(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Economic Development Authority has awarded grants totaling more than three-point-seven million dollars to eight communities for water and sewer infrastructure. Chelsea, Duncombe, Fort Madison, Lawler, McGregor, Mediapolis, Wellman and Yale will receive the money through the U-S Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The community of Yale, in Guthrie County, was awarded a $425,000 grant for water system improvements. Other funds will add $415,000 toward the total project cost.

The I-E-D-A reports it received 19 applications totaling nearly nine million dollars in funding requests. Grants are awarded based upon the benefit to low and moderate income residents, financial need, project impact, and readiness and commitment of local resources to the project.

(Radio Iowa) – The Ankeny-based Casey’s Convenience store chain reported in-store and gas sales were up slightly, as was their net income in the third quarter. Casey’s Darren Rebelez says weather conditions have been more of a recent concern than a potential recession. “Casey’s for a long time, has performed very well during recessionary times, and I think that’s for a couple of reasons. One is that we sell basic daily needs that people need. They’re low dollar denominations,” Rebelez says. He spoke during a conference call on the quarterly results and says their products are not the first to go.  “In the grand scheme of things, when people have to pull back on discretionary spending, a lot of what we sell would be considered by our guests to be non discretionary,” he says, “and because there tends to be a lower price point, it isn’t the first thing to cut on the list, because these are daily needs.”

Rebelez says when it comes to food, only about half of their stores have a national brand competitor in their trade area that Casey’s has to compete with. “As consumers start to look for value, we’re a great trade down opportunity from a price perspective, but not a trade down in quality,” Rebelez says. “So think consumers feel really good about being able to stretch their dollars with us on the food side.” Rebelez says their low income consumers who makes less than 50-thousand dollars a year make up only about 25 percent of their customers. He says they still see positive growth from those customers, it’s just not at the same rate for other income customers, and when they are cutting back, it’s in the alcohol and tobacco areas.

Rebelez says the weather can have a much more immediate impact. “I don’t have specific numbers to share with you on that other than to say February was a tough weather month. And I can tell you when the temperature difference is 50 or 60 degrees colder than the prior year. I mean, you see it in the numbers,” he says. Rebelez says the numbers come back when the weather starts to normalize. He says the weather impacted some of their newly acquired stores in Texas and Florida this quarter, where they had snow that they rarely see.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Attorney General says two Black Hawk and one Bremer County deputy acted appropriately following the death of a man they arrested. Deputies say Willie Earl Washington fled at speeds of more than 120 miles an hour when they tried to stop him for a traffic violation in December. Once he was stopped, deputies say Washington battled with them and they held him face down to put handcuffs on him. Washington said he couldn’t breath and was unresponsive when deputies turned him over. He later died at the hospital.

The D-C-I investigation found Washington was face down approximately 87 seconds and the cause of death was a combination of cardio-respiratory arrest, an enlarged heart, obesity, methamphetamine use, and positioning. It concluded officers used no more force or time than was necessary to handcuff him.

CRESTON, Iowa [KCCI-TV] — A Union County man could spend up to 15 years in prison after taking a plea deal in a child sex abuse case. 29-year-old Dennis Simmerman, of Creston, plead guilty on February 28th to child endangerment as a registered sex offender and third-degree sexual abuse. He originally faced 12 charges. Court documents say Simmerman sexually abused a 14-year-old girl in his home last July.

As part of the plea, Simmerman must also enter a sex offender treatment program. If he fails the program, he will be required to serve 100% of his sentence. Simmerman will be eligible for parole in three years.

Isabel Pettit is also charged in connection with this case. She is scheduled to be back in court March 21st. Simmerman was previously accused of abusing a child in 2017. Those charges were dropped after the county attorney at the time failed to show up for a plea hearing.

In 2019, Simmerman pleaded guilty to enticing a child. He was sentenced to 10 years but was paroled in 2021. In February of 2022, he violated the sex offender registry and received a two-year probation.

