It's a project decades in the making for Northeast Nebraska. "That's a very welcome development for all the communities along the Highway 275 corridor." Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts and community leaders across northeast Nebraska met in West Point Wednesday for the official start of the Highway 275 expansion project. "It's a project very long time in coming," said Gov. Ricketts. "It was assisted by the Transportation Innovation Act we passed a few years ago, and now we're finally ready to start doing the construction work that we're doing all the planning for, getting environmental permits and all that sort of thing." The initial expansion, transitioning 275 from two lanes to four from Omaha to Norfolk, was first announced in the 80s with a completion date projected for 2003, but environmental issues, primarily with the Elkhorn River, delayed its approval and construction for decades. "We've lost out frankly, on a lot of economic development, growth opportunities by not having the right infrastructure in place," said Norfolk Mayor Josh Moenning, who has been a supporter of the project even before being elected mayor. "And now, with the coming years ahead, and the development of this project, we hope that we can catch up having the right infrastructure in place to compete." Governor Ricketts says this project will bring a big boost to the northeast Nebraska economy. "Going from a two-lane to a four-lane will help facilitate that improving safety, which is important for companies that are working along the corridor, but also just allowing for more volume of traffic so that companies can expand," Ricketts said after the announcement, saying it'll allow companies already along the corridor to expand and bring in more jobs and new ones to come in and find a home in Northeast Nebraska. The expansion isn't just for economic development, but safety, too. The current stretch of road can be dangerous for drivers. "We've already seen very tragic loss of life again this season," Moenning said. "275 is a very dangerous outdated corridor and should have been expanded more than two decades ago." The Nebraska DOT says this project shouldn't interrupt the traffic flow on 275 during construction. "We'll try and keep traffic moving on that two-lane that's currently in existence right now while we build the other one," said Jeni Compana with the Nebraska Dept. of Transportation. "Then eventually we'll shift traffic to the other side while we work on the existing side to make sure that that's built up to last with the other side as well." Decades after its initial announcement, communities along the 275 corridor are more than ready for this expansion to begin. "There has been a lot of clamoring for this project... for decades," Moenning said. "Again, there was a promise made that it would get started sometime between 1988 and finished by 2003. Obviously, that deadline came and went. And so there's been a lot of frustration that we haven't seen the kind of progress that is needed to actually finish the job here." This phase of the reconstruction will run from Scribner to just outside West Point. That's a total of about 18 miles. Governor Ricketts says they hope to have the full project complete by 2028. SEE THE VIDEO
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Alex had all but given up, spending his days chained outside, a wire cable embedded more than an inch deep in his neck. "You couldn't even see the cable because it was maggots on top of maggots." His owner had called a Nebraska rescue group to surrender him but didn't say how hurt he was. The rescue team took him to the Pender Vet Clinic, but they knew he needed more help than they could give. They called one of the only animal rescue teams in Siouxland to take on such dire cases: Noah's Hope Animal Rescue. "They feel it was months, maybe up to a year that he had this cable had been embedded. So he was pretty down and out." Brenda Iwen has been with Alex since he came to Pender, documenting his journey on Facebook for Siouxlanders to see. "I honestly did not think he was going to make it. The first day, day two, he didn't start to recover at all. He was still just down and out." Iwen and the Noah's Hope team brought Alex to the Siouxland Animal Hospital and began treating his open wounds, hoping for a miracle. His neck wound was deep, filled with maggots and infection. Iwen says the vet team worked their magic, cleaning the gaping wound, urging Alex to eat and drink. "Once he started getting hydrated and started getting some of the infection gone and getting rid of most of the maggots," Iwen said, "just like that he started turning the corner and he never looked back." Two weeks after his rescue, a miracle is walking around the Siouxland Animal Hospital location in Indian Hills. Alex is going home with Brenda to continue healing, but it's not just his open wounds, it's the ones you can't see on the surface. "I think his biggest hurdle is his mental," Iwen said as she pet Alex in the grass. "He was a watchdog in his previous life. Not any human interaction." Alex's new journey is just beginning, and he is learning that humans can be good, especially for ear scratches and forehead kisses. He's got quite the fan base at the vet office and hundreds of people from around the globe cheering his recovery on online. "I feel like he really coming around that way," Iwen said. Alex still isn't sure about people. "The problem is his mental rehab. He is just so leery of