(LE MARS)–A new kind of spring cleaning could help keep young people in Le Mars safer.
The Le Mars Police Department and D.A.R.E Le Mars are sponsoring “Project Safe Meds.” Senior Patrolman and D.A.R.E officer Jay King says it’s a program to help households in Le Mars safely dispose of prescription drugs.
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King asks Le Mars residents to bring unused prescription drugs to the Police Department in the medication’s original container.
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Police will not accept any sharp objects, thermometers, home-based care or durable medical equipment supplies.
More from D.A.R.E officer Jay King on trends on prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse by young people on upcoming news.
(LE MARS)–Rural construction in Plymouth County is at five-and-a-half million dollars in the latest building report.
Plymouth County Zoning administrator Alan Lucken issued 26 permits in the month of April. Nearly all of the permits–20 of the 26–were for buildings on farms. But the three new houses are being built in rural areas that are not farms.
Construction north of Le Mars in Fredonia Township dominated Lucken’s report. Dykstra Dairy of rural Maurice received seven permits for three-point-four-million dollars in construction. The dairy’s building project ranges from a shop to calf and heifer barns. The 13 other permits for rural construction on farms included three house additions, machine storage, grain bins and a grain dryer and a garage.
The six permits for non-farm construction included three new houses in southern Plymouth County, two storage buildings and a 700-thousand dollars Canadian National railroad bridge near Oyens. Non-farm construction totalled $1,471,000.
(LE MARS)–Spring construction in Le Mars will include four new houses.
Code enforcement officer Jason Vacura issued 21 permits in April for construction estimated at one-point-four-million dollars. Nearly all the building value is from permits for four new houses. That total is one-point-two-million dollars. The houses are in new developments in southwest, southeast and northeast Le Mars.
Since January, there have been five permits for new houses–nearing last year’s total of seven new houses.
Le Mars residents who are remodeling or adding onto their homes got 5 permits for about 21-thousand dollars in construction.
Vacura’s report also lists a commercial expansion at Jensen Chrysler Sales for about 161-thousand dollars.
There were six fence permits and one for a deck. The April permits are part of a yearly total of 28 permits for nearly two-million dollars in construction. The city has collected fees of about 10-thousand dollars.
(Des Moines) — Iowa Department of Public Health officials are warning northwest Iowans of a small outbreak of mumps cases.
State epidemiologist Patricia Quinlisk says eight cases have been reported in Sioux County. People may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease in several locations in the county, including Dordt College in Sioux Center.
They have not located the original source of the outbreak and expect more cases to appear.Quinlisk says those who believe they have been exposed should verify they have received vaccinations for the disease.
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Mumps can be spread through the air and by saliva from an infected person. She says some people with mumps don’t have the swollen areas.
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She says anyone with those symptoms should stay home.
According to information released by the Iowa Department of Public Health, identified exposure locations in northwest Iowa include :
· April 12 through May 5, 2010 – Dordt College (Sioux Center)
· April 22, 2010 – Spirit Lake vs. Hull-Western Christian soccer game (Hull)
· April 23, 2010 – Hull-Western Christian Prom
· April 24, 2010 – Student dance at Dugout/Events Center (Granville)
· April 25, 2010 – Covenant Christian Reformed Church worship service (Sioux Center)
· April 25, 2010 – Emmanuel Christian Reformed Church worship service (Sheldon)
· April 26, 2010 – Hull-Western Christian School
· April 27, 2010 – Sweet 16 Lanes (Le Mars) – evening hours
· April 27, 2010 – Sibley Ocheyden School
· April 29, 2010 – Tofer’s Bar (Sioux Center) – evening hours
· April 29, 2010 – Root beer kegger at South View Apartments (Sioux Center)
· May 2, 2010 – Emmanuel Christian Reformed Church worship services (Sheldon)
· May 3, 2010 – Hull-Western Christian vs. Spencer soccer game (Spencer)
(Associated Press contributed to this news report)
(LE MARS)–“Prayer For Such A Time as This” is the theme for National Day of Prayer today. The theme is based on a passage in the Bible, Nahum 1:7.
Prayer, praise and a catered lunch are planned beginning at 11:35 this morning at the Le Mars Convention Center. There is a freewill donation.
In Le Mars, the Living Center, businesses and pastors coordinate National Day of Prayer
The focus this year is on the power of unity in prayer.
(Denison)–A northwest Iowa man was killed Tuesday when he was crushed by a trailer. Authorities say 26-year-old Steven Schulte of Westside was attempting to jack up a flat bed trailer with bottle jacks, in order to get a tractor underneath, when the trailer fell – trapping Schulte.
The incident was first reported to law enforcement about four Tuesday afternoon. The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, Westside Fire Department and the Crawford County Medical Examiner all assisted at the scene. (News report from Radio Iowa)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it’s unlikely to go ahead with plans to release extra water into the Missouri River to help an endangered fish.
The corps has been planning a spring pulse from Gavins Point Dam near Yankton, S.D, for May 1-19.
