City Work Crews To Close 12th Avenue Southwest For Repairs
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Street Dept. will be closing a small section of 12th Ave. S.W. Tuesday afternoon at around 2 p.m. for some street repairs.
City work crews will close 12th Ave. S.W. starting at 12th St. S.W. and going South on 12th Ave. S.W. just up to the North side of Mr. Muffler’s driveway. The Contractor is looking at about 10 days to complete this project, weather permitting.
Plymouth County To Stripe Paint Pavements
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Engineer Tom Rohe announced on Tuesday to the county board of supervisors, the county will begin painting center lines on county paved roads. Rohe says the county conducts the painting on a rotational basis every three years.
Rohe says the cost to the county to paint the center lines may exceed $110,000.
Rohe says the county prefers painting the roads during the autumn.
The Plymouth County engineer admits that snowplows can be at times rough on the new pavement painting.
Rohe anticipates the painting of the county pavements will happen within the next couple of weeks.
Cherokee K-Mart Store To Close
(Cherokee) — Sears filed for bankruptcy early Monday morning and announced three more K-Mart stores in Iowa will be closing.
The stores are located in Cherokee, Council Bluffs and Webster City.
Nationwide, there will be 142 Sears and K-Mart stores closing due to the bankruptcy filing. Liquidation sales at the K-Mart stores in Cherokee, Council Bluffs and Webster City will begin in the next two weeks, with closures by the end of the year.
Cherokee Economic Development Director Bill Anderson says although the news is disappointing, it was not unexpected.
Anderson says Cherokee and the surrounding trade area supported the local K-mart store.
The Cherokee Economic Development Director says the news of K-Mart’s closing may provide opportunities for other retail stores already located in Cherokee.
The company has been closing what it deems “unprofitable” stores. Since 2013, two-thirds of the Sears and K-Mart stores operating in the US have been closed. Sears was founded 131 years ago and became the country’s number one retailer. Competition, changing shopping habits and massive debts led to
Monday’s attempt to reorganize and stabilize the company through Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Inwood Man Dies From Farming Accident
INWOOD, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a man died in a northwest Iowa farm accident.
The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office says the accident occurred Friday on a farm northwest of Inwood. The office says 59-year-old Paul DeBoer was operating the machine when it rolled over and pinned him.
DeBoer was pronounced dead at the scene.
Highway 20 Four-lane Construction Now Completed
HOLSTEIN, Iowa (AP) – After six decades of construction, an expansion project to build a four-lane expressway across northern Iowa is finished.
The Des Moines Register reports that a ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Friday in Holstein for the completed U.S. Highway 20 corridor. The corridor now extends 302 miles (486 kilometers) to connect Sioux City with Fort Dodge, Waterloo and Dubuque.
Road widening of the expressway’s first 3-mile section started in
1958. But the remaining miles have taken 60 years to complete.
Gov. Kim Reynolds and Rep. Steve King will join Iowa Department of Transportation officials in celebrating the alternative to the often-congested Interstate Highway 80 across Iowa’s midsection.
Shirley Phillips is president of the U.S. Highway 20 Corridor
Association, a lobbying group representing communities along the route.
Phillips says members are ecstatic and never thought they’d see the project’s completed.
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Report Released On UNI Maintenance Employee Fatality
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) – An engineering report blames the failure of a pipe cap for a massive steam release that fatally injured an employee at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.
The report from HBK Engineering says the “sudden, catastrophic
failure of this cap is the likely cause of the incident” at a campus dining hall. The university asked HBK to investigate in order to quickly determine what happened. The school also is awaiting a report from Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
University steamfitter Kevin Bley was fatally injured Sept. 10 as he was testing the steam distribution service for the dining hall. The dining hall had been closed since Sept. 4 because of a prior steam leak.
