa Supreme Court to make traffic stops by police for minor violations that often lead to more serious charges unconstitutional. A-C-L-U of Iowa executive director, Mark Stringer, says they are known as “pretextual stops.” “It could be driving three miles an hour over the speed limit — which isn’t something people are typically pulled over for — a broken taillight,” Stringer says.

Stops are often made if the license plate light on a car or truck is out. Stringer says there is evidence the stops are wrongly targeting certain groups.”We’re concerned about what happens when people are pulled over on a pretext, it tends to lead to disproportionate traffic stops for people of color in particular,” Stringer says.  He says they are telling the Iowa Supreme Court these type of stops drive racial profiling and put people of color at risk of police violence.”We filed an Amicus Brief along with to declare pretextual traffic stops unconstitutional,” Stringer explains.

The groups cites as an example a pretextual stop for a burnt-out license plate light in Cedar Rapids in November 2016 that led to Jerime Mitchell being shot in the neck by the police officer and paralyzed. The group says the dashcam video appears to show a legally lit license plate. Stringer says there is no statewide data kept on pretextual traffic stops, but they have compiled information in some counties. “In Linn County for example, African Americans are 25 percent more likely than white people to be cited rather than warned when stopped for a traffic violation. Scott County data shows that African Americans are more than three times more likely to be stopped for traffic violations than white drivers, and almost twice as likely to be arrested after the stop,” according to Stringer. “So, it’s not only that people of color tend to be stopped more — they tend to be cited and or arrested more.”

The effort to ban these stops comes as a “friend of the court” brief in a case from Waterloo where a black woman was arrested after a stop where the officer said one of two license plate lights was out and because she went through an intersection during a yellow light. The woman argues that video shows the license plate was still legally visible. The data cited in the brief says Waterloo had the worst disparities in the traffic stop data. The information from the Waterloo Police Department show that nearly 38 percent of traffic stops were black drivers, while they make up 15 percent of the population. It also showed black drivers were also substantially more likely to be arrested and searched and substantially less likely to be merely warned than white drivers. The Iowa N-double-A-C-P, the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa, and one-thousand Kids for Iowa joined the A-C-L-U in filing the brief.

(Radio Iowa)

Republican Iowa Senator Tom Shipley, from Nodaway, was in Atlantic Thursday, to join Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and others for a tour of the Whitney building, which is being renovated into living and business spaces. Shipley said “It’s really going to be a first-class facility,” thanks to public and private sector investments. He said “To its credit.. Iowa is very easy to work with,” where tax credits for that type of projects is concerned. “The Federal Government,” conversely he says, is not so user friendly to work with. The Iowa system worked very very well, these tax credits get a lot of attention..they will get a lot of attention throughout the next session.” He says they will continue to be used for that purpose when other means can’t get the job done.

Shipley said there’s been some rumblings out of Washington to get rid of the Historical Tax credits, and something needs to be done to put those funds under State control. He says there would be more dollars for States to work with if the Feds stepped out of the picture, because the administrative costs would be cut. Shipley says during the upcoming session, the Legislature will take a close look at water quality issues. Other matters include the SAVE dollars for school districts in Iowa.

He says they’re also looking at the Senate’s version of the Tax Reform Bill, but that hinges on what action is taken in Washington, D.C. He says the current system is too complex and burdensome. It will also depend on a report due out the middle of this month from the Revenue Estimating Committee.

Shipley serves District 11, which includes Pottawattamie, most of Cass, Adams, and Union Counties. He was first elected to the Iowa Legislature in 2014, and has announced he is running for his second term in office.