An official with the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) will address the Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday morning. Tom Bouska, with the regional DHS office is scheduled to speak to the board with regard to changes to the DHS’ services.

The changes to be announced are coming on the heels of word 37 Iowa Workforce Development Offices would be closing by month’s end, including the office here in Atlantic. According to Carol Morgan of the IowaWORKS Business Relations office in Council Bluffs, the department’s office in Harlan was closed Friday. Five more offices in Atlantic, Glenwood, Red Oak, Shenandoah, and Clarinda are set to be closed tomorrow (Wednesday). Morgan will be responsible for meeting the needs of businesses and potential employers in Southwest Iowa, including the Harlan, Atlantic, Glenwood, Shenandoah, and Clarinda areas. The Red Oak area will be serviced by business marketing specialist Marsha Wilson.

The state will continue to have Southwest IowaWORKS Regional Integrated offices located at Council Bluffs and Creston with office hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For access to services from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, job seekers and businesses can call 1-866-239-0843. The Council Bluffs Center can be reached at (712) 242-2131 and the Creston Center can be reached at (641) 782-2119.

In other business, the Cass County Board of Supervisors Wednesday, will set the date for a public hearing on the proposed redistricting and representing plan of the Temporary Cass County Redistricting Commission. The Board will also review bids taken by the Iowa DOT and award contracts for, two bridge replacement projects. The bridges are located over Turkey and Seven-Mile Creeks, on 620^th Street and Victoria Road, respectively. The Supervisors will also review the bids and award contracts for Hot Melt Asphalt and Portland Cement Concrete patching on certain county roads, and approve a quote for a new excavator to be used for ditch cleaning.

The Supervisor’s meeting begins at 9-a.m. at the courthouse, in Atlantic.

Iowa is participating in a nationwide program started by Google which partners with several business groups to offer free web development along with related tools and training to small businesses. The director of the small business development center at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Sue Pitts, says many small companies need some help setting up effective websites. Pitts says when they do have websites, they may not be using them.
You can have your brother’s sister’s brother put up a page that you never ever look at,” Pitts says,”so I think some people think they have a website but they might not. Or if a business is in existence, they may have had a website six years ago that they haven’t really looked at.”

Pitts says more people are using the web to search for what they need, and then doing business on-line. Pitt says “if you’re not found online you might not be found at all, you might be just passed over.” She says she walks down the street in her neighborhood after the Yellow Pages are delivered they are in the recycle bins at almost every house.

Pitts says many customers make up their minds about what to buy before ever stepping into a storefront. She says the good news for businesses is that it’s getting easier and less expensive to build an effective web presence. The governor’s office says six out of 10 Iowa small businesses are without a website. Business owners can learn more about the Google program during workshops planned at several locations around the state next month.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant that was entirely surrounded by Missouri River floodwaters earlier this summer officially ended its flood emergency Monday afternoon, utility officials said. But the power plant about 20 miles north of Omaha will remain shut down until repairs are made and regulators approve restarting the facility, Omaha Public Power District spokesman Jeff Hanson said. The river near the plant fell to 1003.5 feet above sea level Monday. The main power plant buildings are at 1,004 feet above sea level.

At the height of the flooding, the Missouri River rose up to 1,006 feet above sea level. That forced OPPD to erect a network of barriers and set up an assortment of pumps to help protect its buildings. But the plant remained dry inside, and officials said Fort Calhoun could withstand flooding up to 1,014 feet above sea level. Workers have already begun removing some flood barriers and disassembling the elevated catwalks workers used to cross the flooded parking lot. Fort Calhoun has been shut down since April because it was being refueled before the flooding began. It’s not clear when it will restart because officials haven’t been able to determine what repairs are needed. The plant may reopen sometime this fall, but it could even be delayed until next spring depending upon repairs, inspections and the weather.

The utility has submitted a recovery plan to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and regulators must approve the plan for inspections and repairs at Fort Calhoun. NRC officials have promised to closely monitor the efforts to ensure the plant is safe and doesn’t represent a threat to the public. For Calhoun entered the low-level emergency status called a “notification of unusual event” because of the flooding on June 6. The status was officially lifted Monday at 1:42 p.m.

The Missouri River’s floodwaters have begun to recede but the river may not return to within its banks until sometime in September or October. There has been flooding along the river since June because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been releasing massive amounts of water into the river to deal with unexpectedly heavy spring rains and mountain snowpack.