Iowa Politics Today: Trying to get federal funds to help feed low-income children; Pitching Iowans on using all of their vacation (in Iowa); Evaluating animal confinement by matrix

A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017:

MASTER MATRIX: The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports 88 of 99 Iowa counties plan to evaluate construction permit applications and proposed locations for animal confinements by using the master matrix.

Davis, Decatur, Des Moines, Keokuk, Lee, Mahaska, Osceola, Plymouth, Wapello, Warren and Washington counties will not use the master matrix. Animal producers in these counties must meet higher standards than other confinement producers who also need a construction permit. They qualify by choosing a site and using practices that reduce impacts on air, water and the community.

The master matrix applies to producers who must get a construction permit to build, expand or modify a totally roofed facility. Generally, these are confinement feeding operations with more than 2,500 finishing hogs, 1,000 beef cattle or 715 mature dairy cows.

Counties that adopt the master matrix can provide more input to producers on site selection, and proposed structures and facility management. Participating counties score each master matrix submitted in their county and can recommend to approve or deny the construction permit. They can also join in DNR visits to a proposed confinement site.

NATURAL GAS DOWN:

Natural Gas prices fell $.25 this week, ending at $3 per MMBtu, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources reported.

Propane prices were up $.04 from last week's report, with a statewide average of $1.25 per gallon. Home heating prices dropped $.02 from last week, ending with a statewide average of $2.04

The price of global crude oil fell this week on the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) by $.05 per barrel over last week, and is currently priced at $53.28. A year ago, WTI crude sold for $31.62.

As of Jan. 31, the price of regular unleaded gasoline averaged $2.31 across Iowa, according to AAA. That's $.03 lower than one week ago and $.57 higher than one year ago. The national average on Tuesday was $2.28.

Retail diesel fuel prices in Iowa were down a penny to a statewide average of $2.47, but up from $1.89 a year ago. The Iowa average is $.04 lower than the national average.

Wholesale ethanol prices were up $.06 from last week's price, closing at $1.50.

EXPOLRE Iowa:

Officials in Iowa's Tourism Office are participating in a national effort to promote travel by encouraging Iowans to use their unused time off to explore their state.

Shawna Lode, manager of the Iowa Tourism Office, said estimates indicate that about half of Iowans did not use all of their vacation days in 2015 and nationally the unused time off was calculated to be about 658 million unused vacation days a year.

'Today, we're encouraging Iowans to commit to traveling their home state in 2017 to discover the places and people that make us unique,” Lode said. 'Traveling and disconnecting from day-to-day responsibilities at home and work is proven to reduce stress and improve relationships.”

Researchers at the U.S. Travel Association say Americans could have spent an additional $122 billion in domestic leisure travel had they used all their vacation days. Iowa officials say Iowa stood to gain $4.5 billion of this amount. Tourism in Iowa generates more than $8.06 billion in expenditures and $466 million in state taxes, plus employs 67,400 people statewide, according to the Iowa Tourism Office – which is part of the Iowa Economic Development Authority.

CHILD HUNGER:

the Iowa Department of Education is seeking sponsors for a USDA-funded program that provides nutritious meals or snacks to children in low-income areas during the summer months as a way to head off hunger in Iowa. State officials estimate that about 90 percent of the more than 200,000 Iowa students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches during the school year don't have school-sponsored meal programs to turn to when classes let out for summer break.

Typical sponsors include public and nonpublic schools, local government agencies, and private nonprofit organizations with serving sites located in schools, churches, community centers, parks, libraries, housing complexes, or camps. To qualify as a site, the facility must be either located in a low-income neighborhood where at least 50 percent of the children are eligible for free and reduced-price meals or must serve primarily low-income children.

In 2016, Iowa Summer Food Service Program sponsors served 1,234,046 meals and snacks to children across the state, feeding about 23,000 children on a typical June day. If interested, organizations my contact stephanie.dross@iowa.gov.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'We're seeing an ever increasing amount of the use of electronic devices to solicit illegal sex acts with children. It is a rampant problem.”

– Muscatine County Attorney Alan Ostergren in advocating for legislation to expand the definition and toughen the criminal penalties for 'sexting” by using an electronic device to entice a minor below the age of 16 with the intent of committing a sex act.

- Compiled by the Des Moines Bureau