(REMSEN)–Stacie’s Stars teamed up to raise money to fight cancer during the Relay for Life in Remsen Friday night.
Gina Fiedler Stukenholtz walked the City of Remsen track to honor the memory of her sister Stacie after talking of her “Team in Training” experiences.
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Her sister died 13 years ago. As the speaker during opening ceremonies at Relay for Life, she said she runs for many reasons that include running for life.
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She also said she was at Relay to celebrate cancer. She describes the disease as “teaching us things about life and love that we may never have known if cancer hadn’t entered our lives.
News director Joanne Glamm prepared highlights of the Opening Ceremony
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Tan Tax
(Sioux City)--A new national 10-percent tax on indoor tanning is now in place — and one Siouxland owner of tanning salon says it doesn’t look like it’s going to have a big overall impact on his business. Pat Chedester owns “Tan World” of Sioux City and Sergeant Bluff, and says he’s never happy to see taxes increase for his customers.
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Chedester says tanning operators didn’t have enough pull to fight the tax.
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Chedester says the additional cost hasn’t seemed to keep people from getting their fake bake.
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(Josie Cooper, KSCJ, Powell Broadcasting, Sioux City)
Highway 75 Lane Restriction
(HINTON)–One lane of traffic will be restricted south of Hinton on Highway 75, beginning July 19th.
Dean Herbst of the Sioux City office of the Iowa Department of Transportation says the bridge deck will be overlayed on southbound Highway 75.
The highway will be restricted to one lane. The open lane on southbound Highway 75 will have a 12-foot-six inch width lane restriction for the work zone.
Culver proclaims 3 counties disaster areas
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gov. Chet Culver has issued a disaster proclamation for Black Hawk, Jasper and Lyon counties in response to recent flash flooding.
The disaster proclamation issued Friday authorizes the implementation of the State Individual Assistance Grant Program to assist eligible residents of those counties. The state’s Individual Assistance Program provides up to $5,000 in reimbursements for damages incurred for individuals and families whose income is less than 200 percent above the poverty level.
Application information for residents in counties where the State Individual Assistance Grant Program has been made available is posted on the Department of Human Services website (www.dhs.state.ia.us).
Convicted murderer assaults Iowa prosecutor
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) A man convicted of murder assaulted a Dubuque County prosecutor as he was being led out of the courtroom after the verdict was read.
Michael Mayton was being escorted by authorities after being found guilty Friday of second-degree murder when he assaulted County Attorney Ralph Potter in the hall outside the courtroom.
Mayton hit Potter with his cuffed hands, knocking Potter to the floor.
Potter was taken to a local hospital where he was expected to be released later in the day.
Authorities say Mayton faces additional charges in the attack.
Mayton was found guilty in the fatal stabbing of David Tate during a street fight in Dubuque in August 2009. Another person was critically injured.
Mayton faces up to 50 years in prison on the murder charge.
Iowa City has high per capita number of doctors
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) It turns out that Iowa City should be one of the best places in the country to live if you suddenly get sick or suffer an injury.
With 1,915 physicians or 1,305 per 100,000 people the Iowa City area has the second-most physicians per capita in the nation. That’s according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 edition of the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, which was released this week.
The only urban area with more physicians per capita is Rochester, Minn., which is, of course, home to the Mayor Clinic. Rochester has 3,374 physicians, or 1,871 per 100,000 people.
As a point of reference, the Des Moines-West Des Moines metropolitan statistical area has 1,169 physicians or 214 per 100,000.
Judge rules alleged embezzler competent for trial
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A federal judge in Des Moines has ruled that alleged Aviva embezzler Phyllis Stevens is competent to stand trial despite a claim that she could display a child’s personality at any time during her upcoming trial.
U.S. Senior Judge Ronald Longstaff said Friday that the 58-year-old Stevens demonstrated during two psychiatric evaluations that she is able to understand the nature and consequences of the pending criminal proceedings against her and can assist in her own defense.
Longstaff rejected a request by Stevens’ defense lawyer, that she be required to undergo treatment for Dissociative Identity Disorder before going to trial.
Stevens is accused in a 20-count indictment of embezzling nearly $6 million from West Des Moines insurer Aviva USA. Her partner, Marla Stevens, is also charged.
Man sentenced to 25 years in rape case
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) A Johnson County judge has sentenced a Williamsburg man to 25 years in prison for raping a 21-year-old former University of Iowa student in 2008.
The defendant, 34-year-old Jonathan Schiefer, was convicted in a non-jury trial in March of first-degree burglary and third-degree sexual abuse. Schiefer was accused of breaking into the woman’s apartment and raping her in April of 2008. He wasn’t arrested until three months later when he was found in the area of the victim’s home allegedly peeping into another woman’s apartment.
In passing sentence Friday, Sixth Judicial District Judge Ian Thornhill merged the two charges for sentencing because third-degree sexual abuse is a lesser charge of first-degree burglary. The burglary charge is a mandatory 25 year sentence.
Omaha man pleads guilty in bank robberies
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) An Omaha man accused in five bank robberies since 2007 in Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa, has pleaded guilty to bank robbery.
The U.S. Attorney’s office says 31-year-old Jason McCain pleaded guilty Thursday to robbing an Omaha Tier One Bank branch on March 1, 2007, and Telco Credit Union in Council Bluffs on Jan. 17, 2009.
As part of his plea, McCain admitted responsibility for robbing three other banks in Omaha. Investigators had said they found nearly $25,000 from one of the banks in McCain’s car when he was arrested when they arrested McCain following a chase in December.
McCain is set to be sentenced on Sept. 30. A bank robbery conviction carries a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.
Tiny animal at Blank Park Zoo turns 20
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Keepers at Des Moines’ Blank Park Zoo say their Madagascar pigmy hedgehog tenrec is now one of the oldest of his tiny species.
The spiny little creature, affectionately known as “Tenrec 1498,” had his 20th birthday on Friday.
To put it in human terms, it’s like he has turned 100 years old. Of the approximately 300 Madagascar pigmy hedgehog tenrecs at accredited zoos worldwide there are only two older than Blank Park’s. The oldest one known is only is about three months older. Typically, tenrecs live about 13 years.
Zoo education manager says that although “hedgehog” is in his name, he is not a true hedgehog and despite his small size, he is genetically related to an elephant. The Zoo’s tenrec weighs only about 145 grams.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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