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Industry officials are praising Governor Kim Reynolds for signing an executive order that all new diesel vehicles purchased for state fleets run on B-20 fuel, which is 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel.
Iowa Soybean Association president Tim Bardole of Rippey says three new state snowplows will run on the blend. Iowa’s 11 biodiesel plants produced 365-million gallons of fuel last year. The association says biodiesel supports about 4,700 Iowa jobs.
There is a new president of the University of Nebraska system.
Walter "Ted" Carter, the former superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, won confirmation today.
Sixty-year-old Carter was confirmed on a vote of 7-1 after regents met behind closed doors for about 100 minutes. Elizabeth O'Connor of Omaha was the lone "no" vote, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
Carter is expected to begin a 16-day transition on Dec. 16, during which time Susan Fritz will continue as interim president. He will take over as president on Jan. 1 and has a five-year contract.
His base pay will be $934,600 a year, according to the draft contract in the regents' documents. That is by far the highest compensation ever paid to an NU president. He is the top executive over a system that includes institutions in Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney, and Curtis.
He also will have a shot at yearly bonuses of up to 15% of his base pay by hitting performance goals that haven't been established. Fifteen percent the first year would be more than $140 thousand dollars.
He will live with wife Lynda in the official NU president's house.
