(LE MARS)–Plymouth County supervisors point to one-stop services and the indirect costs of existing property as reasons to move forward with construction of the Courthouse Annex Building.
Construction on the building for driver’s license, juvenile court staff, zoning, environmental services, economic development, an emergency shelter, storage, a specialized computer room and a garage is slated to be completed this year.
Supervisor Craig Anderson Tuesday estimated net construction cost at 553-thousand dollars. Anderson said a lot of ground had been covered on a solution for office and storage space needs in the last five years. Anderson still gets calls suggesting other options. It’s the location on the courthouse block for the Annex that Supervisor Jim Henrich favors.
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Supervisor Don Kass pointed to the costs of using a location away from the Courthouse for Driver’s License Service. Supervisor Mark Loutsch is the newest board member and talked of information he’s received.
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Supervisors asked for contracts for the work to be prepared for action next week.
(ORANGE CITY)–Flooded basements are one remnant of a series of thunderstorms that brought threats of tornadoes and large amounts of rain Tuesday night.
The storm moved into Sioux County about 11 p-m dropping about four inches of rain in the Orange City area in a very short period of time.
The Sioux County Sheriff’s office has received several reports of flooded basements and a few culverts being washed out during the storm. Funnel clouds were reported in the Maurice and Ireton areas but there have been no confirmed reports of tornadoes on the ground. No injuries have been reported due to severe storms.
Water from the storm moved in above ground at the Plymouth County courthouse. Water leaked into the state clerk of court’s office area in the south side Courthouse addition. Several ceiling tiles were saturated along with some carpeting. County officials and insurance representatives were in the office Wednesday to assess damage. A cleaning firm removed water attempting to dry out the office area before the end of the day.
(LE MARS)–Nearly 130-thousand pounds was “thrown away” in Le Mars during Spring Clean Up Days.
The city of Le Mars offers an amnesty from landfill charges for up to one-thousand pounds of throwaway material each spring and fall.
According to assistant city administrator Bill Cole, the numbers from the June 3, 4th, 5th and 19th amnesty show 335 residential customers took advantage of the Spring Clean Up Days. That’s down 19 customers from the spring of last year.
The waste crossing the scale at the rural Le Mars landfill totalled 129-thousand 790 pounds. That is about 24-thousand pounds less than a year ago.
However, the city offered electronics recycling as part this year’s Spring Clean Up Days. The weight of electronics-related items brought to the area behind city hall by the general public was about 14-thousand pounds.
(ROCK RAPIDS)–Lyon County Authorities charged a Rock Rapids man after they say he struck a woman with his car early Sunday in Rock Rapids.
Twenty-nine-year-old Christopher Todd Huisman is charged with felony intimidation with a dangerous weapon and driving while his license was suspended.
According to information from the Lyon County Sheriff’s office, Huisman is accused of using his car to drive up on a lawn in Rock Rapids and striking a female. The woman was treated at a Rock Rapids hospital for minor injuries.
He is free on bond.
(ANKENY) –The Republican nominee for governor, Terry Branstad, today announced that state Sen. Kim Reynolds of Oceola will be his running mate in the Nov. 2 general election. Branstad welcomed her to the ticket during a 7-city statewide tour that will include a stop in Sioux City later today.
She is in her first term as a state senator. She is the Clarke County Treasurer. Reynolds will be nominated and voted on at Saturday’s state Republican convention in Des Moines.
DUMONT, Iowa (AP) Officials say flooding along the west fork of Cedar River has forced the evacuation of at least 100 people in Dumont in northern Iowa.
The Butler County sheriff’s office says families were evacuated on Wednesday, following heavy rain across the region.
Emergency Management coordinator Mitch Nordmeyer says flooding along the river happened quickly and swamped many businesses and residents, particularly on the southern edge of town. Some homes and businesses were under 3 or 4 feet of water. He estimated 20-25 homes are affected.
Iowa Highway 3 is closed east and west of Dumont.
The sheriff’s office says the river was receding Thursday morning, but residents weren’t allowed to return home yet.
The American Red Cross has opened an emergency shelter.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gov. Chet Culver had added Hancock and Wright to a disaster emergency proclamation because of severe weather.
He added the counties on Wednesday after powerful storms hit northern Iowa with heavy rain that caused flash flooding and produced several tornadoes.
The proclamation will allow the counties to use state resources to deal with the aftermath of the storms.
Five counties are now on the list, which also includes Ringgold, Union and Taylor in southern Iowa.
Grants are available assist eligible county residents. More information is available on the state’s Department of Human Services’ website
WAVERLY, Iowa (AP) When Tyler Plate of Waverly Light and Power was called out after storms hit the area, he didn’t expect to find a trampoline stuck in some power lines.
Plate, a journey lineman, found the trampoline early Wednesday after responding to a customer’s phone call. It was wrapped about halfway up the pole. Plate called for help.
Jarred Juhl, another journey lineman, was among those who responded. He says he’s never seen anything like it.
He says the trampoline was lodged in the lines, but only caused a voltage dip for a fraction of a second, and the dip was so small that it didn’t cause an outage.
There was no immediate word on where the trampoline came from.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Authorities say a school bus that was stolen from an Iowa City repair shop has been found in Scott County in eastern Iowa.
Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek says the Clear Creek Amana school bus was stolen Monday night and was located unattended in Scott County. The bus was parked at Professional Muffler Inc. in Iowa City awaiting exhaust work when the 65-passenger vehicle was taken.
Officials don’t know how the bus was stolen.
BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) South Dakota State University has become the first research partner in an initiative by Ducks Unlimited and the Bayer CropScience company to expand the use of winter wheat in the Prairie Pothole Region.
The region is dotted with wetlands and stretches roughly from northeastern Montana to central Iowa. It is prime breeding country for migratory waterfowl.
Winter wheat is seeded in the fall and minimizes field disturbance in the spring when ducks are nesting. Under the new partnership, plant breeding teams at SDSU will guide the research and development of new winter wheat traits.
SDSU is getting about $732,000 over four years for the project.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) Waterloo police are investigating a shooting that sent two people to the hospital.
Authorities say both were shot early Thursday. Police were initially called to a house on a report of a person shot. While on the way, police received another call from another location about two blocks away about a second victim of the same shooting.
One person was taken to Allen Hospital and the other to Covenant Medical Center.
Police have not released their names or the extent of their injuries.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) A charitable trust established by the late hotel and real estate baroness Leona Helmsley is providing $8.1 million for a project that will involve about 1,600 senior citizens in five states.
The money from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust will be given to the Good Samaritan Society over three years. It will be used in a sensor technology project called LivingWell(at)Home, which involves wireless sensors throughout an elderly person’s home to help track wellness.
The society says the sensors detect movement, monitor sleep quality and collect information on day-to-day activities such as frequency of bathing. Family members will have access to the information.
People in 40 communities in South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska will participate.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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