Six candidates vying for the Iowa Republican Party’s 2014 U.S. Senate nomination gathered last night (Wednesday) in Des Moines for a discussion of “ObamaCare” and the federal government’s finances. Last night’s forum sponsored by Americans For Prosperity and National Review was the first time the candidates have stood together on the same stage at the same time and faced questions. When asked whether the recent federal government shut-down was a smart strategy for Republicans, David Young was the only one of the candidates to directly defend it.

“I was proud to watch the House of Representatives and the Senate fight ObamaCare — defunding it, delaying it, repealing it,” Young said. “You know, Ted Cruz was on the floor for 21 hours and it was so nice to see, finally, the senate deliberating…We need to do more of that.” Matt Whitaker said he was “disappointed in the solution.” “We cannot continue to manage this government by crisis, going from debt ceilings to fiscal cliffs and doing it all over again three months later,” Whitaker said, “and that’s where we’re heading with this.” Sam Clovis criticized Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s role in brokering the deal that ended the shutdown and Clovis blasted what he called a “carve-out” of two-billion dollars for a project in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky that was inserted in the final compromise.

“Is that compromise?” Clovis asked. “Is it compromise kicking the can down the road? Is that the compromise that Iowans want from their next senator?” Joni Ernst said politicians need to “stand on principles,” but they also need to “work together.”  “I don’t believe any Republican member of congress wanted to see a government shutdown or for us to default on our obligations,” Ernst said. “But I do believe they brought to light what is the tragedy of ObamaCare and what is our $17 trillion debt.” Each of the candidates comdemned the Affordable Care Act. Scott Schaben argued advocates of ObamaCare have a “hard time selling their product.”

“150 years ago those people would have been drug out of D.C. behind a horse,” Schaben said. Paul Lunde, the other candidate on the stage, frequently used the forum to tout some of the books he’s written. “You can go home, you can get it on your computer, you can open up a book and you can see exactly what I’m proposing to do,” Lunde said.

Iowa Democratic Party chairman Scott Brennan notes the phrase “middle class” was not mentioned during the debate, but Texas Senator Ted Cruz was touted as the ideal for Republican senators to follow. Congressman Bruce Braley is the only Democratic candidate who is seeking Iowa’s senate seat in 2014.

(Radio Iowa)

Researchers at Iowa State University’s Bridge Engineering Center are joining with counterparts at a federal accelerated bridge center based at Florida International University to create ways to replace bridges faster. The I-S-U center’s director, Brent Phares, says they’ll get approximately 800-thousand dollars from the U-S D-O-T over the next two years for research.  “It’s not just all about building bridges faster, it’s more about limiting the amount of time roads are closed to the traveling public,” Phares says.

He says high-volume traffic areas in cities and also bridges along interstates in rural areas like Iowa are part of the focus. Phares says the detours are often much longer than the original — causing drivers to use many more resources. “Additional travel time, they use additional fuel which causes additional pollution. Additional miles, which causes additional wear and tear on their vehicles,” Phares explains. One new technique was recently used by the Iowa D-O-T to replaced a 1930 bridge on State Highway 92 just outside Massena in western Iowa’s Cass County. The new bridge was built next to the old one and the old bridge stayed open during construction.

Once the new bridge was done, the old bridge was torn down and the new bridge was rolled laterally into line where the old bridge sat. The construction of that bridge took only nine days. Another idea is to use self propelled transporters so a new bridge can be built some distance away from the old bridge. “They are basically multi-wheeled vehicles, and then you drive the vehicle down the existing alignment and you drop it (new bridge) very carefully in place in the existing alignment,” according to Phares. “And again, the down that you have is pretty minimal.”

He expects their research will be conducted in the lab studying new techniques, but some will also be out in the field. “Also testing existing bridge details and how they function, how they perform in a bridge that is constructed in an accelerated environment. Because there are some differences in the loads that those bridges see,” Phares says. The researchers need to find another 400-thousand dollars in matching grants for a total of 1.2-million dollars of bridge research over the next two years. The University of Nevada-Reno is also a partner in the project.

(Radio Iowa)