(Glenwood, Iowa – AP) Getting disaster aid approved and making sure it gets to the people affected by this spring’s flooding is a priority for area senators. The bureaucratic rules that govern disaster aid spending require an analysis of the costs and benefits of repair projects.

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa says that means money approved for projects in rural areas may be diverted because the property values are lower than in cities.
Ernst and other senators at a hearing about this spring’s flooding Wednesday said they will work to change that formula.

Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst farms near the Missouri River, but his land wasn’t flooded. Hurst said the lessons from this flooding should lead to changes about where levees are built and how the river is managed.

GLENWOOD, Iowa (AP) — The federal agency that manages dams along the Missouri River received stern criticism from several U.S. senators Wednesday during a hearing held in Iowa to examine the massive spring flooding this year that caused more than $3 billion in damage in the Midwest.

The flooding and actions taken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has been bitterly criticized in the wake of the flooding, are the focus of the U.S. Senate hearing. Critics have demanded that the agency make flood control its top priority, though Congress would have to act to change the Corps’ priorities.

Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said flooding shouldn’t be such a regular occurrence along the Missouri River, saying: “The trend of flood and rebuild, flood and rebuild must end.” Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand added that the Corps should be more aggressive in preventing flood damage and consider the effects of climate change.
“They are too slow, too bureaucratic and they don’t have enough money,” said Gillibrand, who is running for president and was in Iowa touring flood damage. She took part in the hearing because she serves on the committee that oversees the Corps.

The sentiments may be appealing in Midwestern states that have endured flooding along rivers that the Corps is charged with managing, but they may not be as popular with supporters of other approved uses of the river, such as protecting endangered species and navigation.

The Corps’ John Remus said the agency works to balance all the uses of the river and maximize the benefit to several when possible. But flood control is the main concern anytime flooding is imminent along the Missouri River. The Corps has also said that much of the water that caused the Midwest flooding in March came from rain and melting snow that flowed into the Missouri River downstream of all the dams it controls. At the same time massive amounts of water was filling the reservoirs and some had to be released.

Farmer Leo Ettleman, who farms near Percival, said the Corps should have made significant changes to its operating manual after the historic 2011 floods, but neither the Corps nor Congress took action. Ettlemen said the kind of flooding the area saw this spring will continue unless changes are made. Ettleman joined a lawsuit against the Corps after the 2011 flood.

Greg Power, fisheries division chief for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said he believes the Corps does “a pretty good job” of managing the Missouri River system. “Flood control is still a high priority within the Corps, I know that,” Power said. “Some of these water years are pretty incredible themselves and I would hate to be a Corps person, to be honest.”

Area politicians have said repeatedly since the flood that flood control should be the Corps’ top priority. Robert Criss, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis who has been studying flooding for more than two decades, said there may be a more important factor than how the Corps’ priorities are ranked.

The Missouri River has been made narrower over the years, Criss said, and the Corps has worked to maintain a defined channel for barge traffic even though few barges ever cross the river near Iowa and Nebraska. “We’re having this problem because we messed with the rivers too much,” Criss said.

A reminder: Democrat Presidential hopeful Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, from New York, will be at the Atlantic campus of Iowa Western Community College tomorrow ( Thursday, April 18th). Doors will open at 4:05 PM with Senator Gillibrand delivering remarks and conversing with caucus-goers from 4:20 PM until about 5:20 PM. Prior to the event, she will tour IWCC. “Conversations with Kirsten” will focus on the topics of education and national public service.

Senator Gillbrand is the junior senator from New York. She was born and raised in upstate New York, where she, her husband, and their two sons still reside. Prior to being elected to the US Senate, she served as a law clerk and as a lawyer in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton administration. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2006 and was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2009, where she has since won reelection twice.

Her campaign would appreciate an RSVP from those who plan to attend the event. You can do so by going to https://www.mobilize.us/kirstengillibrand/event/90257/ Of course, you can attend without signing in but the numbers will determine in what room the event will take place.

