(LE MARS)–A project to provide a storm-safe location in Le Mars is being funded.
Governor Chet Culver today announced I-JOBS Board of Directors approval of 23 disaster prevention-related efforts in 21 counties.
According to written information from the Governor’s office, Plymouth County was awarded 85-thousand dollars for the 637-thousand dollar Courthouse Annex Building project. The construction of the facility is storm resistant and includes an area that may be used by the public which is designated as a tornado safe room. Construction on the Annex Building began last month.
Culver says the I-JOBS awards will help cities and counties move much needed projects forward to protect citizens from the impacts of natural disasters.
Plymouth County Supervisor Craig Anderson of rural Merrill, County Emergency Management Director Gary Junge and Siouxland Interstate Metropolitan Planning Council (SIMPCO) Community Development Director Kristi Quinn worked on the grant request.
Bluebird buses bought by board
(LE MARS)–A Waterloo firm is the successful low bidder for two new Le Mars Community School District buses.
Three businesses submitted bus bids opened at the board’s meeting Monday.
School Bus Sales of Waterloo had the lowest bid of 144-thousand 356 dollars which included $1,250 for trading-in two buses. The difference between the low bid and the next low bid from Thomas Bus Sales of Des Moines was about 750 dollars.
The two diesel 53-passenger Bluebird buses will be part of a fleet that covers more than one-thousand miles a day carrying 690 rural students on 18 regular routes. Buses last year traveled 50 miles per day on the city bus route with an estimated 331 students riding each day. The district also provided bus transportation to extracurricular activities totaling more than 37-thousand miles in the past school year. The statistics are from the Superintendent’s annual report for 2009-2010.
School administrators and board members this week commended Transportation Supervisor Gary Herman and Bus Mechanic Rick Stream for a deficiency-free state inspection of the district’s buses. As a result of the inspection, no buses were taken out of service on a temporary or permanent basis.
Jamison fundraiser is in Sioux City Friday
(SIOUX CITY)–Two Republican candidates for state offices will be in Sioux City Friday for a fundraiser.
Republican State Treasurer candidate Dave Jamison will be joined by Lt. Governor candidate Kim Reynolds for the luncheon fundraiser at Luciano’s Restaurant in downtown Sioux City.
Jamison lives in Ames and is the Story County Treasurer. He is opposing Democratic incumbent State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald in the November general Election. Jamison has been Story County Treasurer since 1995.
Reynolds is the Clarke County Treasurer and a State Senator from Osceola. She’s the running mate for Republican candidate for Governor, Terry Branstad. Branstad is seeking election to a fifth term as the state’s top chief executive.
NCC bond vote falls short of majority for passage
(SHELDON)–More votes were yes than no for the Northwest Iowa Community College bond issue vote Tuesday, but the percentages didn’t add up to approval.
Unofficial results from voting on the 13.4-million dollar bond issue for the Sheldon school’s facilities and equipment showed 57.4 percent voter approval. State law requires a majority of 60 percent.
There were more yes than no votes in Cherokee, Lyon, O’Brien and Sioux Counties, with a tie of 84 yes and 84 no votes in Osceola County.
The vote total was 2,523. Results are unofficial until they’re reviewed by the boards of supervisors in each of the five counties.
Pioneer Hi-Bred buys stake in South African firm
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Seed company Pioneer Hi-Bred says it bought a majority share in South African-based Pannar Seed Limited, expanding Pioneer’s reach in the African market.
Pioneer, the second-biggest seed company in the United States after Monsanto Co., did not disclose terms of the deal.
The purchase is subject to approval by the South African Competition Commission and other countries’ regulatory agencies.
Pioneer said the partnership would help it develop genetically engineered crops specifically tailored to different regions of Africa. The deal is expected to close in early 2011 if approved.
Pioneer is a subsidiary of Wilmington, Del.-based chemical maker DuPont Co.
Group disputes historic designation decision
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A neighborhood group is taking issue with a report that says the flood-damaged Czech Village in Cedar Rapids doesn’t warrant a historic status.
The report by the Louis Berger Group of Marion found 21 buildings eligible for the National Register of Historic places, but not the neighborhood as a whole. An architectural historian says the homes were altered too much to qualify.
The neighborhood was inundated by flooding in 2008. The report paves the way for demolition to begin in October.
The Gazette says the Czech Village/New Bohemia Main Street Board voted Tuesday to disagree with the findings. Board President Brian Fagan says the history of the neighborhood and its commercial district are intertwined. He says Czech immigrants built the neighborhood and the businesses followed.
Iowa panel OKs extension of manure rule
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Iowa livestock producers can continue to apply manure on frozen ground in emergency situations for another five years.
The Des Moines Register says a state legislative panel took no action on Tuesday on a decision by the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission to give confinement operations more time to come up with sufficient manure storage.
The nonprofit Citizens for Community Improvement argued the extended grace period violates the federal Clean Water Act and imperils Iowa’s waterways.
The panel’s decision to take no action allows the grace period to stand.
The rule regulates manure piles at farms. It requires pads and covers in some situations and bans the spread of manure on frozen or snow-covered ground except in emergencies, such as storms that overload storage basins.
Iowa broadcaster Jack Shelley dies
AMES, Iowa (AP) Longtime Iowa broadcaster John “Jack” Shelley, whose career spanned covering World War II to teaching at Iowa State University, has died.
Michael Bugeja of ISU’s Greenlee School of Journalism says Shelley died late Tuesday at a retirement home in Ames. He was 98.
KCCI-TV first reported Shelley’s death Wednesday morning.
Shelley was born in Boone in 1912. He graduated from the University of Missouri and worked briefly at the Clinton Herald. He took a job at WHO radio in Des Moines. When WHO-TV went on the air in the 1950s, Shelley was news director for both radio and television operations.
Shelley covered World War II for WHO, including the formal Japanese surrender on the USS Missouri.
Shelley taught broadcast journalism at Iowa State from 1965 until 1982.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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