STREET WORK
Holzman Construction will be closing 4th Ave. S.E. between S. Lynn Dr. and Lee Dr. on Monday August 7th, 2023 around 7 a.m. They will be doing some street repairs and the road should be opened back up Aug 18th weather permitting.
FUEL PRICES
Gasoline prices jumped this week. As of Thursday, the price of regular unleaded gasoline averaged $3.81 across Iowa. Prices rose 23 cents per gallon from last week’s price and are unchanged from a year ago. The national average price was $3.82, up 11 cents from last week. Diesel prices rose 27 cents this week to $4.01. A year ago, it was $4.89. The current diesel price is 11 cents less than the national average of $4.12.
SALES TAX HOLIDAY
If you plan to do some back-to-school shopping today (Friday) and tomorrow you’ll be able to stock up on new duds at a discount as it’s the state’s annual Tax-Free Holiday. Iowa Department of Revenue spokesman, John Fuller, says you will not be charged sales tax on clothing or footwear that’s less than 100 dollars. In most parts of the state, the sales tax is seven-percent. The discount does not include things like jewelry, sporting equipment or sunglasses. Iowa’s first tax-free weekend was held in August of 2000. Fuller says the holiday will help Iowans save about five-million dollars. The event started at 12:01 this morning and runs through 11:59 P-M Saturday.
NO GUIDELINES SET FOR REMOVING BOOKS
The legislative liaison for the state Board of Education says there isn’t one general set of instructions to schools for removing books from school libraries. Liaison Eric St. Clair was asked about the new laws that prohibit publications that depict sex acts and the teaching about gender identity. He says when they get questions they review it on a case-by-case basis and determine how to appropriately respond. Board president, John Roberts, says he’s also getting feedback from educators, and says there’s a lot of confusion. He says people are looking for the Department of Education for direction on what is right or wrong.
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT BUILDING
Plymouth County’s Board of Supervisors this week examined the buildings at the County Emergency Management Agency. Director Rebecca Socknat says the building, which was the headquarters of the county road department until the early 1970s, is in need of upgrade.
The visit by the Supervisors will set the stage for improvements, which will be determined between themselves and the agency’s governing board.
GRASSLEY – ORANGE CITY
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says there is a problem in the Justice Department. Grassley, speaking this week at a Republican gathering in Orange City, says there is a double standard of Justice at work, particularly at the FBI.
Grassley says the problem is at the top of the agency.
There’s been a change at the agency, but Grassley isn’t convinced any meaningful change is occurring.
Republicans are critical of the agency of late, since the indictment of former President Trump, and the plea deal for Hunter Biden.
PERMANENT ESA RULES
The State Board of Education Thursday approved the permanent rules for state-funded Education Savings Accounts for private school expenses. Board attorney Thomas Mayes says they replace the emergency rules created to get the program going, and there are a few changes. He says the permanent rules clarify who can provide services. The state announced earlier that they’d received some 29-thousand applications for the program. The latest update as of July 26th shows nearly 18-thousand-500 have been approved, and the others are in the process of being reviewed.
GULF DEAD ZONE IS SHRINKING
The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is smaller this year, primarily because the Mississippi River basin is so dry, the waterway is moving less water and carrying fewer nutrients from states like Iowa. Nutrient pollution, in the form of nitrogen and phosphorous, is the main cause of low oxygen levels that threaten marine life in the Gulf. In Iowa, those nutrients commonly come from excess farm fertilizer that washes into waterways. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike says federal infrastructure funding will help states scale up conservation efforts.
Lori Sprague, a researcher with the U-S Geological Survey, says long-term studies show the rate of surplus fertilizer applied to the land has slowed in recent years.
This summer’s dead zone covers just over three-thousand square miles. That’s among the smallest it’s measured since 1985, but over a five-year average, the hypoxic zone is still more than twice as large as the goal set by river states and federal regulators.
IOWA STATE FAIR OPENS NEXT WEEK WITH NEW CEO
The Iowa State Fair begins one week from today (Thursday), with a new manager who’s only the 13th person in the fair’s 169 year history to serve in that role. Jeremy Parsons took over as Iowa State Fair C-E-O and manager in March. Most of the entertainment and events for this year’s fair had been announced well before he started, so Parsons says he hasn’t been tinkering. Parsons says he’ll spend part of each day of the fair wandering through the fairgrounds, to see the product from the perspective of the fairgoer — and where improvements could be made.
