(LE MARS)–The spirit of the second Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce Chalk Art Festival could be drawn outside businesses.
Mary Reynolds of the Chamber’s Main Street program says Le Mars businesses are encouraged to do chalk drawings by their buildings.
In 2009, the inaugural year of the festival, 25 businesses drew with chalk outside their locations.
The Chalk Art Festival in the areas around the Olson Cultural Event Center will be this weekend. Information on the event or how businesses can be drawing with chalk is available from Reynolds.
Morningside reports records in fall student numbers
(SIOUX CITY)–New student numbers are the largest at Morningside College in nearly 40 years.
Morningside reports 428 new full-time students for the fall semester. The fall enrollment total is 1,208 full-time students.
College President John Reynders says the large number of new students was NOT a surprise.
Reynders said there were more than 25-hundred freshman enrollment applications which is the largest number Morningside has ever received. About 47 percent of the freshmen graduated in the top 25 percent of their high school classes.
About one-fifth of the students at Morningside are Sioux City students and eight-five percent are full-time students from Iowa and Nebraska. The rest of the students are from 23 other states, including California, Maine and Texas. There are 23 international students from 12 countries.
Hammond sentenced for meth convictions
(SIOUX CITY)–A Cherokee man will serve up to 10 years in prison for a meth conspiracy.
Federal prosecutors report 51-year-old Richard Allen Hammond was sentenced to conspiracy to make and distribute meth within one-thousand feet of a Cherokee elementary school. He also pleaded guilty in May to possession of an ingredient to make meth.
The U-S attorney’s office released written information indicating the conspiracy was between September of 2008 and September of last year at his home in Cherokee. Law enforcement officers videotaped Hammond stealing anhydrous ammonia from a tank in a field.
He is being held for the U-S Marshal’s service until he can be taken to a federal prison.
‘Cardinal City’ honored in Lincoln
(LINCOLN, NE)–The “Cardinal City” in Siouxland is one of two communities being honored by the Nebraska Diplomats.
The Nebraska group of business and government leaders helps recruit companies through the Department of Economic Development.
Governor Dave Heineman Friday honored South Sioux City with one of two “Community of the Year” awards. The other Nebraska Diplomats’ recognition was for Lincoln.
The presentation was made at the 43rd Passport Weekend in Lincoln. The Diplomats hosted 26 state and international government, industry and economic development leaders
Tyson worker threats others in Perry
PERRY, Iowa (AP) Authorities say a man accused of threatening co-workers with a gun at a Tyson Foods Inc. plant in Perry remains in jail.
The Dallas County sheriff’s office says Ayin Dend Ater was arrested Friday afternoon when he allegedly went to the plant and pulled a handgun.
Sheriff Chad Leonard told a Des Moines television station news reporter that other workers convinced Ater to put the gun down. No injuries were reported.
Ater is charged with three counts of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon, and one count each of carrying a concealed weapon and going armed with intent.
He remained in the county jail on Monday on $10,000 cash-only bond. Chief Deputy Dave Herrick did not know if Ater had an attorney.
Telephone calls to the sheriff and to Tyson Foods were not immediately returned.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Habitat for Humanity builds 10 homes in Des Moines
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Construction has started on a project by the Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity to build 10 homes in 20 days.
The building blitz began Monday with the walls going up on the homes that are being built on a neglected softball field on the city’s southeast side.
Habitat for Humanity spokeswoman Jenna Nathan told The Des Moines Register that about 3,000 volunteers will have a hand in the project, including the future occupants.
Nathan says the organization requires 400 hours of “sweat equity” for homeownership. The homeowners will also have a mortgage.
Nathan says the new houses are about $1.3 million of new development in the area.
She says the goal is to improve the entire community. On Sept. 23, volunteers will fan out into the neighborhood to help other homeowners with maintenance.
Children’s health tracked in Polk County
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Polk County is taking part in a national study on the causes of children’s health problems.
It aims to track 100,000 children for 21 years, beginning before birth.
The Des Moines Register says that organizers want to recruit 1,000 families in the next four years for the National Children’s study.
The goal is to determine how genetics and environmental factors play into the development of health problems, including obesity, autism, asthma and premature birth.
Polk County was chosen as the Iowa site. The study, which is being financed by the federal government which will track kids in 105 locations. It’s expected to cost more than $3 billion in 25 years.
Homicide investigation under way in Waterloo
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) Waterloo police are looking for suspects in the shooting death of a man whose body was found in front of a home.
Police found Rodricus Jones, of Waterloo, early Sunday after officers were called to investigate a disturbance in a parking lot of a liquor store about a block away.
Neighbor Liz Hess told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that she was awakened by gunfire and heard people yelling. She called police.
Police Lt. Michael McNamee says officers arriving on the scene about 2 a.m. found Jones on a grassy strip between the street and the sidewalk. He died at the scene.
An autopsy was scheduled for Monday.
McNamee says it appeared Jones was shot where he was found, and it wasn’t clear if the disturbance and the shooting are related.
Car passenger dies after vehicle hits Montana bus
DENTON, Mont. (AP) The Montana Highway Patrol says a weekend collision between a car and a bus carrying a high school football team has killed an 88-year-old Iowa woman.
No one on the bus was injured in the collision, which occurred at about 11 a.m. Saturday in central Montana.
Fergus County Coroner Dick Brown identified the woman as Eva Taylor of Mason City, Iowa. The Globe Gazette reports 86-year-old Gordon Taylor was listed in intensive care in a Billings hospital Sunday night.
The patrol says Gordon Taylor lost control of the car on a section of Montana Highway 80 between Denton and Stanford where it changes from pavement to gravel.
The car slid sideways into the oncoming lane and hit the front of the bus carrying the Highwood football team. Highwood lost its game to Denton 44-6.
Police ticket partiers during UI-ISU football game
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) The University of Iowa says police charged more than 120 people with various crimes during the Iowa-Iowa State football game on Saturday.
That’s nearly three times the number in 2008 when the Hawkeyes last hosted the game. The university released the numbers in the wake of tighter tailgating rules near Kinnick Stadium this year.
According to the Iowa City Press-Citizen, 82 people were cited for having an open container of alcohol in a public place. Another 23 were cited for public intoxication and 16 for possessing alcohol under the legal age, among other violations.
Two people were charged with drunken driving. A man was charged with several crimes, including assault on a peace officer, when police say he refused to leave the stadium after causing problems with fans.
Big Ten Network making money because of fan wishes
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) The Big Ten Network started in 2007 and was profitable by the next year, generating tens of millions of dollars for the conference.
The network works well enough that it could be a model for other conferences and even individual schools. Texas senior associate athletic director Christine Polonsky says the Big Ten got a lot right with its network. Texas is looking to form its own.
Conferences like the Pac-10 and Big 12 are trying, too.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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