Retired Ogden Municipal Utilities Superintendent and long-time RPGI Board Member Dan Wilson passed away suddenly on Sunday, May 29, 2016, at the Boone County Hospital.

You can view Dan's obituary here.

Provided by Ahlers & Cooney, P.C.
 
An ever-increasing amount of our daily life is being conducted online. Does this provide a disservice to those individuals who cannot, for example, hear online videos or read webpage content? It might, and the ability of disabled individuals to access web-based services and information is receiving increased attention under the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act ("Section 504"), as well as state law equivalents.

Provided by Ahlers & Cooney, P.C.

On May 18, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) published its long-awaited final regulations updating the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA) overtime requirements. The new rules become effective December 1, 2016.

The major changes, discussed in more detail below, include:

• An increase in the salary threshold for "white collar" administrative, executive, or professional exemption to $913 per week, or $47,476 annually
  
• An increase in the salary threshold for the "highly compensated" employee exemption to $134,004 annually
  
• A self-adjusting increase to both of these thresholds every three years.

However, the rule will not, as discussed in more detail below:

• Affect exemptions from overtime for teaching employees or academic administrative professionals employed at educational institutions.
  

Provided by The University of Iowa Public Policy Center

This symposium will explore the current state of Iowa’s drinking water and the future challenges confronting water providers in the state to reliably deliver safe drinking water to Iowans. 

Co-organized by the University of Iowa Public Policy Center and the Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination (CHEEC), this all day event will include panels of water experts from academia, industry, and the public sector including the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR).  In light of recent, high profile incidents of public health crises arising from drinking water contamination around the United States, a special focus will be placed on whether drinking water supplies in Iowa are susceptible to similar vulnerabilities experienced elsewhere.  This includes a presentation by members of the Flint Water Study, who will share first-hand experiences and lessons learned from the public health crisis in Flint, Michigan. Beyond Flint, panel topics will address other potential threats to the sustainability of Iowa’s drinking water supplies.

The Symposium has been accredited for 0.6 CEUs for the renewal of Iowa water treatment and distribution operator licenses.

For more information, click here.

Statistics show that nearly two-thirds of all PRCS fatalities are would-be rescuers. In almost all of these cases, the rescuers are neither trained, equipped or even fully aware of the hazards that they will encounter while trying to save another person’s life during an emergency.

Whether a rescue service meets your workplace needs depends on all of the following; the confined spaces from which a rescue may be necessary, the hazards likely to be encountered in those spaces and the number of entrants needing rescue.

Provided by the APPA

On Monday, May 16, the D.C. Circuit issued an order on its own motion, rescheduling the oral argument in the Section 111(d) case from June 2 and 3, 2016, to Tuesday, September 27, 2016, before all of the judges on the D.C. Circuit, not just a three-judge panel.  The granting of en banc review by the D.C. Circuit is very rare, and the fact that the court did this on its own accord shows the significance of the case. Overall, we believe this is a positive development.