Grant will help turn up the heat in low-income homes

The state has won a three-million dollar federal grant to weatherize the homes of some 800 low-income Iowans. State Department of Human Rights officials say professionally-trained crews go into the homes first and survey what needs to be done.Jim Newton is chief of the state weatherization bureau. He says all sorts of repairs are done on the homes, averaging about 35-hundred dollars for each house. Newton says some homes will get new furnances if the crews determine the old ones can’t be fixed.Newton says each homeowner should be able to shave 200-bucks off their annual utility bills.