Iowa DOT Raises I-29 To Prevent Future Flooding On Highway
(Des Moines) — Three flood-prone sections of Interstate 29 in southwest Iowa were raised last year and while they’re still not flood-proof, the Iowa Department of Transportation says they are ready to weather future flooding.
The D-O-T’s Austin Yates says I-29 and nearby I-680 are typically impacted the same way during a flood.
The three sections were raised different heights, ranging from two inches to 14 inches to more than two feet. Yates says the new asphalt is a big clue something has changed, but drivers may not notice the road is higher. He says it’s kind of like target practice.
The three sections include northbound I-29 from Honey Creek to Loveland, a stretch of southbound I-29 north of Crescent, and a stretch near Blackbird Marsh. Yates said flooding would’ve still closed those parts of I-29 in March, but not in September or June, if the changes had already been in place.
Iowa Communities Assurance Pool Says State Auditor Has No Authority To Review Its Finances
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A group that insures local governments across Iowa is going to court to try to block the state auditor from reviewing its spending, including travel to out-of-state vacation destinations. The Iowa Communities Assurance Pool, which is owned by cities, counties and other governments, argues in a legal petition that it is not a “governmental
subdivision” and that State Auditor Rob Sand has no authority to examine its finances. Sand’s office began reviewing the pool’s spending in October after The Associated Press reported that its directors have routinely held public meetings at vacation resorts in Florida every February and Michigan every August.
Iowa DHS Withholding Payments To Medicaid Management Firm
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Department of Human Services officials say they are temporarily withholding nearly $44 million in payments for this month to one of the management companies overseeing the state’s Medicaid program. Iowa DHS spokesman Matt Highland says in a statement Friday the
agency has informed Iowa Total Care of the penalty for several compliance issues. They include unpaid claims, inaccurate claims payments, problems with pricing methods and pharmacy dispensing fees. Highland says the money will be released to the company once the problems are resolved. The withheld
amount represents about 26% of the nearly $170 million that would be due the company.
Train De-railment Reported Near Mississippi River At Le Claire
LECLAIRE, Iowa (AP) – Emergency crews are scrambling to clean up following a train derailment in the eastern Iowa city of LeClaire that sent more than a dozen rail cars and tankers off the tracks in the downtown district. The derailment forced police to shut down a nearby highway and send a hazardous materials team to the site. The derailment happened around 11 a.m. Friday along U.S. Highway 67, just a couple of hundred feet from the banks of the Mississippi River. Police closed the highway in both directions and asked people to avoid the area. Scott County Emergency Management planner Brian Payne says the derailment involved a Canadian Pacific train and that no
injuries were reported.
Iowa State Parks To Celebrate 100 Years
(Des Moines) — Iowa’s first state park was founded one-hundred years ago and the Department of Natural Resources plans one-hundred events throughout 2020 to mark the occasion. The kick-off was held on New Year’s Day with so-
called First Day Hikes at more than four-dozen state parks. Todd Coffelt, chief of the D-N-R’s Parks Bureau, says a record of more than 43-hundred people turned out for the January 1st hikes.
Attendance was the highest since the annual events began in 2012 and the number of hikers was three times last year’s turnout, thanks to warmer-than-normal temperatures. The largest attendance was at Walnut Woods State Park in West Des Moines with more than 400 hikers. Coffelt says the year
ahead will be filled with an array of different events that are designed to highlight the unique qualities of each park’s features.
Coffelt recommends Iowans visit the website, Iowa-D-N-R-dot-gov, to determine how many of the 100 events they’ll be able to attend.
Backbone State Park in Delaware County was Iowa’s first state park, founded in 1920, and there are now a total of 68 state parks and four state forests, in addition to 20 more county-managed parks that were originally founded as state parks.
Iowa Police Officer To Help Police Department In Alaska
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa officer is helping equip a six-member police force on an island in the Bering Sea more than 3,400 miles away. Davenport Officer Peme Canas pledged his support to the officers in Savoonga, Alaska, after learning they had no sidearms or other gear to protect the nearly 700
residents of the St. Lawrence Island community. He reached out to fellow officers and others for help. Now bulletproof vests, stun guns, police badges and other gear are on the way. Canas says he knows the officers in Savoonga will be moved by the kindness of people they will never meet.
Iowa Supreme Court Says Tickets From Automated Cameras Are Not Public Records
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court says names of car owners ticketed by automated speed cameras are not public records. The court considered a lawsuit filed by former Ottumwa police sergeant Mark Milligan who was ticketed in 2016 driving a city-owned car. He filed an open records request for names of car owners caught on camera and ticketed and those not ticketed. Officials driving government cars often aren’t ticketed. The city denied his request, but a judge ordered their release. The city appealed.
The supreme court concluded Friday that speed camera tickets are city citations not filed in court and therefore aren’t public record.
Credit Union Branch Manager Admits To Stealing Funds
AMES, Iowa (AP) – A credit union manager has been accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a branch he managed in Ames. Henry Hill is jailed on charges of fraudulent practice and theft. His attorney declined to comment Friday. Court records say Hill went to police and told officers that he’d stolen an estimated $250,000 from his Greater Iowa Credit
Union branch vault over seven years. An audit found the vault and some accounts were short nearly $431,000. Television station KCCI reports that Hill told police he came forward after the credit union brought in a new compliance officer who planned to conduct cash accounts.
