(Radio Iowa) — Both of Iowa’s U.S. Senators, Iowa’s secretary of agriculture and the first woman to serve as speaker of the Iowa House attended today’s (Wednesday’s) ceremonial signing of the U-S-Mexico-Canada Agreement. State Representative Linda Upmeyer, a Republican from Clear Lake, says it was important to modernize and re-balance the North American Free Trade Agreement. “There were things in there that just didn’t work the way, perhaps, they did when it was originally written,” Upmeyer says. “Certainly things have changed in the world.” The U-S-M-C-A’s impact in Iowa exporters will be significant, according to Upmeyer. “Certainly it’s not only ag products, although we do about $6.6 billion worth of trade with Mexico and Canada and they’re out biggest trading partners, but it’s ag products, it’s machinery, it’s ethanol, it’s processed foods,” Upmeyer says. “They buy a lot of transportation equipment from us.”

Upmeyer stepped down as House Speaker earlier this month and, since there were no votes in the House this week, she made the trip. Upmeyer was at the White House yesterday (Tuesday), too, for President Trump’s meeting with Israel’s prime minister and the unveiling of a Middle East peace plan. “Any time you can see two of the world leaders talking about peace in the East Room of the White House, that’s kind of a special event,” Upmeyer says.

Upmeyer says she’s no foreign policy expert, but she says the Trump Administration worked hard on a laudable goal to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Upmeyer says she hopes for more opportunities to represent the people of Iowa at significant events outside of the state in her last year in the legislature. “These are just moments in history, in my opinion,” Upmeyer says. “…I absolutely enjoy representing Iowa anywhere I have that opportunity.” Upmeyer, who is a Certified Nurse Practitioner, was first elected to the Iowa House in 2002.

Four officers were elected during the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Guthrie County extension council organizational meeting on January 22, 2020. The nine-member county extension council annually elects officers to comply with Iowa law. Chad Sheley, of Casey, is the newly-elected chairperson. Sheley will preside at all meetings of the county extension council, have authority to call special meetings and perform duties as performed and exercised by a chairperson of a board of directors of a corporation. Dustin Clark, of Guthrie Center, was elected vice chairperson.

Anna Kastner, of Yale, was elected secretary and has the responsibility of keeping the minutes of all county extension council meetings and signing required papers for the council. The council elected Jim Calvert, of Guthrie Center, to the treasurer position. The treasurer has charge of all of the funds of the county extension council; receives, deposits, pays and disburses. The treasurer insures an accurate record of receipts and disbursements and submits reports to the county extension council.

As elected officials, the county extension council is the governing body of ISU Extension and Outreach. The county extension council hires county staff, manages the county extension budget and helps determine programming. The county extension office is located at 212 State Street in Guthrie Center. To learn more about ISU Extension and Outreach in Guthrie County, visit www.extension.iastate.edu/guthrie.

On a separate note, the Guthrie County Extension wants to extend a big thank you to everyone who has donated or assisted with fundraising efforts for a new 4-H Static Exhibit building! Officials report “At this time, we have raised $44,041.80! This total is the profit raised at the November Harvest Lunch, January Prime Rib Dinner, Yale Community Club Scholarship Supper Auction, Scratch Cupcake sales, Linda Leo Memorial and various donations.” If you would like to donate, your donation can be dropped off or mailed to:
Guthrie County 4-H Foundation, 212 State Street, Guthrie Center, IA 50115.  If you would like to make a 501C3 donation, please make your donation to the Guthrie County Foundation at Iowa 4-H Foundation. Visit iowa4hfoundation.org and click “Ways to Give” to donate online.

And, don’t forget to mark your calendars for the February 7th Crop Update, and March 6th, to discuss Farm Property Theft! All meetings will be held at the Guthrie County Extension office from 9:30 am-11:00 pm! If you have questions, contact Krista at the Extension office at 641-747-2276.

MINEOLA, Iowa (AP) – Neighboring residents and other people opposed to the construction of a chicken confinement facility in western Iowa filled a meeting at a church and roundly criticized the plan as better suited to an industrial park. Eight barns would be built on a property that sits about a mile north of Mineola, and plans are to raise 200,000 or more chickens there every eight weeks. Last week the Pottawattamie County supervisors voted to recommend that the state deny approval. The opponents’ concerns aired at Monday’s meeting in Mineola included the potential smell, the impact on the water table and extra road traffic.