Officials with SWIPCO (The Southwest Iowa Planning Council) have announced pre-applications are being sought from homeowners in Lewis and Walnut, who want to participate in a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) home rehabilitation program. The cities, with assistance from SWIPCO, are submitting applications to the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), in January, for the housing CDBG program.

If awarded, the program will provide funding to income qualified homes within the target area. The homes will be brought up to the Iowa Minimum Housing Rehabilitation Standards, which may include items such as furnaces, windows, doors, roofing, siding, foundation, etc.

All pre-applications are due by Friday, Dec. 16th. If the cities are awarded the CDBG grant, all pre-applicants will be contacted to complete a full application. If you are interested in pre-applying, residents in Lewis should contact the Lewis City Hall at 769-2216. Walnut residents should call 784-3443. Or, you may also call SWIPCO at 1-866-279-4720, to obtain an application.

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About SWIPCO: Southwest Iowa Planning Council is the council of government serving the eight counties of southwest Iowa with public transit, housing rehab, as well as community and economic development. SWIPCO is an equal opportunity employer, provider and lender.

Iowa took a big fall on a report that ranks the 50 states’ highway systems for factors like pavement condition, traffic jams, traffic deaths, deficient bridges and spending per mile. David Hartgen, lead author of the study from the Reason Foundation, says Iowa hasn’t kept up with its highway maintenance and the state’s 95-hundred miles of highways are really showing the wear.

“Overall, we are looking at a system in Iowa which ought to be in better shape considering the resources, but that’s not the case,” Hartgen says. “We rated them 40th nationwide. That’s a big tumble from 18th in the prior survey.” The annual study rates the states in overall highway performance and cost-effectiveness. He says Iowa did poorly in both of those areas, and in many others.

“We ranked them 37th on the condition of the rural interstate system and there was a very significant increase in the percentage of poor mileage on that system in just one year,” Hartgen says. “We also ranked them 37th on the percentage of poor mileage on the urban interstate and that’s also a big tick up from prior years.”

The study finds South Carolina, South Dakota and Kansas have the nation’s most cost-effective state highway systems, while Alaska ranked last, just ahead of New Jersey and Hawaii. Iowa’s fall from 18th to 40th place in one year isn’t a result of the state having “done something wrong,” Hartgen says, but it’s a matter of choices made by the D-O-T to spend money in some places and not in others.

“A significant portion of the interstate system was just above the poor level in the prior year,” Hartgen says. “Then, not dealing with that circumstance, it deteriorated to a poor rating in the next year.” It’s a common issue in all states, he says, as transportation officials try to balance limited funding for doing much-needed maintenance versus investing in new construction. This is the 22nd Annual Highway Report published by the Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank that has advised four presidential administrations on transportation and infrastructure issues.

http://reason.org/studies/show/22nd-annual-highway-report

(Radio Iowa)

A Red Oak woman was taken into custody at around 8:30-p.m. Sunday for OWI/2nd offense. Red Oak Police say 32-year old Melanie Joy Bowers was arrested following a traffic stop at the intersection of Highways 34 and 48. She was also charged with Driving While Suspended. Bowers was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

A traffic stop early this (Monday) morning by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office K9 unit resulted in an arrest, and the seizure of drugs and cash. Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports a vehicle was stopped by the K9 unit in the 1900 block of Highway 2, for a traffic violation. During an investigation, 18-year old Austin Dickey, of Excelsior Springs, MO., was found to be in possession of marijuana, numerous pieces of drug paraphernalia, and four bundles of U-S currency.

Dickey was taken into custody without incident and brought to the Fremont County Law Enforcement Center, where he was being held pending an initial court appearance.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 2:40 a.m. CST

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — The landscape around the Muscatine County Courthouse will change when nine large ash trees are removed because of damage caused by the emerald ash borer. The Muscatine Journal reports county officials decided to remove the trees after they were inspected by an expert because they could be a safety hazard. Damage caused by the emerald ash borer beetles kills the trees and leaves the limbs brittle.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Council Bluffs officials are trying to determine how far invasive zebra mussels have spread from one of the basins where the city draws drinking water from. The Daily Nonpareil reports the mussels were found during maintenance this fall, but it’s not clear if they have begun to colonize and clog the pipes leading into the city’s water treatment plant.

ASBURY, Iowa (AP) — The firing of Asbury’s parks director is being questioned by board members who oversaw his work. Parks board member Ken Resch tells The Dubuque Telegraph Herald that the firing of Jason Thieme last Wednesday was a surprise.

PHOENIX (AP) — Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer fought her Republican party in the Legislature for months to push through an expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Now, she hopes one of the pillars of President Barack Obama’s health care law can be saved as Donald Trump pushes to dump much of the overhaul. Many officials in GOP-led states that expanded Medicaid are like Brewer. They support the program that brought insurance to about 9 million low-income Americans who couldn’t afford it themselves.