More than a third of Iowa counties are maternity care deserts, according to a recent report by the non-profit March of Dimes.
It found 35 of Iowa’s 99 counties had no hospitals providing obstetric care, birth centers, OB/GYNs or certified nurse midwives in 2020.
This marks a 21 percent increase in Iowa counties considered maternity care deserts from 2018 to 2020.
That’s compared to just a 2 percent increase for all U-S counties nationwide during that same time period.
36 percent - or more than 11 hundred - counties nationwide are considered maternity care deserts.
Iowa's rural bridges are the worst in the nation, according to a new national report.
More than one-fifth − 21 percent − of Iowa's rural bridges are structurally deficient, according to a report released by TRIP, a research nonprofit that studies national transportation issues. The share of rural bridges in poor condition in Iowa is over 2.5 times the national average and ranks Iowa highest in the nation.
Structural deficiencies pose major challenges to the rural economy, limiting the weight of vehicles that are allowed to cross and forcing larger vehicles to take long detours.
Up to $96 million in business capital, including loans, will be made available to Iowa start-ups and small and veteran-owned businesses under a state plan approved this week by the federal treasury department.
The funding is being made available through the federal State Small Business Credit Initiative, a program that was created in 2010 and renewed and expanded in the latest federal pandemic relief package, the American Rescue Plan.
Iowa's plan was submitted by the state's economic development department.
The state said a process for applying for the business capital and loans still is underway and more information would be provided at iowaeda.com/ssbci.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is proposing sweeping changes in the way chicken and turkey meat is processed in an effort to reduce salmonella illnesses from food contamination.
But those changes could require meat companies to make extensive changes to their operations. The agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service will begin a lengthy process of proposing new rules by holding a public hearing on Nov. 3 to get input from the poultry industry and others. much certain strains of salmonella can be on meat sold to consumers.
Mountain lion sightings up with more cameras out there.
Radio Iowa reports that DNR Conservation and Recreation Division Administrator, Pete Hildreth, gave the Natural Resources Commission an update on recent mountain lion sightings during their meeting Thursday. There have been several sightings in Northwest Iowa.
Hildreth told the NRC members the advent of trail and other cameras has led to more videos showing the animals. He says the number of mountain lions in the state is still very small. . Hildreth says the animals are capable of moving long distances across the state. There have been no fatal mountain lion attacks in Iowa in the last 110 years,” Hildreth says one thing he hears is that people are more apt to be killed by a dog or struck by lightning than being attacked by a mountain lion.
Warren "Bud" Nelson, a pilot and former commander of the 185th Air Wing in Sioux City, was buried Friday at Memorial Park Cemetery, according to the Sioux City Journal.
He died Saturday at age 97 at his Sioux City home.
A World War II veteran who also was activated for the Korean War and later chosen to fly in a special unit during the Cold War, Nelson joined the 174th Fighter Squadron, the predecessor of the Sioux City-based 185th Air Refueling Wing, Iowa Air National Guard, earning a promotion to colonel and serving as wing commander from 1976 until his retirement from the Air National Guard in May 1980.
