(LE MARS)–The Le Mars outdoor swimming pool is painted and filled with water for swimmers, starting this Memorial Day weekend.
City administrator Scott Langel explains the pool look was freshened with paint.
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Angela Loutsch of the Le Mars Area Y-M-C-A says the pool is open, weather permitting, tomorrow through Memorial Day for lap swimming from noon until one and for open swimming from 1-6.
(ORANGE CITY)–The first saturation for traffic safety in Sioux County is underway today.
The Iowa State Patrol and Sioux County sheriff’s office announced the effort last week in response to a Sioux County ranking of 16th place in the state for traffic deaths.
Sheriff’s office chief deputy Jason Bergsma says extra officers will be added to work with the State Patrol. Bergsma’s advice to avoid being part of the saturation enforcement includes buckling up and slowing down.
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Lt. Darin Fratzke expects Iowa State Patrol aircraft and extra officers to be part of the effort to save lives.
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The saturation enforcement today is from 6 am to midnight on Highway 75, from Highway 10 to Highway 18.
(COUNCIL BLUFFS)–A candidate for Secretary of State in the June 8th primary campaigns in northwest Iowa today.
Republican Matt Schultz of Council Bluffs begins his day meeting the public at the Woodbury County Courthouse in Sioux City at 9 a-m. He travels to Le Mars to meet with the public at 11:15 this morning at the Plymouth County Courthouse.
Schultz’ next stop is at the Sioux County Courthouse in Orange City at one this afternoon.
Schultz, a Council Bluffs council member and attorney, ends the afternoon at the Lyon County Courthouse at Rock Rapids at 4 p-m.
(MARATHON)–Buena Vista County authorities have released the name of the man who was struck by a car while riding his bicycle three-and-a-half miles east of Marathon Wednesday night.
The sheriff’s office reports 50-year-old Alan Peterson of Laurens died at the Pocahontas Community hospital as a result of the traffic accident. Funeral Services will be held Saturday afternoon at 2 at the Laurens-Marathon Community School in Laurens. Petersen was a science teacher at Laurens-Marathon.
Petersen and a car driven by 18-year-old Kelsey Fredricks of Marathon were both traveling west on Highway 10.
Investigators said Fredricks was unable to see the bicycle Peterson was riding because she was traveling into the sun as it was setting.
(PRIMGHAR)–An 18-month investigation by the Iowa Great Lakes Drug Task Force and the O’Brien County sheriff’s office has led to four more arrests .
The undercover investigation known as “Broken Arrow” was made public at the end of April with the arrests of 18 people from the Iowa Great Lakes area on felony drug charges.
The most recent arrests include 35-year-old Robert Peters Junior of Hartley; 44-year-old Billy Engelkes of Hartley and 22-year-old William Reuter the fourth of Melvin.
Information from the sheriff’s office states Engelkes and Reuter are charged with delivery of marijuana and Peters is charged with conspiracy to delivery marijuana .
A fourth person, 18-year-old Zackery Buckwald of Sanborn was arrested on two charges of delivery of methamphetamine.
(LE MARS)–Plymouth County jurors do not need to report for jury duty on Tuesday, June 1, 2010. Jurors are asked to call the clerk of court’s office on Monday, June 7, 2010 after 3 p.m. to find out whether to report on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A Polk County jury has acquitted Elvin Redmond of attempted murder in a vehicular attack on a Des Moines police officer last October.
But the same jury found the 38-year-old Redmond guilty Thursday on three counts of assault, as well as willful injury, harassment, operating under the influence and possession of a controlled substance.
Officer Nick Lloyd said he wasn’t frustrated that Redmond got off on the attempted murder charge. Lloyd said he was happy that Redmond had been convicted of several serious felonies and will be going to jail.
Lloyd and his partner were reportedly responding to a domestic abuse call when they tried to stop a fleeing pickup truck. According to eyewitnesses, the truck rammed the squad car and Lloyd fell out. They say the pickup then ran over him.
