Motorists traveling in Iowa should be aware that the mercury might not be the only thing to rise during the sweltering summer heat. Pavement blowups occur when thermal expansion forces the pavement to buckle and shatter. A number of such incidents have been occurring this week.

Example of Pavement blow-up incident

In a typical year, Iowa DOT maintenance equipment operators spend 2,000 to 4,000 hours making temporary repairs of pavement blowups and another 6,000 hours replacing these pavement sections, costing an average of $400,000 annually. Many of the blowups only result in a small pothole or small chunks of concrete lying around the pavement joints, but they must still be repaired.

Unlike scheduled maintenance, pavement blowups occur spontaneously and motorists receive no advance warning. Once a blowup is reported, it takes time to erect a work zone and notify the public. The Iowa DOT urges motorists to pay special attention to pavement surfaces when driving during afternoons with 90-degree or hotter temperatures. Use caution and reduce your speed when approaching broken pavement areas.

Motorists who witness a pavement blowup are asked to contact the nearest law enforcement agency to ensure traffic is routed around the blowup until work zone signage and repair crews are on the scene.

The National Weather Service has issued a four-day-long “excessive heat advisory” for most of the state and parts of northern Iowa are under an “excessive heat warning.” The Advisory runs through 7-a.m. Saturday, for all but the far west and southwest counties, where a separate Heat Advisory is in effect from Noon today through 8-p.m.  That includes Monona, Harrison, Shelby, Pottawattamie, Mills, Montgomery, Fremont and Page Counties. Heat indecies are expected to climb to around 105 degrees or higher this afternoon in those counties, and from 100-to 105 for the rest of the area. 

Meterologist Kevin Skow works in the National Weather Service office in Johnston. He says “This is an unusual situation where we’ve had a very persistent high pressure system over us that’s pumping up a lot of heat from the south.”  This prolonged period of super-high temperature readings during the day is happening because things cannot cool down overnight and Skow says it’s due to a “very moist” air mass hovering over the state. “It takes more energy for water vapor to cool off and since it’s so moist, the air just simply can’t cool off overnight as much as it could, say, in the springtime when we usually have drier air over us,” Skow says. Smoke from the Colorado wildfires has drifted over Iowa, but experts say it won’t cause health problems.

“The smoke is really high in the atmosphere,” he says. “It’s up at 20,000-30,000 feet and the only effects that Iowans will really see from it (are) generally some hazier skies and some redder sunrises and sunsets.” By eight o’clock this morning (Tuesday), heat index readings across the state indicated it already felt like it was 80 degrees in most locations. On Monday Nebraska’s governor declared a state of emergency in his state due to drought conditions there.

A Massachusetts man pedaling his way across the United States stopped in Harlan Monday night. 59-year old Kevin McNett began his journey during Spring Break in April, by dipping his rear wheel in the Atlantic Ocean in Lewis, Delaware. The bike he’s cruising on isn’t your typical, high-end, high dollar two-wheeler. He says it’s a reproduction of a 1885 Victor bicycle. It has the very large front wheel, 54 inches, and a small rear wheel. McNett says it’s more difficult to ride than your typical touring bike. He says its direct drive with the pedals, and has only one gear. Every time he cranks the pedal, he moves forward 160-inches. There is no dropping the gears going up and down hills. 

When McNett started his journey, he had a friend from Maryland pedaling with him and his wife was following in a truck. Since that time, his friend and wife had to stop because of his friend’s health issues. Together they made it to Indiana before McNett pressed on. He made it through Illinois and crossed into Iowa over the Muscatine Bridge. McNett says he’s faced some challenges in Iowa. That includes trying to find the right roads and places to stay. He says the hills are tough, and so is the hot and humid weather. 

McNett pedaled from Jefferson down to Harlan for an overnight stay, Monday. The people he’s spoken with along the way often ask why he’s making the trip. He says ”If you have to ask the question then you will never understand the answer.” McNett says he exactly doesn’t know why he does it, but maybe it’s because less than 25 people who have pedaled across the country have done so in a high wheel bike. He says It’s a fairly exclusive club,” and he hopes to join it. McNett has already pedaled across the country on a normal bike twice in his life. McNett plans on finishing the journey in early September. 

You can find more information about his journey at www.thewheelmen.org.

