Semi Truck and Van Collide on Highway 75
(Le Mars) — Another semi truck and vehicle accident happened early this Monday morning causing Iowa Department of Transportation officials to close Highway 75 north at Fedder’s R-V and Marine. The accident happened shortly before 2:00
a.m. this morning when a van had collided with a semi truck hauling hogs to market. The scene of the accident was at 150th Street and Highway 75, about two miles north of Le Mars. Plymouth County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the accident scene. They say the van, a 2009 Ford Flex which was going southbound, and driven by 38 year old Craig Singer of Maurice, crossed over the center line and hit head-on with the northbound semi truck. The van came to rest in the east ditch, and Singer, was the only person inside the Ford Flex, was taken initially to Floyd Valley Healthcare by the Le Mars Ambulance, and then transported to a
Sioux City Hospital. The driver of the semi truck, 56 year old Robert Chinn of Clarence, Missouri, was not injured. The semi trailer with hogs remained upright and did not appear to have sustained much, if any, damage. However, the semi truck is totaled. The semi truck, a 2007 Peterbilt came to rest partially in the west ditch. Upon the collision, the engine of the semi truck was partially dislodged from the semi truck. Assisting at the scene were the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office, the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department, Le Mars Ambulance, the Le Mars Police Department, and the Iowa Department of Transportation.
Le Mars Community Board of Education To Convene This Evening
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Community Board of Education is scheduled to meet this evening. The school board will hear a report from Graham Forbes of Williams and Company regarding the school district’s annual financial audit. Curriculum
Director, Rachel Leavitt will present a report to the school board the official certified enrollment. All statewide data was certified by the Iowa Department of Education on November 3rd. The school board will discuss this week’s annual Iowa Association of School Boards Convention scheduled for November 15-17th in
Des Moines. The Le Mars Community School Board will be receiving the Association’s Award of Achievement Plaque for the 17th year in a row. The school board will discuss its legislative priorities during tonight’s meeting.
The school board will appoint their bargaining team for 2018-2019 contract negotiations. School superintendent, Dr. Steven Webner, will present to the board’s attention the school district’s application to the school budget review committee for modified supplemental amount for increasing enrollment, open
enrollment, and excess English Language Learner costs for students being served beyond five years for board consideration.
Sioux City Teen Who Shot Sister With BB Gun Is Released
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City man has been released from prison less than two months into his seven-year sentence for shooting his 3-year-old sister in the face with a BB gun. District Judge Steven Andreasen reconsidered 18-year-old Adrian White’s sentence earlier this week and suspended the remainder of White’s prison term. White is now on three years’ probation. White was sentenced after pleading guilty Sept. 11 to assault and child endangerment. Prosecutors say White was 17 in May when he shot the preschooler twice in the face. One BB fractured the girl’s jaw and the other entered her eye and lodged next to her brain. Surgery was required to remove one of the BBs, but
doctors determined the other was too risky to remove. —
Legislature Sexual Harassment Investigation Now Completed
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A top official for Senate Republicans in the Iowa Legislature says an investigation into alleged sexual harassment within the office is complete, but there will be no report about it and no information will be shared with the public. Ed Failor, senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, told The
Associated Press on Friday the office has completed an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment highlighted during a trial this year involving a former staffer. Failor says additional information cannot be shared publicly because
it’s a personnel issue. Dix, a Shell Rock Republican, had indicated previously that a process for investigating harassment issues within the office was ongoing. But it’s never been clear how that would be conducted and what information, if any, would be shared with the public.
Majority of Law Students Pass The Iowa Bar
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Judicial Branch data shows that more than three-fourths of those who took Iowa’s bar exam passed this year. The Des Moines Register reports the state had a 78 percent pass rate this year, compared to 68 percent in 2016. Of the 260 people who took the Iowa bar in 2017, 204 passed. The percentage of people who passed the exam on their first try also increased in 2017. Data show that most of those who took the exam graduated from Drake University and the University of Iowa. Jerry Anderson is the dean of Drake’s law school. He says the high passing percentage shows that programs are effectively admitting and training students. The exams include essays, multiple-choice questions and a review of
fundamental tasks beginning lawyers are expected to know. —
