Plymouth County Secondary Roads Department To Close Roads For Repairs
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Secondary Roads Department have announced a couple of road closings. Noble Avenue at the intersection of 160th Street will be closed today in order to make repairs on the railroad crossing. The county roads department beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, October 21st will also
be closing Harness Avenue at the intersection of Highway 75 to allow the paving process to proceed through the intersection. It is expected to remain closed until Monday afternoon, October 26th.
City To Close 6th Avenue Southwest
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Street Department will close part of 6th Avenue southwest beginning on Wednesday, October 21st. The street closure will start at 8th Street southwest and continue until 11th Street southwest on 6th Avenue southwest. The contractor, Wiltgen Construction, will be doing some
work with the sanitary sewer, which is located in the middle of that street.
Work is expected to be completed on Monday, October 26th.
Le Mars City Council To Discuss Dog Park And Mobile Food Vendors
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars city council will hear a report from Denman and Company as they submit their review of a financial audit involving Floyd Valley Healthcare. Also during today’s city council meeting, it is expected the city council will approve the naming of a trustee for the hospital to fill the vacancy of Bill Young. Young has said he would like to retire from the Floyd Valley’s Healthcare Board of Trustees at the end of December. The appointed trustee will complete Young’s term and will serve one year from January of 2021 until December of 2021. The city council will discuss improvements to the proposed dog park. Plans have been prepared by Schlotfeldt Engineering for the Dog Park Improvement Project. The Dog Park will be constructed adjacent to the pond behind Walmart and across from the
Wings R-C area. Grading was completed as part of the 2020 Industrial Park Grading project. The council will vote on the project which includes a public hearing to be scheduled for November 3rd, receiving bids on November 24th and
the awarding of the contract on December 1st, with a May 1st, 2021 start date, and completion scheduled for June 30th of 2021. The estimate of bid items is set at $86,000. Park features to be purchased by the city is estimated at $35,000 The Le Mars Area Betterment Foundation share of the project is $175,000. The city council will also discuss food trucks. City officials say the mobile food vendors are becoming more popular in Le Mars,
and they need to be reminded of the city ordinance involving mobile food vendors. All mobile food vendors must have a license. They cannot set up operations on public property, unless designated as part of the license.
Mobile food vendors must be at least 75 feet away from the main entrance of an establishment that sells prepared food and beverages. They must not operate within one hour of the establishment’s opening to one hour after the closing of the establishment without approval of the food establishment
owner. The Le Mars city council will also have the second reading of the proposed ordinance involving the residency of police officers hired by the city.
Wells Visitors Center And Ice Cream Parlor To Hold Fund Raiser For Employee With Cancer
(Le Mars) — Wells Visitor’s Center and Ice Cream Parlor is inviting people to join them as they bring awareness to and support an employee’s battle with cancer. The event is scheduled for this coming Saturday, October 24th. This past August, 16-year old Lilly Brent, a crew member at the ice cream parlor,
had been diagnosed with a rare cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma. Saturday will be dedicated to Lilly’s courageous battle. A one-day-only Lilly Sundae – including her favorite ice cream and toppings – will be featured and all ice cream proceeds, including those from the Lilly Sundae, will be donated to the Brent family.
Shannon Rodenburg, Senior Manager says, “Lilly is an incredible young woman and employee.” . “She and two of her brothers currently work at the visitor center. The Brent family is part of the Wells family and we want to do everything we can to support them.”
In addition to dessert proceeds, a basket will be available for free-will donations. To learn more about Lilly’s journey, visit her Caring Bridge website.
Grassley Defends Ernst From Democratic Attacks
(Washington) — Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley is defending his Iowa colleague, Joni Ernst, as democrats continue to throw up what Grassley calls are lies about Ernst. Speaking Monday afternoon, during his weekly news conference, Grassley says the people are being led to believe false accusations in reference to Joni Ernst.
Grassley says Ernst has visited each and every one of the Iowa 99 counties every year while serving as Iowa’s senator. He says the Democratic challenger, Theresa Greenfield, hasn’t visited all of Iowa’s counties, and is relying upon large contributions from Democratic-based organizations to finance her campaign.
Grassley warns that if Greenfield is elected to the United States Senate, she will only listen to instructions from New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, and will care less about Iowans and their concerns.
Grassley Says Supreme Court Nominee Will Be Confirmed Along Party Lines
(Washington) — Senator Grassley also addressed the issue of confirming Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett during his weekly news conference.
He predicts the vote in the committee, and in the Senate chamber will be divided right down party lines. Grassley was asked about how the Senate Democrats treated Barrett, as compared to how they treated Judge Kavenaugh, the last supreme court nominee?
Grassley was asked if he thought there may be any Democrats that would break ranks, and actually vote for Amy Coney Barrett?
Grassley says California Senator Diane Feinstein, the Judicial Committee’s ranking minority member, was verbally attacked by her fellow Democrats when she made an off-hand compliment to the committee chairman, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, as how well he conducted the committee hearings.
The Senate Judicial Committee is scheduled to vote for Barrett’s confirmation on Thursday, October 22nd.
State Auditor Says Federal Relief Money Not Properly Used
(Des Moines, IA) — State Auditor Rob Sand says he has advised the governor to return millions in federal pandemic relief money spent on new computer software. Governor Kim Reynolds authorized spending 21-million dollars of federal coronavirus relief money on the software, arguing state employees would use it to schedule time off if they got Covid or had to care for a family member who got the virus. State Auditor Sand says the CARES Act money must be used on expenses directly related to the pandemic and the computer software doesn’t meet that definition. Sand says state officials signed off
on the software purchase in 2019, long before the pandemic. Sand is also advising that Reynolds her decision to use federal pandemic relief money to pay the salaries of some staff in the governor’s office is questionable. The governor’s office has not yet responded to Sand’s report.
Nature Conservancy Plans Bison Roundup
(Westfield, IA) — The Iowa Nature Conservancy is rounding up the bison at a northwest Iowa preserve today (Tuesday) to give them their vaccinations. The organization brought 28 bison to Broken Kettle Grasslands Preserve near Westfield in 2008 — and now the herd has grown to 275. The Nature Conservancy’s Graham McGaffin says they plan to sell 72 bison to producers after they get their checkups and vaccinations so the herd won’t
overstress and overgraze the preserve. The bison are genetically pure, which means there’s no evidence that they have any cattle genes mixed in.
Soybean Harvest Almost Done
(Undated) — The U-S-D-A report shows just ten percent of the soybeans remain to harvest. That is more than three weeks ahead of last year and two weeks ahead of the five-year average. The northwest, north-central, and west-central areas have less than five percent of beans still in the field —
while farmers in the southern one-third of the state have at least 20 percent remaining to be harvested. The corn harvest hit the 65 percent complete mark.
That’s more than three weeks ahead of last year and just more than two weeks ahead of average. Approximately two-thirds of the corn is still waiting to be picked in the south-central part of the state — while the rest of the state has at least half of its crop in the bin.
