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Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill today that creates a children’s mental health system in Iowa.
Reynolds said that today marks a major milestone for mental health in our state. Reynolds spoke to a large crowd in the statehouse rotunda moments before she signed the bill into law.
The bill establishes a new 24-hour hotline that parents may call to find mental health services for their child. It creates a new state board to oversee development of more options for children who need mental health care. It also serves as the starting point for finding new ways to finance that system.
Big Ox Energy has ceased all operations after its permit to discharge wastewater to Sioux City's treatment plant expired Tuesday, according to the Sioux City Journal.
The South Sioux City biofuels plant ceased its methane production activities on April 19 to make repairs, which has received numerous citations for environmental violations from Nebraska regulators. It had continued to pretreat wastewater from other South Sioux City industries and discharge it to Sioux City, but those operations now have stopped.
The city of Sioux City will not renew Big Ox's permit until a number of issues are resolved, assistant city attorney Justin Vondrak said. Big Ox owes the city more than $3 million in unpaid wastewater treatment fees, fines, and late charges, and that’s a total that the company is disputing.
