(Radio Iowa) – A spokesman for the Iowa Department of Transportation is seeing some good trends in rail and other transportation areas for the state’s economy. The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson gave a report on the issue to the Transportation Commission. “It’s flattened out a bit — but if you diver deeper into the trend of commodities moving by rail there’s some real bright spots — particularly on the grain side,” Anderson says.  He says the movement of grain has picked up. “The grain movements by rail in November were the highest since October of 2007. So, obviously that’s a good indicator for Iowa’s agricultural economy and the export market,” he says.

Anderson says there’s also been an increase in intermodal shipments by trains and trucks. “Those are generally the retail products in intermodal containers. November was the six highest ever recorded in terms of carloads,” according to Anderson. “Buy for one week, it was trending toward being the best month ever.” There were reports of many people taking trips during Thanksgiving despite COVID warnings. Anderson says the airline numbers still remain down. “We’re still seeing passenger counts at about 35 to 40 percent of the pre-pandemic levels,” he says. “And despite what you saw in some of the Thanksgiving television coverage — the airport counts during Thanksgiving were again well below what they had been pre-pandemic,”

Anderson says traffic on the roadways was running about ten percent below the 2019 levels until just recently when it dipped to 15 percent below 2019. “What we have seen since mid-November though is a bit of a shift. Mid-November reflected the latest surge in COVID-19 in the state — and also the governor’s statewide mask mandate and the encouragement of more teleworking. So, we’ve seen a direct correlation with those activities and actions with statewide travel,” Anderson says.

Anderson expects the travel levels to remain lower for some time. “Certainly through the winter and maybe even beyond that as we are seeing longer term changes in teleworking as a result of going through this,” Anderson explains.  He says the continued drop in travel is projected to lead to around a three percent decrease in fuel taxes coming in.

(Radio Iowa) – A 48-year-old Sioux City man is pleading guilty to embezzling at least 22-thousand dollars from the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Jason Ehlers was General Manager of BluStone Homes, also known as HoChunk Real Estate, which is owned by the tribe. He signed a plea agreement, admitting he stole construction supplies, drew up fake invoices and engaged in fradulent rebate schemes. Ehlers will be sentenced later. He could be fined up to 250-thousand dollars and sentenced to up to five years in prison on the charge.

A traffic stop at around 11:15-p.m. Tuesday resulted in a man’s arrest on drug and other charges. Red Oak Police say 51-year old Dennis Lee Binns, Jr., of Red Oak, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Methamphetamine, and Driving While Suspended. Binns was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has selected Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge as his housing and urban development secretary and former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reprise that role in his administration. That’s according to four people familiar with one or both of the decisions who spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on condition of anonymity to avoid preempting the president-elect’s announcement. Fudge, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, was just elected to a seventh term representing a majority Black district that includes parts of Cleveland and Akron. Vilsack spent eight years as head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Obama administration and served two terms as Iowa governor.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa has started tracking the COVID-19 deaths of people who were diagnosed with the virus but not tested, a change that could add hundreds more deaths to the state’s count. Iowa Department of Public Health Interim Director Kelly Garcia said Tuesday that Iowa now accepts clinical diagnoses from doctors and not just positive virus tests when attributing a death to coronavirus. The change removed 433 deaths from the system but added 610, providing an initial net gain of 177 deaths and raising the state’s toll to 2,898. Some of the removed cases could be added back in once the proper coding methodology is applied.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in Des Moines have arrested a man in the shooting of a 15-year-old girl near the Iowa State Capitol over the weekend. Police say in a news release that 25-year-old Michael McKinney was arrested Sunday night hours after the shooting that occurred during a rally for President Donald Trump at the Capitol. Police believe McKinney fired the shot into a vehicle driving through a parking lot near the statehouse, hitting and injuring the teen inside the vehicle. Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek has said he can’t confirm a connection between the shooting and the rally. He said the shooting appeared to be traffic-related. McKinney is charged with attempted murder and is being held in the Polk County Jail on $500,000 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say one person has been hospitalized for injuries received in a north Des Moines house fire. The Des Moines Register reports that the fire was reported around 7 a.m. Monday along 5th Avenue. Fire Department Lt. Rick Thomas says two people were in the home when the fire broke out, which officials say started in the attic. Firefighters entering the home were met with a smoke explosion, which happens when a buildup of unburned gasses mixing with air and an ignition source. Thomas said one person was injured and hospitalized with burns. Authorities did not release that person’s name. Officials did not immediately know the cause of the fire.

Grants are awarded based upon the benefit to low- and moderate-income persons, financial need, project impact and readiness and commitment of local resources to the project.

• The City of Bedford received a CDBG award amounting to $500,000 for Water Main Replacement.
• The City of Casey received a $300,000 CDBG for Sanitary Sewer Improvements
• The City of Coon Rapids received a $500,000 CDBG, also for Sanitary Sewer Improvements.
• Villisca’s $500,000 CDBG will be used for Water System Improvements.
• and the Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) in Stanton, received a CDBG for $254,000, intended for exterior improvements to six housing units.