Iowa’s Unemployment Rate Continues To Drop
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s unemployment rate has dropped slightly to 2.4 percent in October, the lowest in the state in more than 18 years.
Iowa Workforce Development released the figures Friday, showing the unemployment rate had fallen from 2.5 percent in September. Iowa’s unemployment rate was the nation’s second lowest, behind only Hawaii’s 2.3 percent rate.
Iowa’s rate was the lowest since March 2000.
Pork Producers Visit Japan And Korea In Hopes To Increase Trade Opportunities
(Des Moines) — A delegation of Iowa pork producers and industry officials is now in Korea after spending several days in Japan on what’s being called a “meat mission.” Pat McGonegle (mah-GONE-ah-gul), C-E-O of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, spoke with Iowa reporters from Seoul and says they’ve kept a tight schedule of face-to-face talks with supermarket officials, packers and even an ambassador.
Japan is the top importer of Iowa pork products and South Korea is the number-two importer. McGonegle is among nine Iowans on the trade trip and he says their message is being well received.
That marketplace aggression is expected and it’s healthy, he says.
Lee Schulz, a livestock economist with the Iowa State University Extension, calls South Korea the “star market” for U-S pork, given the direction tariffs have taken trade in many areas of the world.
McGonegle says there’s much support in South Korea for the new trade agreement, while in Japan there’s an urgency for reaching a new accord with the U-S for free trade. At day’s end, he says, “the image, the quality and the reliability of U-S pork helps keep us in first place.”
Regents Board Chair Discusses Future Tuition Rates
(Cedar Falls) — The president of the Board of Regents laid out their plan moving forward on tuition increases at their meeting Thursday in Cedar Falls. Michael Richards says they will hold the first reading of tuition in April, but wait until June for the final reading so they know how much state money they have available. This will allow them to avoid another tuition
increase in the middle of the year.
He says they are also acknowledging that Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa are different schools with different needs.
Richards says the board will use what he calls “guardrails” in determining the tuition increases for the U-I and I-S-U.
The HEPI is projected to be two percent this year. He says there’s also the possibility the tuition at the two schools could be below the three percent increase.
He says they are looking to provide students and parents with a stable system for setting tuition.
The statement Thursday comes after Richards said at the board’s September meeting that they would look at multi-year tuition increases. The board also determined then that it would ask for an additional 20 million dollars in state funding in the next legislative session.
Iowa DNR Using Pesticide To Kill Fish
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is using a pesticide to eliminate fish from a Des Moines lake as part of a decade-long effort to improve the waterway.
The Des Moines Register reports that rotenone was applied Tuesday to the south side of Easter Lake to remove common carp and gizzard shad.
A department release says residents and animals should avoid contact with the water during treatment. It will take a couple days for the chemical to dissolve into flowing streams, and possibly weeks to dissolve in nearby ponds and the main lake. The release says public areas will be closed until further notice.
Mark Flammang is a DNR fisheries management biologist. He disputed concerns last month regarding studies that linked the pesticide to Parkinson’s Disease. Flammang says more research indicates rotenone is safe.
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Wind Turbine Battle
FAIRBANK, Iowa (AP) – Developers of three northeast Iowa wind turbine towers have lost another round in their battle to keep them up or rebuild them.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that a three-judge Iowa
Supreme Court panel rejected the developers’ appeal Wednesday. The justices let stand a July 11 decision by their colleague, Justice David Wiggins, to affirm a district court’s decision.
The 450-foot-tall (137 meters) towers were erected in 2015 just east of Fairbank. They drew opposition from housing developers and neighboring homeowners who believed the towers would be detrimental to the city.
Fairbank City Council members filed a lawsuit that said Fayette County issued construction permits without following zoning ordinances.
The developers have been taking down the turbines under a court-ordered deadline of Dec. 9 . The developers’ attorney didn’t immediately return a call Friday from The Associated Press.
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Grassley To Leave Judicial Committee For Finance Committee
WASHINGTON (AP) – Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is giving up the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee, paving the way for Sen. Lindsey Graham to take over.
Grassley says he plans to become chairman of the Senate Finance Committee next year. To do that, he’ll have to give up the gavel of the Judiciary Committee, which he has held since 2015.
Graham is next in line to become Judiciary chairman. If he takes the post, the South Carolina Republican would oversee the process of judicial confirmations, a top priority for Republicans and for President Donald Trump. Graham has become a close Trump ally and was a vocal supporter of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
Grassley says he’ll seek to provide more tax relief as Finance
Committee chairman.
