County Secondary Roads Department Closes Fawn Avenue For Culvert Installation
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Secondary Road Department has announced the closing of Fawn Avenue between 120th Street to 130th Street. The stretch of roadway will close beginning today, and will remain closed until Wednesday, September 26th. Road crews are replacing a wooden bridge with a culvert
pipe.
Floyd Valley Healthcare Announces Time Table For Selection Of New Administrator
(Le Mars) — Floyd Valley Healthcare is searching for a new administrator, since current administrator Mike Donlin announced his intentions to retire at the end of November. On Tuesday evening, during the Floyd Valley Healthcare
Board of Trustee meeting, hospital trustees will be given an update on the selection process. Avera Hospital in Sioux Falls is assisting with the selection of the next administrator. Hospital officials report there were 40 applicants that have an interest in the Floyd Valley administrator position.
Of the 40 received applicants, Avera is looking at conducting phone interviews with the top 18 identified candidates. From the 18, Avera will choose six semi-finalists. The top three candidates will then be listed as finalists for the Floyd Valley position. The intended time table is to have the three finalists candidates interviewed in Le Mars sometime during mid- October, with the idea that hopefully a new Floyd Valley Healthcare administrator will be named and ready to begin the new career by the end of
November.
Dordt College Receives Honor From Wall Street Journal
(Sioux Center) — For the third year in a row, Dordt College, in Sioux Center, has been named the number one college in the nation in student engagement, according to the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education’s 2019 college rankings.
These rankings affirm that Dordt excels in:
• Students’ engagement in learning and critical thinking
• The likelihood that students will recommend the college to others
• The number of subjects and accredited programs available
• The level of interaction that students have with faculty and other students while on campus.
Dordt College president Erik Hoekstra was in New York City for the ratings release party last evening, alongside representatives from University of South Florida, NYU, and Washington University in St. Louis.
Cherokee County Sheriff’s Deputy Fired After Shooting Dog
(Cherokee) — A sheriff’s deputy in Cherokee County has been fired over the fatal shooting of a dog.
Cherokee County Sheriff’s Deputy Alec Wolf was fired this week after video of the incident surfaced on social media. The shooting happened in early August after a report in Cleghorn that a dog had attacked two other dogs, killing one of them. Deputy Wolf had claimed he shot the animal outside of city limits. He was placed on leave days later, after a Cleghorn resident reported
the dog was actually shot in his yard. He took photos and said the deputy shot the dog 10 times before trying to clean up the scene.
Vermeer Announces Expansion Plans
PELLA, Iowa (AP) – An industrial and agricultural equipment manufacturer plans to expand an Iowa plant less than two months after a tornado tore through the facility.
The Des Moines Register reports that the July tornado reached speeds of 144 mph, ripping apart buildings and idling production lines at Vermeer Corp’s campus near Pella.
CEO Jason Andringa says the company worked hard to get production back in order. All employees were back to work by Aug. 20.
Andringa says the company is meeting production demands even as work continues to fix the storm’s damage. He says two of the company’s plants will be demolished and rebuilt.
Andringa says the company also plans to add a new engineering facility to the Pella campus.
Vermeer is Pella’s largest single employer with about 2,800 employees.
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Judge Rules Organizations Cannot Intervene Ruling With Lawsuits
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa judge says an organization that fights against rape, incest or fetal abnormality exceptions in abortion-related legislation cannot intervene in a lawsuit challenging Iowa’s fetal heartbeat law.
The Iowa affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit in May challenging the constitutionality of a law that would prohibit most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Michigan-based Save The 1 sought to intervene in the lawsuit, alleging the law is unlawful under the state and federal constitutions because it discriminates against fetuses created by rape or incest and those with medical anomalies by allowing them to be aborted.
Judge Michael Huppert in an order filed Wednesday says the group’s claims go beyond the issues of the initial lawsuit and would delay the case.
An attorney for Save The 1 says she will file a federal lawsuit seeking to remove the exceptions portion of the law.
If successful, that could leave Iowa with among the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws, banning abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detected with no exceptions.
