DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gov. Chet Culver has added four more counties to a disaster emergency proclamation because of severe weather.
He added Cherokee, Mahaska, Polk and Warren counties on Monday. The proclamation will allow the counties to use state resources to deal with the aftermath of the storms.
Fourteen counties are now on the list, which also includes Ringgold, Union, Taylor, Hancock, Wright, Franklin, Decatur, Marion, Monroe and Sioux.
Grants are available to assist eligible county residents. More information is available on the state’s Department of Human Services’ website.
(COPYRIGHT 2010 BY ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)
(AMES)–Flooding conditions continue to affect travel on some roads in Cherokee and Woodbury Counties.
According to the Iowa Department of Transportation, Highway 59 is closed between Cherokee County Road C-44 and Highway Three.
In Woodbury County, Highway 31 is closed between D-22 and Highway 20 South of Correctionville. Highway 31 is also closed north of 11th Street in Correctionville to two miles north of the city.
Flood warnings continue for the Little Sioux River at Correctionville and Cherokee and on the Big Sioux River in cities including Akron and Hawarden.
(LE MARS)–The basics of fire safety are the focus a Le Mars man gives to fire prevention.
Wayne Schipper retires tomorrow after serving as a volunteer, a fire fighter and fire chief in his hometown for four decades.
Schipper says the basics include keeping your home safe from fire.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/retire1062910.mp3{/audio}
The fire chief has seen the value of smoke detectors in helping families get out of their homes safely when there’s a fire.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/retire2062910.mp3{/audio}
Schipper and other fire fighters and volunteers led many tours of fire facilities during Fire Prevention Week. Young people who were involved in fires often visited the chief.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/retire3062910.mp3{/audio}
Asked what’s been the joy of his career that he’ll take away from the job, Schipper points to the value of something good.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/retire4062910.mp3{/audio}
Schipper reflected on his years of service at the request of KLEM News.
(LE MARS)–What’s happened to the graduates of the nation’s schools in the early 1960’s, including Gehlen Catholic High School?
That question is taking the staff from American Institutes for Research on the road to class reunions to reconnect and get reacquainted.
As Christopher Plotts of the American Institutes for Research explains, “Project Talent” was the largest and most comprehensive study of high school students. Plots says it was based on an educational research test given over two days to about five percent of the country’s students.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/ptalent1062910.mp3{/audio}
Alex Knecht of the American Institutes for Research says the visit he and Plotts made to the reunion of the Gehlen Class of 1960 is the the first connection by researchers about two decades.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/ptalent2062910.mp3{/audio}
On upcoming news, you’ll hear that some Gehlen Catholic graduates who took the “Project Talent” tests from the Washington, D-C-based research group are interesting in being part of a new study.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Des Moines officials are monitoring levees holding back the Des Moines River as more water pours in from Saylorville Lake just north of the city.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has raised a 6-foot inflatable barrier atop an emergency spillway at Saylorville. Corps spokesman Ron Fournier says computer models show the lake reaching the top of those barriers on Wednesday. If that happens, it will be the fifth time since the lake was constructed in 1977 that water has gone over the spillway.
Des Moines is shoring up the levees protecting neighborhoods north of downtown, including Birdland, which flooded in 2008.
Some residents, however, aren’t taking any chances and are moving out of their homes to higher ground.
CHARITON, Iowa (AP) A judge plans to issue a ruling next month on whether a 13-year-old Chariton boy accused of killing his stepfather will be tried as a youthful offender.
The boy’s father, who attended a closed hearing last week, said Monday that the judge will issue a ruling by July 16.
The boy is charged with first-degree murder in the February shooting death of his stepfather. He’s also charged with attempted murder for allegedly trying to kill his mother and a 5-year-old girl.
Youthful offenders remain under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court until they turn 18, when they can face further punishment as adults.
CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) Authorities say emergency crews have rescued a man who was buried up to his armpits in dirt after a trench collapsed in Charles City.
Officials say the man was building a new home when the trench caved in Monday afternoon.
It took a dozen firefighters about 30 minutes to free the man, who was conscious and breathing. He was taken to a hospital.
The man’s name and condition were not immediately released.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Submit your news release, confidential news tip or news idea by email klemnews@lemarscomm.net, by calling 712.546.4121 or 712.546.9672 fax.
