City Street Department To Close 4th Street S.W. For Repairs
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Street Department will be closing 4th Street S.W. on both sides of Business Highway 75 at that intersection starting on Thursday, October 15th around 9:30 a.m. City work crews will conduct some maintenance
on the traffic control cabinet and should last about two hours. There will be no traffic lights at that intersection, so they will have it closed down for east and west bound traffic and only allowing north and south bound traffic to proceed through that intersection.
City To Begin Flushing Water Mains And Hydrants
(Le Mars) — The city water department will start flushing water mains in the north part of town Wednesday through Friday this week October 14th – 16th starting Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. This will take approximately three days.
Next week, beginning on Monday, October 19th at 8:00 a.m. city water department crews will be flushing the southwest part of town, and the southeast part of town will begin on the following Monday, October 26th.
Both the southwest and southeast will take one week each. Businesses and residents may experience discolored water and should refrain from washing clothes during flushing times in your area.
Senator Grassley Offers His Opening Remarks On The Supreme Court Nominee Barrett
(Washington) — Republican Senator Chuck Grassley is dismissing what he calls “doomsday predictions” about how Amy Coney Barrett might rule as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Grassley delivered an 11-minute defense of President Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court this (Monday) morning as hearings on Barrett’s nomination got underway.
Grassley quoted the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who Barrett is nominated to replace. He also offered Barrett advice.
Grassley recited what he described as “high praise” of Barrett’s
record as a law professor at Notre Dame, a judge and as a mother.
All 22 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will deliver opening statements today (Monday). Democrats have criticized the timing of Barrett’s nomination for the November 10th U.S. Supreme Court hearing for a constitutional challenge of the Affordable Care Act. Iowa’s other Republican Senator, Joni Ernst,
joined the Judiciary Committee in 2019. She too made her remarks earlier, and then Judge Barrett will speak.
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Woodbury Firefighters Battle Large Field Fire
(Anthon) — Woodbury County firefighters spent Sunday afternoon battling a massive field fire near Anthon. Woodbury County Emergency Management Director Rebecca Socknat says a farmer doing harvesting work started his field on fire at around 12:30 p.m. northwest of Anthon.
Socknat says the fire burned hundreds of acres as strong winds and dry fields quickly fueled it.
Every fire department in Woodbury County except for Sioux City and Sergeant Bluff responded, and several Plymouth County fire departments also helped fight the huge blaze. Authorities say no homes were damaged, but farm equipment, utility poles, and several corn fields burned. Rural Electric Cooperative crews are working to replace the damaged power poles. No injuries were reported.
Derecho Crop Loss Estimates Increase By More Than Half
(Des Moines, IA) — The U-S Department of Agriculture reports its crop loss estimates from the August derecho have increased by more than 50 percent.
The U-S-D-A had estimated that 550 thousand acres of crops wouldn’t be harvested after the rare windstorm swept across Iowa farm fields. Now, that estimate has been adjusted to 850 thousand acres. The problems for Iowa farmers were made even worse when winds of up to 140 miles-an-hour followed a
late summer drought covering most of the state. Some rain was received in September, but the drought conditions are expanding again this month.
Iowa Sets Record For Absentee Ballot Requests
(Des Moines, IA) — Iowa voters have set a record for absentee ballot requests. Secretary of State Paul Pate reports his office received more than 703 thousand requests as of Friday. The old record was set in 2016 when 693 thousand Iowa voters requested absentee ballots. Pate says this time 365
thousand requests came from registered Democrats, while 212 thousand were from Republicans, and voters with no party affiliation asked for 124 thousand. About 96 thousand of the absentee ballots have been returned so far. Iowans have until 5:00 p-m October 24th to request an absentee ballot.
Questions Raised About Webster County Murder Confession
(Fort Dodge, IA) — A Webster County judge will decide whether to toss out a confession in a murder case after hearing arguments Friday. 44-year-old Eric Hall confessed to the killing of another inmate in the county jail after being promised money and a truck confiscated in a previous case would be returned to his brother. That agreement was challenged last week.
Hall’s trial is scheduled to start November 3rd in the killing last June of 59-year-old Thomas Daleske inside the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility. Hall told investigators he had been planning to kill Daleske for two months. He said he wanted to kill five-to-10 other inmates – all of them serving time for sex crimes against children.
Iowa State To Conduct Random COVID-19 Tests Of Students
(Ames, IA) — Officials at Iowa State University say they will be making random selections of students to be tested for COVID-19. They want to test students who may be asymptomatic at the site inside Hilton Coliseum. A university spokesman says the testing strategy isn’t punitive. The information gathered would be used when making future decisions about testing
strategies as the school tries to contain the spread of the virus on the Ames campus. Students who are selected will get a five-dollar gift card to I-S-U dining and will be entered in a drawing for much more valuable prizes – like a semester contract for student housing.
