Page 2 - Jared Strong News Today

A wide area of extreme drought stretched farther into southern Iowa this past week amid an overall lack of rainfall across the state, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Federal agricultural officials plan to spend up to $2.3 billion to promote farm exports and to send U.S. grain to countries that are suffering food shortages. “This will complement existing trade …

Nancy Dugan reports on the Iowa Utilities Board's handling of a proposed CO2 pipeline, including a mailing the board sent to landowners.

Nancy Dugan: Summit Carbon's ownership structure remains a mystery, as the company fights to keep pipeline safety modeling from the public.

We don’t want to look behind the curtain

The overall condition of the state’s two primary crops has declined precipitously in the past two weeks amid ongoing heat and dryness, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on Tuesday.

A new phase of Summit Carbon Solutions’ evidentiary hearing for its pipeline permit is poised to begin Tuesday. The company plans to call its 15 witnesses to testify over the course of four days, according to the Iowa Utilities Board.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds “has not influenced” the state permit process for a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline that is nearing its conclusion, a spokesperson said this week.

A Cherokee County landowner claims that a carbon dioxide pipeline company’s agent pressured him explicitly with the threat of eminent domain during easement negotiations for the project.

Last week’s temperatures in Iowa averaged about 10 degrees above normal — and much of the state had little or no rainfall — which led to a substantial decline in crop conditions, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report .