(MAURICE)–A Sioux City man was injured when a strong wind gust caused the semi he was driving to overturn north of Maurice Tuesday.
The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office reports 58-year-old Littleton Roberts was driving a semi north on Highway 75 . The semi overturned around one Tuesday afternoon after Roberts crested a small hill. The accident left both lanes of traffic blocked on Highway 75.
Roberts was taken to the Sioux Center hospital and then transferred to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City. The extent of Roberts injuries was not known when the sheriff’s office released information about the accident.
Chief Justice speaks at Morningside tonight
(SIOUX CITY)–Courts and the Constitution will be the focus of a presentation by the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court in Sioux City this month.
Marsha Ternus presents the public lecture at Morningside College’s Olsen Student Center on October 27th at 7:30 in the evening.
An Iowa native, Chief Justice Ternus was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 1993. She’s served as chief justice since 2006.
Her presentation will address the constitutional role of the Iowa courts and the importance of a fair and impartial judiciary in fulfilling the role. The lecture is sponsored by the Morningside College Civic Union.
“Of Mice and Men” premieres this weekend at Postal Playhouse
(LE MARS)–John Steinbeck’s classic story “Of Mice and Men” takes the stage this weekend at the Postal Playhouse in Le Mars. “Of Mice and Men” is about two drifters looking for work in California during the depression. George is a man with sense and a strong work ethic, Lennie is a man with great physical strength and the mind of a child. The story takes place as these men begin a new job at a ranch during harvest. Angela Riedeman plays the wife of the ranch supervisor’s son. She says the play is a story of loneliness and unfulfilled dreams.
Listen here
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Riedeman is new to the Le Mars Community Theater and is the only woman in a cast of 10. Steve Harrington plays George and Michael Phipps plays Lennie. They are joined by Le Mars Community Theater veterans Byron Bulthuis, Ken Niehus and Andy Linn. The cast is rounded out with other newcomers to the Postal Playhouse: Jason Brandt, Ike Rayford, Ken Bolton, and Dan Delperdang.
Larry Brangwin is directing the show and says that audiences will enjoy the play for many reasons.
Listen here
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Tickets are currently on sale for “Of Mice and Men” at the Postal Playhouse. Show dates are this Friday, October 29th through Sunday the 31st. And then again Thursday, November 4th through the 7th. Show times are 7:30pm with 2pm Sunday matinees. For tickets call 712-546-5788 or email postalplayhouse@frontiernet.net. (News report by Angela Drake, KLEM NEWS)
MidAmerican Energy: natural gas supplies are stable
(SIOUX CITY)–Iowans will be switching on their furnaces as temperatures dip into the 20s and 30s the next few nights, the coldest of the season so far. Mark Reinders, a spokesman for MidAmerican Energy, says Iowans’ heating bills for the months ahead should be about the same as last year, as natural gas supplies are stable.
Reinders says, “We are projecting that natural gas prices, which is the huge part of the energy bill for most MidAmerican customers, are going to be very similar to last year’s winter, if not slightly lower, based on the prices that are out there right now and projected for the next couple weeks.” Reinders says MidAmerican, which is Iowa’s largest utility, has a large portion of its winter supply of natural gas locked in.
“Going into the heating season, we try to get about 65% of our projected natural gas needs for all of our customers in either locked-in hedge pricing or underground storage,” Reinders says. As of October first, he says they were again at 65% stockpiled for this season. He says natural gas prices are stable because there have been no major disruptions in the supply system.
The weather has cooperated,” Reinders says. “There hasn’t been a lot of the natural gas disasters that we have had, especially hurricanes. Hurricanes and bad weather down in the Gulf of Mexico region impacts natural gas supplies. The last couple of years, they have not had a lot of hurricane damage which keeps the supply flowing fairly steadily up here to the Midwest.” MidAmerican serves about 500-thousand natural gas customers in Iowa and Nebraska. (News report by Radio Iowa)
Kleve accused of theft from Sibley business
(SIBLEY)–An Ocheydan woman is accused of theft while working for a Sibley business.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s office charged 59-year-old Linda Kleve with three felonies including two charges of theft in the first degree and one charge of theft in the second degree.
Authorities claim Kleve used her job at Ellerbroek and Associates in Sibley from 2004 to 2010 to fraudulently obtain insurance coverage for herself and family members
Grassley, Conlin trade barbs in only debate
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Democratic Senate challenger Roxanne Conlin says Sen. Charles Grassley offers no new ideas and is the embodiment of Washington after five terms in office.
