Gomers -- What's going wrong

MISSING MORELS: The morel mushroom, passionately hunted by those who savor them, has been hard to find in Eastern Iowa this spring. Cold weather in April took a big bite out of the season, which is usually over by early May.

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LEFT OUT: Reduction in federal funding for highways, related to reduced tax revenue and congressional efforts to address the nation's huge debt, is affecting Eastern Iowa projects. The Iowa Transportation Commission's five-year improvement program left out construction funding for the Highway 100 extension in Cedar Rapids and widening U.S. Highway 30 in Benton County and U.S. 61 in Louisa County. In western Iowa, the U.S. Highway 20 widening in Woodbury County is impacted.

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LAB BUSTS UP: After a steady decline in seizures of methamphetamine labs since 2004 because of new law restricting access to pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in making the highly addictive drug, the numbers have ticked back up for the last two years in Eastern Iowa. Meth makers are finding ways around the ingredient restrictions. Creativity wasted.

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