Gomers -- What's going wrong

STILL FEELING IT: The aftereffects of the July 11 windstorm that tore through Eastern Iowa with 100-plus-mph winds - especially vicious in the Dysart, Clutier and Vinton areas - continue to blow through the area farm economy. Hundreds of farmers' and grain cooperatives' storage bins were destroyed, and the lack of storage space will be costly for producers and co-ops as the harvest is completed.

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ALCOHOL AND DRIVERS: Midwestern states have by far the highest annual rate of alcohol-impaired driving, according to a survey by Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Iowa ranks in the middle of 12 Midwest states, with 620 alcohol-impaired episodes per 1,000 adults over the year. The national rate is 479, down 30 percent since the 2006 survey.

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REDISTRICTING RULES: State officials rejected Linn County's redistricting commission's map, saying that Cedar Rapids needs to be divided within three supervisor districts, not four as the commission proposed. But such a redraw apparently would a create donut-shaped rural district with a boundary 249 miles long. Seems silly.

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