Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen was transported to a hospital for treatment after falling from a horse on Sunday.
A press release from the governor's office stated Pillen was riding horseback with family members, when he was bucked off a new horse and injured.
Pillen was initially taken to a hospital in Columbus, Nebraska, then transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
An update on Monday from Pillen’s office said he had surgery for about one hour, to address minor bleeding from his spleen.
His injuries included minor lacerations to his spleen and kidney, seven broken ribs, a partially collapsed lung resulting from the rib damage, and a minor fracture in one of his vertebrae. There were no injuries to his neck, head, nervous system or additional internal organs.
During the surgery, Lieutenant Governor Joe Kelly briefly acted as Governor.
*In other news, the window has opened for some communities in Northwest Iowa impacted by historic flooding this summer to apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency buyouts.
Rock Valley officials plan to send off an application Monday to ask for funding for 110 homes.
Rock Valley City Administrator Tom Van Maanen says if approved, a homeowner will get paid the value of their property before the natural disaster. To qualify, their home must be in an area with a history of flooding.
“The financial impact to some of these property owners that do not get a buyout is going to be devastating to them. at that point, there's really not any more programs that the city can utilize to assist them,” Van Maanen said.
Rock Valley also sent in a request for funding to purchase 30 homes that had flood insurance through another national program.
FEMA pays for 75 percent of buyouts and the state covers 10 percent. The estimate for Rock Valley’s share is between $4.5 million to $6 million.
The mayor of Correctionville, Iowa, isn’t sure if his town would submit a request for buyouts, because once a home is bought out, no development can take place on the land.
Officials in Spencer in Clay County are also looking at doing buyouts.
*Additionally, a Sioux City agency that helps people in their journey in the recovery from addiction has received $1 million from the state of Iowa.
Jackson Recovery Centers was among the six groups that got money in state grants directed at addressing the opioid crisis.
The grants are called the Iowa Opioid Treatment and Recovery Infrastructure Program grants. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds in a statement said the grants will strengthen prevention, treatment and recovery efforts, to give Iowans struggling with addiction a chance for healing and a better future.
*In other news, President Joe Biden has signed a short-term government funding bill, which includes a one-year extension of the Farm Bill.
The Farm Bill covers crop insurance and commodity prices losses, conservation and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Congress renegotiates the bill every five years. This is the second extension for the 2018 Farm Bill.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said in a press release that he was disappointed a new Farm Bill did not pass this year. But the extension “provides Iowa farmers with some added certainty at a time when the ag economy remains soft.”
Iowa’s congressional delegation voted in favor of the bill.
The new funding package also includes more disaster-aid funding, and $10 billion for one-time emergency payments to farmers.
It does not include a provision in an earlier version that would allow a higher blend of ethanol, called E15, to be sold year-round.
