County Supervisors To Hear Conservation Board Report
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Board of Supervisors will hear a report from Plymouth County Conservation Director, Nick Beeck during their weekly scheduled meeting to be held at the County Courthouse Board Room beginning at 9:30. Beeck is expected to present to the supervisor’s attention the annual report of the Conservation Board. In addition, the county governing
board will also hear from surveyor, Dave Wilberding as he seeks approval of a minor subdivision with Gengler’s Homestead in Union Township. The county supervisors will also review the amended Sioux Rivers Mental Health Region which currently includes Lyon, Sioux, O’Brien and Plymouth Counties.
Dickinson County has submitted a request to also join the Sioux Rivers Mental Health region. County engineer Tom Rohe will be present at the meeting seeking approval of several permit tile crossings. Rohe will also discuss with the county board, an opening involving the county bridge crew position.
City Council To Set Public Hearing Date For Renovation To The Community Wellness Center
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars City Council will meet at noon on Tuesday for their council meeting to be held at the council chambers. As part of the consent items, the council is likely to approve Kent Pauling as appointed to serve a five-year term on the city’s board of zoning adjustment. Another consent
item, likely to be passed, are the results of the city’s election. The city council will canvass those election results which shows Dick Kirchoff as being re-elected to the position of Mayor. Steve Wick as being elected again to serve as a council member representing those residents and businesses within Ward 2, and former Floyd Valley Healthcare Executive Director Michael Donlin was elected to the city council as an At-Large position. The canvass election will also approve the three candidates that
were re-elected to the Floyd Valley Healthcare Board of Trustees which includes Ralph Klemme, Dana Schuster, and Janelle Bixenman. There is only one action item for the city council’s agenda. That is setting the date for a public hearing regarding the Community Wellness Center Project. The city council hopes to open bids for the renovation project by January 21st and
award contracts on February 4th.
Reynolds Selects Sailer As District Judge
DES MOINES– Gov. Kim Reynolds yesterday announced her appointment of Roger Sailer as a district court judge in Judicial Election District 3B.
Sailer, of Schleswig, Iowa, currently serves as the Crawford County Attorney. He previously served as an assistant county attorney in Crawford County and practiced law with the Mundt, Franck & Schumacher Law Firm in Denison, Iowa. He received his undergraduate degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Colorado Boulder and his law degree from the Creighton University School of Law. Prior to attending law school, Sailer served in the U.S. Army and worked in the broadcast media industry.
Sailer fills the vacancy created by Governor Reynolds’s appointment of Judge Julie Schumacher to the Iowa Court of Appeals. Judicial Election District 3B includes Crawford, Ida, Monona, Plymouth, Sioux, and Woodbury counties.
Sioux City Man Pleads Guilty To Trafficking
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City man has pleaded guilty in what authorities have called a human trafficking case in which a teenage Guatemalan girl was raped.
The Sioux City Journal reports that 38-year-old Cristobal Francisco-Nicolas pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to a smuggling count and unlawful possession of identification documents. In exchange, a third smuggling count will be dropped.
Prosecutors say Francisco-Nicolas helped pay smuggling costs for the girl and her father to get from Guatemala to the U.S.-Mexico border and then travel to Sioux City. Francisco-Nicolas’ wife, 40-year-old Amy Francisco, pleaded guilty last week to helping her husband in the scheme.
The 17-year-old girl was found wandering Sioux City streets on June 5 and told authorities she had been repeatedly raped by Francisco-Nicolas before she escaped.
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Winter Snow Storm Prevents Harvest From Being Completed
(Des Moines) — Rain and snow continued to keep farmers from finishing up the corn harvest.
The latest U-S-D-A report shows 92 percent of the corn has now been harvested. That is six percent more than last week. The report shows the northeast and south-central districts had more than 15 percent of their crop left to be harvested while all others had 10 percent or less remaining. The harvest is 11 days behind normal and it is the latest corn harvest since 2009.
State Settles Lawsuit For Harassment
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The state of Iowa is settling a lawsuit filed by three men who worked at the Department of Revenue and claimed they were harassed by another male coworker who followed them into the restroom and secretly videotaped them. The lawsuit was filed by Daniel Wagner, Lloyd Lofton and Joshua Bates, who claim when they reported Kenneth Neal Kerr’s
intrusive behavior to supervisors they failed to appropriately act, and it continued for several years.
Judge Says Ag Gag Law Is Unconstitutional
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A federal court judge says the state of Iowa cannot enforce its latest attempt to stifle undercover investigations of livestock farms and denied the state’s efforts to dismiss a lawsuit challenging this year’s so-called ag-gag law. The Republican-led legislature passed the state’s second such law in March, two months after a federal judge struck
down the previous 2012 law, saying it violated constitutional free-speech rights.
State To Pay $130,000 To Anti-Abortion Protesters
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The state of Iowa has agreed to pay $130,000 in legal bills for two eastern Iowa anti-abortion rights protesters who successfully challenged a portion of the state’s disorderly conduct law.
Anthony Miano and Nicholas Rolland frequently read aloud from the Bible and preach on public sidewalks outside abortion clinics. They sued last year after Miano was found in violation of a law making it a simple misdemeanor to create loud and raucous noise near residences or public buildings.
Des Moines Police Investigating Latest Shooting Incident
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Des Moines police say they are investigating the death of a man found inside a car with a gunshot wound. Police say it’s considered a suspicious death. Officers and medics were called to the car Monday afternoon in the Sherman Hill neighborhood, just west of downtown.
After finding the man, officers and then medics initiated CPR and he was taken to a hospital, where he died a short time later. The man’s name wasn’t immediately released.
Cedar Rapids Police Investigating Homicide Near Coe College
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – Police say a man injured in a shooting near the Coe College campus in Cedar Rapids has died from those injuries.
Station KCRG reports that 20-year-old Levi Hunter Allen Holten, of Cedar Rapids, died Monday from injuries he received in a shooting on Nov. 25. Police say Holten was found in an alley around 5:15 a.m. that day with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
Cedar Rapids police say an autopsy has been scheduled.
No arrests in the shooting have been reported. An investigation into the shooting continues.
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Survey Show Midwest Economy Is Falling
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A new monthly survey of business leaders suggests the economy is slowing down in nine Midwest and Plains states as the U.S. trade war with China continues. The overall index for the region slipped into negative territory at 48.6 in November from October’s 52.6. Any number below 50 is looked as the economy is retreating, whereas, a number above 50 suggests economic growth.
