The last two overnights in Siouxland have had substantial severe weather, with strong thunderstorms, heavy winds, and damage from Monday evening into early Wednesday morning.
Properties in Northwest Iowa counties were hard hit late Tuesday evening, with warning sirens going off in many places. Many towns received 2 or more inches of rain, the National Weather Service reported, including in rural Woodbury County, and almost 3 inches at Cherokee, Iowa.
Thousands of people in Northwest Iowa lost power from MidAmerican Energy on Tuesday evening. There was some flooding present Wednesday morning in O’Brien County.
In South Dakota, officials in Gregory County say no injuries were reported after at least one tornado touched in the county on Monday. Also that evening, a derecho style storm spread damage to Northwest Iowa and Southwest Minnesota.
*Additionally, a multi-million-dollar lawsuit has been filed by the company that built the Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center in Sioux City.
The jail went over budget and faced several construction issues before it opened in fall 2024
Hausmann Construction, based in Lincoln, Nebraska, is suing Woodbury County, the local board that oversees the project, and some other businesses involved.
In a lawsuit filed this week, Hausmann claims design issues and omissions delayed their work, and they were unfairly blamed. Hausman also asserted that the county still owes them more than $5.7 million in unpaid work.
Woodbury County officials said they will vigorously oppose pieces of the lawsuit, although they want to resolve the issue without litigation.
Earlier this month, Woodbury County sent a demand letter to the companies that helped build the LEC, including Hausmann, saying actions by those businesses drove up the jail cost by $7 million.
Back in 2020, county voters approved a bond issue referendum to build a jail for $54 million, but the cost came in at $70 million,
*Additionally, new data confirms Iowa has one of the highest rates of young and educated adults leaving the state after college, which has an impact on the economy.
A new report from the Common Sense Institute Iowa shows that adjusting for population, Iowa has the fourth highest level of outmigration of all 50 states.
Ben Murrey is the Director of Policy and Research at the Institute and a co-author of the report. He says born-and-raised Iowans have some of the highest average incomes in the country, but often choose to work elsewhere.
Murrey says one reason so many Iowans are leaving is because they are able to land higher salaries elsewhere. The number of white-collar jobs in Iowa simply can’t keep up with the number of young and educated adults the state produces.
“That has implications for Iowa’s economy, right? It means we’re investing in human capital, and what turns out to be very valuable human capital, but Iowa is not getting the return on that investment. Some other state is getting the return on that investment,” Murrey said.
The study looked at people who left the state after graduating from a public university in 2022.
The report found the total cost to educate a single Iowan from 2006 to 20-22 was over $250,000. Most of that is spent during college.
State and local governments are estimated to lose nearly $400,000 in tax revenue for each person who leaves over the course of their working life.
*In other college news in the state, new students from the six states bordering Iowa can pay in-state tuition at the University of Northern Iowa starting this coming school year.
The decision was approved by the Iowa Board of Regents Wednesday.
The new rate is about $12,000 dollars cheaper than normal out of state tuition costs. The discount will also apply to new transfer students from the nearby states, but not to returning students.
The university’s president estimates the first few years of the new rates will cost the college around $1.5 million dollars per year. UNI will use money from its foundation to fill the gap, after the governor vetoed funding for it.
Governor Kim Reynolds said she supported the program but disagrees with how the funding would have been issued.
The university hopes to receive state money to offset the cost in future years.
