NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (AP) — A main highway that connects Nebraska and Iowa is scheduled to reopen next week after being closed by the flooding on the Missouri River.  Iowa Highway 2 between Nebraska City and Fremont County, Iowa, is scheduled to open at 4 p.m. Monday. The entrance and exit ramps connecting the highway to Interstate 29 also will reopen. Iowa transportation officials say traffic on Iowa Highway 2 will be limited to two-way traffic on the eastbound lanes. The westbound lanes will remain closed.

UNDERWOOD, Iowa (AP) — A snack company has announced plans to build a distribution center in the western Iowa community of Underwood. Link Snacks plans creating 131 jobs with the center. Link Snacks is a meat snack manufacturer that sells products in more than 40 countries. The company is getting financial assistance and tax incentives to acquire a building in Underwood to establish its second distribution center in Iowa. Link Snacks is investing more than $9 million in the project.

Link Snacks, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is based in Minong, Wisconsin.

Anthony Carroll State Director for Advocacy at AARP in IA

The Associate Director for the AARP in Iowa was in Council Bluffs earlier this week, and will be in Sioux City next week. Anthony Carroll is urging residents to call Iowa’s members of Congress, in hopes they will influence the “Supercommittee” members in Washington, D-C, who are considering proposals for cuts in Medicare and Social Security benefits. He told KJAN News the “Supercommittee” has to come up with 1.2-trillion dollars in budget cuts. Carroll says everything is on the table, including Social Security and Medicare benefits.

He says it’s important to make your voice heard, because once the final proposal is presented, it can‘t be changed. He says the proposal must be completed by November 23^rd, so the time to get involved in the process, is now. Carroll says since the “Supercommittee” meetings are taking place behind closed doors, it’s difficult to know what’s being discussed, but there are some parts of the proposal which are in place that would affect those persons over 50. One pertains to Social Security.

For instance, he says the organization is concerned about a proposal to “chain” the Cost of Living Adjustment, or COLA, which is being adjusted upward in January, for the first time in three-years. That’s because the formula used over the past two-years for figuring the amount was based on data showing a lack of inflation, and therefore no need to increase the COLA.

He says on the contrary, the Cost of Living has gone up, for senior citizens and all Americans. Carroll says if the COLA is “Chained downward,” those adjustments would happen less often, and would be smaller than those Social Security recipients currently receive. Another proposal would raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65, to 67. Carroll says that’s something the AARP opposes.

He says two-thirds of persons ages 65-to 66 would pay more out-of-pocket, to the tune of about $2,200 more per year. It would also impact benefices of those over the age of 67, because 65-to 66-year olds tend to be healthier, and have less expenses. When those persons are removed from the Medicare pool, an estimated Medicare Part-B and Part-D premiums would increase for all remaining beneficiaries by about 3-percent.

Carroll says the group understands that adjustments to Medicare and Social Security need to be made, if those programs are to remain solvent and workable, but they need their own “stand-alone” proposal the public would have time to react to. He says seniors in Iowa should call 1-888-722-8514 to contact their representatives in Congress to voice their concerns, or sign a petition on-line at www.aarp.org/protectseniors.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A new monthly survey of bankers suggests the economy in rural areas of 10 Midwest and Plains states continues to grow, but at “an anemic pace.” The overall Rural Mainstreet index for the region improved to 52.9 in October from last month’s 52.2, suggesting weak economic growth. Anytime that index, which ranges from 0 to 100, is above 50, it suggests the economy will grow. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, says this month’s results were helped by companies linked to agriculture that continue to experience healthy growth. Bankers in rural parts of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming are surveyed.

The Fire Chief in Shelby says three area fire departments were called to the Menard’s Distribution center outside of Shelby yesterday (Thursday) morning. Brian Anderson says the Shelby Fire Department was the first to respond at around 11-a.m., Thursday. Anderson says a spark in a dust collector located in one of the buildings was to blame for the incident. Shelby Fire requested and received mutual aid from the Minden and Avoca Fire Departments to fight the blaze, which was kept under control beforehand, thanks to the Menard’s maintenance team, which Anderson said does a good job keeping the equipment clean. That, in-turn, helped keep the fire contained to one specific area. 

The damage was caused mostly by smoldering embers and smoke. Firefighters were on the scene for about three hours. No injuries were reported, and there was no dollar amount of the damage, available.

(courtesy: Joel McCall at KNOD in Harlan)