The federal government has provided nearly $8 million in flooding relief money to Southeast South Dakota, with roughly half of that going to one county, with Union County.
The update came in a Monday release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The total of $7.8 million went to four Southeast South Dakota counties, with $3.9 million of that to Union County, which is located closest to Sioux City.
Siouxland was heavily hit with flooding in late June, with the North Sioux City neighborhood of McCook Lake being highly impacted. FEMA said 303 people in Union County have applied for varying forms of assistance.
All together, 1,236 people in Southeast South Dakota are seeking federal help.
*In other news. Woodbury County officials will hold a second public hearing on Tuesday, September 24th on the possibility of changing ordinance rules concerning wind turbine placements throughout rural areas.
The first such hearing on September 17 drew a full room at the Woodbury County Courthouse. The three hearings will give people a chance to weigh in on possible ordinance changes concerning Commercial Wind Energy Conversion Systems in unincorporated areas of Woodbury County.
Woodbury County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matthew Ung said the county is working to “continuously update policies that regulate renewable energy infrastructure, to ensure it does not present safety hazards and to minimize disruptions to surrounding land uses."
Ung said the people speaking up are concerned that when turbines are placed adjacent to their land, it impacts how their land can or can’t be developed.
*Additionally, Iowa’s oldest Planned Parenthood is marking 90 years of providing care in Northwest Iowa. With the state’s new abortion law in place, services there now include helping women find care in other states.
Local historians say in 1934 a group of Republican women first opened a Planned Parenthood in Sioux City to provide reproductive education.
Sheilahn Davis-Wyatt, CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, says Sioux City’s health center no longer provides medical abortions due to Iowa’s new law that bans most abortions after six weeks. Patients now must travel to other locations, including nearby states of Nebraska and Minnesota.
“Women's health is just so critical, and we know that when we go to restrict abortion access, it impacts so many other factors for women and the care that they receive,” Davis-Wyatt said.
Davis-Wyatt says women from marginalized communities are especially impacted since they don’t have the resources to seek care elsewhere.
*In other news, gasoline prices keep dropping, as again the price for unleaded self-serve gas in Iowa has gone down for at least the last five weeks.
The average price of self-serve unleaded gasoline dropped by 9 cents over the last week, averaging $2.97 across Iowa, according to AAA.
Compared to one year ago, that price is down 87 cents, when gas was nearly $4 per gallon.
Many Sioux City and surrounding town stations are selling unleaded this week in the range from $2.79 to $2.97, or less than the state average. The national average unleaded price has now dropped to $3.22.
