Home News Monday News, February 13th

Monday News, February 13th

Janeene Klein Awarded Remsen “Citizen of the Year”

(Remsen) — The Remsen Public Library was honored in many ways during the Remsen Chamber of Commerce annual awards banquet held Saturday evening. The Remsen Public Library was named as the Remsen “Business of the Year”. Library Director
Janeene Klein says you wouldn’t normally think of a public library as a business, but she informed the gathering that the Remsen Public Library serves as many different types of businesses.

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The Remsen Public Library is celebrating it 50th Anniversary of being in its current location.

Klein says there are many people that utilize the library’s services when conducting genealogy research. Following the presentation of the Remsen “Business of the Year Award”, Klein was surprised when she was named as the Remsen “Citizen of the Year”. Many of KLein’s family members returned home to
Remsen to help Janeene celebrate the honor.

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Klein assumed the duties of being the Director of the Remsen Public Library following the resignation of the previous director in 2014, but her involvement with the Remsen Public Library dates back further than that.

Klein says she enjoys every aspect of her job, but especially enjoys assisting the small children.

 

Happy Siesta Conducts Chili Cook-off Contest

(Remsen) — The Happy Siesta Retirement Community hosted its first annual chili cook-off contest on Saturday. The event was held at the Remsen V-F-W Hall. Ten contestants tried to woo the 55 attendees into voting for their special type of
chili. First place honors were awarded to Sarah Grover of Remsen. Grover categorizes her chili as a “mild chili”, and says when she makes it, the chili doesn’t stay around long. Grover says she doesn’t even reveal her secret
ingredients to her husband, but she admitted getting the award-winning recipe from her high school home economics teacher back in 1995.

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The top three winners of the Happy Siesta Chili Cook-off contest included Sarah Grover, second place was awarded to Brady Kuiken of Le Mars, who had prepared a white chicken chili. Third place was given to Kay Gruden of Remsen, however, she
was unable to attend the entire contest, and was represented by Briena Staab of Remsen.

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Le Mars School Board To Meet This Evening

(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Community Board of Education will gather this evening for its bi-monthly meeting. The school board will hear reports from each of the principals. Superintendent of schools, Dr. Todd Wendt will report on the process used for developing the input to the Board of Education at the District Learning and Instructional Impact Team from its January 26th meeting. Dr. Wendt will also share the results of the evaluations from the annual retreat held in late January. The school board will act upon five different resignations that include: Middle School and special education teacher, Mary Baue; High School
English teacher, Rhonda Beach; High School Guidance Counselor, Barry Borchers; Middle School Talented and Gifted teacher, Jeanne Rust; and Middle School Social Studies teacher, Mark Vonnahme. The school board will consider a change of
policy that would allow middle school athletes to share practice with high school athletes. Mr. Jed Hoag, a parent of a middle school athlete has requested the school board to consider changing the current policy. Assistant Superintendent
and the future superintendent of schools, Dr. Steven Webner, will present to the Board of Education, for their consideration, his recommendation for replacing the position of Assistant superintendent beginning July 1st.

Le Mars Community School Board

 

Siouxland Garden Show Scheduled For March 24th-25th

(Sioux City) — It’s not too early to start thinking about your home garden or landscaping once spring arrives.
Those topics will be among those discussed at the upcoming 11th annual Siouxland Garden Show to be held March 24th and 25th at the Sioux City Convention Center.
Molly Hewitt, County Director of Iowa State University Extension, who co- sponsors the event, says the theme this year is “Grow with Us”:

 

Siouxland Garden Show logo

Master Gardener Diana Kincaid of Dakota City says more people are participating in “community gardens” to grow some of their own food:

 

Carol Larvick of the University of Nebraska’s Dakota County Extension office says all types of gardening have become more popular in the region:

 

Besides the speakers, Hewitt says there are a lot of “hands on”
demonstrations and “Make and Take” projects:

 

There’s also a need for volunteers to help with the event.
The deadline for volunteers or show vendors to sign up is March 1st.
Tickets are available through the Woodbury and Dakota County Extension Offices.
You can find out more online at www.siouxlandgardenshow.org.

 

University Of Iowa To Tighten Rules For In-state Tuition

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The University of Iowa is tightening the rules for incoming out-of-state students seeking in-state residency after beginning their studies.
Officials say a record 317 part-time freshmen enrolled at the university for fall 2016.  Many of those nonresidents weren’t taking enough credit hours to trigger the higher, full-time tuition.
Out-of-state students who want to become residents must live in Iowa for at least a 12-month period and prove they moved to Iowa primarily for reasons other than higher education. The nonresident students previously had to show that they
worked an average of 20 hours a week for those 12 months. Under the tighter rules, students enrolling after May 1 will have to show they’re working an average of at least 30 hours a week.

 

Des Moines Police Investigating Two Weekend Homicides

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Authorities are investigating the Des Moines slaying of a woman and the crash death of a male suspect.
Des Moines police say in a news release that officers and medics who responded about 2:30 a.m. Monday to a report of a stabbing found the woman’s body.
Officers developed information about a suspect and the suspect’s vehicle, and the vehicle soon was spotted by Altoona police officers. Des Moines police say the vehicle crashed on Interstate 80 as the driver tried to evade the Altoona officers. Des Moines police say the suspect died in the crash.
The names of those involved have not been released. Police say the woman’s death was Des Moines’ seventh homicide of the year.

 

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Des Moines police say they are investigating the shooting death of a man in a case that initially appeared to be a traffic crash.
Police responded Saturday night to a report of a car that had struck a utility pole, injuring the driver. Officers who arrived found the driver’s injuries didn’t seem caused by the crash, and after he was taken to a hospital it was determined he’d been shot.
The man, identified as 33-year-old Des Moines resident Adriel Ward, died early Sunday.

 

Election Officials Informed Of 10 Improper Votes During Election

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s top elections official, who is pushing for a voter identification requirement that could make it harder for some to vote, has only been informed of 10 votes that were potentially improper out of 1.6 million cast statewide.
A summary of “general election irregularities” obtained by The Associated Press shows Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s office learned of a handful of cases of alleged double-voting and votes cast by ineligible felons on Election Day.
Further review by AP shows most of the instances were mistakes rather than fraud, and may not have been stopped by an identification requirement.
They included a non-English speaking citizen who mistakenly voted when he registered and again on Election Day, and a felon whose voting rights had been restored in Wisconsin but not Iowa.

 

Toledo Residents Wondering What To Do With Former Juvenile Facility

TOLEDO, Iowa (AP) – Residents in Toledo are unsure what they want the state to do with the 27-acre former Iowa Juvenile Home that Gov. Terry Branstad ordered closed in 2014.
The Matrix Design Group has presented three options for the 27 acres, 16 buildings and nearly 143,000 square feet of the facility that closed in 2014. The Iowa Economic Development Authority Board hired the company to determine how to
develop the facility.
Two options would keep part of the grounds as an educational facility and devote the rest to residential living. The third makes the entire area a mix of senior housing and residential living.
More than 50 people who attended the meeting offered questions and critiques but didn’t unite behind a specific plan.