TAYLOR, JENEARY ON AEAS
State Senator Jeff Taylor says he’s not in a jury to make any Area Education Agency reforms until the next legislative session. Taylor and Second District Representative Tom Jeneary of Le Mars held a town hall meeting Saturday in Orange City.
Taylor says his district sees no need to make extensive changes in AEA structure.
Taylor thinks more time is needed to take a critical look at Area Education Agencies.
Committees in both the Senate and the House have come forward with what Taylor describes as more “modest” proposals than the governor’s.
Taylor isn’t going to be rushed to advance a bill on AEA reforms.
State Representative Tom Jeneary describes the governor’s approach as “Ready, Fire, Aim”. Jeneary supports the AEA as currently structured. He says the the governor’s bill is a solution in search of a problem.
FLOYD VALLEY HEALTHCARE PROJECTS
Construction will begin soon on a couple of projects at Floyd Valley Healthcare.
Projects to expand Maternal Health and build a new retail pharmacy will begin next month, and progress quickly.
Work on the retail pharmacy will begin in March, and will be concluded in June.
Construction will be a bit complicated for a Laboratory expansion project
The Floyd Valley Board of Trustees approved contracts for both projects last week.
INJURY ACCIDENTS
There were two injury accidents reported in Sioux County Friday. The sheriffs office says one occurred shortly after midnight, eight miles west of Sioux Center. 24 year old Alexander Hader, of Norfolk, NE, was driving a pickup when he said he lost consciousness, entered a ditch and rolled. Hader was transported to Hawarden Regional Hospital for treatment of minor injury. He was cited for open container and failure to maintain control.
The second injury accident occurred around 10 am Friday three miles north of Sioux Center. A vehicle driven by Brighton Morris, 23 of Blanchester, Ohio, was rear-ended while waiting to attempt a left turn off U.S. Highway 75. Morris, and the driver of the other vehicle, James Jensen, 38, of Cleghorn, were transported to Sioux Center Health for treatment of minor injury. Jensen was cited for following too close, and no liability insurance.
PORK PRODUCERS HOLDING INFORMATION MEETINGS
A series of regional educational conferences for Iowa hog farmers will be held this week at four strategic locations around Iowa. The first is this afternoon at in Orange City. Iowa Pork Producers Association education director, Zoey Dinkla says, the Iowa Pork Producers Association, the Pork Industry Center and Iowa State Extension and Outreach partner together to meet with production employees, veterinarians, and any swine industry stakeholders, bringing them educational material, updates to the industry. She says there are several nationally-known speakers who will be sharing their knowledge at the conferences, including: The meetings are scheduled to start today at the Sioux County Extension office in Orange City. Other locations this week are in Webster City, Nashua, and Washington.
FIRST FEBRUARY TEMPERATURES TRENDING WELL ABOVE NORMAL
State Climatologist, Justin Glisan, says Iowa is on pace to have the warmest February on record.
Glisan says we have two weeks to go before the end of the climatological winter, which he says has been drier than normal.
Glisan doesn’t see a lot of change through the end of the month.
Glisan said early indications is that the warm weather will continue into the first few weeks of March. March 1st begins the three month climatological spring for the northern hemisphere.
BILL BANS SELLING MANUFACTURED MEAT PRODUCTS
A bill that’s cleared an Iowa Senate committee targets protein products marketed as meat, but that are made from insects, plants or even stem cell cultures. Selling something labeled as beef, chicken, pork, turkey, goat or lamb that contains even a small percentage of protein that’s not meat would become illegal in Iowa. The fine for the crime would be 855-dollars and the potential for up to 30 days in jail. Republican Senator Dawn Driscoll, of Williamsburg, sponsored the bill and says they are trying to promote meat in the state and trying to not mislead customers. Driscoll raises Angus cattle on her family farm in Iowa County and says taxpayer dollars should be supporting agriculture here in Iowa, not some hedge funding fake meat company The bill would prohibit the three state universities from conducting research into the production or use of manufactured protein products.
POLL FINDS FARMER IS PREFERRED OVER PRODUCER OR FARM OPERATOR
The latest “Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll” answers the question of what we should call the men and women who grow the crops and livestock in our state. J. Arbuckle runs the I-S-U Extension poll and says he noticed that people who work with those in agriculture tend to call them growers or producers. He put a question in the poll and the result was pretty clear, with 75 percent preferring the term “farmer.” Ten percent said they want to be called farm operator, eight percent preferred producer, while rancher and grower each received two percent of the vote. Arbuckle says it’s not surprising, as farmer is an all-encompassing term that indicates more of a lifestyle than a profession. But he says he didn’t anticipate that it would be as big percentage. You can see more about the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll on the I-S-U Extension website.
