FRIDAY, DEC. 20, 2019 | IN THIS ISSUE
• Industry leaders, farm groups react in anger to EPA ethanol rule
• State regulators approve reduced Alliant gas rate hike
• CBJ Report on CBS2/FOX 28: ACT land buy, broadband mapping
• State unemployment rate remains stable at 2.6% in November
• RSM recognized with UNI's 2019 President's Philanthropy Award
Ed. note: The CBJ offices will be closed and there will be no newsletters the week of Dec. 23 so our staff can spend some time with their families and recharge. We'll reopen and resume our news coverage on Dec. 30. We wish you a joyful and safe holiday season!
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Industry leaders, lawmakers react in anger to EPA ethanol rule
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Farm groups and lawmakers are assailing final ethanol rules released Thursday, arguing they don't live up to promises President Donald Trump made to the industry this fall.
The Environmental Protection Agency's final renewable fuel standard does not include language agreed to in meetings with industry officials, Iowa’s governor and congressional representatives during September and October meetings. The president had agreed the EPA would add ethanol gallons back into the nation’s gasoline supply based on exemptions granted over the past three years. But under the final rule, the EPA will base oil refinery exemptions on Energy Department recommendations.
“Apparently President Trump doesn’t care about his promise to Iowa’s farmers. He had the opportunity to tell his EPA to stick to the deal that was made on October 4,” said ICGA President Jim Greif. “I can say for certain that ICGA pushed for a positive outcome, and we didn’t go down without a fight.”
Adding gallons back into the supply based on a three-year average would have created market certainty, the ICGA argued.
“The Environmental Protection Agency seems to be more concerned with politics than cleaner-burning, healthy air with renewable fuels," said Kelly Nieuwenhuis, ICGA member and chair of the Iowa Corn Industrial Usage and U.S. Production committee. "It was as simple as following the original October 4 agreement with our elected officials and here we are with empty promises and no market certainty.”
"Every farmer and biofuel supporter I have talked to is deeply disappointed, frustrated, and quite frankly angry," he said in a release. "I don’t think the White House truly understands the depth of discontent in farm country.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds also issued a stern statement Thursday, declaring the EPA had "lost credibility" with Iowans.
“While we agree on the end goal of 15 billion gallons, this final rule allows those numbers to be too easily disregarded," she said in a release. "And even more important, it’s already negatively impacting the lives of Iowans as biofuels plants are closing and our farmers are losing an important market."
Ms. Reynolds stopped short of criticizing President Trump directly, adding she appreciated his continued engagement on the issue and vowing to continue the fight to hold the administration to its previous agreement.
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State regulators approve reduced Alliant gas rate hike
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State regulators have approved a natural gas rate increase for Alliant Energy customers in Iowa that will raise the company’s annual revenue by about $11.8 million.
An order approving the rate increase was issued Wednesday by the Iowa Utilities Board following a settlement agreement between Alliant and other parties to the case. In its rate increase application on March 1, Alliant had asked for an increase that would raise its annual gas revenues by $21 million, or 9 percent.
Alliant Energy spokesman Justin Foss said the utility expects to know the specific impact on customer billings by the end of January. He said the overall rate increase will be about half of what was originally requested and he said natural gas rates are expected to be lower in 2020 than they were in 2018, partly due to a new state law supported by Alliant that reduces the amount customers are charged to recover the utility's spending for energy efficiency programs.
The board’s order also enables Alliant to charge customers $2.80 per month to opt out of having advanced metering infrastructure. The term refers to smart meters that can continuously collect and electronically transmit usage data back to customers.
In addition, the board noted that Alliant has agreed not to seek a return on equity greater than 9.6 percent if it seeks an interim rate increase in a future rate case.
Within 20 days, Alliant is required to file a variety of calculations and reports, including calculations showing the approved revenue increase, by class as a percentage of total revenues and base rate revenues.
Alliant, through its Interstate Power & Light utility, serves about 225,000 customers in 230 Iowa communities, and operates more than 5,000 miles of natural gas distribution and transmission pipelines.
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CBJ Report on CBS2/FOX 28: ACT land buy, broadband mapping
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In this week's CBJ Report on CBS2/FOX 28, reporter Katharine Carlon discusses ACT's $1.48 million acquisition of 58.1 acres near its Iowa City campus, a recently passed U.S. House bill requiring improved broadband mapping in rural areas and Cedar Rapids' moves to annex 149 acres to the north along
north along C Avenue NE. Watch the full report
here
.
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State unemployment rate remains stable at 2.6% in November
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Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 2.6% in November with Iowa establishments shedding about 1,500 non-farm jobs.
According to Iowa Workforce Development figures released this morning, the number of unemployed Iowans increased to 46,200 in November from 45,100 in October - about 5,900 higher than one year ago. Meanwhile, the number of working Iowans increased to 1,711,700 in November.
“Despite a slight increase in the number of individuals unemployed, the total number of Iowans working continued to increase in November," said Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend in a release. "Likewise, Iowa’s labor force participation rate increased as the state added 8,200 more workers than in October. In the past 12 months, Iowa has added 60,400 more Iowans into the workforce.
