UNEMPLOYENT RATE UNCHANGED IN JUNE
Iowa’s unemployment rate held at two-point-eight percent in June. Iowa Workforce Development director, Beth Townsend, says there weren’t any big changes during the month.
Townsend says there were some headwinds with the national economy, along with some layoffs and the natural disasters.
There were some job losses as well.
Townsend says the manufacturing layoffs will start showing up in the unemployment numbers in the next two months.
The state unemployment rate has been below three percent since hitting that mark in January. The U-S unemployment rate increased to four-point-one percent in June.
TARGETED TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT
Tomorrow, the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting a targeted traffic enforcement project from 8 AM to noon. There will be four additional deputies patrolling US 75 and Iowa Highway 60 across Plymouth County, focusing on speeding, seatbelt use and distracted driving. The goal is to increase driver awareness on safe driving. So far this year, Iowa has had 154 fatal vehicle crashes. In 43% of them, a seatbelt was not used. The project is funded in part by a grant from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau.
STATE BUYS RVS FOR FEMA’S TEMPORARY HOUSING PROGRAM FOR DISASTER VICTIMS
Governor Kim Reynolds says the state has negotiated contracts to immediately buy recreational vehicles for Iowans in 14 counties who qualify for FEMA’s Temporary Housing program. These include Plymouth, Buena Vista, Clay Emmet, Lyon, O’Brien and Sioux. The state will be reimbursed by FEMA and Reynolds says the state has hired a company to be in charge of maintenance on the R-Vs. Late Tuesday Reynolds announced federal officials had approved her request that Iowans have access to FEMA’s Temporary Housing program. To qualify, Iowans must live in a county that has been declared a federal disaster area. They also have to sign up for FEMA’s Individiual Assistance program. It’s a way of confirming their home is among the five-thousand residences in Iowa destroyed or critically damaged due to severe weather in April, May and June. Some 5-thousand homes were impacted by the floods, 2-thousand were destroyed.
FEMA CENTER TO OPEN
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will open a Disaster Recovery Center in Cherokee this weekend. On Saturday, July 20, the FEMA center will be opened at the Cherokee County Emergency Management building on Lake Street in Cherokee. The center opens at 1 p.m. Saturday, and then will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. until further notice. Recovery specialists from FEMA and the Small Business Administration will provide information on available services and assistance programs, and help survivors complete or check the status on their applications for aid. Other FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Rock Valley, Rock Rapids, Spencer, and Estherville.
GRASSLEY CALLS FOR PROBE INTO TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s launching a multi-pronged investigation into last weekend’s assassination attempt on former president Trump. Calling it a “very dark day in American politics,” Grassley says he’s requesting records and responses from several key federal agencies regarding what he says was a “monumental security failure.”
Grassley says he’s also contacting the Department of Justice and the Homeland Security Inspector General. He’s calling for a review of all policies and procedures, telling agency leaders in a letter: “You owe Congress and the American people full and complete transparency on how this tragedy could possibly occur.” Grassley says the lack of information from the various agencies is “unacceptable.”
Trump was shot in the ear while speaking onstage in Pennsylvania on Saturday. One rally attendee was killed and two were badly injured. The gunman was killed by law enforcement. Grassley says the secret service needs to provide a thorough accounting to the public, to assure them past problems have been corrected and that the agency “is fully and effectively carrying out its core mission: protection.”
ERNST, DESANTIS TELL IOWA DELEGATES AT RNC BIDEN WON’T BE NOMINEE
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Iowa Senator Joni Ernst are urging Republicans to be wary because they doubt Joe Biden will be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. DeSantis and Ernst spoke Wednesday at a luncheon for Iowa delegates at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. DeSantis said it would be rare for someone in Biden’s position to step aside, but Republicans need to prepare for Democrats to select someone else to face Trump this fall. Ernst says while she doesn’t want to say Republicans are going to waltz to victory in November, Ernst says there are tremendous odds Republicans up and down the ticket will do well.
GOVERNOR REYNOLDS SAYS 2024 RNC FAR DIFFERENT THAN EIGHT YEARS AGO
Governor Kim Reynolds says this week’s Republican National Convention is far different from eight years ago when supporters of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz were feuding — and Trump won the 2016 nomination with the lowest percentage of delegates in 40 years.
Reynolds says Tuesday night’s speeches from Trump’s 2024 G-O-P competitors show they are all in for Trump.
Wednesday’s marquee speech was from J.D. Vance, the Ohio senator Trump has picked as his running mate. Reynolds says she’s biased toward governors and was secretly hoping North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum would be V-P, but she says the 39-year-old Vance will appeal to younger voters, a critical voting block.
Reynolds says she expects Trump to deliver an optimistic, hopeful speech at the convention tonight.
