SPM News

091919 432 Officials in western Iowa are watching the rising Missouri River. Water breached a levee in Pottawattamie County last night (Wednesday evening). This is the third protective structure in the area to breach due to the Missouri River’s third round of flooding this year. Officials estimate about 40 homes are in the affected area. The county has sent out emergency alerts to people. Scott Manz (MAN-z) is an emergency management specialist with the county. I know a lot of people have

091919 404 Republican Senator Joni Ernst says she doesn’t think President Trump favors oil interests over farmers and ethanol producers. the Trump administration still hasn’t announced a fix for the president allowing the EPA to exempt 31 refineries from blending ethanol into gasoline. Ernst, Senator Chuck Grassley, and Governor Kim Reynolds said they had a meeting with Trump last week where he “verbally agreed” to require some refineries to use more ethanol. But he’s also meeting with senators

091919 304 Water began creeping over county roads and flowing through already-broken levees in parts of western Iowa on Wednesday as the Missouri River rose. Interstate 29 north of Council Bluffs remained open to traffic Thursday morning. The Iowa Department of Transportation reported some ramp closures west of Crescent, Iowa, on Interstate 680 and on I-29. The department warned that conditions could change rapidly. Republican Senator Joni Ernst says she doesn’t think President Trump will choose

The Missouri River continues to rise and flood mostly rural land in Nebraska and Iowa, but Interstate 29 remains open near Omaha. The Iowa DOT expects to close parts of the interstate at some point during this week's flooding. The river is expected to crest Friday morning near Omaha. The highway remained open Thursday morning although several onramps were closed in southwest Iowa. The lower Missouri River is flooding in Nebraska and Iowa this week because exceptionally heavy rains fell last week

Comedian Lewis Black takes the stage of the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday night. Black is known for his angry observations of society. Besides being a stand-up, he’s a best-selling author, playwright and commentator for television including “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”. NPR describes him as having the mouth of a shock-jock and the heart of a liberal. He had a conversation with Siouxland Public Media’s Sheila Brummer about his opinion on this election cycle, what he likes and his show planned

091819 504 Ethanol producers and farmers are hoping for an agreement that will require some refineries to use more ethanol to make up for the waivers granted by the Trump administration. Governor Kim Reynolds says President Trump verbally agreed to a fix for his decision to exempt 31 refineries from blending ethanol into gasoline. Reynolds hopes the President will make the announcement in Iowa. Ethanol producers and farmers are hoping for an agreement that will require some refineries to use

091819 404 Governor Kim Reynolds says she’ll take President Trump “at his word” after he verbally agreed to a fix for his decision to exempt 31 refineries from blending ethanol into gasoline. But Reynolds says she hasn’t talked to Trump since their meeting in Washington DC last week. She was asked if the president would announce an agreement in Iowa. I offered Iowa if the agreement that we verbally agreed to, I said we would be more than happy to host you in the state for that, but again we want

091819 noon The U.S. Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday issued a no-wake advisory for boaters on the Missouri River from mile marker 750 (at Sioux City) through mile marker 498 (at Rulo, Nebraska). The advisory is intended to protect river infrastructure amid ongoing high river levels. The Missouri River is rising and is expected to crest later this week in western Iowa. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been working on repairing some levee breaches and protecting some recent

091719 504 Corn growers and ethanol producers may get some good news soon, according to Iowa’s senior senator. Republican Chuck Grassley says President Donald Trump was surprised that his decision to exempt 31 refineries from their ethanol obligations generated a lot of opposition. Grassley and others met at the White House last week and presented a plan to correct the problem: waived gallons from small refineries need to be re-assigned to someone else. Grassley says the White House had its own

091719 404 Corn growers and ethanol producers may get some good news soon, according to Iowa’s senior senator. Republican Chuck Grassley says President Donald Trump was surprised that his decision to exempt 31 refineries from their ethanol obligations generated a lot of opposition. Grassley and others met at the White House last week and presented a plan to correct the problem: waived gallons from small refineries need to be re-assigned to someone else. Grassley says the White House had its own