(Akron) — Plans for a new Care Center in Akron are making some progress. City Councilman, Chad Erikson says the community recently was able to secure a $4 million dollar loan from the U-S Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development agency. Now, organizers are asking for donations and pledges for the remaining $2.6 million dollars.
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The new Akron Care Center is expected to have ground breaking ceremonies sometime in the spring, and they hope construction can be completed by the summer of 2013. The care center will hold 45 beds and will consist of 30,000 square feet. It is being planned for a location along Highway 3 on the southeast corner of town.
Erikson says the fund raising has done very well so far, and he is hoping the community will continue to respond to the need for a new care center.
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Erikson says he hopes that the city won’t have to ask the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors for any additional funding. He says they do have other options that they hope to utilize first.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/October2011/akron care3.mp3{/audio}
The new Akron Care Center is expected to have ground breaking ceremonies sometime in the spring, and they hope construction can be completed by the summer of 2013. The care center will hold 45 beds and will consist of 30,000 square feet. It is being planned for a location along Highway 3 on the southeast corner of town.
(Omaha) — The governors from states in the Missouri River basin want “more direct involvement” in flood management decisions. Critics have questioned decisions made by the Army Corps of Engineers. Some suggest recreation issues in federal reservoirs upstream carry too much weight in the Corps of Engineers management plan for the river. \the governors want the Corps to make “flood control” a higher priority. The governors of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming have formed a permanent working group to focus on Missouri River issues. The governors are asking congress to ensure there is an “independent review” of the Army Corps of Engineers. The governors want investigators to determine if there were other steps the Corps could have taken to avoid the level of Missouri River flooding that struck the basin this year.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is proposing a 9.35 percent increase in premiums for more than 70,000 individual customers in Iowa, saying it’s needed to offset rising
health care costs.
The Des Moines-based health insurer announced the increase Monday.
Wellmark executives say the primary factor behind the increase is increased use of health care services as Iowans become less healthy, in part because of obesity.
The proposal would translate into an increase of up to $47 per month.
Earlier this year, Wellmark imposed an 8.5 percent increase on individual customers. That followed an 18 percent hike in 2010.
Hugh Espey, executive director of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, calls the proposed increase “outrageous” during a time of economic crisis. A public hearing on the increase is scheduled for Dec. 10.
WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) – The second half of a U.S. Department of Labor grant to help re-employ Iowa workers affected by layoffs at Electrolux has been allocated.
More than $676,388 was disbursed to Iowa Workforce Development on Monday, more than a year after the first half of a $1.3 million national emergency grant was awarded.
In July 2008, Electrolux began moving its operations from Jefferson and Webster City to Juarez, Mexico. In February 2009, the company announced that it was moving all manufacturing operations
to Juarez and transferring all distribution operations to an existing center in El Paso, Texas.
The Labor Department says more than 700 workers affected by the layoffs will be assisted by the grant money. The money will provide eligible workers with continued access to training and support.
