BUILDING PERMITS
Permits for 1.2 million dollars in new construction was approved in Plymouth County in April.
Farm building permits include a hoop barn, a machine shop, and three machine storage sheds worth 787-thousand dollars. Non-farm construction includes a cell tower and related facilities, a shed extension and a garage. Total value of that construction is 445-thousand dollars.
ERNST TRAVELLING OFFICE HOURS
Representatives of U.S. Senator Joni Ernst will hold traveling office hours around northwest Iowa this month.
On Tuesday, May 7, an Ernst representative will be at the Sibley City Hall at 9 a.m., at the George Community Center at 10-30 a/.m. and at the Centre Mall in Sioux Center at 1:30 p.m. On Wednesday, May 15, Ernst’s representative will be at the Cherokee Area Economic Development Corporation at 10:30 a.m., and at the Kingsley Community Center at 1:30 p.m. These visits will last approximately one hour at each location. These representatives will assist Iowans with problems or questions about issues involving Social Security, veterans benefits, military issues, passports, immigration issues, or other federal programs.
JENEARY DISCUSSES AEA FUNDING
The bill that makes changes in Iowa’s Area Education Agencies was passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Kim Reynolds in March, but funding for the agencies wasn’t determined until the last budget bill was approved at the end of the legislative session. State Representative Tom Jeneary of Le Mars says somse funding for the agencies was diverted to the Department of Education.
The Department will now run special education services. The AEA bill also creates a task force to study AEA’s. Jeneary hopes they can make changes in the AEA bill after the task force comes forward with its recommendations.
The House passed separate bills on AEA’s and teacher pay increases. The final bill combined the two.
APRIL SLIGHTLY WETTER AND WARMER THAN NORMAL IN IOWA
State Climatologist Justin Glisan says April brought the showers the state needs.
April was also warmer than normal.
The April average temperature is around 48 degrees. Glisan says the storms that brought the rain also gave us some severe weather.
Glisan says the immediate outlook for this month shows the same trends as April.
Glisan says the rain is welcome to combat the drought, but farmers also need a little dry time to plant.
Corn and soybean planting were slightly ahead of schedule heading into this week.
HUNGRY CANYONS AIDS CULVERT PROJECTS
An agreement with the Hungry Canyons Alliance will assist three culvert projects in Plymouth County. Hungry Canyons is an organization that works alongside local governments to helps reduce streambed erosion by placing structures in culvert and bridge projects. In Plymouth County, three culvert projects will be aided by Hungry Canyons through improvements costing 53-thousand dollars.
COUNTY DRAINAGE BOARD APPROVES PERMITS
The Plymouth County Drainage Board approved a permit for the City of Sioux City, for drainage work along a small portion of the bike trail at Lone Tree Road. The Board also approved a permit for the city of Akron, for a storm sewer and service line extending into a drainage channel near a new housing development. There was also discussion before the Board concerning assessments to parcel owners in the Akron drainage district. This matter will be brought up as an action item at a Drainage Board meeting next week.
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
Today is the annual National Day of Prayer. There will be an event today in Le Mars. Normally, the prayer vigil is held at the Olson Event Center. Today, the event will be held on the upper level of the Le Mars Convention Center. A free lunch, provided by Habitue, will start at 11:30. The prayer event starts at noon.
It will include a time of worship, followed by prayers for business, families, education, law enforcement and military, government, media, and churches and ministries.
GOVERNOR SIGNS INCOME TAX CUT INTO LAW
Governor Kim Reynolds signed the bill Wednesday that will shrink Iowa’s individual income tax to a single rate of three-point-eight percent next year. Lawmakers say it will amount to one billion dollar cut in state income taxes. Reynolds approved two insurance-related bills Wednesday morning. One requires that insurance plans cover diagnostic tests like M-R-Is that are used to detect breast cancer. The other says biomarker tests must be covered, too. Biomarker testing checks genes and other indicators, like protein levels in blood, that can be a sign of diseases like cancer. Doctors use the information to make decisions about which treatment is best for the patient.
CAMERA-EQUIPPED PLANES ARE FLYING OVER IOWA’S TORNADO DAMAGED AREAS
The Iowa Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, or CAP, is in the air and surveying storm damage from the April 26th tornadoes that struck western and central Iowa. Colonel Jonathan Lartigue the wing’s commander, says the CAP responded at the request of the U-S Air Force, as well as federal and state agencies, including FEMA and the Iowa Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Management. Lartigue says they’re working to document the tornado damage.
The CAP’s pilots started flying over Iowa on Monday and will continue for the time being.
Lartigue says their work will help to ensure assistance gets to those who need it. He says Civil Air Patrol pilots understand the role they play in the storm recovery process.
ONE IN TEN STATE GOVERNMENT JOB CLASSIFICATION REQUIRE FOUR-YEAR DEGREE
A spokesman for Governor Reynolds says about 10 percent of state government job classifications require a bachelor’s degree. Kollin Crompton, the governor’s spokesman, is responding to State Auditor Rob Sand’s announcement that he’d collaborated with a non-profit and found 28 job classifications in state government where a four year college degree was not necessary. Crompton says two years ago Governor Reynolds directed the state’s human resources agency to review the more than 800 unique job classifications within state government. The goal was to allow alternative requirements for employment wherever possible. Today, 10-point-two percent of job classifications for positions in the state’s executive branch require a bachelor’s degree.
GRASSLEY SAYS CHINESE MONEY LAUNDERING NEEDS GOOD SOLUTION
Senator Chuck Grassley says congress must move carefully as it considers legislation to crack down on Chinese money laundering organizations.
Experts say underground Chinese networks are helping transfer money from Mexican drug cartels and international gangs. Just last month, five Chinese nationals were charged with money laundering after depositing money from drug deals in banks in Charlotte, North Carolina. Grassley cites a mass shooting at a medical marijuana farm in Oklahoma where workers were all Chinese nationals.
Grassley says legislation under consideration in the Senate would not adequately address money laundering by Chinese nationals and drug cartels because it assumes state and local regulations are preventing organized crime from infiltrating the U-S marijuana industry.
