(LE MARS)–Detours will take traffic away from a railroad crossing near downtown Le Mars next week.
City administrator Scott Langel says there’s been a change in the detour route for the Union Pacific crossing replacement.
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During the detour, some streets will be marked to allow parking only on one side of the street.
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Material to replace the uneven railroad crossing is stacked along the tracks near Le Mars City Hall.
4-Hers Set Two-ton Recycling Goal
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That’s Rebecca Ahlers. Rebecca, along with her 2 sisters Jill and Kristen, is leading the charge within the Stanton Lucky Clovers 4-H Club to make sure that it’s easy to recycle at the 2010 Plymouth County Fair.
Recycling was a new addition to the fair in 2009. The effort was spearheaded by Brian Kehm and his sister Sarah as a 4-H leadership project.
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There will be 10 more tubs for recycling placed around the fair grounds this year, bringing the total to 30. Jill said the Lucky Clovers are creating new posters to be placed on the tubs explaining what items can be recycled.
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Sister Kristen, who is in the running to be this year’s Plymouth County Fair Queen, said that the work it takes to organize something like this is well worth.
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The goal for recyclable garbage collection at this years fair is 2 thousand pounds.(News report by Angela Drake, KLEM News)
Siouxland Schools Host Iowa Private College Week
(SIOUX CITY)–Twenty-eight Iowa schools will host potential students and their families next month.
Sue Pyburn of Morningside College chairs Iowa Private College Week August 2nd through August 6.
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Pyburn says information presented by the colleges and universities includes financial aid.
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Information about the 12th annual Iowa Private College Week is available from Morningside, Northwestern, Dordt or, Buena Vista or St. Luke’s Colleges. www.ThinkIndependently.com
Rants raising money for immigration law
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Former Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants says he’ll use a nonprofit foundation to raise money for the legal defense of an Arizona immigration law being challenged by the federal government.
Rants says defending the law could be expensive if the case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, and he wants to help pay those costs. Rants says he began his group, the Legacy Foundation, in 2008 and has been looking for a cause to work toward.
He says the immigration law fits the bill.
Under the Arizona law, police must demand proof of citizenship from anyone they think might be in the country illegally.
Rants says the legal assistance will go to two Arizona county sheriffs who are the target of lawsuits seeking to block enforcement of the new law.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Kit plane crashes near Iowa Falls
(IOWA FALLS) An Alden man is dead after a plane crash in Iowa Falls on Thursday afternoon. Iowa Falls police have identified the victim as 74-year-old Henry Klemme. Klemme was attempting to land what’s commonly known as a “kit” airplane at the Iowa Falls Municipal Airport runway early Thursday afternoon, but it crashed into a soybean field a few dozen yards short of the strip. Witnesses tell authorities that it sounded like the plane’s engine had died, and then they saw the plane dive nose-first into the field. Emergency crews found the plane engulfed in flames when they arrived at the crash scene. The Iowa Falls police chief says the pilot was pronounced dead at the scene and likely died immediately upon impact. (Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City/Radio Iowa)
3 rafters looking to raise funds for gulf
BELLEVUE, Iowa (AP) Three men are floating down the Mississippi River on a rubber raft in an effort to raise money for victims of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Launching from Bellevue, Iowa on Wednesday, 24-year-old Justin Dworak; 26-year-old Matt Bergmann, both of Galena, Ill., and 25-year-old David Kolck of Dubuque said they expect to arrive in New Orleans next month. Along the way they expect to collect donations for Louisiana-based Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER.
According to Kolck, many people told them their idea was a little crazy. He says the idea grew out of two dilemmas; what to with a raft left over from a garage sale, and what to do to help those affected by the oil spill.
They plan to sell stickers designed for the trip and ask for donations as they float down the river.
Information from: Telegraph Herald, https://www.thonline.com
US flag reappearing on golf course island
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) Old Glory will fly again on the pond island at the ninth hole of the Irv Warren Memorial golf course in Waterloo.
The flag was raised in the 1990s. That was when former Waterloo Leisure Services Commission chairman Bob Molinaro made landscaping improvements to the pond while also donating $200,000 to install a new course watering system.
The flag came down in 2004 after golfers complained it could deflect golf shots. Others said the flag wasn’t properly illuminated when flying at night.
Two former mayors, several former commission members and a number of golfers packed the commission meeting room Tuesday in support of Molinaro’s request to replace the flag.
Commission members voted 5-0 in favor of raising the flag again, provided volunteers maintained it. Molinaro says he will have the flag flying by this weekend.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Fire knocks out power in downtown Des Moines
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Des Moines authorities say power has been restored in part of the city’s business district after it was knocked out by an underground fire.
Des Moines firefighters using chemicals put out the fire that erupted Thursday morning in an underground electrical vault.
MidAmerican spokesman Mark Reinders says the outage was caused by equipment failure. He says utility workers were repairing equipment responsible for the outage.
Authorities say the Hotel Fort Des Moines, the Hubbell building, some Wells Fargo offices, Allied offices and the Financial Center building lost power because of the fire. Some of the buildings were switched to backup generators.
Traffic signals were also affected by the outage.
Power was restored between 1:15 and 1:30 p.m.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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