people." While his tail is now wagging and his ears perked up, Alex still has a long road to recovery, but his new life of love and happiness is just getting started, never again to be chained up. Noah's Hope Animal Rescue is a non-profit organization in Siouxland, running fully on donations with all money going directly to help animals in need. If you would like to help pets like Alex and others who need it, you can visit their website to donate and learn more. Noah's Hope is also in need of fosters to house their rescue animals. If you think you may be a good fit, you can fill out an application on their website. SEE THE VIDEO Since 1988 the governors of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota have been meeting every other year here in Siouxland to talk about issues that impact all three states. They met again Monday in South Sioux City for the 17th event, which comes off of a year of historic unemployment and this year's conference focused largely on workforce development. "We have seen employers across the state of South Dakota increase their wages so they could get the doors back open," said South Dakota's Kristi Noem. "So that's good, families are grateful for that, they are ready to get back to work." Governor Kristi Noem, the Republican governor from South Dakota, says tourism is her state's 2nd largest industry and they are looking at retirees to fill those positions. "Because our busy season is summer and early fall, we've been recruiting some of those folks who are retired who still enjoy interacting with people and hosting them," Noem said about filling the tens of thousands of jobs open in the state. This is largely due to a record number of people moving to South Dakota post-pandemic. Gov. Noem spoke extensively on bringing people to South Dakota and keeping them here. She says the state has seen a dramatic increase in new residents in recent months and they aren't just moving to the state's biggest cities, like Sioux Falls and Rapid City, but small towns, too. In her lunchtime remarks, she noted that three new families have recently moved to the small South Dakota town where she grew up, stating that this was something the small community of fewer than 100 families hadn't seen in decades. Now, she says, the challenge is keeping people in the Rushmore State. "Our biggest challenge is going to be adapting quickly so we don't miss out on this opportunity," she said during the conference. "It's not very often that people pay attention to South Dakota and they are right now so we are going to use that to set us up for success for the next 40-50 years if we can." Aside from bringing people to their respective states, all three governors are focusing on school-aged kids and exposing them to career paths as early as possible to help bolster the state's workforce years down the road. In Nebraska, Governor Pete Ricketts, also a Republican, says he is focusing on kids as young as middle school, introducing them to possible career options and areas of study. “We're really focused on a career pipeline that starts in middle school, and then seventh, eighth grade with our developing new talent initiative. The idea is to take that into a career academy, such as they've got here in the Siouxland area, then follow that up with post-secondary education.” Gov. Ricketts says the state is working on registered apprenticeship programs as well as career scholarship programs to help students across the state. "Whether it's going to be registered apprenticeship program, or through our career scholarship program which applies to community colleges, state colleges, University of Nebraska, private colleges.," Ricketts continued, "So it's really about creating a talent pipeline to develop our folks and really reduce the cost of that education.” Governor Kim Reynolds also praised her state's apprenticeship programs and bringing work-based learning to all Iowa students. "We’re being bringing business and industry into the classroom, we're taking the classroom and inserting those students into the various industries to really give them a taste of what that job looks like," the Republican governor said. "It really helps them figure out where they have a passion, and most importantly it connects them to the tremendous opportunities that exist right in their communities.” Reynolds and her predecessor, Terry Branstad, created the Future Ready Iowa program in 2014 and is using that initiative as a bouncing off point for other programs in the state to increase Iowa's workforce down the road. "Future Ready Iowa was the other initiative that we started back in 2014, quite a while ago, but it has the goal of having 70% of Iowans in the workforce have either education or training beyond high school by the year 2025," the Republican governor said. "And so we're at about 68% right now. I think we've made significant progress, but again it's about reskilling, retooling, and helping really maximize the potential of Iowans.” Reynolds, Ricketts and Noem also discussed pandemic recovery, saying the Midwest came out better because of how they faced the virus. “I think it's an attitude of the Midwest, we're resilient, we show up, we take care of ourselves, we put our trust in our people, and they, they didn't let us down," Reynolds said. Governor Noem echoed that, saying, "We draw people to us by our optimism and our hope and that's really what we are supposed to do as a country but we just don't talk about it enough. That's what I think we can do as