(Radio Iowa) – President Trump says his administration will soon act on a request for federal aid to help Iowans in 27 counties cover uninsured property damage from last week’s devastating storm. “We’ll get it taken care of,” Trump said. “…All of you, we’ll get it done very quickly.” Trump made a stop at the Cedar Rapids airport today (Tuesday) to speak with a panel of state and local officials as well as some invited residents from the area — including one woman who still doesn’t have power at her home eight days after the storm hit.

Cedar Rapids Mayor Brad Hart told Trump private insurance will not pay for removing trees unless the tree hits a house — and it will cost some thousands of dollars to get the storm debris off their property.  “Every one of our almost 60,000 homes and businesses had some kind of damage. That’s how widespread it was. Most of the city didn’t have power for a week,” Hart said. “I still don’t have power at my home.” Power is still out at an estimated 30-thousand homes and businesses in Linn County.

Hart told the president the cost of replacing spoiled food is more than some Iowa storm victims can afford. “Adding the individual assistance component to the disaster declaration would really help so many people,” Hart said. Trump told the mayor he would take care of it. On Monday, Trump approved sending 45-million dollars in federal money to state and local governments in 16 counties, to cover the costs of debris removal and repairs to government-owned facilities.

Governor Kim Reynolds told Trump she’ll likely add more counties to her request for individual assistance to residents in 27 counties. “This is just so much widespread when you think about entire counties that have been taken out,” Reynolds says. “…These are early estimates: about $4 billion worth of damage (and) $3.7 billion of that is through agriculutre between the loss of crops and structures.” Trump interjected: “So this is even more than the floods.” Reynolds replied: “Oh, yeah. Yes.” The paperwork Reynolds submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Sunday estimated nearly 83 million dollars would be needed to repair or replaced damaged homes, with another 100 million dollars worth of damage to private utilities.

Iowa Republican office-holders like Senator Chuck Grassley were part of the panel discussion, too.  “I’ve seen corn flat on the ground in 50 years of farming,” Grassley told Trump, “but I have never seen it mile after mile and very little of it recoverable, I think.” Senator Joni Ernst made an appeal on behalf of the ethanol industry, asking that the E-P-A dismiss oil refinery requests to be exempted from the requirement to blend ethanol into gasoline.

“What we need is help from the EPA to follow the intent of the law, with the Renewable Fuels Standard,” Ernst said. Trump replied: “I’ll speak to them. I’ll do it myself.” Air Force One landed at the Eastern Iowa Airport shortly before 11:30 and departed about an hour later. The plane’s flight path in and out of Cedar Rapids gave the president an aerial view of the storm’s destruction.

“We’re going to help you recover from the storm and we’ll get it done and we’ll all get it done together,” Trump said. “Iowans have always been resilient and strong and tough and great people. From the depths of this grave hardship, we will rebuild even stronger than before. We’re going to be in fantastic shape in a very short period of time.” Only a few dozen people — supporters and protesters — gathered outside the airport for the president’s visit. Joe Biden’s Iowa state director called the event a “photo op.” Elected officials from the Cedar Rapids area who are Democrats were not invited to the roundtable discussion.

Democratic Congressman Abby Finkenauer who represents Cedar Rapids said in a written statement that she appreciates the president’s visit to Cedar Rapids and hopes his experience reinforces the need for direct federal assistance to affected individuals and households.

(Radio Iowa) – The derecho which swept across the state destroyed crops, buildings, and snapped off hundreds of power poles — but MidAmerican Energy spokesman, Geoff Greenwood, says the company’s wind farms made it through without major problems. “We have not been able to detect any major damage to our wind farms. There’s been a little bit of isolate damage here and there to isolated equipment,” Greenwood says. Many of the company’s wind turbines were not in the area that got his by the derecho — but many were.

“By and large they sustained that storm — believe it or not. It was just a monster storm and amazingly and thankfully, our wind farms were pretty much in good shape, considering,” Greenwood says.
The storm had winds of more than 100-miles and hour and the initial damage estimates are around four BILLION dollars.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and Republican Party groups are suing a third Iowa county, seeking to invalidate thousands of absentee ballot request forms that have been submitted by voters. The lawsuit against Woodbury County’s top elections official expands the GOP’s efforts to make it harder for voters and local officials to handle absentee ballot requests during the pandemic. The Trump campaign and GOP groups filed identical lawsuits last week against elections officials in Linn and Johnson counties. At issue are absentee ballot request forms that the three counties have mailed to most registered voters pre-filled with information, including names, dates of birth and a voting pin number that few people know.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says the Union County Secondary Roads Department reported Monday morning, that sometime over the weekend, someone shot at their building located at 307 Minnesota Avenue, in Lorimor. The damage was estimated at $400.

