Ernst and Grassley Vote For DeVos As Education Secretary
(Washington D.C.) — Iowa’s two U-S Senators both voted to confirm Betsy DeVos Tuesday as the U-S Secretary of Education.
DeVos drew criticism for her lack of education background and the vote in the Senate ended in a 50-50 tie that had to be broken by Vice President Mike Pence.
Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, explains her vote.
Ernst says DeVoss has also pledged to support students who require additional support due to developmental, physical, or other disabilities. She also says she will be sure that DeVos follows through with what she has said she will do.
Ernst acknowledged the controversy surrounding DeVos.
She finished by saying she looks forward to “working with DeVos to protect our schools, restore local control, and prepare our youth to enter the workforce.”
Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, released a statement on DeVos’ confirmation, saying:
“I believe Betsy DeVos will perform the job of U-S Secretary of Education faithfully and well. There’s been a lot of misinformation that Mrs. DeVos opposes public schools. In fact, she’s committed to being an advocate for great public schools. What’s more, her job will not be to oversee public schools. That’s handled at the state and local school board levels. The role of the U-S
Secretary of Education is to implement federal education programs, which are largely targeted at providing additional assistance to disadvantaged students and
students with disabilities whether they attend public or private schools.”
Grassley’s statement says DeVos has made it clear that her job would be to enforce all federal laws as Congress intended, and says that’s” refreshing in light of recent experience.” Grassley says the Obama Administration overreached in trying to coerce states to adopt its preferred policies and Congress passed
safeguards to prevent any future secretary of education from pushing policies not
included in federal law.
Kingsley-Pierson Voters Approves PPEL
(Kingsley) — Kingsley-Pierson voters passed a PPEL (Physical Plant and Equipment Levy) school measure during a special election that was held on Tuesday. A total of 156 people went to the polls and 115 people voted in favor while 41 people voted against the measure to continue to fund existing tax levy that directs money for future school infrastructure upgrades. PPEL is used to pay for facility, technology, and transportation projects annually. The levy is funded through income surtaxes and property taxes.
Low Income Families May Qualify For Tax Credits
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Treasurer Shelly Sitzmann has announced The State of Iowa offers some programs to assist elderly or disabled low income individuals
with their property tax.
The Rent Reimbursement program assists Iowa residents who pay a portion of property tax through their rent. To qualify, the person must
• Be 65 or older as of 12-31-16 or be totally disabled and age 18-64 as of
12-31-16
• Have 2016 annual household income under $22,584
• Have paid rent in Iowa during 2016
• Have lived in a place that was subject to property tax in 2016
Another program for property owners is the Property Tax Credit Claim. To
qualify, the person must:
• Be an Iowa resident
• Be 65 or older as of 12-31-16 or be totally disabled and age 18-64 as of
12-31-2016;
• Have 2016 annual household income under $22,584;
Mobile Home Owners:
You may also be eligible to claim a reduced tax rate on Mobile Home Tax.
To qualify, you must:
1) Be an Iowa resident
2) Be 23 years of age or older as of 12-31-2016
3) Have 2016 annual household income under $22,584
It is a simple two page form that determines whether the individual is eligible to receive reimbursement for a portion of the property tax paid. The maximum reimbursement is $1,000. Forms are available at the Plymouth County Treasurer’s
office in the property tax department. They can assist you with filling out these forms. These forms can also be found on the county website at www.co.plymouth.ia.us. Deadline to file a claim is June 1, 2017.
Eagles Club To Serve As Temporary Library Location
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars City council agreed with the decision that while the public library is being renovated, the temporary library location will be at the Eagles Club. The city will lease the Eagles club, both the upper and lower level at a monthly rate of $2,000 from April 15th through October 15th. Other locations
within the city that were considered were the former Family Pharmacy located next to Fareway grocery store, the building that previously housed the Close To Home business, the old Bomgaars building on Highway 75 and 4th Street Southwest, the
old Walmart building on the north edge of town, and the former ADM feedmill offices at Lincoln and 8th Street Southwest.
Vander Pol Excavating Gets Contract For Crescent Ridge Paving
(Le Mars) — During the city council meeting, the council reviewed the different bids that were submitted for the paving project of Cresent Ridge. Eight different contractors submitted bids that were all within the estimate’s range.
However, Vander Pol Excavating of Orange City had the low bid of $300,374.50.
But not everyone was agreeing to have Vander Pol complete the work. Councilman Ken Nelson mentioned that he didn’t want to award the contract to Vander Pol because it was Vander Pol that had delayed the work installing a new water main on Business Highway 75 leaving the area in a construction zone for several
months. City attorney Joe Flannery reminded the council that they are obligated to accept the lowest bid, or reject all bids and begin the process over.
