DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec. 10, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director in Iowa Theresa Greenfield today announced that USDA is investing $35,796,000 loans and $3,583,000 in grants to five water and electric projects in rural Iowa.

– The City of Defiance received a $1,596,000 loan through the Water and Waste Disposal Loans and Grants to help upgrade its wastewater treatment facilities. This project will establish a three-cell controlled discharge lagoon system, replace aged components, and add a diffuser to the wastewater effluent outfall. The project will alleviate an imminent sanitary hazard by constructing facilities to comply with water quality requirements for ammonia and chloride levels. Once completed, this project will promote the health of 245 residents of this rural Shelby County community.

Director Greenfield says “A strong rural Iowa economy is rooted in our people and in the delivery of safe, reliable water and electricity to support the needs of families as well as for the growth of employers and the workforce. USDA is making these investments to better position rural America to compete in a global economy, while ensuring people who live and work in these communities can find success right at home in Iowa.”

Today’s news is part of a larger national announcement made by USDA Secretary Vilsack. Read the full announcement here.

Other cities/entities receiving USDA loans include:

-Calhoun County Electric Cooperative Association received a $6,000,000 loan through Electric Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee program to help build and improve 58 miles of line and connect many households to modern service. This project includes $322,128 for smart grid technologies. The co-op is headquartered in Rockwell City and serves 1,694 consumers over 795 miles of line in five counties in west central Iowa—Calhoun, Greene, Pocahontas, Sac, and Webster counties.

-University of Northern Iowa in Black Hawk County received a $83,000 grant through the Solid Waste Management Grants program to help provide compost operations and conduct training. This project will identify rural communities to assist and will then provide on-site training in composting food waste, incorporating best practices, using the finished products, and protecting water resources from pollutants and contaminants. Once completed, this project in Black Hawk County will help reduce water pollution and harmful methane emissions from food waste in landfills.

-City of Nichols received a $1,200,000 loan through the Water and Waste Disposal Loans and Grants program to help improve its waste water treatment facility and collection system. This project will repair manholes, line the collection system, improve the lift station, rehabilitate the lagoon, and replace the force main. This project will help reduce sewer backups and excessive infiltration to meet water treatment quality standards. Once completed, the project will promote the health and safety of 340 residents of this rural Muscatine County community..

– City of Emmetsburg received a $27,000,000 loan and a $3,500,000 grant through the Water and Waste Disposal Loans and Grants program to help renovate its wastewater treatment facility which was built in the 1970s. This project will replace the rotating biological contactor treatment with an activated sludge treatment utilizing the University of Capetown concept process. The new method will be resilient to slug loading and peak weather events and will provide ease of operations. This project will replace other aging infrastructure and obsolete equipment. The project will help the city comply with modern sanitation regulations and will promote the health and safety of residents of this rural Palo Alto community.

AMES, Iowa – Dec. 10, 2024 – Today, the Iowa Transportation Commission approved more than $2.1 million in grants for four intercity transportation providers for the calendar year 2025 Intercity Bus Program. The Commission approved the funds for eight projects submitted by the following four entities.

• Burlington Trailways
• Greyhound Lines
• Jefferson Lines
• City of Fort Dodge

With the current trend in intercity bus transportation moving away from rural connectivity into more urban-to-urban service, these funds play a vital role in keeping rural Iowa connected to other areas within the state of Iowa, the Midwest, and the nation. This funding comes from the Federal Transit Administration’s 5311(f) program intended to support intercity bus providers that serve communities with less than 20,000 residents.

Eight applications were approved this year with $2,185,829 in funding, highlighting the important role of this program. Burlington Trailways received funds to replace two over-the-road motorcoaches. Greyhound Lines received funds to assist with start-up service support.  Jefferson Lines received funds to replace one over-the-road motorcoach, existing and start-up service support, marketing of their existing services, and rental assistance for two of their Iowa facilities. The city of Fort Dodge received funding for marketing of their existing services.

A listing of the individual projects and funding amounts is available on the Iowa Department of Transportation’s website https://iowadot.gov/transit/funding-programs-and-applications/funding-programs.

DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) is proud to announce that six counties have been recognized as having top-performing jails in the state. This recognition celebrates jails that demonstrate excellence in operations and management, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of both prisoners and staff.

