City Officials Announce Plans For Phase 2,3, and 4 for Business Highway 75
(Le Mars) — Le Mars city officials are announcing that Business Highway 75 phase 2, according to the contractor, Harris Construction, is scheduled to open for traffic on Thursday, May 4th. Phase 2 is the stretch of highway from 12th
Street southwest going north to the driveway of the Yamaha Golf. Phase 3 will open for traffic on Wednesday, May 10th. Phase 3 goes from 12th Street southwest heading south to 18th Street southwest. The construction company believes it will be closing phase 4 of the project sometime between May 4th and
May 8th. Phase 4 goes from the Yamaha Golf heading north to where the Phase 1 construction project had ended, near the Family Table Restaurant. When Phase 4 is closed to traffic, it will also close the intersection at Business Highway 75
and 6th Avenue southwest and 6th Street southwest or the Dairy Queen intersection. Blue Diamond Drive will also be closed to traffic. Detour signs will be posted.
Lawsuit Against Presidential Search Committee
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A new lawsuit has been filled alleging members of the University of Iowa presidential search committee repeatedly violated the open meetings law two years ago.
The lawsuit alleges 23 committee members improperly met outside Iowa and closed meetings during the search that resulted in Bruce Harreld’s hiring.
The lawsuit by retired professor John Menninger is identical to one recently dismissed following the death of the plaintiff, retired professor Harold Hammond.
Hammond’s estate assigned the case to Menninger following his death last year. But Judge Ian Thornhill in February rejected a request for the case to proceed with Menninger as plaintiff, saying Hammond’s attorney waited too long to take action. The ruling canceled a trial. Now Menninger has filed a new
petition instead.
A second lawsuit over the search continues, alleging regents violated the law by meeting privately with Harreld.
Man Claims $2 Million Powerball Prize
CLIVE, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa City man has claimed the $2 million Powerball prize he won during a drawing in July.
Iowa Lottery officials say Jeff Wolf turned in his winning ticket Thursday morning at lottery headquarters in Clive. He’d bought the ticket at a Hawkeye convenience store in Cedar Rapids. The ticket matched five of the numbers drawn July 16 but missed the Powerball number. Because Wolf also bought the Power Play
option, the $1 million prize was multiplied to $2 million.
He told lottery officials that he knew shortly after the drawing that he’d won, but he waited to claim the money while working through estate issues following the death of his parents.
Youth Leader Accused Of Sexual Abuse
NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa (AP) – An eastern Iowa church youth leader has been accused of molesting four children over several years.
Court records say 32-year-old Benjamin Tweedt, of North Liberty, is charged with sex abuse, two counts of lascivious acts with a child, three counts of indecent contact with a child and two counts of lascivious conduct with a minor. A public phone listing for him couldn’t be found Thursday. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could speak for him.
The North Liberty Police Department says in a news release that Tweedt committed the crimes during several individual meetings with the children over the past 10 years while working as a youth leader and mentor at Parkview Church in Iowa City. Police say church leaders have removed him from those duties.
April 27th – Anniversary Date of “Farmer’s Holiday”
(Le Mars) — Today in History, marks the 84th anniversary of the famous “Farmers’ Holiday”. It is the day when farmers were upset over low commodity prices and farms were being foreclosed, due to the farmers inability to pay the
mortgage or the tax valuations. According to the book, The Annals of Iowa, with the chapter, “Farmers Rebel in Plymouth County, Iowa 1932-1933 by Rodney Karr, on this day, a group, estimated at 250 farmers, stormed into the Plymouth County
District Courthouse and kidnapped Judge Charles C. Bradley. Bradley was scheduled to hold hearings on an Iowa mortgage moratorium law and the farmers were asking for the judge’s support of the moratorium. When Judge Bradley
refused to promise his cooperation, the farmers roughly escorted him from the bench and nearly lynched him at a country crossroads. Following the uprising, then-governor Clyde Herring proclaimed martial law in Plymouth County, declaring: “Sioux City hoodlums were in the crowd that attacked the judge.”
Despite the concerns of outside influences, however, evidence suggest that the farm revolt in Plymouth County was a movement of and by local farmers.