November's loss of 1,500 jobs marked the first decline since March, although job gains have been getting smaller as the year concludes.
The financial services sector was hardest hit in the November report, with a decrease of 1,500 jobs. Professional and business services also shed 800 jobs for the month while construction was down 600 and trade and transportation lost 200 jobs.
Health care and social assistance expanded payrolls for the third straight month, adding 600 jobs, and accommodations and food services got a boost from eating and drinking establishments with 400 jobs. Manufacturing showed a slight increase of 100 jobs - welcome news following losses in each of the last four months.
The state’s jobless rate was 2.4 percent one year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent in November.
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RSM recognized with UNI's 2019 President's Philanthropy Award
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RSM US LLP has been recognized by the University of Northern Iowa with the school’s 2019 President’s Philanthropy Award for corporations and foundations.
RSM, a leading provider of audit, tax and consulting services focused on the middle market, was recognized for its generosity to the University of Northern Iowa through significant leadership giving, dedicated long-term service and assistance to UNI students and faculty through recruitment opportunities and program support.
"RSM has served as a partner to UNIBusiness for many years,” said Leslie Wilson, dean of the UNI College of Business Administration, in a release, adding that financial support to establish the first chair in accounting had played a key role in retaining accounting faculty and would help attract more talent in the future.
"Scholarships support our students, allowing them to focus on their studies and to prepare for the CPA examination," Ms. Wilson said. "More importantly, professional engagement from RSM's employees on our advisory boards ensures that we continue to deliver an accounting program that meets the highest expectations of the profession."
Doug Opheim, RSM's chief financial officer and chairman of the RSM US Foundation called the award an honor, noting that "stewardship is one of our core values at RSM.”
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Dec. 20
Coralville Economic Development Holiday Luncheon
, by West Bank, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Coralville Public Library, 1401 Fifth St. Celebrate the season with an update from Coralville business and civic leaders while raising money for a good cause. Cost: $15. RSVP to Tom Cilek at
tcilek@westbankstrong.com
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Jan. 8
1 Million Cups
, by 1MC Cedar Rapids, 8:15-9:15 a.m., Geonetric, 415 12th Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids. Join for community connections, free coffee and presentations by entrepreneurs, established companies, experts and more. Free. For more information, visit
facebook.com/1MCICR
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1 Million Cups
, by 1MC Iowa City, 9-10 a.m., MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. Join for community connections, free coffee and presentations by entrepreneurs, established companies, experts and more. Free. For more information, visit
facebook.com/1MillionCupsIC/
.
Jan. 9
Discover Your Company’s Core Values
, by SCORE East Central Iowa, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Hills Bank, 3905 Blairs Ferry Road NE, Cedar Rapids. Learn what a thriving, value-based culture looks like from within, the consequences of an unintentional culture and how culture exists whether you pay attention to it or not. Free. To register, visit
conta.cc/35XESRq
.
Courageous Leadership Club
, by Jennifer Zach, 12:15-1:15 p.m., Dash Downtown, 509 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids. The leadership club will meet from January to March, beginning Jan. 9. Learn how to create greater impact in your organization and enjoy professional fulfillment. Cost: $197. To register, visit
bit.ly/2RxuVWV
.
Profile by Sanford Ribbon Cutting
, by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, 4 p.m., Profile by Sanford, 1301 S. Gilbert St., Iowa City. For more information, call (319) 337-9637.
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Headlines from CBS2/FOX 28
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These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
One person was seriously hurt Thursday from a stabbing in Cedar Rapids. Police say that at 11:23 a.m. a 23-year-old man was found with "serious stab wound injuries" at 222 29th Street Drive SE. The victim was taken to a local hospital. Authorities do not think this was a random attack and say there is no threat to the public. No arrests have been made.
The holiday season is a time to get together with those you love. But it's also a time you take home and spread something nobody wants: the flu. In Iowa, the annual outbreak is only beginning its deadly spread. This season, the outbreak started earlier than expected in the United States, and that spread is expected to accelerate as millions travel for the long holiday season. In parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, the number of flu cases are already higher than here in Iowa. At one Minnesota school, more than 300 kids, or about a third of the student body, was out sick with symptoms of the flu. "I didn't think that many kids can get sick all at once," said parent Noemi Sanchez. The highly contagious flu virus comes in several different strains, something that experts have to monitor in order to determine which strains need to be included in the annual flu vaccine. Read the full story
here
.
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
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CBS2 Weather First Forecast
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The warmup continues today. Temperatures will be in the low to mid-40s under a mix of sun and clouds. It gets even warmer this weekend. We'll have plenty of sunshine with temperatures in the mid-40s Saturday and upper 40s Sunday. Parts of southern Iowa could get into the low 50s. The warm air follows us into next week and temperatures will be near 50 degrees Monday, which is around 20 degrees above normal. Temperatures will start to cool off for the rest of the week but we'll still be in the mid-40s Tuesday and near 40 Wednesday (Christmas Day).
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