The Bettendorf School Board's facility committee will recommend that both Thomas Jefferson and Mark Twain Elementary Schools be closed and students combined into a new three-section building at a location yet to be determined, Board President Gordon Staley announced at Monday night's (12/18) meeting.
Rumors about the one-section Jefferson and two-section Twain elementary schools being combined into a new three-section building have swirled through the education community over the past two weeks.
An estimated 526,000 tons of nitrates were "exported" into Iowa rivers and streams in 2016, eventually flowing down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and adding to the so-called "dead zone" where fish cannot survive.
According to the Annual Progress Report of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy (NRS) group released last week (12/12), more than 29 pounds of nitrogen from each of Iowa's 35.75 million acres of crop land ended up in state waterways.
A $2-million plan to add a six-hole pitch-and-putt course and an 18-hole putting course to Bettendorf's Palmer Hills Golf Course is expected to get the green light Tuesday (12/19) at the city Park Board meeting.
At the same meeting, commissioners also are expected to approve a $1 hike in green fees that would increase annual revenues from green fees by $24,500 annually.
Back in 2007, Lee Enterprises, Inc. – owner of the Quad City Times and now the Dispatch/Argus – reported daily circulation of just over 1.6 million at its 51 newspapers. Today, that number is down to 788,000 at 47 newspapers, according to the company's latest annual report filed Friday (12/8).
Falling electric production from coal-fired power plants during 2016 helped lower state-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the second year in a row, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).
A decade after animal welfare violations were initially documented and more than two years of legal proceedings, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has revoked the license of Cricket Hollow Zoo near Manchester, Iowa, and fined owners Thomas and Pamela Sellner $10,000.
The USDA decision announced November 30 would appear to spell the end of operations at the troubled facility since the zoo must have a USDA license to continue to operate.
Editorial from Cedar Rapids Gazette. Used with permission.
We read news this week that water quality legislation may be placed on a fast track when lawmakers return to the Statehouse in January. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey wants it to happen. Gov. Kim Reynolds says she hopes “it’s the first bill I get to sign as governor of the state of Iowa.”
That sounds like good news. That is, until you dig into the details.
Iowa lawmakers are likely to need a supermajority vote to increase personal and corporate income taxes after approval for a proposed constitutional amendment took the lead... more
Iowa Farmers Union has not endorsed federal candidates for at least 14 years, but is urging farmers to vote for Josh Turek in the race for U.S. Senate, and the rest of the Democrats... more
Less than two weeks after the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the agency was stepping up enforcement of the federal Animal Welfare Act, the USDA’s lawyers are arguing in court that... more