Congressman Tom Latham says congress will conduct hearings to examine the way the Army Corps of Engineers has managed the Missouri River.  “Is it managed for flood control or is it managed to protect endangered species? Is it managed for recreational purposes upriver?” Latham says. “Those are questions that we’re going to have to investigate.” Critics say the Corps is too concerned with the recreation level of reservoirs upstream, and doesn’t give enough weight to the concerns of downstream residents.

“Certainly I think the master manual needs to be revised, so that once again flood control is the number one priority,” Latham says, “as was intended when these dams were built in the first place.” Latham, a Republican, currently lives in Ames — about 200 miles from the Missouri River. But Latham intends to move to Des Moines soon and plans to seek reelection in 2012 in the new congressional district that will include both Des Moines and Council Bluffs and the southwest stretch of Iowa that borders the Missouri River.

Last Wednesday Latham visited Glenwood and Sidney, cities that are in Iowa’s new third congressional district. Congressman Leonard Boswell, a Democrat from Des Moines, also intends to run in that new southwest Iowa district. Boswell visited Hamburg and Council Bluffs last Monday.

(O.Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

A company that helps businesses find employees is trying to recruit native Iowans, who moved away, back to the state. Manpower spokesperson Kathy Joblinske says the program is designed to specifically help companies that are having a hard time filling certain openings. “We created this Welcome Home to Iowa program, which really focuses on recruiting talent back to the state,” Joblinske said. “We’re letting people know there are amazing jobs here in Iowa at all different levels.” Iowa has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the U.S. and more Baby Boomers will be retiring soon.

“That means there are fewer workers that are going to be in that working age…as a matter of fact, we have 18,000 people leaving the working age in the state of Iowa by 2013. That’s a very alarming number,” Joblinske said. Manpower launched the Welcome Home to Iowa program last November – recruiting former Iowans back to the state through a combination of social media and word of mouth. Joblinske says many Iowa natives are interested in moving back, but they don’t believe the job they’re looking for will be available.

“So, our job is to match them up with the employers that have those needs as well as provide support to that candidate in moving back,” Joblinske said. Manpower agencies across the state have partnered with chambers of commerce and businesses in the recruitment effort. Joblinske says engineers and skill trades people are in especially high demand in Iowa.

LINK: http://us.manpower.com/us/en/about-manpower/welcome-home-iowa.jsp

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Mo. River flooding, Monona-Harrison Co. line

Federal, state and local officials this week will begin damage assessments of homes impacted by flooding along the Missouri River. Joyce Flinn, with the Iowa Emergency Management Division, says the inspection teams will include representatives from her office as well as FEMA and the Small Business Administration.

“This will actually be an aerial assessment at this time because many of those homes are inundated with water,” Flinn said. The assessments will begin Wednesday (July 6) in Monona, Harrison, Pottawattamie, Mills and Fremont Counties. Flinn says an assessment of homes in Woodbury County will be conducted later. The work will help state officials who are seeking federal funding to assist

“There are different degrees of damage, but if a home sits in a lot of water for several months – regardless if it’s eight feet of water or three feet of water – it’s probably going to be destroyed,” Flinn said. State officials currently estimate more than 500 homes, mostly in rural Iowa, have major damage or have been destroyed in the Missouri River flooding.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

AMES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Transportation says it will delay the installation of a flood wall along parts of U.S. Highway 30. The work closure had been scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, west of Missouri Valley. Because of the delay, the road will remain open to travel on Tuesday.

The department says flood water is still filling the basin that extends north and south of the highway, but appears to be leveling. Water has stabilized south of the highway, and is only rising slightly to the north. Department officials say they will notify the public of any future flood work along the highway after the department further assesses the site conditions.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office has released a cumulative report on arrests and accidents which occurred over the past week. Officials say on June 25^th, 25-year old Justin Michael Evans, of Sidney, was arrested on charges of burglary in the 3^rd degree, operating without owners consent and theft in the 5^th degree, after an incident was reported by Evelyn Thompson, of Sidney, the previous day. And, 38-year old David Duane Thompson, of Poteau, OR, was arrested June 23^rd, for being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm, operating a non-registered vehicle, and for having an improper tail lamp on the vehicle.

Officials said also, on June 28^th, no injuries were reported following an accident just south of Farragut. The Sheriff’s Department says Roger Stooker, of Farragut, was in a 1996 Ford Ranger pickup, which was parked on the side of 240^th Street. As Stooker pulled away, his vehicle was hit on the driver’s side by a 1999 Saturn letter carrier’s vehicle, driven by James McQueen, of Farragut.

Earlier in the month, on June 19^th, an accident was reported to have occurred in the 36-hundred block of 150^th Street in Fremont County. Officials say Nathan Whitehead, of Sidney, was driving a 2008 GMC truck, when the vehicle left the road and began to rollover, before hitting a light pole. No injuries were reported.

Authorities in Montgomery County report three-people were injured during a single-vehicle accident early this (Monday) morning, six-miles southwest of Red Oak.  Officials say 40-year Martha Anngeline Oltmanns, of Villisca was traveling north on Forest Avenue at around 3:55-a.m., when she failed to negotiate a turn at Fernwood Avenue.

The 2003 Ford Taurus she was driving went straight off the road and into a ditch before hitting a driveway ditch at 2796 Fernwood. The car flew over the driveway before coming to rest in a flower garden belonging to Raymond Cooper the 2nd, of rural red Oak. The accident caused the vehicles’ airbags to deploy.

Oltmanns, and two passengers in the car, 40-year old Jennifer Fitzwater, of Princeton, MO, and 41-year old Scott Gibbons, of Villisca, complained of injuries. The trio was transported to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital by Red Oak Rescue. A third passenger in the vehicle, 34-year old Jay Lininger, of Villisca, was not hurt.

Damage to the car, which is registered to Bruce Fitzwater, of Villisca, was estimated at $6,500, while Cooper’s property sustained approximately $1,000 damage. Martha Oltmann was cited for Driving While Suspended, Failure to Maintain Control, and for failure to have insurance. An additional charge of Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) is pending completion of the accident investigation.

(Updated 7-5-11 5-a.m. with corrected name of Gibbons, per Sheriff’s officials)