Connections Area Agency on Aging official have announced they are hosting two virtual Family Caregiver support groups in August. Connection’s Family Caregiver Specialist Danika Jarrett invites family caregivers to join the virtual support groups a safe place for family caregivers to discuss the challenges and rewards of caring for a loved one.
To register and receive the meeting link contact Danika Jarrett at: djarrett@connectionsaaa.org or call 800-432-9209 ext 8113. The support groups will take place August 15th at 10 am and August 20th at 2:30 pm and will last about an hour. For more information please contact, Danika Jarrett, Family Caregiver Specialist at Connections Area Agency on Aging at 800-432-9209, Ext. 8133 or djarrett@connectionsaaa.org
Connections Area Agency on Aging Family Caregiver Program supports people who care for their parents, spouses, or others aged 60+ by providing information, resources, and support and Grandparents Raising Grandchildren aged 55+ who support their grandchildren.
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Connections Area Agency is one of six Area Agencies on Aging in Iowa, and part of a nationwide network. With a mission of enhancing the quality of life for elders in 20 counties through education, planning and coordination of services, Connections Area Agency on Aging is the premier agency for assisting elders, caregivers, and their families to access the information and services needed for independence and life transitions. Offices are located in Council Bluffs, Creston and Sioux City. For more information, contact Connections AAA at 800-432-9209 or at www.connectionsaaa.org
(DES MOINES) – Governor Reynolds today announced that applications are now being accepted for state housing programs she launched during a press conference last week. “Rebuilding housing for thousands of displaced Iowans presents a significant opportunity for their personal recovery as well as the economic recovery and growth of their communities,” said Gov. Reynolds. “These programs are a crucial first step in ensuring Iowans can rebuild and continue to thrive in the communities they call home.”
The State Disaster Recovery New Housing Grant Program provides financial assistance for the development of new housing for sale or rent in counties eligible for FEMA’s Individual Assistance under a federal disaster declaration. It offers developers grant funding of up to $1 million per project to assist in the development of housing units for sale and rent, with a preference given to single-family detached units, duplex and townhouse style developments. The program will be administered by the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA).
Additionally, Governor Reynolds signed a proclamation activating the Disaster Recovery Housing Assistance Program for homeowners. The program addresses unmet housing recovery needs outside the scope of insurance coverage or FEMA Individual Assistance. Eligible homeowners can receive up to $50,000 for the repair or rehabilitation of their disaster-impacted homes.
Homeowners who live in counties included in a federal disaster declaration are eligible to apply. These counties currently include Adair, Adams, Buena Vista, Cedar, Cherokee, Clarke, Clay, Emmet, Harrison, Jasper, Lyon, Mills, Montgomery, O’Brien, Plymouth, Polk, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby, Sioux, Story, Union and Woodbury. Additional counties could be added over time if approved by FEMA for federal disaster assistance.
Before applying for the state Disaster Recovery Housing Assistance Program, homeowners must first be registered for FEMA Individual Assistance and have been awarded some form of FEMA housing assistance, which may include home repairs or temporary housing. You can register for FEMA Individual Assistance in the following ways:
Visit any Disaster Recovery Center to apply or get application assistance
Homeowners must also have filed a claim with their insurance company and have received final approval or denial of their claim. Applicable FEMA and insurance documentation is requested as part of the application process.
Applications for both state programs are available on IowaGrants.gov. First-time users must create an account. A short instructional video will help applicants with the login process. A call center is also available for those who need additional assistance with their application.
(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Community Foundations of Southwest Iowa have announced that applications are now being accepted from organizations providing charitable services in seven counties: Audubon, Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, and Shelby. Page and Crawford counties participate in proactive grantmaking during the fall, rather than accepting applications. There is more than $400,000 available across the seven listed counties in this grant cycle, and those interested in a breakdown of the funding can learn more at swiowafoundations.org.