On Wednesday, the corps said water flowing downstream from the swollen James River and its tributaries is causing high river flows on the lower portions of the Missouri and will likely lead to the cancellation of the pulse.
Two pulses were scheduled for 2010. Similar river conditions forced the cancellation of the March pulse.
The pulses are designed encourage the endangered pallid sturgeon to spawn.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says he wants a special prosecutor to investigate allegedly improper campaign contributions by Fort Dodge gambling interests to Gov. Chet Culver.
In a statement released Wednesday, Miller announced he would ask the Executive Council, made up of statewide elected officials, to appoint Des Moines attorney Lawrence Scalise as special prosecutor.
Miller says the move would ensure confidence in the investigation’s objectivity. Both Miller and Culver are Democrats.
Scalise will look into questions raised about $25,000 donated to Culver’s campaign by Dubuque-based Peninsula Gaming and three Fort Dodge investors who support a casino in the community.
Culver supports a proposed casino in Fort Dodge. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission will decide on the matter next week.
After questions were raised, Culver donated the money to charity.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has undergone an elective heart procedure to unblock a partially blocked artery.
His campaign released a statement saying Branstad underwent the procedure Wednesday at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines.
Branstad, who served four terms as Iowa governor from 1983 to 1999, is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in next month’s primary election.
Branstad’s doctor, Dr. Michael Fraizer, says in the statement that the partially blocked artery was opened with the placement of a stent.
Fraizer says the problem was found during a stress test during a regularly scheduled exam. He says Branstad did not have a heart attack and should be able to resume his normal campaign schedule within a few days, and return to his normal lifestyle without limitations. NATIONWIDE INSURANCE-JOBS
Nationwide insurance to hire 1,400
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. seeks to fill 1,400 jobs across the country, with about 600 in its home state of Ohio.
The Columbus-based insurance and financial services company said in a news release Wednesday that it seeks employees to “support the company’s business demands.”
A spokesman says Nationwide has openings for entry-level customer service and claim service slots in central Ohio and the Canton, Ohio, area; San Antonio and Amarillo, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; and Lynchburg, Va.
The announcement comes as Nationwide reports first quarter net income of $396 million, compared to a net loss of $106 million during the same quarter a year ago. Total revenue in the quarter was $5.1 billion, up three percent from a year ago.
At the end of 2009, Nationwide employed about 33,000 people.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) A six-person jury has been seated in the child labor trial of a former kosher slaughterhouse manager who is accused of exposing children to dangerous chemicals, allowing them to use power tools and working them for too many hours.
The jury was selected Wednesday. Former Agriprocessors manager Sholom Rubashkin will face 83 counts at the trial, which begins Monday morning in Waterloo.
The charges were condensed Tuesday from thousands of counts. Charges were dropped against two co-defendants, including Rubashkin’s father.
In a separate case, Rubashkin was convicted of 86 federal financial fraud charges in November. He will be sentenced on May 27.
Agriprocessors was the site of a 2008 raid in which 389 workers were arrested on immigration charges.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) Council Bluffs police say a woman found dead inside a burning mobile home appears to have committed suicide with a handgun and started the fire by pouring gasoline on a line of bills.
Authorities found the body of 41-year-old Connie Ayers after an explosion and fire ripped through her mobile home on Monday.
Police Sgt. Chad Meyers says a preliminary autopsy performed Wednesday on Connie Ayers’ body shows that she died of a gunshot wound to the right temple.
Ayers was found dead at the end of a trail of financial bills leading from a storage room to her bedroom.
Meyers said gasoline had been poured on the trail of bills, and a mostly full gas can was on the bed with her when she was found, along with a cigarette lighter. Underneath her lay a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) The University of Iowa will award honorary doctorates to five people with ties to the school.
Former student and NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and former Hawkeye women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer will be among five recipients of an honorary doctorate.
Brokaw, the longtime anchor for NBC, Stringer, Iowa’s head women’s basketball coach from 1983 to 1995, and former U.S. poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Hass will receive honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences commencement on May 15.
Stanley Consultants CEO Gregs Thomopulos, who served on the advisory board of the College of Engineering, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Science at the College of Engineering commencement ceremony.
Iowa alumnus and longtime school benefactor John Pappajohn will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters on May 16.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Authorities in Iowa City say Animal Services there has received reports of red foxes in the area that are acting lethargic, appear sick and have a scruffy appearance.
Animal Services believes the foxes may be suffering from a parasitic skin disease called sarcoptic mange.
The agency says the foxes are not generally a threat to people and pets, but they are close to people and buildings because there may be easy food available in the form of garbage or pet food.
Animal Services is tracking the whereabouts of the foxes and is asking the public to report sightings of sick animals that seem in distress. Authorities say the public should not call police unless a fox is down and unable to move or has bitten someone.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Submit your news release, confidential news tip or news idea by email klemnews@lemarscomm.net, by calling 712.546.4121 or 712.546.9672 fax.
