The Iowa Transportation Commission approved the annual update to the five-year plan for road improvements Tuesday. The director of the D-O-T planning and programming division Stuart Anderson says they’ll spend a little more once again this year. He says it’s a three-point-five Billion dollar plan, which is a 300 million dollar increase over last year. “And that increase is primarily due to the passage of the federal transportation authorization bill that provided some additional funding for improvements. And then of course this increase comes on the heels of the program that the commission approved last June which had a 500 million dollar increase over the previous program as a result of the legislative action to increase the fuel tax.”

A big slice of the money approved is going toward bridges. “About a third of that three-point-five Billion is going for bridge improvement or bridge construction across the state of Iowa,” Anderson says. He says the amount of money spent on bridges has steadily increased and the number of structurally deficient bridges on the state highway system has been reduced from 256 in 2006 to 81 in 2015. They have prioritized the bridges to decide which ones will get worked on first in the next year.

“Certainly the bridge conditions plays a role in that prioritization, as does the amount of travel on that bridge and type of travel,” Anderson says. “And also as it is coordinated with other projects — and in different parts of the state that may impact schedule as well. So, it’s a combination of factors.” The plan adds a new year of projects each year as projects are completed, and some major projects carry over.

“The interstate construction in Council Bluffs and Sioux City has been underway and continues in this program. We also have four-lane construction of U-S 20 in western Iowa in this program, and also U-S 30 in Tama and Benton Counties. Also, U-S 61 four-lane construction down in southeast Iowa is included in the program,” according to Anderson. The D-O-T planners put together the estimated cost of the projects before they are approved by the Transportation Commission. Anderson says they’ve been fortunate that the final bids have been better than expected.

“For the last several years….the bids have come in below the programmed amounts. That has resulted in additional funding coming available for more projects to be programmed,” Anderson says. You can see the complete list of projects in the plan in this story at www.news.iowadot.gov.

(Radio IOwa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a northwest Iowa ethanol plant owner has pleaded guilty to failing to pay employment taxes and dumping ethanol into a stream. Randy Less, of Hopkinton, was charged in January with failing to collect and pay to the government federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from the wages of employees of Permeate Refining.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Court of Appeals says two men convicted of second-degree murder for their involvement in the mob beating death of a Des Moines man in a downtown parking lot in 2013 will get new trials. The court’s ruling filed Wednesday says new trials are necessary for James Shorter and Yarvon Russell to determine their role in the death of 40-year-old Richard Daughenbaugh.

ALTOONA, Iowa (AP) — An IRS report says that a central Iowa casino owes up to $60 million in back taxes and penalties. The Des Moines Register reports that Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino’s board of directors released a 93-page IRS report Wednesday that threatens to revoke its tax exempt-status and a letter protesting federal agency’s actions. Casino officials learned about the IRS’ plans to take away its tax-exempt status May 12, following a year-and-a-half investigation.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Cedar Rapids highway currently under construction appears on track to open ahead of schedule. Cedar Rapids television station KCRG reports that the first half of the Highway 100 extension could open by Thanksgiving. It had been scheduled to open sometime next year, with the entire project to open in the fall of 2018.

School’s out for the summer, but hundreds of Iowa science teachers are going back to class over the next few days. Iowa Department of Education spokesperson Staci Hupp says they have teamed up with Grand View University to work with teachers on the new science standards adopted last fall. “We call this an immersion institute — and what that means is we want educators to really have an opportunity to experience what it would be like to be a student in the classroom using the new science standards,” Hupp says.

They’ve brought in national and state science education leaders to work with the teachers on ways to teach using the new standards. She cites an example of one of the lessons. “They’ll have the teachers looking at field corn that has been siting out versus corn that has been sitting in water soaking for a week and then the scientific phenomenon associated with that. So, this really gets to idea of helping students experience and explains science, ” Hupp says. “So in that field corn example — this is saying as a student I am going to observe this as a scientist would — ask questions, and then use my knowledge and skills to explain why the field corn won’t sprout after it has been sitting in water for a week.”

This is the second year of the four-year implementation of the new science standards, which take a new approach to teaching science. “Our previous science standards were based on learning from the late 1990s, and so much about science and our understanding about how students learn about science has changed over that time,” according to Hupp. “The new standards identify those science and engineering practices and content that students should master in order to be prepared for success in college and the workforce.” The institute is designed to give teachers ideas to use in their classroom.

“What we want people to walk away with is to look at our science standards and say ‘what are some local contexts that I can use to spark interest in my students so that they want learn about it,’ and then use critical thinking skills to explain it and potentially solve the scientific problem,” Hupp says. She says the Department of Education is trying to help districts as they decide how best to implement the new standards.

“The standards articulate expectations for what students should know and be able to do at particular grade levels, but its really up to the local schools to make those curriculum decisions. Including decisions about what is taught and how it is taught,” Hupp says. The institute takes place over three days, with elementary teachers taking part today (Wednesday), middle school teachers tomorrow and high school teachers Friday. It is being held at West Des Moines Valley High School.

(Radio Iowa)