Police Investigate Two-vehicle Accident That Occurred Friday Afternoon
(Le Mars) — Rescue units were called to 12th Street southwest, Friday afternoon for a two-vehicle head-on side swipe accident. The accident occurred over the lunch hour shortly after 12:00 noon. Responding to the accident were the Le Mars Police Department, Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office, Le Mars Ambulance, and the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department. Both
vehicles sustained some major damage. Firefighters had to extradite one victim. No names have yet been released, and we don’t know the extent of the injuries. The Le Mars Police Department is investigating.
Gehlen Catholic Prepares For “A Night Under The Stars”
(Le Mars) — Gehlen Catholic High School will celebrate its prom on Saturday evening. Ashley Langel serves as the moderator for the prom, and says the selected theme for this year’s prom is “Night Under The Stars.”
Langel discusses the schedule set for Saturday with all the prom activities.
Langel says attendees of the prom will enjoy the banquet and dance at Willow Creek Golf Club. She says the musical entertainment will be provided by a disc jockey.
Following the dance, prom attendees will return to the Gehlen back gym for the after-prom activities.
Langel says the students worked hard with the decorating of the gym and the banquet hall, and she explains how the theme “Night Under the Stars” was selected for this year’s prom.
Langel says Mass will start at 5:00 p.m. with the promenade to begin at 6:15 p.m.
Bald Eagle Program To Be Featured At Museum
(Le Mars) — A program focusing on bald eagles will be presented this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. at the Plymouth County Historical Museum’s Old Central gymnasium. The organization S.O.A.R. which stands for Saving Our Avian Resources will feature the program. Nick Noyes offers a highlight to the
afternoon program.
Noyes says the organization S.O.A.R. are based at Decorah, Iowa, the same location where an on-line camera had been set up to watch a couple of bald eagles nesting.
Storm Lake Law Enforcement Conduct Drug Bust RaidÂ
(Storm Lake) — Three people are facing multiple drug charges following their arrest by a combined task force of Storm Lake Police and the Buena Vista County Sheriff’s Office.
Police says they executed search warrants at three Storm Lake residences and arrested 28-year-old Billy Fang, 37-year-old Meng Her and 34-year-old Marvin Moua. Officers seized several pounds of marijuana, crystal meth and 50 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, drug paraphernalia, hand guns and assault rifles.
Fang was charged multiple counts of drug possession with intent to deliver and failure to affix a drug tax stamps. Her was charged with possession of meth and possession of drug paraphernalia. Moua was arrested on warrants for
multiple counts of possession of drugs with the intent to deliver and failure to affix a drug tax stamps. Moua was also charged with two counts of trafficking stolen weapons. The seized drugs were valued at more than 282- thousand dollars.
Governor Reynolds Signs Bill That Prohibits Medicare Funding For Transgender Surgeries
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed a budget bill that prohibits the use of Medicaid funding to pay for sex-reassignment surgery.
The Republican governor signed the Health and Human Services funding bill on Friday and opted not to issue a line item veto of the ban on public funding for such surgeries.
Conservative Republicans added the prohibition in the closing days of the Legislature, saying it was a response to a recent Iowa Supreme Court decision that said the state couldn’t deny two transgender women Medicaid coverage for sex-reassignment surgery.
Daniel Hoffmann-Zinnell, executive director of the civil rights group One Iowa Action, said that by signing the bill, Reynolds “tarnished Iowa’s reputation as a state that stands for fairness and equality.”
Mississippi River Flooding Sets Record But Doesn’t Cover As Much Land As Flood Of 1993
BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) – When the Mississippi River reached record levels 26 years ago, the overflowing water covered 400,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers) and caused dozens of deaths in a disaster dubbed “The Great Flood of 1993.” But when the river exceeded those levels this week
along parts of the river, the flooding affected much less land.
Officials say the difference comes down largely to actions taken by communities following the 1993 flood, such as the erection of floodwalls and temporary flood barriers.
In Bettendorf, Iowa, a floodwall has largely protected the city from the record crest of 22.7 feet (6.92 meters) set Thursday.
Bettendorf Mayor Bob Gallagher said Friday that other actions helping mitigate flood damage included restored natural infrastructure, such as wetlands and marshes that can collect floodwater.
Kayaker Found Dead Following Floods
ST. LOUIS (AP) – The body of a kayaker missing since Wednesday has been found in a swollen southwest Missouri creek, the fourth person to die in the latest round of spring flooding.
Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. John Lueckenhoff says troopers found the body of 35-year-old Scott M. Puckett of Forsyth, Missouri, Friday afternoon in Bull Creek. The body of his friend, 23-year-old Alex Ekern, was found Thursday.
Puckett and Ekern were among three men who began paddling Wednesday afternoon in the creek near the small town of Walnut Shade. The patrol says they were swept over a low-water bridge and caught in what is called a hydraulic, which creates a washing-machine effect that is hard to escape.
One of the men was able to escape and climbed a steep bank seeking help.
Flooding also claimed the life of a camper found Wednesday after he was caught in waters from an overflowed creek near the town of Ava, also in southwest Missouri. And in northern Indiana, a 2-year-old was killed when his mother drove onto a flooded road.
Supreme Court Approves Wind Farm
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court has rejected an effort by local landowners to block a proposed wind farm in northwest Iowa after it won approval from government regulators.
The court’s rulings on Friday remove a major obstacle for the 170-turbine wind energy project in Palo Alto County. It also provides more certainty that similar projects will be able to proceed in the future.
Residents filed two lawsuits challenging the plan by Palo Alto Wind Energy and MidAmerican Energy, one against the Iowa Utilities Board and another against the Palo Alto County Board of Supervisors.
The utilities board lawsuit contended board members should have required developers to get a special certificate that requires extensive study of the project’s impact. The county lawsuit challenged the supervisors’ process for approving the project.
