Business Highway 75 and Highway 3 Intersection Will Close For Repairs
(Le Mars) — At long last, the intersection of Highway 3 and Business Highway 75 located near Bob’s Drive Inn is going to be repaired. Barricades are ready, and detours have been put up directing traffic away from the intersection. City officials were wanting to have the work done last summer or autumn, but contractors were unable to do the work at that time.
Troy Clouse, maintenance supervisor with the Iowa Department of Transportation says the intersection will close this morning between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. Clouse explains the work that will be conducted at the heavily traveled intersection.
Clouse says the concrete will be between nine and ten inches thick in order to accommodate the heavy semi-trucks and trailers, and constant traffic that utilize the busy intersection. Clouse says Business highway 75 will remain open during the construction time, although it will be limited to one lane of
travel.
As for traveling on Highway 3, Clouse explains the detours that have been established, beginning with heading east on Highway 3.
The Iowa D-O-T official talks about the detour for traffic heading west on Highway 3.
He says motorists wanting to visit any of the four businesses located at the intersection, Bob’s Drive Inn, Subway, Verizon, or Country Store convenience gas station should be able to access those businesses.
Clouse says contractors estimate the work will take two weeks to complete.
Briar Cliff Student Falls To Death In Arkansas
(Sioux City) –Authorities say a 20-year-old Briar Cliff University student from Hot Springs, South Dakota has died after falling off a cliff in northwestern Arkansas.
Newton County Sheriff Glenn Wheeler says Andrea Norton was fatally injured on Saturday when she accidentally fell from a rock formation near Jasper, about 101 miles northwest of Little Rock.
Norton was a member of the Briar Cliff volleyball team.
University President Rachelle Karstens posed a message asking for prayers for Norton, her family and students struggling with the loss of their friend, classmate and teammate.
Sheriff Wheeler says Norton was with a group of students from Sioux City, and was reportedly re-positioning herself for a photo when she fell about 100 feet off the Hawksbill Crag.
The area is a popular hiking destination within the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest.
Wheeler says the crag is widely considered one of Arkansas’ most-photographed hiking areas, and several people have died in falls there in recent years.
Power Is Restored To Most Areas Following Storm
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Most of the tens of thousands of people who lost electricity during a severe snow storm in the Upper Midwest have their power back on.
The second “bomb cyclone” storm in less than a month knocked out power to more than 100,000 people in Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin. PowerOutage.us reports that only about 3,600 are still waiting to have their electricity restored.
Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy had 100,000 customers without power during the storm. The utility reports that fewer than 1,000 are still without electricity, and they should be back online soon.
Xcel says snow, rain, ice, and strong winds snapped more than 650 power poles and downed hundreds of power lines in the region.
Farmers Seeking Disaster Assistance For Compromised Stored Grain Damaged Due To Flooding
(Des Moines) — Iowa commodities group leaders are working with members of the state’s congressional delegation in hopes of getting federal disaster aid for stored grain that was contaminated and ruined by floodwaters. Iowa Corn
Growers Association president Curt Mether (MEE-thur) farms near Logan in southwest Iowa’s Harrison County and says any help they can get would be appreciated by farmers.
Mether says most of his neighbors in low-lying areas of the county were severely impacted by flooding. While his farm is in better shape being in the hilly area of the county, he was hampered from hauling grain.
Mether doubts many growers in his county will be able to get into the fields to plant anytime soon.
The U.S. Senate took another stab at passing a disaster aid bill but failed.
Now, Congress is in recess for two weeks so there’ll be nothing anytime soon from the federal government to help flood victims. Mether says they continue to work with the National Corn Growers Association in lobbying Congress to get something done.
17 Year Old Des Moines Boy Killed By Gunshot Wound
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a gunshot victim has died at a Des Moines hospital.
Officers were sent to a north Des Moines neighborhood around 8:40 p.m. Sunday to check on gunshots reported by several people. A few minutes later officers learned that a shooting victim believed to be from that neighborhood
had been taken by private vehicle to MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center.
Police say the 17-year-old male has since died. His name hasn’t been released.
Police say it’s the city’s third homicide of the year. No arrests have been reported.
Two People Arrested For Shooting Incident In Des Moines
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Police in Des Moines say two people have been arrested and charged with attempted murder after a man with a gunshot wound to his neck was thrown from a car into a parking lot.
The Des Moines Register reports that 19-year-old Tyron Cratty and 20 years-old Madalynn Perez, both of Des Moines, were arrested shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday. Besides attempted murder charges, each faces charges of robbery and going armed with intent.
The arrests came after police were called Friday afternoon for a
report of a shooting victim lying in the Chapel Ridge Apartment lot.
A witness reported seeing people get out of a car and pull someone out of the back seat, dumping him in the lot before speeding off. The victim’s name has not been released.
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