Brown Honored As School “Employee Of The Month”
(Le Mars) — Le Mars Community School District has honored its latest “Employee of the Month”. Jill Brown, a 6th through 12 grade literacy coach, has been an employee with the Le Mars Community School District for 12 years. She was
nominated for the award by Carrie Campbell. Campbell says in her nomination, that she has had the pleasure of working with Jill Brown since her first year of teaching at Le Mars Community. Brown has served as a colleague, mentor and coach. Campbell says Brown has fueled her passion for education, and makes me
want to be a better educator. At any time, I can call upon Jill to help assess the students, give a book talk, observe and offer suggestions on lessons or classes, help find resources, or just let me talk out an idea. My students love it when she is in the classroom in any capacity. Additionally, Jill Brown will
not just meet with me during the traditional school hours, but she will meet with me at 6:30 in the morning, on school breaks, or Saturday mornings. I am grateful to have such a strong role model who values education the way Jill does. Our
congratulations go to Jill Brown for being named as the Le Mars Community School District’s “Employee of the Month”.
Republican Legislature To Tackle Collective Bargaining Bill
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Republicans who hold majorities in the Iowa Legislature are moving quickly on a bill that public employee unions say would gut Iowa’s collective bargaining law.
The 68-page bill was filed Tuesday in the House and Senate. Republican leaders say they intend to approve procedural votes Wednesday and Thursday. Full votes in both chambers could happen next week under that schedule.
The bill would allow employers to fire public workers without proper cause, and it would prohibit unions from bargaining over several issues that are now covered.
Republicans say the bill would create competitive wages for the best workers, an assertion several union leaders say isn’t true. Democrats say they didn’t see the bill before Tuesday.
Dozens of union workers gathered Tuesday at the Capitol to voice opposition to proposed changes.
House member, Chuck Holz of Le Mars says the bill is likely to come up for a vote yet this week. Holz calls the measure contentious, but he says it is time to revise collective bargaining.
EPA Tells Iowa Environmental Commission Its Rules Violate Clean Water Act
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has told Iowa environmental regulators that changes made to state clean water standards last year violate federal regulations.
The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission approved changes in August that eliminated a rigorous environmental assessment before allowing new contaminants to be introduced to streams, rivers or lakes by city wastewater treatment plants
or industry. The new so-called anti-degradation standards allowed a focus on cost when evaluating introduction of new contaminants into waterways.
Environmental groups opposed the change saying it weakened Iowa’s clean water protections and commended the EPA Tuesday for rejecting the changes.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which enforces state environmental rules, did not immediately respond to a message.
It’s not immediately clear if the EPA determination will withstand scrutiny of the new Trump administration.
Northey, Gipp, and Lawrence Discuss Water Quality With Legislators
DES MOINES –Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, Iowa DNR Director Chuck Gipp and Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Associate Dean Dr. John Lawrence today highlighted coordination and scaling-up of water quality efforts in presentations before House and Senate Committees in the Iowa Legislature.
Northey also provided legislators an Iowa Water Quality Initiative scale-up plan that outlines the water quality efforts that will be prioritized as additional funding is available to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. The scale-up plan can be found at www.IowaAgriculture.gov under “Hot Topics” or at https://www.cleanwateriowa.org/news-and-blog.aspx.
“The Governor and legislators have been very supportive of the Water Quality Initiative to this point and remain committed of identifying a growing, ongoing source of funding to expand efforts. This scale-up plan identifies how our Department will prioritize additional funding on scientifically proven practices around land use, edge-of-field practices, cover crops and nutrient management to achieve our water quality goals,” Northey said.
Lawrence outlined research accomplishments of the legislatively funded Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University. “Over the past four years, we’ve had more than 40 research collaborations involving nearly 80 scientists across the three Regents universities and including IDALS, DNR and USDA,” he said. “The work is helping us better understand nutrient movement across the landscape, be more precise with conservation practices and address barriers to the use of cover crops.”
Lawrence also shared ideas developed by Iowa State water quality researchers on how the state of Iowa might consider increasing the implementation of water quality and soil conservation practices.
The Iowa Water Quality Initiative was established in 2013 to help implement the Nutrient Reduction Strategy, which is a science and technology based approach to achieving a 45 percent reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus losses to our waters. The strategy brings together both point sources, such as municipal wastewater treatment plants and industrial facilities, and nonpoint sources, including farm fields and urban stormwater runoff, to address these issues.
The Initiative seeks to harness the collective ability of both private and public resources and organizations to deliver a clear and consistent message to stakeholders to reduce nutrient loss and improve water quality.
The initiative is seeing some exciting results. Last fall Northey announced that 1,800 farmers committed $3.8 million in cost share funds to install nutrient reduction practices. The practices that were eligible for this funding are cover crops, no-till or strip till, or using a nitrification inhibitor when applying fall fertilizer. Participants include 980 farmers using a practice for the first time and more than 830 past users that are trying cover crops again and are receiving a reduced-rate of cost share. Farmers using cost-share funding are providing an estimated $6 million in their own funding to adopt these water quality practices.
A total of 45 demonstration projects are currently located across the state to help implement and demonstrate water quality practices. This includes 16 targeted watershed projects, 7 projects focused on expanding the use and innovative delivery of water quality practices and 22 urban water quality demonstration projects. More than 150 organizations are participating in these projects. These partners will provide $25.28 million dollars to go with the $16.09 million in state funding going to these projects.
More than $325 million in state and federal funds have been directed to programs with water quality benefits in Iowa last year. This total does not include the cost-share amount that farmers pay to match state and federal programs and funds spent to build practices built without government assistance.
More information about the initiative can be found at www.CleanWaterIowa.org.