Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley accuses Republicans of using disaster victims as “pawns” in the fight over the federal budget. Fifty Democrats and 10 Republicans in the U.S. Senate have passed a bill that provides the stop-gap spending for the nation’s disaster recovery programs, but the Republican-controlled U.S. House is poised to insist on making deep cuts in a program Democrats support to pay for that disaster relief.  “Flood recovery has, like most things, become a partisan bargaining chip in Washington and will be used as a pawn in the budget negotiations,” Braley says. “There’s even been threats of another government shut-down and this is deplorable.” Congress has not passed a budget for the next federal fiscal year, which begins October 1st.   Braley says federal disaster aide for this summer’s flash-flooding in Dubuque and Jackson Counties as well as the Missouri River flooding is at stake, along with federal funds for disaster-related projects that date back to the flooding in Iowa back in 2008.

“Helping people get back on their feet after a disaster is one of the basic functions of government,” Braley says. “It shouldn’t be a political issue bogged down in Washington politics. It needs to get done and it needs to get done now.” Braley says while most Americans are well aware of the flooding which struck the east coast because of the recent hurricane, few realize Midwesterners who live and work along the Missouri River have been dealing with flood woes since June.

“(It’s) probably the longest-sustained flooding event in the history of the United States,” Braley says. “It shouldn’t be subject to political gamesmanship…and that’s why I’m calling on my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to find a way to get it done and not make it another political football which is why…people in the United States have become so disenchanted with the way things work here in Washinton.” Braley’s Aunt Mary has been out of her home in Percival, Iowa, for three and a half months because of the Missouri River flooding. Braley visited the area on August 31 and posted some photos on Twitter. Braley described Percival as a “ghost town” with “water and mold everywhere.”

(Radio Iowa)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has named the four members of an independent panel that will review this year’s flooding on the Missouri River. The corps said Wednesday that the panel members include three hydrologists – Bill Lawrence of the National Weather Service, Darwin Ockerman of the U.S. Geological Survey and Cara McCarthy of the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The fourth member is Neil Grigg, a professor at Colorado State University. The corps manages the Missouri’s flow through a series of dams and storage reservoirs and has faced intense criticism over the flooding. The agency says the panel will help determine if anything could have been done to prevent this year’s flood and provide recommendations for improving future operations. Among the issues that will be examined is whether climate change played a role in this year’s record runoff.

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman reports three men’s names will be included on the November 8th Special Election for the Cass County Supervisor District 2 seat. The latest addition, is Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy Don Lappe, who has been nominated by petition. Lappe joins Gaylord Schelling, who was nominated by Republican convention, and Jeff. J. Richter, who was nominated by petition, on the ballot. All three men are from Atlantic.

Nomination papers to fill the seat on the Board of Supervisors, which was left vacant by the death of Chuck Kinen, must be filed by no later than 5-p.m. Friday, September 23rd.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – An Omaha woman once believed to be the victim of a home invasion and now charged with first-degree murder in the 2001 shooting in her western Iowa home faces a new federal charge of passport fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Omaha says 45-year-old Tracey Ann Richter – also known to authorities as Tracey Richter-Roberts – made false statements in early 2009 in an application for a passport, which she intended “for her own use or the use of another.” In an affidavit, a U.S. State Department special agent said Richter applied for the passport in Omaha claiming her name was Sophie Corrina Terese Edwards. The federal indictment was unsealed Wednesday. In July, Iowa authorities charged Richter with first-degree murder in the 2001 shooting death of 20-year-old Dustin Wehde.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Crews are assessing damage to Iowa highways and beginning repairs now that the Missouri River has dropped to lower levels after a summer of flooding. Sections of the Interstates 29 and 680 are largely rubble, leaving workers with a daunting number of repairs and little time as winter approaches. Officials say they’ll fix as many roads as possible this fall and hope to have at least single lanes open on damaged stretches of interstate by December, but some work will have to wait until next year. Iowa Department of Transportation spokeswoman Dena Gray-Fisher says in some spots, “there isn’t any road left. You’ve got to start from scratch.” Gray-Fisher says a contract for bids will go out Friday to rebuild a badly damaged three-mile stretch of I-680.

Authorities in Council Bluffs say two people were arrested Tuesday morning following a pursuit that led officers into Omaha and back into Council Bluffs. Council Bluffs Police Sgt. Mark Galvan said when an officer tried to stop a suspicious, black SUV shortly after 9- a.m., the driver of a white Dodge truck tried to strike the officer’s vehicle.

Galvan said after the officer took evasive action to avoid the truck, he began to pursue both vehicles into Omaha. The Dodge truck, which was later determined to have been stolen, was able to elude authorities, but later found to have been abandoned.

When Police later learned the black SUV returned to Council Bluffs, they were able to locate it in an area known as Malmore Acres. Following a brief foot pursuit, a man and a woman were taken into custody. Their names were not immediately released. The woman, who was driving the SUV, was charged with eluding, reckless driving, and driving while disqualified. She was also arrested on warrants for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, driving while barred and possession of prescription drugs.

The man in the SUV was arrested on a warrant for possession of a controlled substance. He also faces a charge of eluding.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A Nebraska couple has marked the end of the U.S. military’s ban on gay service by tying the knot. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that 48-year-old Gregory Smith, a full-time member of the Nebraska Army National Guard, married 39-year-old John Burns on Tuesday in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The wedding occurred just hours after the military ended its so-called “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The couple had originally planned to marry next spring, but Smith told family members he wanted to marry on the first day he could serve openly as a gay man in the military. Burns told the newspaper that if the ban had not been lifted, he and Smith probably would not have married until Smith finished his military service.