(Radio Iowa) – If you’ve hit some rough stretches on state highways, you are not alone. The Iowa Transportation Commission has approved amending its budget to spend 15 million dollars on weather repairs. The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson says there’s been an above normal number of freeze-thaw cycles this winter that are causing issues. “We are seeing some significant impacts on some pavements,” he says. Anderson says they checked with maintenance districts across the state and believe this money will help take care of some of the issues. “It certainly won’t address all the damage we’re seeing — but it’ll get the worst of it,” Anderson says. “The last time, we had something like this was about four years ago, March 2019, we came out of a pretty unique winter season and saw the same kind of damage.”

U-S Highway 218 (IA DOT Photo)

Anderson says the Transportation Commission took the same action and spent 12 million in winter repairs in 2019. He says there are issues across the state and the money will be spread evenly among the maintenance districts. He says each district will get two-and-a-half million dollars to do the repairs. The D-O-T’s chief engineer, Mitch Dillavou says the conditions have been the worst you can get for pavement. “It’s the uniqueness of this winter where you get those fluctuations in temperatures, plus we’ve had a lot of moisture,” Dillavou says. He says his perfect winter conditions for pavement are when the temperature drops and stays the same and there’s not a lot of melting water or rain that gets into pavement cracks. Dillavou says the older pavement has more problems.

“Our newer roads have a good drainable base and better infrastructure. So, it’s our older pavements that you’ve heard just talked about quite a bit,” he says. “it gets down in there, and then it freezes, and then it just starts cracking. and things move.” Anderson says the 15 million dollars will be moved out of the next fiscal year budget to allow them to handle the repairs as soon as they can.

(Radio Iowa) – The board that governs the three state supported universities is launching a comprehensive review of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs at the schools. The president of the Board of Regents has also directed the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa to pause implementing any new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. Representative Taylor Collins, a Republican from Mediapolis, says he appreciates the Regents response to concerns, but it’s time to pass a bill that dismantles the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion bureaucracies on the campuses.

“They’re being used to drive a certain political agenda and it’s unacceptable,” Collins says. “And Iowa taxpayers agree it’s unacceptable.” A bill that’s eligible for debate in the Iowa House would prohibit the state universities from spending any money on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion staff or training that discusses things like racial privilege or pronouns which do not represent a gender. Collins says it’s a woke agenda and he says he’s been shocked to hear from a lot of the faculty at the three universities.

“Faculty feel like this stuff is being pushed on them so much that it’s exhausting them,” Collins says. It’s unclear how the House bill would impact the recent legal settlement with former Hawkeye football players. The university has agreed to hire a black studies professor from the University of Texas professor to oversee a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion action plan for Hawkeye athletes and coaches. Collins is a member of the panel that drafts the budgets for the state universities.

“It’s frustrating that theoretically this DEI spending didn’t work,” Collins says. and then we’re going to spend money on DEI to solve the problem.” Senator Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Oskaloosa, is chairman of the Senate Education Committee. He hasn’t seen the House bill on this subject. “If the Regents are taking a hard look at this on their own, that’s probably a better approach to this,” Rozenboom says, “or at least that’s a good starting place.” Rozenboom does have concerns about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs on the campuses in Ames, Cedar Falls and Iowa City.

“Earlier this year I asked the Board of Regents how many DEI employees there were and found out there were 110,” Rozenboom says, “which I think translates into quite a few dollars.” Rozenboom says his approach has been to gather facts and figures and start investigating this year. “I don’t like to be impulsive,” Rozenboom says. “If the House sends something over, I’ll have to take a hard look at it, consider what the Regents are doing and we’ll go from there.”

Advocates of the Regents’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs say they are intended to ensure people from different backgrounds and experiences feel welcome on campus.

(Radio Iowa)- The state Transportation Commission has approved a grant to build a roadway into proposed plant at a site in Plymouth County south of Le Mars. Deb Arp of the D-O-T presented the proposal for what’s called a RISE grant. “The proposed roadway provides improved access to the bio energy facility — a digester plant — and assists in the creation of five full time jobs,” she says. “The facility will take waste from three dairies and process it to generate renewable natural gas. The development is anticipated to start construction later this year and to start production in spring or summer of 2024.” She says this is a local development grant, and the county will help fund the project.

She says the project will cost more than one-point-five million dollars $1,585,556). The county requested a grant of 792-thousand-778 dollars, and will provide the other 50 percent cost of the project in a local match. The Transportation Commission also approved a settlement of a rise grant for Burlington. “The city received a grant of one-million-536-thousand for roadway improvements contingent on the creation of 128 new jobs by General Electric within three years of project completion,” Arp says. She says the company was only able to create around half the jobs.

“In May of 2019 the roadway was open to traffic — however the company associated with this project was only able to create an average of 61 jobs within the allowable timeframe,” she says. Arp says the city has agreed to repay 323-thousand-123 dollars from the grant.