SPECIAL BALLOT ISSUES
There are special ballot issues which voters will decide in three Plymouth County school elections November 7.
HINTON; A 16 million dollar renovation plan at the elementary and high school. Voters will decide four different ballot issues related to the project.
KINGSLEY-PIERSON CSD proposes a Physical Plant and Equipment levy to make school improvements. The levy would be .67 cents per thousand property valuation, and would fund equipment or building needs.
LE MARS Community School District voters will consider approval of a Revenue Purpose Statement from proceeds from SAVE funds.
There are a number of bond issues and special issues before voters in a number of northwest Iowa school districts. Bond issues are on the ballot in the West Sioux, Rock Valley, Sheldon, and West Lyon school districts. South O’Brien voters will decide on a revenue purpose statement for their SAVE fund. The bond issue votes require 60 percent approval for passage.
US 75 UPGRADE
One of the biggest highway construction projects in the area this year is nearing completion in Plymouth County.
Dakin Schultz, DOT project planner in Sioux City, says the project is an upgrade of US Highway 75 between Merrill and Hinton.
There’s plenty of tasks remaining on the project before the end of the construction season.
Transportation Planner Dakin Schultz says changing elevations of the traffic lanes alters a roadbed that has been in place for decades
The old configuration would assure at least two lanes of US 75 remained open.
There is a one-mile portion of the highway that needs attention in Hinton. Schultz says that’s a difficult portion of the highway to widen.
The DOT’s Sioux City office is now studying the best configuration for that portion of the highway.
Schultz says completion of the project on northbound US 75 will be in mid-November. The southbound lanes between Merrill and Hinton won’t be replaced until 2025.
EARLY VOTING BEGINS IN IOWA
Early voting is now underway for the November 7th city and schoolboard elections. Radio Iowa’s Dar Danielson reports.
The Plymouth County Auditor’s office says notice of election and sample ballots are on their website under the latest news and announcements. Look for the 2023 City/School Election read more tab
BATCH AND BUILD WATER PROJECTS
The Iowa Department of Agriculture is trying a new approach called “batch and build” to address runoff that impacts water quality. Ag Secretary Mike Naig says it involves doing several water quality projects together.
Naig says it brings more people in to get more done.
He says there is more efficiency in the work.
The bioreactors and buffers at the edge of fields help remove nitrates from the water that comes off tile lines.
DEMOCRAT ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY IN 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
A Democrat from Cedar Falls has launched a campaign in Iowa’s second congressional district for the chance to challenge Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson in 2024. Sarah Corkery is a small business owner and two-time breast cancer survivor. In a statement provided to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Corkery said she looks forward to holding Hinson accountable for her partisan voting record. Corkery cited Hinson’s support of abortion restrictions as well as Hinson’s no vote on the first bipartisan infrastructure bill in decades. Hinson’s campaign manager says Corkery would be a rubber stamp for President Biden’s radical agenda.
SENATE CONSIDERS TOUGHER RULES FOR NIL’S
Members of the U-S Senate are considering more closely regulating the Name, Image, Likeness policies that are making big changes in the lives of top college athletes, including a women’s basketball star at the University of Iowa. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says there are at least three N-I-L-related bills now being considered and the topic is the subject of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today (Tuesday).
Under recent rule changes, college athletes are allowed to be paid for the use of their name, image and likeness through various marketing and promotional pursuits. Grassley, a Republican, says he hasn’t yet made up his mind about the issue and how it may impact the future of college sports.
U-I women’s basketball standout Caitlin Clark recently signed with Nike and State Farm to do paid advertising. Bronny James, the son of N-B-A star Lebron James, reportedly has an N-I-L valuation of more than seven million dollars. From what he’s seen so far, Grassley says the N-I-L policies can help — or hurt — college sports programs.
Grassley says there needs to be a “level playing field” so universities with lesser resources aren’t impacted by others.
RAMASWAMY ON STUDENT SUPPORT OF HAMAS
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says some college student groups have made atrocious statements in support of Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel this month, but the answer isn’t to blacklist students. Ramaswamy says companies have a right to decide not to hire those students, but, as a free speech advocate, he says he believes it would be more productive to have a conversation with those students. Ramaswamy, a critic of cancel culture, has spent more time campaigning in Iowa than his primary Republican rivals. One of his leading proposals is a proposed constitutional amendment to raise the voting age to 25 — with exceptions for young adults who enter the military, work as a first responder or take the test immigrants take to become citizens. Ramaswamy says his proposed constitutional amendment would make citizenship mean something. Ramaswamy calls Donald Trump the best president of the 21st century, but he suggests it’s time for the G-O-P to choose a younger nominee in 2024.
SPLIT IN IOWA HOUSE DELEGATION VOTE ON JORDAN
Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks has joined the group of House Republicans opposing Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan’s bid for House speaker. In Wednesday’s second round of voting for House speaker, Miller-Meeks cast her vote for Texas Congresswoman Kay Granger. Granger is chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Miller-Meeks voted for Jordan Tuesday, but afterwards Miller-Meeks told reporters in the U-S Capitol she would not vote for Jordan again. The other Iowa Republicans serving in the U-S House — Ashley Hinson of Marion, Zach Nunn of Bondurant and Randy Feenstra of Hull — all voted for Jordan in both rounds of voting for House speaker.
