The fiscal year began on October 1, 2018, and Congress has passed just five out of 12 appropriations bills setting discretionary spending levels. Lawmakers have until midnight on Feb. 15, 2019, to enact legislation to fund the programs covered by the remaining seven appropriations bills. Before the current funding measure was enacted, the federal government had been partially shut down for 35 days, the longest shutdown in history.

ANKENY, IOWA (February 12, 2019) — FFA Week is next week, February 16-23, and the over 15,000 members from 242 FFA chapters in Iowa will be celebrating. Please find attached press release and other resources at our webpage: http://www.iowaffa.com/ffaweek.aspx. National FFA Central Region Vice President, Ridge Hughbanks, will be in Iowa for the entire week.

ANKENY, IOWA (February 21, 2019) — FFA Chapters across Iowa will celebrate National FFA Week, February 16-23. This year’s theme is Just One. One moment, one encounter, one opportunity is all it takes to radically change the course of a person’s life. More than 669,000 members will participate in National FFA Week activities at local, state, and national levels. These members are tomorrow’s leaders of America’s number-one industry, agriculture.

WASHINGTON DC (February 12, 2019) — A new report released today found rural small business owners play a key role in all facets of life within rural communities, but they often face different challenges than those in metropolitan areas, including geographic isolation, spotty broadband services, a reluctance among major companies, banks and healthcare providers to serve the area, difficulties in hiring and retaining qualified workers, and barriers in accessing capital to build their businesses