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Thursday, March 28, 2024

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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

IA: Water

Farmers apply fertilizer, including nitrogen, before spring planting so the seed and the growing plant have nutrients available throughout the season. (Adobe Stock)

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Plan pays IA farmers to reduce excess nitrogen use

A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops. Excess nitrates can wind up …

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The Iowa Environmental Council is calling on the Department of Natural Resources to add better protections for the state's air, soil and groundwater quality in new regulations for concentrated animal feeding operations. (Adobe Stock)
Environmental advocates want tougher CAFO rules

After a two-and-a-half-year process, time is winding down for the public to comment on new rules for concentrated animal feeding operations in Iowa…

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The USDA says producers can increase their environmental stewardship activities through the department's Conservation Stewardship Program. (Adobe Stock)
Family farm advocates suspect profit motive behind some 'conservation' practices

Midwest family farm advocates have sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, opposing recent additions to conservation practices they said …

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Cedar Rapids, in eastern Iowa, had only 15.5 inches of rain in all of 2022, which is about half of what it would normally get by early October. (Adobe Stock)
IA implements first-ever drought plan

The State of Iowa has just put its first-ever drought plan to work to help it manage one of the longest and most severe dry periods in recent history…

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Rural Webster County, Iowa, uses money offered by the state to test water wells. Some 43 million Americans rely on private wells for their water, but many don't have those wells tested for water quality. (Tony Leys/KFF Health News)
Rural IA boosts efforts to test private wells

By Tony Leys for KFF Health News.Broadcast version by Mark Moran for Iowa News Service reporting for the KFF Health News-Public News Service Collabor…

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With 23.6 million hogs in Iowa, the state continues to dominate the nation's hog production industry. Minnesota and Nebraska rank a distant second and third with 8.6 million and 8.3 million hogs respectively, according to Iowa Source. (Adobe Stock)
Advocates Blast EPA Over 'Inaction' on Confinement Rules

Clean-water activists are angry over a decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to sidestep action on threats to water posed by factory …

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Large feeding operations keep many animals confined to a small, densely populated space. Unlike free-range farms where cows graze through a pasture, or chickens forage for food in fields, Confined Animal Feeding Operations bring feed to their animals, which remain stationary. (Adobe Stock)
State to Rewrite Manure Rules for CAFOs

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is updating the rules defining how manure is stored at animal feeding operations. For generations, …

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One billion people in more than 193 countries participate in Earth Day activities, according to Earth Day Network. (Adobe Stock)
Iowa Educators Focus on Sustainability During Earth Month

As part of Earth Month, an extension of the annual Earth Day celebration, educators and researchers are calling on Iowans to put sustainability first …

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other national agencies will host a webinar focusing on past and current drought conditions and the impact on rainfall, temperature and precipitation in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. (Adobe Stock)
Iowa Drought Plan Uses History to Predict Future

Iowa has developed its first-ever plan to predict drought before it happens. Officials said it is designed to mitigate the effects of the drought by …

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The Iowa Water Quality Initiative is a coordinated approach for reducing nutrient loads discharged from the state's largest wastewater treatment plants and agricultural sources, according to Cleanwater Iowa. (Adobe Stock)
IA Water Quality Initiative Aims to Remove Nitrates

The Iowa Legislature is considering a bill to maximize protecting the state's water. Senate File 311 would allow the state Department of …

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Nitrate levels in water resources have increased in many areas of the world, largely due to applications of inorganic fertilizer and animal manure in agricultural areas, according to the National Institutes of Health. (Adobe Stock)
Des Moines Weighs $50 Million Water-Quality Improvement

City water leaders in Des Moines are considering a $50 million plan to use Mother Nature as a giant water filter to remove nitrates from the city's dr…

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Some 50 years after passage of the Clean Water Act, half of America's waterways remain polluted, according to a report by the Environmental Integrity Project. (Adobe Stock)
IA Sierra Club Chapter Sues State, Cattle Producer

A state judge will soon hear arguments in a waterway pollution case brought by the Sierra Club's Iowa Chapter. The group is suing the Iowa …

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