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Voting is Now Live for Main Street Young Ambassador Contest

Posted on by Sam Parsons

OSKALOOSA — Now is the time to place your votes for the Main Street Young Ambassador of your choice. Twenty-seven local children ages three through kindergarten are seeking monetary votes to become this year’s Young Ambassadors.

Local merchants who are sponsoring the children have banks with the name and picture of the child on the bank. Money placed in the canister of your choice is considered votes. As a reminder, any amount of money may be deposited. A portion of the proceeds will go to Little Creations Preschool, with the balance used to defray costs of the Main Street Oskaloosa Lighted Christmas Parade to be held Saturday, December 3 at 7 pm in Downtown Oskaloosa.

The winners of the Young Ambassador contest will be announced Monday, November 28, 2022, at 6:00 pm at the Penn Central Mall. Event includes music, book reading, and of course Santa and gifts. Participants are additionally invited to participate in the Parade on the Clow Train.

Show your support by voting for these youngsters. For candidate and sponsor locations, call the Main Street office of the Mahaska Chamber & Development Group at 641-672-2591, or find a list in the Oskaloosa Shopper/Herald or on the Oskaloosa Main Street Facebook page.

US judge in Texas strikes down Biden loan-forgiveness plan

Posted on by Sam Parsons

FORT WORTH (AP) — A U.S. judge in Texas has blocked President Joe Biden’s plan to provide millions of borrowers with up to $20,000 apiece in federal student-loan forgiveness. The program was already on hold while a federal appeals court in St. Louis considers a separate lawsuit by a half-dozen states challenging it. District Court Judge Mark Pittman said Thursday that the program usurped Congress’ power to make laws. Pittman is an appointee of former President Donald Trump based in Fort Worth. The debt forgiveness plan would cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell Grant recipients would get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

State Auditor Sand leads Halbur by 2614 votes, Halbur to seek recount

Posted on by Sam Parsons

By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

The final batch of votes from two counties are in and Rob Sand appears to have narrowly won re-election as state auditor.

About 2000 votes from Warren County and around 800 votes from Des Moines County were added to the statewide tally on Thursday afternoon. Those unofficial results show Sand ahead of Republican challenger Todd Halbur by 2614 votes. Halbur will ask for a recount.

“We have seen human error, technical errors and maybe even some blatant, egregious errors that have happened to our votes across the state, so therefore I will ask for a recount of the state auditor’s race,” Halbur said.

Under state law, Halbur could ask for recounts in all 99 counties or ask for recounts in specific counties. He has until the end of next week to make the call.

“We will follow the process of the recount according to the rule of law outlines and after the recount, I believe myself and the voters of Iowa will feel confident in these results,” Halbur said. “I don’t feel confident in the results I’m seeing now in the unofficial results.”

Because Halbur’s vote tally is currently less than one percent behind Sand’s, all recounts would be paid for by taxpayers. If Sand is confirmed as the winner, he would be the only Democrat to win a statewide race in this year’s General Election.

Sand is an attorney. He previously worked in the Iowa Attorney General’s office as the lead prosecutor in public corruption cases. He handled the prosecution of Tommy Tipton, the former Multistate Lottery IT specialist found guilty of rigging Hot Lotto jackpots.

Halbur, Sand’s opponent, recently won a $1 million jury verdict in his lawsuit against the State of Iowa. Halbur claims he was fired as comptroller of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division after telling his bosses the agency was overcharging restaurants and retailers for liquor. Agency managers have said Halbur was fired for other reasons and lawyers for the state are reviewing whether to appeal the $1 million verdict.

Halbur ran a low-budget campaign. He was not among the Republican candidates who appeared at the bus tour events Governor Kim Reynolds hosted during the final weeks of the campaign.

Penn Central Mall’s Winter Market Begins Tomorrow

Posted on by Sam Parsons

By Sam Parsons

Starting tomorrow, Penn Central Mall’s Winter Market will begin another run through the winter season.

On the second Saturday of each month from November 2022-March 2023, shoppers can walk, shop, and enjoy the mall and the Winter Market.

To register as a vendor, please contact the mall directly. You can reach Marta Iverson at (641)-673-9414 or by email at marta.iverson@musco.com.

Little sign of relief expected in October US inflation data

Posted on by Sam Parsons

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s punishing inflation rate likely kept simmering in October, giving the Federal Reserve little cause to ease up in its drive to slow price increases by steadily raising interest rates. The Labor Department is expected to report that consumer prices jumped 8% from 12 months earlier and by a sharp 0.6% from September to October. A separate measure called core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, is expected to have surged 6.5% in the past year and 0.5% from September to October. Like many other countries, the United States is struggling to control inflation, which is pressuring millions of households and dimming the outlook for the economy.

Iowa reaches second highest turnout in state history for midterm election; post-election audits begin

Posted on by Sam Parsons

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate announces the unofficial turnout for the November 2022 general election was the second highest in state history for a midterm. More than 1,220,000 Iowans voted. The all-time high for an Iowa midterm election was 1,329,930, set in 2018.

