(Grimes, Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand reports 15 Iowa school districts have been awarded a combined $11.5-million in funding from the Clean School Bus Program to replace 32 existing school buses with “clean” or zero-emission buses. In this area, the districts include the:

• Audubon Community School District
• Coon Rapids-Bayard School District
• IKM-Manning School District
• Logan-Magnolia, and the
• Sidney Community School Districts

The program was established by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and provides $5 billion over the next five years to replace existing school buses with clean and zero-emissions models that cost less to operate. Auditor Sand says “The Clean School Bus Program saves Iowa school districts millions of dollars. It also shows that when lawmakers from both parties work together, they are more likely to create real solutions that put our kids and our communities on the right path.”

Auditor Rob Sand tours Sea Electric in Grimes

This is the first round of funding from the Clean School Bus Program. Auditor Sand is encouraging Iowa school districts to apply for the second round of funding which will provide an estimated $400 million in competitive grants for clean and zero-emissions school buses. School district officials interested in learning more about the program may email questions to cleanschoolbus@epa.gov. The deadline to submit an application is Tuesday, August 22, 2023, at 11:59 pm (ET).

Auditor Sand announced the 2022 awardees during a tour of Sea Electric in Grimes. Sea Electric is a global automotive technology company leading the way in the development of electric drive systems for commercial vehicles including school buses. The tour showcased a school bus that will soon be retrofitted with electric vehicle technology.

(Radio Iowa)- The two newest additions to Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines are from the rain forests of Columbia, very rare primates known as cotton-top tamarins. Zoo spokesman Ryan Bickel says most Iowans will never have seen one of these creatures up-close, if they’ve even heard of a tamarin. The species is critically endangered, Bickel says. It’s estimated there are fewer than two-thousand left in natural areas. The tamarins have brown fur across their backs, but they also have distinctive snow-white manes.

Tamarin Photos via Blank Park Zoo’s Facebook page

Bickel says tamarins look like they might have been the inspiration for an ’80s rock band hairstyle. He says the tiny, fast-moving tamarins are curious and playful, they’re excellent climbers, and their habitat at the zoo is set up to recreate their South American forest home. Their names are Kida and Eddie, and the tamarins are a breeding pair within the Species Survival Plan, so zoo officials hope to see babies in the future.

(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Regents held the first reading of a proposed increase in tuition at the three state universities at its meeting Thursday. Brad Berg of the Regents’ office explained the proposal. “The proposed base undergraduate resident tuition increases include a three and a half percent increase at each of the three universities and that amounts to 305 dollars at the University of Iowa, 304 dollars at Iowa State, and 285 dollars at U-N-I,” Berg says.

The proposal would also increase mandatory fees at the U-I by 306 dollars, 60 dollars at I-S-U, and 32 dollars at U-N-I. Regent David Barker pointed out that the proposed tuition increase is well below the recent inflation numbers. “Which are running close to five, below the most recent increase in Iowa personal income per capita, that’s about seven-point-four percent. Below most recent median household income numbers in Iowa which is about five-point-two percent,” Barker says. “So, I mean, we’re we’re continuing to be affordable for middle class Iowans.”

Barker says students are really getting a tuition cut. “In real terms after inflation we’re cutting tuition because our increase is less than the inflation rate,” Barker says.

David Barker (Board of Regents photo)

Barker is an Iowa City native, who is an economist who owns a company that manages and develops apartments and real estate. The Regent’s staff says the increases are needed after the legislature denied a request for an increase of 32 million dollars in state support for the universities. The second and final reading of the proposed increase will be held at the Board’s June 13th meeting. They will also hear from student leaders on the increase at that time as well.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa homeowners, business owners and renters who had damage in the severe storms and tornadoes on March 31st have until the middle of next week to apply for low-interest loans in-person through the U-S Small Business Administration. Cynthia Cowell, spokeswoman for the S-B-A’s Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience, says the agency set up a temporary office in the Coralville Library back in April and it’ll be closing on Wednesday (May 17th).

“We can offer up to $200,000 for homeowners to repair their primary dwelling,” Cowell says, “up to $40,000 for homeowners and renters to replace their personal property, and up to $2 million for businesses both for physical damage to their business and economic injury.” These loans are available to businesses and residents in eight Iowa counties: Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Linn, Louisa, Muscatine and Washington. If they have access to the internet, Cowell suggests they start by visiting the website: sba.gov/disaster.

“That’ll give them information about disaster loans and also provide the application,” Cowell says. “They can either download it and mail it in, or if they want to do it before we close at the Coralville Library, they can download it and bring it to us and we’ll look it over.” Homeowners who’d like to apply for a loan in-person do -not- have to bring along receipts detailing repairs or photos showing the damage.

“We’ll ask for that in processing. Mainly what they need to do is come in and complete an application to get the whole thing started,” Cowell says. “We will require tax returns for the last three years for businesses, but if they don’t have them with them right now, I know that tornadoes have a tendency to scatter items, then we’ll work with them.” The application deadline for physical damage assistance is June 26th. For businesses that had no physical damage but suffered economic losses after the storm, the S-B-A also offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans. The application deadline for EIDLs for this event is January 26, 2024.