Beginning July 15, application details, a fact sheet, and a link to the application form can be found on the website. Applications will only be accepted through the online system. Only organizations providing services in each county are eligible to apply. They must be able to demonstrate broad community/county support and be an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) public charity, a local municipality, or a fiscally sponsored project.
The Community Foundations of Southwest Iowa aims to improve the quality of life in each county by supporting community needs in the areas of civic engagement, culture, health, education, and social services. The objective of the grant program is to fund projects that will have a lasting impact.
The grant funds are made possible by the generosity of local donors.
(Des Moines, Iowa) – Official with Summit Carbon Solutions today (Monday) argued that the main components of two county ordinances in Iowa that sought to limit the placement of carbon dioxide pipelines are entirely overridden by the authority of state and federal regulators. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the company reasserted those arguments in a recent brief in federal court — its response to the appeals by Shelby and Story counties of a judge’s rulings late last year that agreed with Summit. An injunction prevents the counties from enforcing the ordinances.
The filings of written arguments by both sides of the case set the stage for oral arguments before a panel of Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judges. The oral arguments are not yet scheduled. The judges are expected to issue a decision sometime next year.
Summit Carbon Solutions wants to sequester the carbon dioxide of more than 50 ethanol producers in five states. (Courtesy of Summit Carbon Solutions)
Summit seeks to build a 2,500-mile pipeline system in five states to transport captured carbon dioxide from ethanol producers to North Dakota, where the greenhouse gas would be pumped into the ground. It received preliminary approval in Iowa last month.
The work is incentivized by generous federal tax credits with the goal of slowing climate change. But many opponents of the project worry about the safety of people and animals near the pipeline that might be suffocated if it ruptures. The county ordinances create minimum separation distances — or setbacks — between the pipelines and populated places, such as cities, homes and livestock buildings.
The federal judge who ruled against the first county ordinances said, in part, they were so restrictive that they might make it impossible for a carbon dioxide pipeline to be built at all. A handful of ordinances that were adopted by other counties — most of which are also the target of pending lawsuits by Summit — were increasingly less restrictive. The most recent one was approved in April by Dickinson County, which has not been sued. Summit has declined to comment on the matter.
Chief Judge Stephanie Rose, of the federal Southern District of Iowa, said the Shelby and Story ordinances’ placement requirements are overruled by state regulators — the Iowa Utilities Commission — and that their safety-related provisions are the jurisdiction of federal regulators — the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Rose went further and decided that the counties’ placement requirements are also a safety feature and are overridden by PHMSA, but the agency itself has contradicted the judge. However, Summit argues Rose was correct about the relationship of setbacks and safety, and its attorneys point to an early version of Story’s ordinance: “Story County started down this path solely out of concern for pipeline safety,” attorney Ryan Koopmans wrote in the recent appeal brief. “The county’s first ordinance, No. 306, focused only on setbacks because there are ‘risks in the event of a spill or rupture.’”
Summit further says county ordinance provisions that obviously pertain to safety — such as requirements to disclose certain information to local emergency officials to aid their potential response to a breach — is also PHMSA’s jurisdiction.As for determining the pipeline routes, Summit argues state law gives the Iowa Utilities Commission absolute authority: “It does not matter whether Summit or any other pipeline company could somehow thread the needle through the counties’ heavily restrictive setbacks, or whether the counties would grant variances and let the pipeline pass through anyway (and they clearly will not),” Koopmans wrote.
The American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies for the nation’s oil and natural gas industries, and the Liquid Energy Pipeline Association also recently filed a brief in support of Summit’s positions. They said pipelines are vital to the U.S. economy, are the safest way to transport energy products, and that the ordinances would have “far-reaching ramifications and unintended consequences.”
The ultimate effect of the court action on the pending lawsuits against other counties is not yet clear. They have been paused until the Shelby and Story appeals conclude. PHMSA is in the process of revamping its safety standards for carbon dioxide pipelines, and the counties have said the current rules are not adequate to protect the public. They argue that there is room for some measure of local control of the issue.
