(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.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is proposing that the voting age be raised to 25, with some exceptions. Ramaswamy’s proposed amendment to the constitution would let Americans who volunteer for a six month stint in the military or as first responders vote when they reach the age of 18. Young adults who pass the same civics test administered to applicants for U.S. citizenship would get the right to vote before the age of 25 under his plan, too.

“Some of you will not agree with it and that is OK,” Ramaswamy says, “…but I think if we are going to pass on civic pride to the next generation, we can’t anymore just be a country that you inherit. We have to come a country that we all have a stake in creating, in building together.” Ramaswamy released his proposal yesterday (Thursday) while campaigning in Iowa and drew cheers last (Thursday) night from a crowd in Urbandale.

“We’re going to have to think big,” Ramaswamy says. “We’re going to have to ambitious. This problem is not going to solve itself on its own. I think it is a problem that young people don’t vote enough in this country, but if you make it something that you actually have to earn, you value it any more. It’s human nature. It’s psychology.”

Ramaswamy — the author of a book titled “A Nation of Victims” — says young people are being taught to hate the country. He cites a recent survey from Morning Consult, a firm that specializes in online polling. It found only 16 percent of Generation Z is proud to live in the U.S. “We’re going to have to think big to find our way out of this decline in national pride for the next generation,” Ramaswamy says. “If we let that slide go, that’s a generation lost. We don’t have a generation to lose in this country.”

Ramaswamy’s proposal would affect some, but not all of those in Generation Z, which is generally considered to be people between the ages of 13 and 27. Ramaswamy is 37 and the youngest candidate in the field of G-O-P presidential candidates. He’s a former hedge fund manager and was C-E-O of a biotech company.