WBGZ Radio 12/19/2020 |
By Doug Jenkins - WBGZ Radio
This week, the United States moved closer to creating a Resilience Revolving Loan Fund for states and local governments. It’s said to be one of the most valuable resilience tools across the entire federal portfolio. The legislation allows states to offer low-interest loans to counties and cities for disaster mitigation projects.
Grafton Mayor Rick Eberlin says the fund is critical to towns still struggling to recover from the Flood of 2019.
Click here for Eberlin s comments
Eberlin made his comments during a virtual meeting of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative.
December 18, 2020 By David Murray
In the top story of 2020, an invisible virus has, to date, caused more than a million and a half deaths worldwide, sickened tens of millions more, overwhelmed the health care facilities of many countries at times, and upended the global economy, completely reshaping some industries. It is a story that is far from over, but whose end may be in sight.
After crash development by an emergency team under the aegis of Operation Warp Speed, two vaccines have been developed, one by Pfizer-BioNTech and the other by Moderna. Pfizer’s has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration after encouraging testing indicating an effectiveness of more than 90 percent. Moderna’s vaccine was awaiting approval at press time, with 6 million doses ready for immediate allocation.
Record flooding, droughts and a sweeping inland hurricane have decimated farm fields, small businesses and the livelihoods of countless Iowans over the last decade plus. And if we do not act to curb greenhouse gas emissions, it could cost the Quad-Cities millions more annually in economic damages by 2100. Thatâs according to estimates and predictions compiled by state and regional climate science experts based on national and local climate data. Climate change is already here, and itâs affecting people, plants, animals and large sectors of our economy, Jerry Schnoor, co-director of the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research at the University of Iowa said in a 2018 climate statement signed by 201 science faculty and researches from 37 Iowa colleges and universities. It described the need to fortify buildings and public infrastructure from a hotter and wetter future.