And, a central Iowa man was injured during a single-vehicle accident early this (Tuesday) morning northeast of Three-mile Lake. Authorities say 74-year old Raymond James Darr, of Des Moines, was traveling south on Owl Avenue at around 4-a.m., and didn’t realize the road curved. His 2010 Nissan SUV went off the road and into a ditch before rolling over. Darr was transported by EMS ground ambulance to the hospital in Creston, for treatment of possible/unknown injuries.

His vehicle was a total loss.

The organization which trains Iowa firefighters has moved from Ames to new facilities at Camp Dodge in Johnston. Fire Service Training Bureau Chief John Kraemer, says the new facility is 95-hundred square feet and houses their offices, equipment and has classrooms. “In addition, the Iowa National Guard has allowed us to utilize some acreage west of our facility in which we can conduct live-fire training,” Kraemer says. The National Guard has an area known as “container city” where they can train. “There are multiple storage containers that are set up to simulate buildings. And within each of those containers are doors and rooms that have been constructed for us to practice dry or wet evolution’s,” Kraemer says. “In those containers we are not permitted to burn — be we can conduct live-fire training outside in our burn cells.”

Fire Service Training Bureau Chief John Kraemer

He says the Fire Service Institute outgrew its facility in Ames as the types of training required expanded from basic firefighting techniques. “The types and numbers of calls placed to fire departments has also increased. And so, a lot of communities now rely on fire departments to not only provide fire protection, but to also provide emergency medical services, to respond to motor vehicle accidents and perform extrication of patients from the vehicles. Fire departments are now trained in hazardous materials release response,” according to Kraemer.

He says they hold an annual fire school that got started through a need for more training. “In 1923 there was a small group of firefighters who approached Iowa State College at the time and said ‘hey we need more training in fire prevention and extinguishing fires.’ So, that became the impetus — especially nationally — to provide state-based training and education for firefighting and emergency services,” Kraemer says.

Kraemer says it’s particularly important for a state where the majority of firefighters are volunteers. “We have approximately 15 to 16-thousand firefighters total in Iowa. And about 15 to 16-hundred are career or professional firefighters,” Kraemer says.  Kraemer says the new site also allows them space to store the various trailers and displays that are used for firefighter education. The new facility was celebrated with a ribbon cutting last week.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, today (Tuesday), approved an agreement with officials in Adair County, with regard to defining the duties and responsibilities of Adair and Cass Counties as they pertain to the construction of a locally funded grading project located on County Road G-61, about two-miles west of County Road N-51. The Adair County Board of Supervisors are set to consider approval of the agreement during their meeting Wednesday morning, in Greenfield.

The agreement stipulates the construction project will be added by resolution into each County’s fiscal year 2021 secondary road construction program, as required. The total estimated cost of the construction project is $833,778, with approximately $531,109 in Cass County and $302,669 in Adair County. Actual project development, design, and administration costs shall be split between Adair and Cass Counties. The County Engineer of each County will be the administrator of his respective County and responsible for consultation with the respective Board of Supervisors in matters related to the Agreement.

The Board today (Tuesday), tabled action on CARES Fund allocations. Cass County has been allocated up to $162,734.90 (based on population) for COVID19 related expenses (reimbursement for eligible costs). Auditor Dale Sunderman said they’re waiting on uploading the necessary information until the administrative process is available from the State. The first claim is due by Sept. 15th for March 1st thru July 31st, 2020. The next claim will be for Aug-Sept. 2020.

The Cass County Supervisors also agree to allow/disallow new Business Property Tax credit applications, as recommended by the Assessor and in accordance with Code of Iowa, for taxes collectible FY2021-22. And, they approved an application for a Renewal Class C Beer Permit and Sunday Sales Privilege (effective 10/18/2020) of 21st Century Cooperative, in Massena.

Mills County Public Health and Emergency Management officials today (Tuesday), issued their weekly report on positive COVID-19 cases. The report shows nine, new confirmed cases, for a total of 97.Contraction of the Coronavirus this past week was through community spread, according to officials. The age range of the affected persons are as follows:

• 0-18, 0
• 19-40, 3
• 41-60, 3
• 61-80, 3
• 81+, 0

MCPH says 58 of those persons have recovered. Officials said also, “As we transition back to school and look to the fall season with scheduled events in Mills County, MCPH continues to recommend residents be discouraged from holding and/or attending large events and mass gatherings until the threat of COVID-19 has diminished, and continue previously mentioned social distancing, hand washing and sanitizing, along with the wearing of a mask or face shield.