FOOD BANK AWARDS
The Food Bank of Siouxland presented their 2023 “Celebrate Our Friends” awards Wednesday in Le Mars, to individuals and organizations who have had a lasting effect on the food bank through their service in fighting hunger in Siouxland.
The Linda Scheid Legacy Award, named after the Food Bank’s former executive director, was presented to Kemps of Le Mars.
This is Food Bank of Siouxland Executive Director Jacob Wanderscheid.
Wanderscheid says shelf – stable milk has become a staple of their food distribution program.
Milk is a basic food for their food programs.
Jay Johnson accepted the award on behalf of Kemps.
The ceremonies took place at the Wells Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor in Le Mars.
ESA’S WILL LEAD TO MORE PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN IOWA
The interim outreach director for the Iowa Association of Christian Schools says the new state-fund Education Savings Account program is likely to lead to the opening of more private schools.
That’s Josh Bowar, who is also Head of School at Sioux Center Christian School. Forty-two Iowa counties do not have a private school. Seventy-five counties do not have a private high school. Bowar says this is under discussion.
Bowar made his comments during a recent appearance on Iowa Press on Iowa P-B-S. He is an administrator at one of the 15 private schools in Sioux County. Just over six percent of all applications for a taxpayer-funded account to cover private school expenses came from Sioux County. State officials announced this summer that 18-thousand applications for Education Savings Accounts had been approved, but the final number of payments has not been released. That’s because about 40 percent of applications came from parents who had until September 30th to enroll a child in a private school. The other 60 percent of applications were for students who were already enrolled in a private school.
LAKES HOUSING SURVEY
Officials in a city that’s been called the southern gateway to the Iowa Great Lakes have hired an architectural firm to study the housing market in Milford. Charlie Cowell, a lead consultant on the project, says Milford is like other lake communities in the Midwest that draw tons of visitors in the summer months and that drives up housing prices for year round residents.
Cowell says the first phase of the project is analyzing U-S Census data and all the home sales in the Milford area.
According to Realtor-dot-com, 470-thousand dollars is the median listing price for homes that are for sale right now in Milford and that’s 24-and-a-half percent higher than a year ago. Cowell says the housing market report commissioned by the City of Milford should be completed by the end of the year.
Cowell works for R-D-S Planning and Design, a Des Moines based architectural firm. In late July, Milford’s City Council approved spending 18-thousand dollars on the housing research project.
IOWA GOVERNMENT SURPLUS FUNDS
The State of Iowa has nearly five-and-a-half BILLION in unspent tax dollars that the governor’s promising much of it will be the fuel for tax cuts. Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports.
The budget surplus from the last state fiscal year will be deposited in that Taxpayer Relief Fund in January. The 900 million dollars will stay in the state’s economic emergency and cash reserve accounts. Senator Janet Petersen of Des Moines, the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, says the governor’s tax plans favor corporations and special interests. Petersen says while Governor Reynolds is promising more giveaways to come, middle-class Iowa families still aren’t getting ahead.
GRASSLEY: GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IS “IDIOCY”
With a federal government shutdown looming this weekend, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says it’s “idiocy” to be going through this process again. The U-S Senate has created a bipartisan package designed to temporarily fund the government but indications are, the House won’t finish its work before Saturday’s deadline. Grassley, a Republican, says the Senate is concentrating on the government not shutting down, and will hopefully pass a bill, without waiting to see what the House does. Grassley says the House is making a “serious attempt” to avert a shutdown, while the Senate’s stop-gap measure should be finished on Friday.
SHUTDOWN MAY LEAD TO LOSS OF WIC BENEFITS
Low-income Iowa families who rely on the Women, Infants and Children — or WIC — program for putting food on the table may need to make other arrangements — if — the federal government shuts down this weekend. Shelby Kroona (KROO-nuh), Hamilton County’s public health director, issued a warning to the county’s board of supervisors about the looming shutdown on Saturday. Kroona says food pantries are bracing for a dramatic upturn in demand as 324 food-insecure families in the county are counting on WIC, which is administered through the U-S Department of Agriculture. Reports show WIC program services are used in all 99 Iowa counties and reached more than 64-thousand participants in 2020.
ALGONA MOVIE WINS AWARDS
A film that tells the story of German soldiers who spent Christmas at a P-O-W camp in Algona back in 1944 has won the top movie of the year award from a faith based entertainment and arts society. “Silent Night in Algona” was nominated for six of the group’s first-ever “Red Letter” awards. The film won the Red Letter award for Best Picture and D.J. Perry won the Best Writer award for the Silent Night in Algona screenplay. The film will be released on D-V-D and streamling platforms on December 1st.
