(SIOUX CITY)–Teens and young adults in northwest Iowa are the focus of a summer jobs program at Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City.
The program will partner with area employers in Plymouth, Woodbury, Monona, Ida, and Cherokee Counties. The goal is opportunities for young people to earn money, learn new job skills, explore career pathways and meet new people.
Jobs will pay $7.50 an hour up to a maximum of 40 hours per week. Each job will last about six to eight weeks.
The program is available to youth and young adults between the age of 14 and 21 whose families meet income guidelines and who have experienced some barrier that stands in the way of their success.
Applications are available through Job Training Partners at Western Iowa Tech Community College and Workforce Development Centers.
(ROCK VALLEY)–An expansion of the Fairview Wildlife Area in Sioux County will be dedicated July 7th.
The addition brings the 95-acre recreation area to more than 500 acres. The addition is primarily oak savanna and is about 13 miles west of Rock Valley.
Sioux County County Conservation Board Director Rob Klocke says a wildlife and recreation area complex is being created because the addition is close to the Fairview Wildlife area as well as the Big Sioux River Greenbelt and Inspiration Hills.
Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation Land Projects Director Heather Jobst says these additions are the first projects in Sioux County.
Public funding for the project came from the Wildlife Habitat Stamp grant through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, a Resource Enhancement and Protection grant and Sioux County.
The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation contributed proceeds of a bequest from the estate of a Lyon County couple, Mildred and Elmer Hawkins.
The dedication is July 7th from 5:30-6:30 and includes a brief program and walking tour.
(SIOUX CITY)–Construction will limit Highway 77 traffic in Woodbury County .
The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Sioux City Construction office issued written information about the bridge maintenance work.
The work will require a lane closure on U-S Highway 77 over the Missouri River from the interchange of U-S 77 and Interstate 29 to the Nebraska shoreline from 9 a-m to 3 p-m. Mondays through Fridays until July 9th, weather permitting.
Work will not take place on July 2nd or July 5th.
There is a change in travel for one location in Plymouth County, too.
Engineer Tom Rohe reports Fawn Avenue at the the intersection of 180th Street is closed for repair to the south abutment on the bridge. The work is expected to be completed by July 7th, weather permitting.
(SIOUX CITY)–A Sioux City man who prosecutors say illegally entered the United States from Mexico will be sentenced after pleading gulity to illegal re-entry.
Forty-year-old Robert Benavides -Sanchez was convicted in federal court in Sioux City.
According to the U-S Attorney’s office written information, Sanchez admitted he was an illegal alien from Mexico present in the United States without permission. He was charged after he was arrested in Dickinson County in May on a charge of domestic abuse.
He is being held for the U-S Marshal’s Service until he is sentenced.
WAYNE, Neb. (AP) A retired Wayne State College dean has been named interim president of the school in northeast Nebraska.
Curt Frye retired last June as vice president and dean of students at Wayne State.
He’s taking over for President Rick Collings, who’s taken a job as president at Southwestern Community College in Sylva, N.C.
Chancellor Stan Carpenter of the Nebraska State College System is recommending Frye to the system board of trustees for its approval in September.
Carpenter says Frye was interim president at Wayne State in 2003, which makes him the top choice to serve as interim president again.
Frye began working at Wayne State in 1985.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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DUMONT, Iowa (AP) Dozens of residents of Dumont have returned home after the west fork of the Cedar River poured over its banks and forced an evacuation.
Residents in the southern three blocks of town scurried for higher ground on Wednesday when the river came up quickly after torrential rain earlier in the week.
No one was injured.
The water was receding by midday on Thursday. Butler County emergency management coordinator Mitch Nordmeyer says everyone was allowed to return home by 5 p.m. Thursday.
Some homes will need extensive cleaning.
Nordmeyer isn’t sure of the damage, but says all the residents were hit by the floods of 2008 as well.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Cedar Rapids police say a woman found dead in the middle of a busy street was hit by a car.
The woman was found shortly after 4 a.m. Friday. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sgt. Joe Clark told KCRG-TV that a man driving to work hit the woman. Clark says the driver was stunned and didn’t immediately stop, but returned to speak with investigators.
Clark says authorities don’t know why the woman was in the road.
The woman’s name hasn’t been released. An autopsy is planned.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Cedar Rapids is creating a new disaster recovery program to help residents replace personal items lost in the flood of 2008.
The City Council approved the program on Tuesday. It will provide up to $10,000 in assistance to households.
The program, which will be funded with $10.5 million from local-option sales taxes, is expected to help about 1,400 residents.
The Cedar River submerged about 10 square miles of Cedar Rapids in June 2008.
Full program rules and guidelines will be available on July 1 on a city website, www.Cedar-Rapids.org
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A group hopes to save at least a part of the historic smokestack at the former Sinclair meatpacking plant.
Earlier this week, the City Council voted to tear down the 180-foot smokestack. The cost to stabilize it and restore it, plus the delay of the current demolition of the plant, is $2.7 million.
The Cedar Rapids Historic Preservation Commission says if the entire smokestack can’t be save, maybe the base can be saved. The 41-foot-tall base is said to be structurally sound.
The commission on Thursday came up with three recommendations. First, preserve the base in its current location. If that’s not possible, move it to a new site. If the base can’t be saved, preserve the bricks to use in a walkway or other memorial.
MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) Fire officials say paint scraping may have caused a house fire in Mason City.
Authorities say a worker was using heat to scrape paint from the exterior of the house when the fire broke out Thursday afternoon. Smoke was coming out of the eaves of the house when firefighters arrived.
No one was home at the time and no injuries were reported.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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