City Closes Park Lane Through Municipal Park
(Le Mars) — Le Mars city officials have closed Park Lane beginning at 4th Avenue Northeast and going east through the Municipal Park for a distance of about 300 feet. Access to the Municipal Park is limited to the east entrance off Highway 3. The city has posted signs and barricades indicating how campers
can get to the campgrounds. City officials believe the road will be closed for about a week.
Gehlen Catholic To Install New Playground Equipment
(Le Mars) — It has been a long time coming, eight years in fact, but Gehlen Catholic is ready to install a new playground for its elementary students.
Lorie Nussbaum serves as the principal for Gehlen Catholic Elementary grades. She says the old playground equipment has been around for more than 50 years, and no longer meets the requirements with today’s Americans with Disabilities Act or updated state and legal requirements.
Nussbaum says Gehlen will keep some of the existing playground equipment while adding other features.
The new playground was purchased from GameTime in Iowa. The new playground will feature seven slides, eight swings, seven climbers, one cross beam, two deck spans, one tilted sky runner, one space wheel, and new landscaping. Nussbaum
says through private donations, and bake sales Gehlen Catholic was able to raise the needed funds to secure the purchase of the playground equipment.
Volunteers will assemble the new playground equipment during Ice Cream Days, Friday, June 16th and Saturday, June 17th.
Gehlen is accepting bids for the old playground equipment. The Gehlen Catholic elementary principal says research studies show a need for children to have recreational activity to help enhance their educational experience.
Nussbaum says a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new playground will be held in conjunction with the start of the new school year in August.
Palmer To Leave Department Of Human Services
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The head of the Iowa Department of Human Services is retiring amid criticism of the agency’s handling of alleged child abuse cases.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says Charles Palmer notified her Wednesday that he would retire effective June 16. She called him “a dedicated public servant who has spent his life trying to improve the lives of Iowans.”
The department has been scrutinized for months over its handling of child abuse cases, including the deaths of two teenage girls. The press release announcing his retirement doesn’t address those cases.
Palmer led the agency last year when it privatized its Medicaid program for the poor and disabled, a move that was also criticized.
Palmer ran the department from 1989 to 1999 under former Gov. Terry Branstad. He returned in 2011 when Branstad was re-elected.
Iowa State University Wants To Offer 4-Year Nursing Degree
AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State University is seeking approval to offer its first nursing degree program in order to help Des Moines area nurses obtain bachelor degrees.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen (https://icp-c.com/2rbcZnl ) reports that university officials are seeking approval from the Iowa Board of Regents and the Iowa Board of Nursing to create the new program through which registered nurses who already have their associate’s degree can earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
The university and Des Moines Area Community College have collaborated on the proposed program. It’s expected to be running by Fall 2018, attract about 50 students for its first year and bring in about 200 students after it’s established.
The regents’ Academic and Student Affairs Committee is scheduled to discuss the proposal during a meeting June 7.
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Lawmaker Wants Records Of Research Centers
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Democratic lawmaker is demanding records from the Iowa Board of Regents related to major cuts to four university research centers.
Rep. Abby Finkenauer, ranking member of the House Government Oversight Committee, has requested communications involving regents’ officials, lawmakers
and lobbyists who pushed for the changes.
Lawmakers cut all $400,000 in state funding for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University and transferred the Iowa Energy Center to a state agency.
Lawmakers also voted to eliminate a $5 million utilities tax in 2022 that funds the energy center and the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research at the University of Iowa. The Iowa Flood Center’s budget was also slashed $300,000.
Finkenauer, a Dubuque Democrat, asked for emails with dozens of words, including MidAmerican Energy and Gov. Kim Reynolds. A board spokesman says it’s gathering the records.
