DOCK RENOVATION
The long-awaited renovation of the docks at the Storm Lake Marina is moving forward. D-N-R Conservation and Recreation Division Administrator, Pete Hildreth, told the Natural Resources Commission members Thursday they’ve taken the first step in the process.
The N-R-C will need to take action in November to get the docks installed.
Hildreth did not indicate how much it might cost to install the docks. Hildreth says they continue working with Buena Vista County on the future of the marina.
VICIOUS ANIMAL ORDINANCE
Officials in Okoboji Iowa city have adopted changes to an ordinance that now gives the city authority to essentially evict a vicious animal. Police Chief Jason Peterson says under the old ordinance, his only option was to write a ticket if a dog was off its owner’s property and attacked a person or another dog.
Okoboji City Administration Michael Meyers says the city council tightened up the language in the ordinance before approving it this week.
The Okoboji ordinance now addresses attacks that happen without provocation and cause serious injury. At least 20 other states have laws which ban cities and counties from having breed-specific ordinances. Okoboji’s refers simply to “vicious animals.”
BIRD FLU
New bird flu cases have been reported this fall in Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska. The virus hasn’t resurfaced in Iowa since May, but experts are cautioning it could come back as wild birds migrate. Iowa State University Extension wildlife specialist Adam Janke says one reason for heightened risk is that birds migrate a lot slower this time of year. Janke says November is the peak time for water fowl, like ducks and geese, to migrate through Iowa. State and federal officials have been surveying heathly birds being harvested by hunters. In September, the bird flu virus was detected in three small ducks that were shot in western Iowa. The hunting season for blue-wing, green-wing and cinnamon-wing teal ducks was in the first half of September.
STATE REVENUES
A state panel is predicting state tax collections for this budgeting year will fall two-point-seven percent below the last one. Iowa Department of Revenue director Kraig Paulsen says tax cuts for retirees, corporations and individuals in the top state tax bracket are what’s driving that negative number. The last state fiscal year ended June 30th and state tax collections grew nearly 11-and-a-half percent during the 12 month period — far beyond officials’ predictions. Iowa’s gross domestic product declined slightly in March, April and May. The governor’s top tax and budget advisor says that and other economic measures indicate the economy’s boom cycle has slowed, but is still in positive territory.