governors and these two next to me have done as well. You didn't see them getting up on TV and talking about how there was no hope and we can't get through it. It was always 'we can get through it and we will'." All three governors were given a Sioux City Musketeers military appreciation jersey as a gift from the conference, complete with the Muskies official tri-state logo. This year, the Muskies raised over $50,000 for the Midwest Honor Flight program by auctioning off those jerseys. SEE THE VIDEO They say family is more than just blood relations. "I like to go swimming with her because she is an excellent swimmer too, and I go play with her in this swimming pool a lot. Right?" For the Edlunds, Building Blocks Daycare and Preschool has become their family and blood... their lifeline. "Recently my youngest daughter Lorelei was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia," mom Erin Edlund said. "Lolo was in the hospital for almost a month and a half and our kids could not visit because of COVID. And so Evelyn was really looking for a way to try to do something to channel her energy and to make use of a tough situation." Evelyn has partnered with Building Blocks to host a blood drive in her sister's honor. At just 5 years old, Lolo has had four transfusions already. "It's very important to me because I feel like when she was in the children's hospital, I couldn't go sit with her," Evelyn said standing beside her sister, "and I feel like one way to help her is to help with this blood drive." This drive also comes at a time where blood donations are falling short of the need. "There is not a lot of blood in hospitals because of COVID and things," Evelyn said of the other reason why she wanted to host this drive. "So it's important that we're donating blood to the hospitals so that they have it for people who need it." "I think we're all trying to find ways right now to cope with this and so one of the things that we talked about was the fact that there are blood shortages all over the country right now," Erin said of the drive. "Lolo happens to have one of the more rare types, she's O-negative. And so knowing that there are shortages out there is pretty scary for our family, especially because we never know when she may need blood again." So the Edlunds approached Building Blocks to help host the drive. "At Building Blocks, it means the world to us. We've been open since 2004, and a lot of people look at us as just childcare, but really we're a family and so it means a lot to me." For Building Blocks, hosting this event was an easy choice. They had been thinking of hosting one already when Evelyn and the Edlunds brought up the idea to them. "And it dug deep, I guess and we just need to take care of each other and have each other's back," said Building Blocks owner Stacy Eldridge, "and if anybody out there needs any sort of blood then I think anybody should give. So when it hit home, you have to act." For Erin and Jeff, watching their kids rally around each other has helped them all get through it together. "I couldn't be more proud as a mom to see my kid, finding a way to overcome tough things," Erin said, "and to be gritty and really try to make something good out of something that's maybe really hard and tough." I think that they just showed remarkable resolve," Jeff said of his kids. "I can't imagine trying to understand it at 10 and at five, still trying to process. As an adult and as a parent." Lolo recently finished in-patient treatment and still has a few years of treatment to go for her leukemia. "They say that it takes a village to raise a child and I think having a child who's going through cancer and going through what our family is going through, it takes many villages," Erin said. "And we are fortunate to be connected to a lot of really great people and villages who have had our backs." "It's been humbling," Jeff said, "the support that we've had from the very get-go has been remarkable and emotional and wonderful. We couldn't have asked for anything better." The Edlund's say that while they have only been a part of the Sgt. Bluff community for three years, they've been welcomed with open arms, especially during this challenging time. "The community has really rallied around us," Erin said. "I can't say enough about how lucky we are to live in a place like Sergeant Bluff because the community has supported us in so many ways. And when you're being supported like that it feels so critical to give back. Even though right now, I don't mean that feel like we have enough capacity, we really do want to do something like this. This helps Lolo and it helps kids all over the country and adults all over the country who need blood." While Evelyn can't donate herself yet, she's hoping this drive can help save others' lives, like Lolo. "It's something that should come and do because while you're helping not only the whole community," she said, "but you're also helping kids and other people who are hurt or sick that need the blood." "It's easily the hardest thing that we've ever gone through in our lives," Erin said, "and I think that as a parent, one of the most important things that we can teach our kids going through a hard time like this is to not let something like this break you, but let us help you bounce." The blood drive already has over 30 Siouxlanders signed up with more spots available. If you would like to sign up, you can do so at the link here. SEE THE VIDEO |
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