(Radio Iowa) – The University of Northern Iowa campus was in danger of losing all its heat this past winter after problems were discovered with a steam boiler. U-N-I senior vice president, Michael Hager, says they discovered an issue with the brackets in the primary steam tunnel during a routine inspection in December. “It could have been very catastrophic,” Hager says, “these are the two ,lines the redundant lines by design from the power plant to the main campus. And when we have temperatures below zero, we could have frozen the campus if we’d lost those. So we did bring in a temporary boiler.” Hager explained the issue during last week’s Board of Regents meeting as they approved the five-point-four million dollar emergency repair contract. He says they have a steam tunnel that’s close to 100 years old, but the one that raised the concern was not nearly as ancient.

“Our engineer tells us this particular steam tunnel is a toddler in terms of age — we wouldn’t have expected to see this kind of thing — but through routine maintenance, we found the brackets that were bad,” he says. Hager says they believe an installation issue led to the problems with the steam tunnel. “It would appear and I’m gonna be careful how I say that it would appear that perhaps they weren’t designed properly, and we won’t know till we get back in the tunnel to see if they were even installed properly”, he says. ” In visiting with legal counsel, including the board’s legal counsel, we think we’re well past the statute of limitations and are unable to go to any other source to try to get it remediated.”

They installed a temporary boiler and steam line after finding the problem and emergency repair work is underway on a permanent fix.

Des Moines, Iowa — Gov. Kim Reynolds, Monday, issued a disaster proclamation for 10 counties in response to flooding along the Mississippi River. The governor’s proclamation allows state resources to be utilized to respond to and recover from the effects of flooding in Allamakee, Clayton, Clinton, Des Moines, Dubuque, Jackson, Lee, Louisa, Muscatine, and Scott counties. 

Reynolds also instructed the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEMD) to activate the State Emergency Operations Center in Johnston in order to coordinate the state’s response activities. HSEMD is working with county emergency management, state, and federal partners to monitor conditions and provide resources to those areas impacted by flooding. 

Iowans who live along the Mississippi River are urged to prepare for possible flooding by having a plan to evacuate if necessary, packing an emergency kit with supplies for several days, staying informed about flood forecasts for their communities, and following information and guidance issued by local officials. 

For more information about flood safety and preparedness, visit ready.iowa.gov/floods. 

(Radio Iowa) – A bill has emerged in the state legislature that would regulate traffic enforcement cameras that catch vehicles speeding and running red lights. For the past 12 years, attempts to ban the cameras have failed, but Republican Senator Mike Klimesh, of Spillville, says it appears the House may accept a state permitting process for operating traffic cameras.

“It has a pretty good chance of getting done this year,” Klimesh says, “and, if not this year…it’s going to be a live round next year and we’ll take it back up again and try to finish it off next year.” Cities would have to prove a traffic camera’s location is related to improving safety in the area to get a permit from the Iowa D-O-T. Klimesh says the bill will establish what fines may be charged on traffic cam tickets.

The bill outlines a way for vehicle owners to make someone else pay the fine. “We’ve made a provision in the bill that allows people to acctually go down a path to show: ‘Hey, yes it was my vehicle but no, I was not driving. Here’s an affidavit to prove that. Send the bill on to this gentleman,'” Klimesh says. Senator Adrian Dickey, a Republican from Packwood, is a reluctant supporter of the developing compromise. He’d like to ban traffic cameras in Iowa.”These are revenue generators locally and that’s exactly what these damned things are,” Dickey says.

Senator Cindy Winckler, a Democrat from Davenport, is a reluctant supporter of the bill. She’s concerned about restricting the use of mobile traffic cameras in Iowa’s smaller communities. “One of the things that I think we have to be very careful of is that continual intrusion into local control,” Winckler says.

The bill has cleared a Senate subcommittee, but lawmakers are discussing some changes to the plan before it would be debated by the full Senate. The first attempt to ban traffic cameras stalled in a senate subcommittee in 2011. In 2015, the Iowa D-O-T ordered several Iowa cities to turn off traffic cameras along primary highways and interstates, but in 2018 the Iowa Supreme Court ruled the legislature had not given the agency authority to regulate traffic cameras.