“My thanks to Iowans from every corner of the state who made their voices heard by voting,” Secretary Pate said. “I also want to thank the poll workers and county election officials across Iowa for their hard work and dedication. However, our work is not finished.”

Every county will now conduct post-election audits in randomly selected precincts to help ensure the integrity of the vote. Secretary Pate added another layer of protection to Iowa’s electoral process this year by ordering a second race to undergo hand count audits in every county. The audits will ensure the numbers match the totals reported by the ballot tabulators. The gubernatorial race and constitutional amendment ballot measure will be audited.

“Post-election audits add another layer of integrity to the election process,” Secretary Pate said. “I want all Iowans to know their vote counts, and it will be counted correctly.”

All election results remain unofficial until canvassing is complete, and results are certified. The deadline is December 5.

Unofficial totals are available at sos.iowa.gov.

Monroe County Hospital and Clinics Alerts Publics of Scam

Posted on by Sam Parsons

ALBIA — Monroe County Hospital & Clinics has been made aware that people are receiving phone calls from someone posing as Monroe County Hospital & Clinics, asking for personal information, trying to sell COVID test kits at no cost with Medicare covering the fee, and some are saying they will send a free COVID test kit.

This is not Monroe County Hospital & Clinics. MCHC does not make telephone solicitations. Please hang up if you receive this phone call.

Oskaloosa CSD Receives Mental Health Grant, Approves Parking Lot Lighting Project

Posted on by Sam Parsons

By Sam Parsons

The Oskaloosa Community School Board met earlier this week and heard a presentation from Director of Student Services Melanie Hatch about a mental health grant that the district applied for and received. Hatch gave us some basic info about the grant.

The grant will bring over $180,000 to the district over the course of 2 years to allocate to various programs and partnerships related to mental health. One of those partnerships is with Evolution Mental Health Services in Oskaloosa.

The board also approved a construction project that will improve the lighting of the parking lots at the elementary, middle, and high schools, addressing safety concerns. The cost of the project encompassing all 3 schools is approximately $500,000.

Federal and State Elections Recap

Posted on by Sam Parsons

By Sam Parsons

Here are the results from Iowa’s general election last night for federal and state level positions relevant to our listening area. Winners are denoted in bold.

Federal – US Senate

(R) Chuck Grassley – 678,738 (56.0%)

(D) Michael Franken – 531,589 (43.9%)

Federal – US Representative

(R) Mariannette Miller-Meeks – 160,441 (53.4%)

(D) Christina Bohannan – 140,403 (46.6%)

State – IA Governor/Lt. Governor

(R) Kim Reynolds and Adam Gregg – 706,299 (58.0%)

(D) Diedre DeJear and Eric Van Lancker – 481,399 (39.5%)

(L) Rick Stewart and Marco Battaglia – 28,887 (2.4%)

State – IA Secretary of State

(R) Paul D. Pate – 720,395 (60.0%)

(D) Joel Miller – 478,857 (39.9%)

State – IA Auditor of State

(D) Rob Sand – 598,617 (50.1%)

(R) Todd Halbur – 595,448 (49.8%)

Note: this race is currently too close to call with 97/99 counties reporting.

State – IA Treasurer of State

(R) Roby Smith – 612,466 (51.2%)

(D) Michael L. Fitzgerald – 581,995 (48.7%)

State – IA Secretary of Agriculture

(R) Mike Naig – 727,414 (61.1%)

(D) John Norwood – 462,057 (38.8%)

State – IA Attorney General

(R) Brenna Bird – 608,947 (50.8%)

(D) Tom Miller – 588,874 (49.1%)

State Senator District 19

(R) Ken Rozenboom – 18,115 (68.6%)

(D) Tyler Stewart – 8,282 (31.4%)

State Senator District 44

(R) Adrian Dickey – 15,311 (66.5%)

(D) Rich Taylor – 7,695 (33.4%)

State Representative District 37

(R) Barb Kniff McCulla – 10,590 (74.6%)

(D) Mike Overman – 3,590 (25.3%)

State Representative District 88

(R) Helena J. Hayes – 8,450 (73.7%)

(D) Lisa Ossian – 2,976 (25.9%)

Slavery rejected in some, not all, states where on ballot

Posted on by Sam Parsons

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in several states have approved ballot measures that will change their state constitutions to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime. The measures curtail the use of prison labor in Alabama, Tennessee and Vermont. And in Oregon, “yes” on an anti-slavery ballot initiative was leading but was too early to call early Wednesday. In Louisiana, a former slave-holding state, voters rejected a ballot question asking whether they supported a constitutional amendment to prohibit the use of involuntary servitude in the criminal justice system. Anti-slavery advocates celebrated the results as a signal for what’s possible in the effort to end the slavery exception in the U.S. Constitution.

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