(courtesy Joel McCall/KNOD – Harlan)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Despite mounting criticism, a spokesman says Gov. Terry Branstad won’t change the application process that former Iowa felons have to navigate to get their voting rights back.  Newspaper editorials, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Democratic Party have denounced Branstad’s policy requiring ex-offenders to submit a credit report, pay all fines and restitution, obtain a $15 background check and answer 31 questions before he’ll restore their citizenship rights.  A Des Moines Register editorial Sunday called the policy an embarrassment to Iowa. The criticism comes after The Associated Press reported Branstad has restored the rights of 11 offenders since implementing the policy, which is among the harshest in the nation.  Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht says the policy helps crime victims by denying felons their voting rights until they pay restitution.

w/ Ric Hanson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (8.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

w/ Ric Hanson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1,009.5KB)

Subscribe: RSS

State officials have until August 10th to decide how to respond to an attempt to stop government-paid abortions in cases of rape or incest. Last month 41 Republican legislators who oppose abortion asked the Iowa Department of Human Services to rewrite its rules which currently allow tax dollars to pay for some abortions. Abortions are covered under Medicaid if the woman’s the victim of rape or incest, if her life is endangered by the pregnancy, or if a fetal abnormality leads doctors to conclude the baby would not survive past birth. This week several groups have filed a response. Jill June is president and C-E-O of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. “This would re-victimize a woman who’s already been through the trauma of a violent crime or who’s facing a pregnancy that’s incompatible with life of the fetus and to withhold health care from her in these circumstances really is heartless,” June says.

This spring a group of Republican lawmakers made a similar attempt to prevent Medicaid patients who’re victims of rape or incest from getting a state-paid abortion. Democrats who prevailed said such a move would jeopardize federal reimbursement to the state and June raises the same argument now.  “Iowa law clearly provides that women who are facing a pregnancy as the result of rape or incest or gross fetal anomaly have access to health care, paid by the Medicaid program,” June says, “so this really doesn’t make sense because the law in Iowa and the federal law all agree that this is the right thing to do.” Critics on the other side argue cases of rape or incest aren’t the fault of the fetus, but the fetus gets the death penalty if the mother opts for an abortion.

The American Civil Liberties Union argues opponents of abortion are asking the Iowa Department of Human services to make a “procedural run-around that violates Iowa law” about how agencies can make rules. June agrees. “We don’t understand what basis they are making this complaint,” June says. Officials in the Department of Human Services can either dismiss the petition filed by Republican legislators, or start drafting emergency rules to implement the policy abortion opponents seek.

(Radio Iowa)

The U-S Department of Education has granted Iowa’s request for a one-year freeze on the standards imposed by the No Child Left Behind. The state Education Department requested the one-year freeze on the federal regulations last week after failing to gain a permanent waiver of the rules. A spokeswoman for the department, Staci Hupp, says this move is just one step in a larger battle over education in the state.  “This is a temporary measure while we continue to seek permanent relief from No Child Left Behind’s unrealistic accountability measures,” Hupp says. If the freeze had not been granted, 87- percent of all students in third through eighth and 11th grade would have been expected to have meet grade-level standards in reading and math. The target for most Iowa schools will stay around 80-percent of students performing at grade level. Education Department director Jason Glass and Governor Terry Branstad blamed the legislature for failing to pass an educator evaluation system as the reason the state did not received a permanent waiver from the federal standards. The legislature is studying the evaluation system to make a recommendation for the next session.

Hupp says it’s good news to get more time to work on the issue. “Although it’s a temporary measure that doesn’t really address the root of the problem. Director Glass believes that as a nation significant changes to the No Child Left Behind law must become a priority,” Hupp says. The Department of Education is in the process of yearly progress reports, and officials say they do not yet know how many schools the freeze will affect. Federal officials indicated Iowa would not get another freeze year if it fails to come up with the changes required for a permanent waiver.

(Radio Iowa)

A new traffic signal is showing up in Iowa and officials are hoping it’ll clear up confusion many motorists have with left turns across traffic. The Federal Highway Administration has adopted the flashing yellow arrow as a national standard for “permissive left turn” operations. Cathy Cutler, a transportation planner with the Iowa Department of Transportation, calls it an “enhancement” of the green arrow. “When people are going to make left turns across traffic, they get the green arrow and that means they have the right-of-way to make the left turn. The new addition is what the next phase will be and that’s the flashing yellow arrow. That indicates you can still make a left turn across traffic, but you’re required to yield to any oncoming traffic and any pedestrians,” Cutler says. Following the flashing yellow arrow, the signal will change to a steady yellow arrow indicating the left turn signal is about to turn red. Cutler says a national study determined drivers found flashing yellow left turn arrows more understandable than traditional yield-on-green indications.

“Really, the confusion came for those left turners when there wasn’t a green arrow. They didn’t really know what the green bulb meant. It means you can proceed but you need to yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians,” Cutler said. “We believe the flashing yellow arrow will help prevent crashes.” Several flashing yellows arrow signals are already in operation around Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Des Moines. More will be installed across the state at busy intersections in the coming months. “The ones that have been up…have been up for a couple months now and we haven’t had any issues or citizen complaints about them,” Cutler said. The flashing yellow arrows are also expected to reduce traffic delays as the new signals provide traffic engineers with more options to handle variable traffic volumes.

(Radio Iowa)