SIOUX CITY, Iowa –  Officials with the Iowa Department of Transportation say if you drive on Interstate 29 near Sloan (in northwest Iowa), you need to be aware of an upcoming traffic pattern change that may affect your trip. Beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6 until 5 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8, weather permitting, traffic in both directions of I-29 will be routed onto the ramps at the interchange with Iowa 141 (exit 127) in Sloan so crews can demolish and remove the old bridge over I-29. You will follow a marked route using the entrance and exit ramps to I-29 to safely travel around the work zone.

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

The latest traveler information is available anytime through the 511 system. Visit 511ia.org; call 511 (within Iowa) or 800-288-1047 (nationwide); stay connected with 511 on Facebook or X (find links at https://iowadot.gov/511/511-social-media-sites); or download the free app to your mobile device.

(Radio Iowa) – The Free Application for Federal Student Aid known as FAFSA is now open for the next academic year. FAFSA has had issues since an effort to upgrade the process and forms were delayed last year, but U-N-I Financial Aid director Tim Bakula it is now ready for this year. “It’s still at the studentaid.gov website, as usual, and students and families can go and complete that soon as they’d like, listing the schools where they’d want their FAFSA to be sent,” he says. The process in past years has had some bugs in it, but Bakula says so far he hasn’t heard any major issues.

” That’s not to say it’s perfect, or that everyone will go through it without a question, but they’ve built in various prompts and edits that are hopefully making the user experience better for families and completing it more direct and clear in instructions on how to complete it,” he says, “and hopefully allowing schools to then receive the most accurate information that they can about the students that are applying to their schools.” He says the process is key in finding out if you our your child qualifies for financial help. “Families that complete the fast forward putting themselves out there to be eligible for federal student loans, federal grants for instance. Many colleges and universities will use the FAFSA results to determine some scholarship eligibility, although that’s not the fastest primary focus. The FAFSA possible allows a family or student, I should say, to qualify for federal work study dollars,” Bakula says.

Workstudy allows a student to get a campus job to earn a little bit of extra money to help them pay for different things at college. “It really is the number one step to beginning the aid process to receive a financial aid offer from a from a college or university,” he says. Bakula says there are varying deadlines for completing FAFSA and he advises you do it as soon as you can. “The public universities in the state are all within early February as a priority deadline date. I can’t speak to every college in the state of Iowa or nationally, I would recommend, probably the best thing to do for a student would be to go out and look at the colleges that they’re kind of considering and see what dates exist,” he says.

“To complete the FAFSA families would need their 2023 tax information,” he says. “And one of the nice things about the FAFSA anymore is that it will accurately bring in federal tax information directly from the I-R-S once the family provides consent, both the student and the parent, in most cases.” Bakula says filling out the FAFSA should take at most 45 minutes to an hour.

(Radio Iowa) – With Thanksgiving behind us now, many Iowans are turning their thoughts to decorating their houses for the holiday season ahead. Andrea Vastis, public education director for the National Fire Protection Association, says those colorful lights can be a beautiful accent to your home, but they can also pose a serious fire hazard. “When you’re going to be decorating outside, make sure the lights that you use are approved by a testing laboratory and that they’re rated for outdoor use,” Vastis says. “That is really critical.”

Putting lights outside that are supposed to be for indoor use only could quickly lead to an electrical short — and a fire. If you’re trying to obtain a Clark Griswold-level of outdoor decoration perfection, she warns, it can be easy to overdo it. “A general rule of thumb is to not plug in more than three strands at a time, follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on the box,” Vastis says. “If you’re opening your tub of old lights and trying to pull them out and see what you have and if anything is frayed or old, it’s time to get rid of it.”

Some newer L-E-D-style lights allow you to connect a few dozen strings of lights and plug them into just one outlet, but she says to read the labeling very carefully. For many Iowans, it’s simply not the holidays if the fragrance of fresh pine isn’t wafting throughout the house, but if you have a “real” tree, it’s important that your electric lights are safe. “For the indoor lighting, make sure that what you’re using is not overloaded in a circuit with a number of other items,” Vastis says. “Make sure that if you’re putting those lights on a Christmas tree, that the Christmas tree is in good shape, that it’s watered so that the lighting doesn’t cause a fire.”

An association study finds electrical distribution or lighting equipment was involved in more than two of every five (44%) home Christmas tree fires.