(Radio Iowa) — A spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Transportation says around 30 percent of Iowa’s licensed drivers now have a “Real I-D” license. Andrea Henry says the licenses that have been approved for the program have a gold star in one corner. “It’s a way for the federal government to verify the identity of folks who carry a state-issued I-D. So, instead of having to having to have a federally-issued I-D, they can use their Iowa driver’s license, but their identity is verified through the federal government,” Henry says.

She says it is good to sign up when you renew your license, as you will eventually need it to fly. “Right now it is not required to fly if you provide another form of identification — like a passport, or if you have a military I-D — those are acceptable forms of identification,” Henry says. “But if you want to use your state issued I-D or driver’s license card after October first of 2020, you are going to have to have it marked with that Real I-D gold star in the upper left hand corner.”

Henry says the process of upgrading your driver’s license is pretty easy. “You have to show you are who you say your are by bringing in something like a birth certificate or your passport, or a permanent resident card. And then you have to document any name changes,” she explains. Henry says you need the documents that show you changed your name. “You need to have marriage certificate — or going the other way — a divorce decree or any court order for a name change if you legally changed your name,” Henry says.

You also have to have your Social Security number verified. “That’s really easy to do through either a Social Security card, or if you have a pay stub or W-2 form that has your full Social Security number on it, that’s acceptable,” Henry says. “and then you have to prove where you live with two documents that show where you live. And that could be a utility bill, an insurance card, a voter registration card or something of that nature.”

Henry says most people make the change when renewing their driver’s license. She says when you renew your driver’s license, there is no extra cost. After October 1st of 2020 if you are not up for renewal, it will cost you 10 dollars for a replacement card. You can go to the Iowa Department of Transportation website to find a complete list of documents you will need to get a Real I-D.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Chicago man who accidentally was shot when he tried to pick up a child has been imprisoned in Iowa. The Telegraph Herald reports that 19-year-old Romell Enoch had pleaded guilty to carrying weapons and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced last week to five years in prison.

Dubuque County District Court documents say Dubuque police were sent Aug. 25 to check a report of a gunshot. Officers found Enoch hiding in some bushes not far from where he’d been shot. He told officers that he had the handgun in his pants when he bent to pick up the child. It fired, wounding his right leg. He was treated at a Dubuque hospital.

The federal agency that manages dams along the Missouri River received stern criticism from several U.S. senators at the start of a hearing examining this year’s flooding. Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said during today’s (Wednesday’s) hearing that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers needs to do a better job of preventing flooding. Ernst says continuing the cycle of flooding and rebuilding over and over in unacceptable.

Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said the Corps is too slow and too bureaucratic, and that it doesn’t have enough money to complete needed preventative projects. Gillibrand also said Congress needs to get past partisan fighting, especially when it comes to disaster aid. The Wednesday hearing is being held in Glenwood, Iowa, after spring flooding along the Missouri River caused more than $3 billion in damage in the region.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office said today (Wednesday), that a woman from Council Bluffs was transported Tuesday from a jail in Nebraska to the Pott. County Jail. 36-year old Mindy Michelle Watts was wanted on a Pott. County felony warrant from Theft in the 2nd Degree. 35-year old Kara Nichole Matt turned herself-in to the Pott. County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday morning. Matt was wanted on a warrant for Violation of Probation. She was booked into the jail without incident. And, Jay Douglas Johns turned himself-in to the Sheriff’s Office Tuesday afternoon. Johns was wanted on a warrant for Theft in the 1st Degree. He was booked into the jail without incident.

Tuesday afternoon, 44-year old Patrick Leroy Reynolds, of Omaha, was transported from a jail in Nebraska to the Pottawattamie County Jail. Reynolds was wanted on Pott. County warrants for Committing a specified unlawful act/ongoing activity, and Theft in the 1st Degree. His bond was set at $35,000.