SUMMIT PIPELINE
Summit Carbon Solutions has announced property owners have given voluntary access to land along two-thirds of the proposed route of its carbon pipeline. According to a news release from the company, more than a thousand landowners have signed contracts to let the pipeline cross through their properties. Summit plans to collect carbon from ethanol plants and transport it through a pipeline to underground storage in North Dakota. Summit’s pipeline would link to a dozen Iowa ethanol plants and cover nearly 700 miles of ground in Iowa. This includes plants in Merrill, Sioux Center, Marcus. and Galva. Two other companies are seeking voluntary easements from Iowa property owners for carbon pipelines. The Navigator pipeline would start in Illinois and extend 900 miles through Iowa. The Wolf pipeline would start in Cedar Rapids and end 350 miles later in Decatur, Illinois.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY CAUCUSES
Newly-elected Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart says there’s still a chance national party leaders will relent and let the Iowa Democratic Party’s Caucuses go first in the 2024 presidential election.
This weekend, the Democratic National Committee is scheduled to vote on a 2024 presidential campaign schedule that would prohibit Iowa Democrats from having Caucuses before any other state holds a Democratic primary.
Hart was elected party chair last Saturday.
Hart, who grew up on a farm near Charles City, says her goal is to put her party’s Caucuses in the best position possible.
President Biden prefers that South Carolina’s caucuses become the first in the nation for the Democrats. Biden won South Carolina in 2021, and placed fourth in Iowa.
EDUCATION INSTRUCTION
Republicans on the House Education Committee have voted to require Iowa’s three public universities to explain terms and concepts used in courses taken by students who plan to be teachers. If the bill is approved by both the House and Senate, the report would be due at the end of this month. Representative Skyler Wheeler of Hull says he can’t wait to see an explanation of what anti-racist and anti-oppressive teaching is. The bill also calls for a new legislative committee to be established this summer to review the reports from the Colleges of Education at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I. Democrats opposed the bill and accused Republicans of conducting a witch hunt against teachers and professors. Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says college students complain to him they’re being indoctrinated with liberal ideology at the state universities.
RAIL ROAD CROSSING
There is some movement on repairs to the railroad crossing at 12th St SW, near Hawkeye Avenue in Le Mars. Le Mars Street Supervisor Scott Kneip says today he was notified by the railroad that all the needed parts for the repair have been received. A repair crew will arrive on Wednesday, Feb. 8. It will take a day or two to complete the repair. The crossing has been closed since late November because of an accident which damaged the crossing. signal. Motor vehicle traffic has had to cross the track at 6th Ave SW or 18th St SW.
PUBLIC SCHOOL AID
Republicans in the House AND Senate are proposing a 106 million dollar increase in general state aid to public schools for the next academic year. That’s a three percent increase and it’s higher than Governor Reynolds proposed. Margaret Buckton, a lobbyist for the Urban Education Network and the Rural School Advocates of Iowa, says it would be the second highest increase for public schools in 14 years.
Buckton says schools with decreasing enrollment will be able to keep classroom teachers, but may have to cut the most expensive programs, like apprenticeships and fine arts. Dave Daughton, a lobbyist for the School Administrators of Iowa, says a five percent increase would maintain services.
Over half of Iowa school districts have declining enrollment. Republican Representative Craig Johnson of Independence says the bill will be approved soon, to give school boards time to complete budget plans by April 15th.
The G-O-P’s proposed funding increase for Iowa’s public school districts is roughly equal to the amount of money lawmakers expect private school parents will get in the coming year. The state-funded Education Savings Accounts will be available to low income parents who enroll a child in private school this fall.
GRASSLEY HIP INJURY
Iowa’s senior U-S senator is revealing details about the accident earlier this month that required him to have emergency surgery. Senator Chuck Grassley, who’s 89, says he made a “stupid maneuver” in his kitchen and broke his hip. Grassley’s office announced January 10th he’d been injured and the operation was performed the next day. He says he’s healing “very well.” Grassley, one of the longest-serving senators in U-S history, says despite the challenges of the past few weeks, his sterling voting record remains intact, and he hasn’t missed a vote in the new year. The New Hartford Republican says he’s been getting around with the help of a walker and hopes to return to his two-mile jogs, six mornings a week, in a few months.
MW ECONOMY
The latest economic survey of supply managers in Iowa and eight other Midwestern states shows the business barometer falling to its worst January level in 15 years. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the monthly report ranks the region’s economy on a zero-to-100 scale and he says fears about recession are growing.
