Le Mars Community Board Of Education To Hold Special Meeting
(Le Mars) — Le Mars Community Board of Education will hold a special meeting scheduled for tomorrow evening, Thursday, September 3rd to begin at 6:00 p.m.
The meeting will be held at the Education Service Center. The Le Mars Community School Board will hold a public hearing on the proposed renovation of the baseball and softball fields. The school board will review the bids and take appropriate action. The school board will also take action on several resignations as well as approve contracts. The school board will also decide upon three students requesting open enrollment to Hinton Community School.
Northwestern College President Greg Christy Addresses Media During Governor’s News Conference
(Orange City) — Northwestern College president Greg Christy was invited to address the media during Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ news conference held Wednesday morning. Christy told of the efforts Northwestern College was conducting to minimize the impact of COVID-19 virus as students returned to
to the Orange City campus. Christy says the four-year college conducted testing on in-coming students on August 14th.
Christy says through the testing college officials did identify some students that tested positive with COVID-19 virus.
The Northwestern College president reported that after the second full week of campus courses, only two people now have the coronavirus of the nearly 1100 students. Christy says masks are required by everyone on the Northwestern College campus. He says college officials created an App which asks the students to check-in on a daily basis.
The governor was asked about the six counties, that have been ordered to close the doors to their bars, nightclubs, and lounges. The governor responded by saying in those counties that host large universities, the numbers show the most increase in positive COVID cases with people between the ages of 18 and 40.
Governor Reynolds Says “Don’t Go” To Iowa State University Football Game If You Believe It To Be Unsafe.
(Des Moines) — Governor Kim Reynolds supports Iowa State’s decision to have fans in the stands for the first Cyclone football game on September 12th.
I-S-U officials say fans must wear face masks. Cyclone athletics
director Jamie Pollard says if there are pandemic-related issues from the home opener in Ames, there will be changes at future games. The governor says 95 percent of Iowa high school softball and baseball teams were able to complete their seasons this summer — and Friday night football is underway
as Iowans start to get their lives back to normal.
Iowa has been the national covid hot spot this past week and Ames was ranked as having the most coronavirus cases per capita in the country. Reynolds says people with underlying health conditions maybe shouldn’t go to the game in
Ames.
The governor says the state’s surging Covid case counts are primarily among young adults in six counties and that’s why she chose to close bars in the urban areas of Polk, Dallas and Linn Counties as well as Story, Johnson and Black Hawk Counties where the three state universities are located.
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Grinnell College Poll Shows Biden Leading President Trump
(Grinnell, IA) — A new Grinnell College national poll suggests Democrat Joe Biden would beat President Donald Trump in the November election. The survey shows former Vice President Biden leading President Trump 49 to 41 percent in the popular vote. Biden has a 56-to-34 percent advantage over Trump among women, a 64-to-31 margin among non-white voters, and leads 55-to-33 percent with moderates. President Trump has a 64-to-31 percent lead among white men without college degrees, a 54-to-43 edge among white women without a college degree, and the G-O-P president has a 58-to-35 percent lead
with rural voters. Grinnell poll director Peter Hanson said Trump’s most likely path to victory is to do what he did in 2016: “win the Electoral College with narrow victories in battleground states despite losing the national popular vote.”
Vilsack Says Ag Secretary Perdue Needs to Hear About Iowa Biofuels Woes
(Mason City, MO) — Former U-S Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has some advice for current Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue, who is scheduled to visit Iowa Thursday. Vilsack said, “First and foremost Secretary Perdue obviously needs to visit a farm. He needs to talk to farmers and he also needs to hear the
concerns that have been expressed by the biofuels industry about the waivers.” Vilsack made his comments during a conference call arranged by the Biden campaign. The oil industry is seeking exemptions from the Renewable Fuels Standard requirement that ethanol be blended into gasoline. The former
Iowa governor said four billion fewer gallons of ethanol have been produced over the last several years, pushing corn prices lower. Vilsack said Perdue can carry the message from farm country back to Washington.
Ames City Council Passes Mask Mandate
(Ames, IA) — People in Ames will be required to wear face coverings in public starting on Friday. The Ames City Council voted 5-1 on a mask mandate Tuesday. Masks are must be worn when six feet of social distance is not possible. The Iowa Department of Education approved the Ames School District’s request to start the school year with online learning. The
request was granted due to the COVID-19 positivity rate in Story County.
Extracurricular activities will be suspended while classes are online.
UI Students and Faculty Stage Sick-Out To Highlight COVID Cases
(Iowa City, IA) — Some students, faculty and staff at the University of Iowa are staging a sick-out event today (Wednesday) to draw attention to the spike in local COVID cases. Organizers urged all students and instructors to
call in sick in a push for all online classes to begin the year. Around 500 students pledged to stay home today. The 14-day average positivity rate in Johnson County is more than 24 percent. Nine-hundred-22 U-I students have self-reported they’re positive for the coronavirus.
