(LE MARS)–A business expansion tops building activity in Le Mars in the latest report on construction.
Code Enforcement Officer Jason Vacura issued 11 permits for two-point-one-million dollars in May.
According to Vacura’s report, Good Samaritan Society-Le Mars received a permit for a commercial addition estimated at one-point-nine-million dollars. Good Samaritan announced plans for the more home-like living expansion and remodeling project last month.
The city issued one permit for a house and three deck permits along with two accessory buildings.
Since January there have been 39 permits for four-point-one-million dollars in construction. The total includes six new houses with an estimated cost of one-point-seven million dollars and three commercial additions with construction estimated at two-point-two-million dollars.
(PRIMGHAR)–A burglary at the Primghar City Swimming Pool is being investigated by the O’Brien County Sheriff’s office.
Authorities report a cash box and undisclosed amount of cash were taken from the bath house at the Primghar City Pool.
The burglary occurred during the evening hours Sunday and or into the early morning hours Monday.
The O’Brien County Sheriff’s office is also investigating a burglary at a hog confinement four-and-a-half miles south of Paullina.
Authorities report the office area of the confinement was entered sometime during the evening hours Sunday and or into the early morning hours Monday.
Several items were removed including a large diesel-powered pressure washer, a DeWalt cordless drill and circular saw, a Motorola two-day radio and an electric fence test kit.
(DES MOINES)–Sioux City is one stop on a three-day tour announced today by the Iowa G-O-P.
The statewide “Road to Victory” tour features former Governor Terry Branstad and many of the party’s newly-elected nominees.
The victory tour stop is in Sioux City Monday afternoon at 3:30 in downtown Sioux City at 514 Nebraska Street.
Along with Branstad and party chair Matt Strawn, the G-O-P tour will include Attorney General nominee Brenna Findley; Secretary of Agriculture BiIl Northey; Secretary of State nominee Matt Schultz; and State Treasurer nominee Dave Jamison.
Congressional candidates Brad Zaun, Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ben Lange will join stops in their districts.
All events are free and open to the public.
STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) A Storm Lake man faces several charges for allegedly attacking his family.
Police say Carldale Hunter forced his way into a relative’s home Monday afternoon. He allegedly assaulted several people, including his girlfriend who was holding their infant son.
Police say family members tried to intervene, and one stabbed Hunter in the back with a kitchen knife.
Hunter fled the scene. He was taken into custody about four hours later.
Police say two women and an infant boy were taken to a hospital, where they were treated and released.
Hunter faces ten charges, including burglary, assault and child endangerment.
He was in the Buena Vista County jail on Wednesday on $50,000 bond.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A pair of Iowa governors are hitting the campaign trail Wednesday.
Former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad won his party’s primary Tuesday. That means facing current Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in the Nov. 2 general election.
Culver tells The Associated Press he “can’t wait” to get his campaign started. He’s headed to a Des Moines elementary school Wednesday to tout his preschool programs.
Branstad wants to return to the office he held from 1983 to 1999 and says Iowa’s ready for a comeback. He’s scheduled to speak to a business group in Ames on Wednesday.
Branstad’s primary win could indicate the direction of the Republican party in Iowa. He campaigned largely as a pragmatist, focusing on economic matters rather than emotional social issues like abortion and gay marriage.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Nearly $5 million in state grant money is headed to the city of Johnston to help the municipality build about 8,000 feet of roadway.
Gov. Chet Culver announced the funding on Tuesday. The money comes from the Iowa Transportation Commission, which approved the city’s Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy grant application. The road to be constructed is in the center of Johnston and will provide access to a new and expanded facility for a company that works with plant genetics.
Culver says the roadway will support nearly 500 new jobs at the facility and help “to continue Iowa’s economic recovery.”
ANKENY, Iowa (AP) Authorities say a worker with the Iowa Department of Transportation was injured after being hit by a car on a ramp off Interstate 35 in Ankeny.
The accident happened about 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
Police say a driver hit the worker as the worker was crossing the road while working on the street lights.
The worker was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The worker’s name was not immediately released.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A July Fourth fireworks show can return to May’s Island in downtown Cedar Rapids.
An engineering firm says it’s safe for the Freedom Festival to shoot off fireworks from a parking ramp on the island in the middle of the Cedar River.
The river submerged the island and 10 square miles of the city during the flood of 2008.
The parking ramp provides parking for City Hall in the Veterans Memorial Building, which is being restored.
The city asked engineering firm Shoemaker and Haaland to conduct a structural assessment of the parking ramp to make sure it could handle the fireworks. The company says it’s confident the roof can support the event.
A final assessment of the ramp will completed soon.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Repairs are expected to start soon on a levee protecting a Des Moines neighborhood inundated by the Des Moines River in the past 17 years.
The levee in the Birdland neighborhood is a source of concern because of failures in 1993 and 2008.
Trailers arrived this week, and construction equipment is expected to be on site by June 15.
A Minnesota company, Ceres Environmental Services of Minneapolis, has been awarded a $7.2 million contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the project, which is to be completed by September 2011.
Work will be done in segments, beginning upstream. Officials say clay and other materials will be ready to create barriers and protections if the river comes up quickly during the construction.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Hundreds of children across Iowa sent in possible names for the Blank Park Zoo’s new baby camel and the zoo says it has a winner: Ozzie.
Eight-year-old David Downs from Radcliffe sent in the winning name, which the Des Moines zoo released Tuesday. Ozzie is a male dromedary camel. He was born April 11, weighing about 90 pounds and was 4 feet tall. Dromedary camels have one hump on their backs and the world’s only population of the species with wild behaviors is in Australia.
Ozzie’s parents, Conan and Molly, were both born in Australia.
The zoo says there were other popular names submitted for the baby camel, including Humphrey, Humpty, Humpy and Lumpy.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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