City Officials Testing Storm Sirens
(Le Mars) — You may have heard the storm sirens sounding this afternoon. Although we do have some cloud cover, and the forecast is calling for some afternoon showers and possibly thunderstorms, there are no storm watches or warnings posted for this area. Instead, city officials have been testing the storm sirens using a hand held device. The sirens sounded at about 1:00 p.m. this afternoon for the normal monthly testing, and again individual sirens were blowing between 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Officials say the hand-held device to activate the sirens would be used in the event the County Communications office were unable to activate the storm sirens.
Burlington-Northern Sante Fe Railroad Improves Crossings
(Le Mars) — The Burlington Northern-Sante Fe Railroad will be upgrading some rail
crossings within the next few days. Plymouth county engineer Tom Rohe explains the
work that the rail company will be performing.
Rohe says some of the work on the rail crossings has already started.
County Engineer Explains Work On County Road C-60
(Le Mars) — Preparations for paving county road C-60 in the southeastern area of
the county have begun. Tom Rohe, the county engineer, says the actual paving won’t
be done until 2017. However, construction crews are beginning the initial steps.
The county engineer explains the county’s goal regarding the project for this year.
Rohe says the paving project scheduled for next year will cover six miles.
Authorities Look For Two Bodies Lost In Red Rock Lake
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say two people have died in separate incidents
at Lake Red Rock in Marion County.
Knoxville radio station KNIA reports (https://bit.ly/29JyJx1 ) that a 6-year-
old boy went missing around 5 p.m. Sunday at the lake’s North Overlook Beach. He
was soon found unresponsive about 25 yards from shore and taken to a Pella
hospital. Authorities say the boy, Alexi Oquendo, of Newton, was pronounced dead at
the hospital.
Officers responded to a call around 6:30 p.m. Sunday about a capsized kayak
near the Cordova Cabins. The body of a 50-year-old Des Moines man was recovered
from the water later. Authorities identified him as Daniel Tutor.
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33 Iowa Businesses and Farm Receive USDA Grants
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 33 small Iowa
businesses and farms have been awarded grants to reduce energy costs by improving
lighting and installing solar energy systems.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says more than $670,000 is approved for the
projects including funding a wind energy project and improvements to grain dryer
systems on two farms.
Details of Iowa grants were released Monday as Vilsack rolled out the 2016
funding under the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program. He says 821 businesses
across the country received $43 million in loan guarantees and nearly $12 million
in grants.
Congress created the program in the 2002 Farm Bill and reauthorized it in 2014
with guaranteed funding of at least $50 million annually for the duration of the
five-year Farm Bill.
Pardon Forms For Criminal Convictions Have Been Made Easier
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa has shortened the application form for a person
with a criminal conviction who wants to request a pardon from the governor or have
his or her firearm rights restored.
A new form released online Monday reduces the number of pages from five to two
and the questions from 43 to 29.
A person with a non-violent felony can have his or her firearm rights restored
after a process that includes waiting at least five years after a completed
sentence.
A full pardon restores all citizenship rights, including firearm rights. A
person with a felony conviction must wait at least 10 years after a completed
sentence to submit an application.
The change comes after the application form was reduced in April for convicted
felons seeking restoration of voting rights.
University Of Iowa Students Select The Pronoun They Prefer For Reference
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – University of Iowa students will have the opportunity to
include their preferred names and gender pronouns on their school record this fall.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen (https://icp-c.com/29CmHr8 ) reports that the
university became one of the first institutions in the country to allow students to
identify as transgender on their admissions application three years ago.
Assistant professor Jodi Lindley said in a video released last week that the
change allows students to tell university officials, faculty and staff what name
and pronouns they’d like to be used in communication and interactions.
The video includes students, faculty and staff members saying which gender
pronouns they preferred for themselves. The majority use either he/him/his or
she/her/hers, but others who don’t fit squarely into a male-female binary prefer
they/their/theirs or ze/zem/zir.
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