The survey’s individual Business Conditions Index for Iowa dropped to 47.0 in January, down from December’s 47.8. Respondents in the nine states were asked to name and rank what they see as the top threats to their business and to the economy in the coming months.
The survey points to slow, no, or negative growth in the months ahead, Goss says, likely through the second quarter. Looking ahead six months, the survey’s Confidence Index, which gauges economic optimism on a zero-to-100 scale, rose from 23 in December to 25 in January, which is still very weak.
Only four of the nine states have rebounded to higher employment levels since the start of the pandemic: Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Iowa’s average inflation-adjusted hourly wage rate fell by 3.7% during 2022.
LIVESTOCK TRANSPARENCY
Legislation to rein in meatpackers in the livestock industry will also be a key discussion point on the Farm Bill. US Rep. Randy Feenstra of Hull says he is working on legislation with Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley to provide more transparency in the marketplace.
Livestock producers have urged the two to remove barriers that limit prices and access to the market.
Feentra was recently named to the Agriculture Committee, which this year will write a new five- year Farm Bill.
EDUCATION INSTRUCTION
Republicans on the House Education Committee have voted to require Iowa’s three public universities to explain terms and concepts used in courses taken by students who plan to be teachers. If the bill is approved by both the House and Senate, the report would be due at the end of this month. Representative Skyler Wheeler of Hull says he can’t wait to see an explanation of what anti-racist and anti-oppressive teaching is. The bill also calls for a new legislative committee to be established this summer to review the reports from the Colleges of Education at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I. Democrats opposed the bill and accused Republicans of conducting a witch hunt against teachers and professors. Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says college students complain to him they’re being indoctrinated with liberal ideology at the state universities.
SENATE GENDER IDENTITY BILL
A bill to ban Iowa schools from having materials or instruction about gender identity in kindergarten through eighth grade classes has cleared a senate subcommittee. Bill backer Amber Williams of Urbandale says as a kid, she was a tomboy.
Jill Bjorklund of Ankeny, an opponent of the bill, spoke on behalf of Lily, her seven year old.
The bill says parents could sue a school if there’s any instruction about gender identity in elementary or junior high. Pam Gronau of Urbandale says schools should focus on reading and math.
Stacy Schmidt, a social studies teacher in Des Moines, says the bill sends the message that L-G-B-T-Q students should be ashamed of who they are.
A House subcommittee has approved another bill that would require educators to get written permission from a parent before referring to a student by a gender that’s different from the one listed on the student’s birth certificate. The bill is co-sponsored by 40 of the 64 Republicans in the Iowa House and it would forbid teachers from encouraging or coercing a student to transition to a different gender.
JANUARY WEATHER
January is usually the coldest and driest month of the year, but State Climatologist, Justin Glisan says the numbers went against the averages this year. Temperatures statewide averaged around 24 degrees, which as about five degrees above average. In January, just under two inches of precipitation and snow fell — which was about one inches above average. This ranks as one of the top 10 wettest Januarys on record. Glisan says snowpack across the northern half of the state ranged anywhere from five to 10 inches above average, while it was below average snowfall for teh southern half of the state. Two tornadoes touched down in eastern Iowa on January 16th. Glisan says it was the earliest calendar day for a tornado ever recorded in the state of Iowa.
BACKYARD FLOCKS
As egg prices bound, backyard chicken flocks are gaining in popularity, but the practice of chicken keeping demands plenty of planning and patience before it pays off. Christa Hartsook, the small farms program coordinator for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, says the amount of money you have to invest to get started depends on how large an operation you want to launch. You’ll need to buy waterers and feeders, build a coop, and pay for feed. Chicks themselves sell for three-to-six dollars each, but Hartsook says check with city hall first to confirm you’re even allowed to keep chickens. If you’re considering starting a backyard flock, there’s a free online course through the I-S-U Extension.
VETERANS TRUST FUND GRANTS
The Iowa House has unanimously voted to increase the annual budget for grants from the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund by more than a third. The grants are to help low income veterans cover unexpected expenses like car repairs. The 500-thousand dollar allotment for the current budgeting year ran out last fall. There’d be 800-thousand dollars in grants available each year if the bill becomes law. Earlier this week Governor Reynolds used her authority to transfer 440-thousand dollars in federal pandemic relief funds to finance Veterans Fund grants that had been approved, but not awarded.