ALTOONA, Iowa — Officials with Adventureland in Altoona announced Wednesday, that the Adventureland Inn will be permanently closing its doors. WHO-TV reports in 1973, just a year before the theme park opened, Jack Krantz opened the Adventureland Inn. The hotel has gone through many changes in its over 50-year history, including a million dollar project in 2002 that doubled the size of the hotel and added new pools and water features.

The closure comes after the hotel announced that it would be closed during the off-season beginning November 2024. Adventureland said in a statement that the hotel will be converted into employee housing. The statement says:

“At Adventureland, we have continued to provide the best guest experience for our visitors through the addition of new events, new rides and attractions, and on-going park-wide improvements. With our continued focus on guest experience, we have made the decision to close the Adventureland Inn and convert the property into on-site employee housing as we grow our workforce.”

Mike Lusky, General Manager

Guests can still stay overnight at the Adventureland Campground, which is currently taking reservations. The closure will not affect Spectators Sports Bar & Grill, which will remain open seven days a week.

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Des Moines man was sentenced Wednesday to 54 months (4 1/2 years) in federal prison, for wire fraud and money laundering charges.

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa says, that according to public court documents, 49-year-old Bryan David Sampica executed a scheme to defraud financial institutions responsible for issuing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans between May 2020 and March 2021.

Sampica fraudulently obtained two PPP loans for a company that had no employees, no operations, and no payroll. Sampica falsely claimed that the company had approximately 100 employees and annual payroll in excess of $1 million. Sampica also provided false claims by submitting fraudulent tax documents asserting that the company had millions of dollars in annual receipts and expenses.

The PPP loans obtained by Sampica totaled nearly $2 million. Once Sampica received the fraudulently obtained PPP loan funding, he used the fraudulently obtained funds to, among other things, pay off a car loan, transfer money to a family member and trust accounts, and to purchase a yacht.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Sampica will be required to serve a three-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Sampica was also ordered to pay $1,978,345.82 in restitution.

“It’s unfortunate that a relief program such as the Paycheck Protection Program was targeted by fraudsters looking to enrich themselves,” said IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge William Steenson. “Mr. Sampica used millions of dollars in stolen taxpayer funds to pay for cars and yachts while legitimate businesses struggled to survive the pandemic. We’re committed to working alongside our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office to protect taxpayer resources by holding thieves like Mr. Sampica accountable.”

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.

(Des Moines, Iowa/Iowa News Service) – The Iowa Legislature has advanced a bill to provide a $1 billion tax cut to companies covering unemployment benefits for out-of-work Iowans. Iowa lawmakers reduced the maximum number of weeks Iowans could file for unemployment benefits in 2022 from 26 weeks to 16. The money the state has saved by not paying the additional benefits went into a trust fund, which has reached nearly $2 billion. Now, lawmakers are giving half the money back to business in the form of a tax cut.

Peter Hird, secretary-treasurer of the Iowa Federation of Labor, said Senate File 504 is a blow to people who are looking for work and now have a lot less time to find it while watching companies get a tax cut. “If you take a benefit, a protection for workers, and then turn that into a tax savings for employers, it’s a totally man-made tax cut,” Hird pointed out. “This isn’t just because of good luck.” The bill is through committee and awaits action on the Senate floor. Gov. Kim Reynolds said she is following through on a campaign pledge to lower taxes for Iowa companies, making the state more attractive to those considering locating in the state.

Hird noted labor groups also worry about what happens in the event of an unexpected economic downturn and added the fears are prominent in rural Iowa. “Especially if you’re working in the ag sector where your job is at stake, and you’re talking about giving more benefits to rich people?,” Hird emphasized. “I feel like that’s just something that’s resonating across the country right now.”

Reynolds has proposed cutting the highest unemployment tax rate companies pay from 7% to 5.4%, which would save them nearly a billion dollars over five years.