(Red Oak, Iowa) — Police in Red Oak arrested a man early this (Monday) afternoon, on an Assault charge. 38-year-old Anthony Charles Wasson, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 200 block of E. Nuckols Street a little after 1-p.m. Wasson was charged with Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd offense. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held without bond.
(Radio Iowa) – An eastern Iowa museum that’s dedicated to preserving the German immigrant experience for future generations is getting a new accolade. The German American Heritage Center and Museum in Davenport will be named this week as the newest site in the Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, which covers a large portion of northeast Iowa. Jori Wade-Booth is spokeswoman for Silos and Smokestacks.
Wade-Booth says, “We have about 100 sites that all include farms, museums, historic sites, businesses and so forth, all tell some part of the story of agriculture.” The facility at the foot of the Centennial Bridge and near the banks of the Mississippi River opened in 2004 in a historic building. It offers visitors an interactive experience to learn about the immigrants’ journey by sea, train and foot, to their final destination — the museum — which was originally a busy hotel for thousands of immigrants in the 1860s.
“The German American Heritage Center and Museum is important because not only does it preserve the heritage of our German-speaking ancestors that came to Iowa,” Wade-Booth says, “but it also tells the important story that German Americans had a huge impact on industry and agriculture in Iowa.” Those thousands of German immigrants played a significant role in helping Iowa to develop as an early ag powerhouse, something the state maintains to this day.
Photo courtesy German American Heritage Center and Museum
“A lot of people think of agriculture inside a box, like there’s tractors and crops and mud on your boots,” Wade-Booth says, “but really it’s the science, technology and math, and it encompasses a whole lot more than just growing corn and soybeans or having animals.” The museum details other elements of agriculture, like how Davenport used to be one of the nation’s top cigar-producing cities, as tobacco was a widely grown crop here more than a century ago. Lumber was also big for Iowa then, as were the state’s many fisheries. Wade-Booth says her organization works in partnership with the National Park Service.
“Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area was designated in 1996 by Congress to tell the story of American agriculture,” she says. “We’re the only heritage area in the country that tells that story. We covers 37 counties in northeast Iowa, basically everything east of I-35 and north of I-80.”
The ribbon-cutting at the museum is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11 A-M to welcome the facility as a new national heritage area site.
(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa delegates at the Republican National Convention have cast their votes for Donald Trump for president. Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann was chosen to kick off the process with a nominating speech.
Kaufmann began his remarks by talking about the Iowa Caucuses, the lead-off contest in the presidential election.
Trump got over half of the votes cast in the Iowa Caucuses, 30 points ahead of his closest competitor. Kaufmann says the vast majority of states seconded Iowa’s choice.
Kaufmann, a former state legislator, became chairman of the Iowa G-O-P 10 years ago. While Kaufmann declared neutrality as the party’s leader in the competitive 2016 and 2024 Iowa Caucus campaigns, he has been a stalwart supporter of Trump’s General Election campaigns.
Kaufmann closed by repeating the themes for each of the four nights of the Republican National Convention.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is a temporary chair of the Republican National Convention. She will preside over the nominating of Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance. Bird is scheduled to speak at the convention tomorrow (Tuesday) night.
(Radio Iowa) – The executive director of the Iowa Regents’ Lakeside Lab says they’re seeing an increase in toxic blue-green algae in the Great Lakes. Mary Skopec says after years of drought, the lakes are filled with high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and contaminated sediment. It’s a combination that causes the algae to grow, especially when things warm up.
“It’s very concerning. The lakes are our drinking water source, and we want to make sure that we don’t pull those toxins into our drinking water. But when people are recreating being exposed to that can be quite, quite damaging to health,” Skopec says. There are more than 70 places, where the shorelines have also collapsed, compounding the problem. Skopec says people can still swim in the Iowa Great Lakes but need to watch out for debris and stay away from water that looks green and murky and occasionally bright blue.