The DOC evaluates jails across three categories based on capacity:

• Small Jails (up to 30 beds): Fremont and Ringgold Counties
• Medium Jails (31–100 beds): Wayne and Allamakee Counties
• Large Jails (101 beds or more): Black Hawk and Warren Counties

Per Iowa Code 356, all jails in Iowa undergo an annual inspection conducted by the DOC to ensure compliance with the Iowa Administrative Code’s Jail Standards. These inspections include a comprehensive review of daily jail documentation, a facility tour, interaction with prisoners, and an operational review conducted by a DOC Inspector.

“Iowa is one of only 21 states where jail standards are overseen by the state’s Department of Corrections,” said DOC Director Dr. Beth Skinner. “Iowa consistently ranks among the top states for jail management, and that is a testament to the hard work and dedication of jail staff across our state.”

In 2017, the Iowa DOC launched the “Best of the Best” award to formally recognize exceptional efforts in jail operations. The achievement underscores the diligence and professionalism demonstrated by all staff every day.

(Radio Iowa) – A new report suggests up to 10 percent of Iowa construction workers have been underpaid because they’ve been incorrectly identified as independent contractors rather than employees. Sean Finn, who authored the report for Common Good Iowa, says that “misclassification” is against the law. “The practice that is going on is saying: ‘These employees that I have, I’m going to get away with calling them independent contractors and not paying taxes on them,” Finn says, “‘not paying any of my employer fees and responsibilities like workers’ comp, unemployment, etc.'”

About five percent of employed Iowans work in the construction industry. While the majority of them earn good wages and benefits, Finn says the report shows there’s an underground economy emerging.  “Obviously a lot of public money goes to infrastructure work. A lot of this money goes to the lowest bidder in the vast majority of cases,” Finn says. “These low bidders are increasingly lawbreaking, non-local construction contractors that are using these really bad employment practices — illegal practices, going along with very little enforcement.” Finn says BILLIONS of dollars will be flooding into the state in the next decade due to federal programs, but the very complicated web of general contractors and sub-contractors will make it difficult to hold bad actors accountable.

Finn says illegally classifying someone as an independent contractor saves a business about six-thousand dollars annually in fringe benefits and another six-thousand dollars in Social Security and Medicare taxes. They’re also ineligible for unemployment benefits if they’re laid off. “Folks who face extreme medical debt because of injuries on the job site while misclassified as an independent contractor,” Finn says, “meaning they weren’t covered by workers’ comp.” Common Good Iowa is recommending that Iowa legislators update the state’s wage payment collection law and hire more people to enforce the law.

“The state employs four investigators to oversee wage payment collection for a workforce of 1.6 million,” Finn says. “That’s not nearly enough.” Finn says more staff could not only investigate businesses trying to evade labor laws and taxes, but they could educate Iowa employers who want to do business the right way, but are unaware of the law. A 2022 report from Common Good Iowa indicated Iowa workers lost 900 MILLION dollars in wages in 2022 due to fraud.

(Radio Iowa) – A report presented to the state Transportation Commission today (Tuesday) shows an uptick in November in some types of rail traffic. The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson says the numbers shows a lot of activity in consumer goods. “Very strong consumer spending and consumer demand has been reflected in a lot of activity at our ports, bringing in a lot of containers, and of course, that then corresponds to a lot of car loads following those intermodal containers on the rail system,” Anderson says. Anderson says the rail cargo increased dramatically. “Three of the top five weeks of all time were in November in hauling intermodal containers ,” he says, “so strong consumer demand and consumer spending. Year to date, that’s up just about eleven percent over last year.” While the amount of consumer goods increased, the rail numbers for manufacturing products didn’t match them.

“The hauling of industrial products on the rail system is flat, reflecting the continuing weak manufacturing sector,” Anderson says. Anderson says there is some better news for farmers in the rail numbers. “Grain shipments are up compared to 2023 of course, 2023 was a was a challenging year for grain exports and shipment on the rail system,” Anderson says. Anderson says there has been a lot of talk among the railroads about the potential impact on traffic from potential tariffs from the incoming Trump administration, and the D-O-T will monitor any changes.