(WASHINGTON)–Senator Chuck Grassley is asking the U-S Labor Secretary to immediately consider the Iowa National Emergency Grant request.
Grassley wrote to the federal labor secretary about the grant for workers dislocated from the John Morrell pork slaughter and processing facility in Sioux City.
The closing at John Morrell was a job loss of 15-hundred.
Grassley’s letter indicated the size and scope of the layoff during a slow economic period will have a major impact on the economy of Sioux City and surrounding areas.
Grassley says it’s encouraging that a number of Morrell workers have expressed a desire to utilize the services of a national emergency grant to help them find employment and improve their skills.
(LE MARS)–Life Skills Training Center of Le Mars is honoring a client for the skills she shows in her work and interactions.
Life Skills Training Center’s annual meeting Monday night included the 2009 Client Achievement Award.
Rehabilitation Manager Rhonda Mahan presented Penny Hamilton with the award. Hamilton has been a client since December of 2008. Hamilton has participated in in-house training and several supported, integrated training crews within the community.
According to Mahan’s presentation, Hamilton has shown growth in areas including flexibility and independence as well as seeking additional training task and interacting well with others.
Prior to the presentation to Hamilton, Mahan noted two individuals had done well in several areas in 2009. They are Diane Roggow who works with volunteer Phyllis Hawkins each week doing photocopying and Jean Treinen who is reliable and greets everyone each training day at Life Skills.
(LE MARS)–A Gehlen Catholic sixth grade student placed in the top 25 at State Math Bee.
Northwest Iowa Area Education Agency coordinates the area program with competition at the state level in Fort Dodge last week.
Gehlen Catholic finished in fifth place in the sixth grade Math Bee.
Top 25 honors included David Puhl of Gehlen Catholic who finished in 11th place in the state and Lucas Den Herder of Sioux Center Christian who was in 21st place
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A Mexican man who was previously imprisoned on forgery charges has been sentenced to prison for illegal entry to the U.S.
Cesar Paramo-Razo, who was living in Sioux City, was sentenced May 6 to 10 months in a federal prison after pleading guilty in February to one count of illegally re-entering the United States.
The 35-year-old Paramo-Razo was deported in November 2003 after a conviction that year for forgery in Woodbury County.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Donald O’Brien also imposed a special assessment of $100. Paramo-Razo also must serve a two-year term of supervised release following his prison term.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) Cold weather across Iowa could mean some farmers may have to replant corn and soybeans in one of the earliest planting seasons in memory.
Iowa State University agronomist Roger Elmore says the concern is not so much last weekend’s below-freezing temperatures, but the chilly, wet weather on Monday and during the rest of the week.
As of Monday, 93 percent of state’s corn crop and 48 percent of soybean acres were planted, which is well above the average.
John Holmes of Iowa State University Extension says farmers will need to watch for seedling disease. He says damaged corn would appear “burned” and dead above the surface, but that doesn’t mean the plant is dead.
Farmers will have to wait until warmer weather to see if they’ll need to replant.
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) Authorities say it could take weeks to determine the cause of death of a woman found inside her Burlington home over the weekend.
Emergency crews found the body of 20-year-old Kayli Rae Ringold on Saturday after responding to a 911 call. An autopsy was conducted on Sunday, but police say there were no obvious signs of trauma.
Authorities say toxicology tests were done, but the results won’t be available for several weeks.
Police say a friend of Ringold, who was staying with Ringold, called 911 after finding her unresponsive in bed.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A judge has denied a motion to suppress statements made to police by a Marion man accused of beating another man to death at a neighbor’s house.
Kim Polley is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Daniel Meade, of Hiawatha, on Dec. 14.
Polley asked the court to suppress his statements because he asked for a lawyer after he was arrested on Dec. 15.
Judge Marsha Beckelman on Monday ruled the detectives didn’t ask Polley any questions about the murder investigation after he said he wanted an attorney.
Polley’s trial is set for June 7 in Linn County District Court.
CHICAGO (AP) Police in Chicago say a doctor from Iowa who reported being attacked last month while jogging along the Chicago River now admits he actually stabbed himself.
Police say 63-year-old Gary Hunninghake of Coralville, Iowa, is charged with felony disorderly conduct and filing a false police report.
Hunninghake originally told police he was stabbed in the early morning of April 24 as he was jogging near the city’s Michigan Avenue Bridge. He was taken to the hospital and was initially in critical condition.
A message left Tuesday at the office of Gary Hunninghake at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City hasn’t been returned.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Iowa City is a step closer to moving panhandlers away from downtown businesses.
The City Council on Monday voted 4-1 in favor of the ordinance, despite claims of free speech infringement and worries that the law would hurt fundraising efforts by nonprofit groups.
Under the proposal, panhandlers would be relegated to the middle of a pedestrian mall, keeping them away from business fronts, ATMs and mobile vendors.
The vote was the second of three needed for the ordinance to become law. The final vote is June 1.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Statues honoring two notable Iowans will stay the same in the hall of statues in the U.S. Capitol.
Each state gets to feature two statues. Efforts to swap out either the statue of James Harlan or Samuel Kirkwood failed earlier this year in the Iowa Legislature.
Several Iowa historians say it’s time for an update, and some were pushing for Norman Borlaug. The Cresco native won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his role in combating world hunger. Borlaug died last fall at the age of 95.
Kirkwood is best known as Iowa’s governor during the Civil War. Harlan was a father of Iowa’s public school system and a close confidante of President Abraham Lincoln.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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