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DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) A judge in Davenport, Iowa, has sentenced 21-year-old Dale Hofer of Moline, Ill., to 25 years in prison for his role in a drunk driving crash that killed three of his friends and seriously injured another.
Scott County Judge Mary Howes sentenced Hofer on Thursday.
Police say Hofer was drunk when he lost control of his vehicle in January and spun into the path of a pickup truck. Three of his passengers died in the crash. They were 22-year old Brandon Roberts of Rock Island, 22-year old McKenzie Morgan of Cordova and 18-year old Stephanie Smith of Moline.
The fourth passenger, 23-year-old Kory Brown of Moline, survived but is still recovering from his injuries.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) Defense attorneys for former Agriprocessors slaughterhouse manager Sholom Rubashkin have attempted to turn the tables on the state’s lead investigator on judging the ages of workers at the Postville plant.
In Thursday’s session of the trial in Waterloo, defense attorney Mark Weinhardt showed Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Jon Turbett dozens of mug shots of Guatemalan and Mexican workers detained in the 2008 Agriprocessors immigration raid. Weinhardt asked Turbett if each person looked over or under the age of 18.
Turbett was correct on some pictures and incorrect on others.
Rubashkin is charged with 83 counts of child labor violations stemming from 31 teens who worked at the Postville meatpacking plant. His trial will resume next week after the Memorial Day holiday.
WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) The defense attorney for a Charles City teenager accused of murdering a 3-year-old has asked for permission to hire an expert witness at a cost of $7,500 daily.
Fifteen-year-old Edgar Concepcion is charged as an adult with first-degree murder and first-degree sexual abuse in the July 10 death of Krystel Banes.
His attorney, Judy O’Donohoe, filed a motion Tuesday seeking to hire an Oregon man yet to be identified who is described by the defense as both a homicide investigator and an epidemiologist.
The court has approved expenses of $4,000 per day for two pathologists the defense wants to call.
Prosecutors Becky Goettsch and Andy Prosser have expressed displeasure at the defense’s latest request.
Prosser says the prosecution will ask for a hearing if the request is granted, which could delay the trial.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Des Moines officials say they will go after $1.4 million in federal funds to help combat the adverse affect abandoned and foreclosed properties have on neighborhoods.
The money would reinforce $3.9 million Des Moines received last year through the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program. It’s being spent to redevelop 64 housing units in city neighborhoods hard hit by foreclosures.
Officials say vacant, foreclosed properties can weaken values of neighboring homes, attract squatters, vandals and thieves, and become nuisances that threaten public safety.
Mayor Frank Cownie says the city must take care of the foreclosed properties to stabilize struggling neighborhoods.
City officials have three neighborhood stabilization projects in mind if they receive the extra money.
CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) Coralville residents and business owners will be paying a 1 percent franchise fee on gas and electric utility service starting July 1.
The Coralville City Council voted 3-1 this week to approve the fee. The fee will be assessed monthly based on energy usage through MidAmerican Energy and the Linn County Rural Electric Cooperative.
Assistant City Administrator Ellen Habel says the 1 percent tax on gas and electric utility bills is an alternative source of revenue to property taxes.
Officials say without a franchise fee, the city would have required an additional 2.5 percent increase to property taxes to cover budget expenses.
Iowa City adopted a 2 percent energy utilities franchise fee in 2009 and lowered the fee to 1 percent in February. The funds raised will be used to hire new firefighters and police officers.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A biotech industry group says a survey shows many Iowa college students believe they will have to leave the state to find biotech jobs.
The survey of 700 students commissioned by the Iowa Biotechnology Association found that nearly half of biotech students want to stay in Iowa, but 23 percent think the outlook for finding a job in the state was “not favorable.” Another 33 percent say they will look for the best job wherever they can find it.
Members of the association who released the survey Thursday say it shows the need to increase state aid to the biotech industry to help it grow and provide more jobs.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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