Blue Green Algae on West Lake Okoboji. (photo by Sheila Brummer)
“Obviously don’t want people or pets in that water. We know that dogs can succumb to the toxins within hours.” Skopec says the good news is E. coli testing in almost a dozen spots around the Great Lakes showed levels meeting recreation standards.
(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater today (Monday), issued a statement with regard to bicycle traffic that will be passing through the County next week. On July 23rd riders on RAGBRAI will be passing through Adair County and Vandewater says that “will most certainly impact traffic during a big portion of the day.”
Bicyclists will be leaving from Atlantic early on the morning of the 23rd and ending the day in Winterset. The official route will take them on State Highway 92 from south of Cumberland all the way to Greenfield. When they leave Greenfield, they will travel south on State Highway 25 to Orient and then east of Orient on 310th Street until they exit Adair County west of Macksburg.
The Sheriff notes there are specific routes through Greenfield and Orient, where the riders will detour off of the highways and make a pass through more of the center of each town. (See the maps posted in this story). “I would encourage anyone who can, to avoid driving on or intersecting with the RAGBRAI route, if possible,” Vandewater say. “If you do find yourself on the route or intersecting with the route, expect delays.
If your choice of roadways that day intersects with the RAGBRAI route, the delays shouldn’t be terrible. Should you find yourself attempting to travel east on State Highway 92 or southbound from Greenfield on State Highway 25, be very, very patient and expect potentially mind-numbing delays during the busiest of times. Your ability to safely pass large groups of bikers traveling approximately ten miles per hour will be limited.
If you are traveling westbound on State Highway 92 or 310th Street or northbound on State Highway 25, please consider reducing your speed, strictly avoid any distractions and remain vigilant when operating around bikers. There is almost no margin of error when it comes to bike traffic versus a motor vehicle. Any type of collision between a bicycle and a motor vehicle could prove fatal, with mere inches possibly making the difference.”
Sheriff Vanedewater said also, “I believe local citizens who know the roads will easily find an alternate route. I am concerned about commercial traffic who may be from out of the area and may be unaware that RAGBRAI is even passing through on their “regular” route. Because of that, I would ask everyone to share this post in hopes of making as many motorists as possible aware of the potential issues on Tuesday July 23rd.”
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Eastern Iowa Airport has worked with two carriers to add special direct flights for Hawkeye fans wanting to travel to select University of Iowa football road games this fall.
Below is a list of flight options for fans looking for air travel from Eastern Iowa to Ohio, Michigan and California.
American Airlines: Nonstop to Columbus (CMH) for Ohio State game departing Cedar Rapids (CID) at 2 p.m. on Oct. 4. The return flight on Oct. 6 departs at 9:29 a.m. ET.
Delta: Nonstop to Detroit (DTW) for Michigan State game departing Cedar Rapids (CID) at 1:45 p.m. on Oct. 18. The return flight on Oct. 20 departs at 10 a.m. ET.
Delta: Nonstop to Los Angeles (LAX) for UCLA game departing Cedar Rapids (CID) at 12:15 p.m. on Nov. 7. The return flight on Nov. 10 departs at 11:15 a.m. PT.
There will also be a nonstop flight on Delta from Seattle (SEA) to Cedar Rapids (CID) for the Washington home football game. The flight will depart Seattle at 9:35 a.m. PT on Oct. 11. The return flight on Oct. 13 will depart at 11 a.m. This will be the first-ever nonstop flight CID has had to/from Seattle and provides fans of the Huskies, as well as Hawkeye fans living in the Seattle area an easy four-hour flight.
For more information please contact, Danika Jarrett, Family Caregiver Specialist at Connections Area Agency on Aging at 800-432-9209, Ext. 8133 or djarrett@connectionsaaa.org
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