Iowa businesses located along the Missouri River are struggling to recover from this summer’s flood. A survey from the Safeguard Iowa Partnership (SIP) shows respondents noted impacts to their workforce, supplies, customers, transportation and in some cases were forced to relocate. SIP executive director Jami Haberl says 140 business owners completed the survey.  “Over 70-percent of them were small businesses with less than 50 employees,” Haberl said. The survey results were included in Governor Branstad’s recent appeal to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide financial assistance to Iowans. The businesses were not asked to provide a dollar figure on their damages, but most reported they spent a lot of money to prevent or mitigate flood damage. Haberl says over 70 percent of respondents did not have flood insurance and 80 percent did not have business interruption insurance

She said it’s important for business owners to work with their insurance agents to understand their coverage plans. Many of the businesses were not flooded, but lost business because residents were forced to leave the area. Branstad’s request to FEMA for individual disaster assistance noted the Missouri River flooding destroyed 189 homes in Iowa, while 161 sustained major damage.

(Radio Iowa)

The anti-corporation “occupy” movement that’s caused a stir in Des Moines and Iowa City in recent days is heading west to Omaha-Council Bluffs. Dustin, who only gives his first name, says he’s part of a group that’s planning to march from Omaha’s City-County Building to the Federal Reserve Bank on Saturday.  Dustin says, “We’re not protesting, we’re demonstrating, showing our solidarity with the sentiment of the feeling of what people in New York are doing.” The Occupy Wall Street movement started in New York City on September 17th when protesters took to the streets to protest financial industry practices, economic inequality and taxation. A Tea Party rally is also planned for Saturday in Omaha and Dustin says it’s just a coincidence.

“We have a lot in common with the Tea Party,” he says. “The only difference is that mainstream Democrats have not yet accomplished the co-opting of this movement while mainstream Republicans that joined the Tea Party have been co-opted.” Julie Fredrickson is a member of the Tea Party and says, essentially, they will be demonstrating against the demonstrators in Omaha on Saturday.  “We don’t plan to block the streets,” Fredrickson says. “We’ll see what the other group does. We’re only responsible for ourselves and we plan to be peaceable.” She says she doesn’t put much stock into the “Occupy” group’s efforts.

Fredrickson says, “If these people really took a look at what’s going on within their group of zombies, they would be marching, like Herman Cain says, on the White House.” About 30 members of the Occupy Des Moines group were arrested on Sunday night after they refused to leave the capitol grounds at the required time of 11 P-M.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), Wednesday, opened bids on three emergency, Missouri River flood-related highway repair projects that totaled $5,221,938.75. The contracts included:

• The grading and replacing paved sections of Iowa 2, from the Missouri River east to east of Interstate 29 in Fremont County. The low bidder was C.J. Moyna & Sons Inc. of Elkader, Iowa, with a bid amount of $4,078,756.57; the Iowa DOT received two bids for the project.
• Repairs to the Iowa 333 bridge approach and roadway from I-29 east one mile, located near Hamburg in Fremont County. The low bidder was M.E. Collins Contracting Co. Inc. of Wahoo, Neb., with a bid amount of $249,940.50. The Iowa DOT received five bids for the project.
• TrapBag removal and repairs to the foreslopes of U.S. 30 in Harrison County, west of Missouri Valley. The low bidder was Peterson Contractors Inc., of Reinbeck, Iowa, with a bid amount of $893,241.68. The Iowa DOT received six bids for the project

Official say the goal for the projects is to expedite repairs and get the roadways safely reopened to traffic as quickly as possible.

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman, on behalf of the Cass County Board of Supervisors, announced Wednesday, that the Cass County website is now available in 64 languages.  The Cass County website can be accessed at http://www.casscountyiowa.us .

Using the new Google Translate Technology, implemented by Inukshuk Technologies, (Cass County’s web consultant), the county website can now be instantly translated into 64 languages.  This new technology can translate words, sentences and web pages instantly.  This service will help Cass County government personnel assist residents regardless of their primary language.

How does it work?  According to Max Elg of Inukshuk Technologies, “When Google Translate generates a translation, it looks for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents to help decide on the best translation for the viewer.  By detecting patterns in documents that have already been translated by human translators, Google Translate can make intelligent guesses as to what an appropriate translation should be.  This process of seeking patterns in large amounts of text is called “statistical machine translation”.  Since the translations are generated by machines, not all translation will be perfect.  The more human‐translated documents that Google Translate can analyze in a specific language, the better the translation quality will be.  This is why translation accuracy will sometimes vary across languages.”

“Cost to Cass County was minimal since the Translation service is now FREE from Google and implementation on the website took approximately 10 minutes,” said Elg.  “This is a win/win situation for everyone and shows Cass County’s ongoing commitment to open and accessible government!”

(Press Release/Cass Co. Auditor)

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a western Iowa boy was injured after he was kicked in the face by a horse. The Pottawattamie County sheriff’s office says 2-year-old Maxx Danker, of Minden, was injured Wednesday morning. Officials say the boy followed his father into a pen with a drafting horse. The toddler, who had ducked under the fence, was kicked and received bruises on his neck, face and upper chest area.

Authorities say the boy was taken to Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs. He was alert and responsive. The hospital says Wednesday afternoon that the child was treated and released.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Department of Education officials have notified their federal counterparts that the state will seek a waiver from requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. State officials have criticized the law as being too rigid and argued it relied too heavily on standardized test scores. They also said it’s one-dimensional and doesn’t accurately measure how well schools are  performing. Education Department Director Jason Glass said Iowa officials have developed their own rigorous standards and can implement them in a way that ensures students make progress each year. “We expect our schools to meet high standards, but we need to do it in a reasonable way that focuses on students making strong progress every year,” Glass said Wednesday. “The bar has to be reasonable.” Iowa officials announced details of that plan earlier this month.

Glass noted that federal officials have encouraged states to seek a waiver from the federal law, as long as they develop their own systems for measuring the progress students are making. Glass said the formal waiver request will be filed in February. President Barack Obama’s administration announced in August that states were being encouraged to seek a waiver from the law, which requires states to show that a higher proportion of students are reaching proficiency in math and science.

The plan that Glass announced called for linking teacher pay to performance in the classroom as well as setting new testing standards for students, along with developing other methods of measuring student performance. He said measuring performance of a healthy and active child involves more than a single test score, though testing is part of the measurement.

The Iowa State Patrol now says two people were injured during a collision involving two semis on Interstate 80 westbound early this (Wednesday) morning, about a mile west of Adair. The accident was reported at around 5:45 a.m.

According to Trooper Ryan DeVault, a westbound semi went of the road near exit 75, entered the south ditch and came back onto the roadway before it rolled onto its side, blocking both westbound lanes of traffic. A second semi approaching the scene crested a hill and collided with the overturned semi.

Both drivers suffered minor injuries. Their names have not yet been released. The accident resulted in the interstate being closed for a little more a little more than three-hours. Traffic was rerouted through Anita while the wreck was being cleared and investigated.