As the construction season winds down in Siouxland with the arrival of winter next week, a substantial segment of a new recreation trail is virtually complete.
The PlyWood Trail is named after the two counties it connects, Plymouth and Woodbury, and will connect existing separate trails that now end on the northeast side of Sioux City and the southwest side of Le Mars.
The trail being built over the next few years will add in the towns of Merrill and Hinton, with the addition of three segments. Phase One is almost complete, with a Merrill to Hinton trail portion needing only some work near driveways.
The PlyWood Trail Facebook page shared the update, while noting that people need to wait to bicycle and otherwise use the trail until spring 2024, after a ribbon-cutting.
Sioux City is currently the last metro in Iowa without a rec trail that extends out to other towns, and PlyWood organizers note that when completed, the trail will provide a fun, safe, and healthy way to get to and from Sioux City and Le Mars.
Phases Two and Three involve paving the trail in close proximity to U.S. Highway 75, from Le Mars to Merrill, and also from Hinton to Sioux City, to wrap it up.
* Several Republican presidential candidates spoke over the weekend in Northwest Iowa in the quest to close the gap on polling leader Donald Trump, but a new poll out Monday shows the former president in a strong position five weeks away from the important Iowa caucuses.
Among those who spoke in Sioux Center were Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, as they have been vying to make a dent in the Trump lead as they rose into the second tier of Republican candidates.
The Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows 51 percent of likely Republican caucus goers pick Trump as their first choice for president. DeSantis, who is focusing hard in Iowa, which has the first presidential nominating contest with the caucuses on January 15, had 19 percent in the poll.
In the same poll in October, DeSantis and Haley each had 16 percent.
After speaking in Sioux Center, Haley on Sunday held a campaign event in Waukee, where an attendee asked her to differentiate herself from Trump. Haley pointed to foreign policy issues and not pulling U.S. support from countries currently at war.
* Additionally, the Iowa Legislature will gavel into action in January, and some Republicans want to see the state eliminate the state income tax.
State Senator Dan Dawson says Senate Republicans will once again try to eliminate Iowa’s income tax, so he’s curious to see what sort of a tax cut plan Governor Kim Reynolds puts forth for consideration.
A recent change enacted by Republicans will change the income tax from segmented percentage amounts depending upon a person’s income, so in 2026 the state will have a flat 3.9 percent income tax for all Iowans.
Dawon is chairman of the Senate tax writing committee. Last session, that committee advanced Dawson plan to phase out the income tax, but it didn’t get a full Senate vote.
Senate Democratic Leader Pam Jochum has said eliminating the income tax isn’t sustainable long term for the state budget. She said if the personal income tax was eliminated all at once, the state would need a 14 percent sales tax to make up the funding for state programs.
