In March 2021, a small group of men met at a rural railroad crossing in northern Missouri that locals had long been complaining about because of its steep grade and lack of visibility. A farmer leading the effort to improve the crossing was among those who gathered at the Porche Prairie Avenue Crossing southwest of Mendon. All three Chariton County commissioners were there, along with a safety ... Read More

Jun. 29—A pending corporate deal would permanently shut down steelmaking operations at the mill in Granite City, cutting an estimated 1,000 jobs. United States Steel owns the mill and indicated plans to sell two blast furnaces at Granite City Works to SunCoke Energy, Inc., a raw materials handling company. SunCoke would repurpose the furnaces to create a "2 million ton granulated pig iron ... Read More

PLOVER – Central Wisconsin could become home to the largest solar farm in the state and the second largest in the nation. At 8,500 acres and 1,200 megawatts, Doral Renewables CEO Nick Cohen detailed preliminary plans for a project in southern Portage County that could power 250,000 homes in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. The project by the Pennsylvania-based company ... Read More

Jun. 22—Plans to demolish the former AMC Headquarters site on Detroit's west side moved forward Tuesday as the Detroit City Council approved a brownfield plan for the site's redevelopment. The site's owner, Missouri-based NorthPoint Development, requested $32.6 million in tax increment financing for demolition and environmental remediation of the 50-acre site at 14250 Plymouth Road. According ... Read More

Baptist Health Hamburg held a “topping off” ceremony Tuesday to place the final steel beam on its four-story new ambulatory care center under construction at its new campus in the Hamburg area. Construction began on the 30,800 square foot building on Polo Club Boulevard in November 2020. The new building, which has long been in the works, will include an emergency room, cancer center, ... Read More

Jun. 21—CEDAR RAPIDS — The city of Cedar Rapids is hoping for a $50 million boost to its construction of a $750 million permanent flood control system — if proposed federal legislation is signed into law. Several steps and likely multiple years remain before any funding comes to fruition, but draft language in the 2022 Water Resources Development Act would unlock the funds for flood protection ... Read More

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Horse races are regularly held in only two spots in Nebraska, and the tracks in Grand Island and Columbus are usually pretty quiet apart from the rumble of thoroughbreds that stomp past the half-empty grandstands. Suddenly, though, communities throughout the state are clamoring to revive mothballed tracks and build new ones. Why the surge in interest in a sport that ... Read More

Jun. 14—Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Sheriff Kalvin Barrett are calling for the rare, if not unprecedented, step of asking voters for approval of a major county building project — specifically, $10 million more for the projected $176 million Dane County Jail. Fearing inflation could further drive up costs and seeing a lack of support among County Board members to allocate the money, ... Read More

Jun. 14—MITCHELL — The initial plans for the proposed new Mitchell High School building are in, and the cost is higher than expected. "We're seriously over budget," said Joe Graves, superintendent for the Mitchell School District. "We have to go back to the table and figure out how to get this under budget. We have to figure out how to eliminate $20 million." The comments came during a ... Read More