(ORANGE CITY)–More than 250 diplomas will be awarded during commencement at Northwestern College May 8th.
Thirteen of the 268 students will receive Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees while the rest of the graduates will receive Bachelor of Arts degrees.
John Vonder Bruegge who is instructor in religion will address the graduates in the DeWitt Physical Fitness center of the Rowenhorst Student Center.
Vonder Bruegge was the 2009 recipient of Northwestern’s annual Teaching Excellence award. He is a Ph.D. candidate in religious studies at Yale University.
(DES MOINES)–A volunteer for the American Cancer Society in Orange City is part of the Cancer Action Network “Plant It Pink Campaign.”
The new campaign against breast cancer supports the lifesaving advocacy work through the purchase of pink tulip bulbs.
The goal is to plant 3,000 Pink Impression tulip bulbs in Iowa to honor the men and women who will be diagnosed with cancer this year.
According to the Iowa Cancer Registry, cancer has surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death in Iowa. In 2009, an estimated 2,150 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. An estimated 420 women died of the disease in 2009.
Bulb orders should be placed by August 1 and will be ready for pick-up in October in several Iowa cities. To order for pick-up in Orange City, call John Buntsma at 707-8464.
(SIOUX CITY)–A car cruise and open house is at Western Iowa Tech Community College Wednesday.
The event will feature tours of the Western Iowa Tech Community College Transportation Center which houses the college’s welding and automotive programs. There will also be demonstrations of state-of-the art equipment, including a robotic welder, metal shaper, and a plasma cam cutting system.
Western Iowa Tech’s car cruise is a scheduled stop for the Tri-State Cruisers, a regional group for classic car enthusiasts.
The event is at Building H on the Western Iowa Tech Community College campus in Sioux City is from 5-8 p.m.
(SIOUX CITY)–“Prairie Past and Present” is the theme for the 34th annual Loess Hills Prairie Seminar.
Planned activities will be at the Loess Hills Wildlife Management Area near Onawa and at West Monona High School in Onawa June 4th through June 6th.
The seminar is for educators, students of all ages, families and community members. For those who work in early childhood, Northwest Area Education Agency is offering a workshop, “Reconnecting Children with Nature–Growing Up Wild.”
Field sessions will focus on native flora and fauna, photography, cultural history, archaelogy, Native Americans, geology, environmental writing, prairie restoration and management, backyard habitat and connecting children with nature. An evening campfire program will be presented by Jerome Kills Small who is an Oglala Lakota storyteller and instructor at the University South Dakota. Astronomy will also be offered on one evening.
The Iowa Learning Farm’s new Conservation Station will be parked at the high school June 5th in the evening.
(ESTHERVILLE)–A program to help entrepreneurs hone their skills for successful businesses is offered through the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation.
FastTrac participants work on their business ideas or ventures. Many individuals enter the program with a business idea in mind. After a few classes and additional market and financial research , ideas were changed and some were determined not feasible.
The course was taught by Richard Peterson who is a SCORE counselor and FastTrac facilitator for the Mason City area.
Kathy Evert who is president of the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation says sometimes the best outcome is for an individual to realize the business idea would not have worked or there was more competition than known before really beginning to work on the business plan.
The Iowa Lakes Corridor plans to host the FastTrac New Venture program in the fall
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) The University of Iowa has unveiled a way to monitor and control energy usage in real time across the school’s campus.
The school on Friday introduced its Energy Control Center. The center lets staff control energy usage from a single place in the University Services Building. The center is in a room with 16 flat screen monitors and a projector.
Officials at the campus in Iowa City say the center will streamline energy usage with the potential to save millions of dollars.
A federal stimulus grant funded nearly the entire $500,000 cost of the center.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) The Department of Defense says a soldier from Iowa has died in Afghanistan.
The department said in a release on Saturday that 53-year-old Command Sgt. Maj. John Laborde of Waterloo died Thursday. Authorities say Laborde died at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan. Officials say he sustained injuries “from a non-combat related incident.”
Laborde was assigned to the 649th Regional Support Group in Cedar Rapids.
First Lt. Michael Meyer of the 103rd Expeditionary Command said in a statement that Laborde had a 31-year career in the military. Meyer said “thoughts and prayers” go out to Laborde’s family in Iowa and his fellow soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) The White House says President Barack Obama will visit towns in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois this coming week during a two-day Midwestern swing.
The schedule for what’s being called the “White House to Main Street Tour” was announced Friday.
The president plans three stops on Tuesday in Iowa, beginning with a tour of a Siemens Energy plant in Fort Madison. He’ll also visit Mount Pleasant before holding an afternoon town hall meeting at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa.
On Wednesday, the president is to travel to Macon, Mo., and Quincy, Ill. The White House says details of those events will be announced later.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The ashes of a World War I veteran are to be buried in Iowa.
The Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs plans a military funeral with full pageantry next month at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery for James Owen Perrine. Perrine was a noted physicist and he died in 1974 at age 88. His ashes were in a store room inside a Cedar Falls funeral home for nearly 40 years.
Why the ashes remained for so long is a mystery. The state veterans affairs department received them in December.
Patrick Palmersheim is executive director of the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs. Palmersheim says the burial is “prestigious.” He says the state is glad to give Perrine “the burial with honors he deserves.”
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) The University of Northern Iowa is marking National Playground Safety Week.
The week runs from this coming Monday through Friday. The university in Cedar Falls is home to the National Program for Playground Safety and officials at the school say this coming week is a good time to “pay attention to the safety of all children on the playground.”
Donna Thompson is director of the national program at UNI and she says it’s also a good time to “pledge to use good judgment” while playing and honor those who maintain playgrounds.
The group also offers online training. Subjects include playground supervision and playground maintenance.
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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) The Iowa City Farmers Market starts the first day of May and officials say they’re making improvements this year.
Officials say this year they have new vendors and are closing off a block in front of City Hall to add more open-air vendors on Saturdays. The market runs from May 1 through October 30. Vendors sell local produce, baked goods and hand-crafted items. It’s the 38th season for the market.
New vendors will include area wineries and artisan cheesemakers. Special events for the opening day of the market include a rain barrel exhibit, master gardeners, free blood pressure checks and facepainting.
The market is operated by the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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