The Republican senator retorted that his seniority makes him an effective advocate for Iowa.
The pair met Tuesday in their only debate scheduled before the Nov. 2 election.
Conlin attacked Grassley for his heavy reliance on political action committees to finance a campaign in which Grassley has far outspent her. Grassley responded that Conlin is a former head of the American Trial Lawyers Association, a formidable PAC in itself.
The 66-year-old Conlin is a veteran trial lawyer and Democratic activist who ran for governor in 1982.
The 76-year-old Grassley has held the Senate seat since 1980.
Massive windstorm howls across nation’s midsection
CHICAGO (AP) The central U.S. has been hit with a massive storm with wind gusts up to 81 mph.
Tuesday’s storm snapped trees and power lines, ripped off roofs, delayed flights and soaked commuters hunched under crumpled umbrellas.
The storm spanned from the Dakotas to the eastern Great Lakes. The unusual system had barometric pressure similar to a Category 3 hurricane, but with much less destructive power.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the system’s pressure reading was among the lowest ever in a non-tropical storm in the mainland U.S.
Agency spokeswoman Susan Buchanan says the storm is within the top 5 strongest storms in terms of low pressure, but may not be the strongest on record.
Iowa AG sues filmmakers over improper tax credits
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The attorney general’s office says it is suing several filmmakers who received millions of dollars in tax credits to make movies in Iowa.
The lawsuit was announced Tuesday after state auditors released a report that identified more than $25 million in tax credits that were “improperly issued” by the state’s now defunct film office.
The attorney general’s office says it’s seeking at least $5.5 million in damages, plus punitive damages and the forfeiture of any property and proceeds related to the defendants’ films.
The audit focused on film office manager Tom Wheeler, who was fired in September 2009 and is facing misdemeanor misconduct charges. Several filmmakers have been charged criminally.
Police fired stun gun then shot man at Iowa grocer
BOONE, Iowa (AP) Emergency calls indicate that a grocery worker in Boone claimed to have had HIV and touched meat in the store.
Gerald Beals II was shot and killed Monday after officers say he refused to drop a knife and kept coming toward them even after they fired a stun gun at him.
Police Chief Bill Skare on Tuesday said it was officer Rod Thompson who shot the 29-year-old Beals at the Hy-Vee where Beals worked.
Hy-Vee spokeswoman Ruth Comer says the state Department of Criminal Investigation told the grocery chain Beals didn’t have HIV. A DCI investigator didn’t immediately return a telephone call.
Beals, of Boone, died at the scene and an autopsy is pending. Skare says the case will be given to the Boone County attorney’s office for review.
Iowa sees drop in juvenile detention numbers
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The Iowa governor’s office says that 34 percent fewer younger people have been placed in detention statewide since 2007.
Gov. Chet Culver said Tuesday that the figure is 50 percent fewer in Black Hawk and Polk counties. Those two counties have been participating along with Woodbury in a national initiative run by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to reform juvenile detention practices.
Statistics show there was an average daily population of 132 detained youth statewide in Iowa in 2007. That fell to 88 young people in 2009. The average daily population of detained minority youth statewide in 2007 was 58, compared with 41 in 2009 for a 29 percent drop.
The statistics are from the Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning.
Romney rallies GOP in Dubuque
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney joined a group of Republican candidates for Iowa offices at a get-out-the-vote rally in Dubuque.
Romney told the crowd Tuesday at the Grand River Center that the GOP will make a comeback in the Nov. 2 general election.
He appeared with Republican and former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who faces incumbent Democratic Iowa Gov. Chet Culver in next week’s election.
Romney also spoke about what he called “failed liberal policies” over the last two years. He didn’t say if he would run for president in 2012. He ran for, but didn’t win, the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.
Fewer pheasants expected for annual Iowa hunt
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) There will be fewer pheasants when the annual hunt begins in Iowa this year.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the state had the lowest preseason survey ever recorded. Research biologist Todd Bogenschutz says Iowa should estimate a harvest of between 200,000 and 300,000 birds this fall. He says about 30 percent of the harvest will likely come in the first nine days of the season.
Iowa usually sees hunters take a million or more birds. The department says a four-year pattern of extreme weather along with declining habitats have taken a toll.
The department says northwest and north-central Iowa are the better regions for pheasants.
Officials expect between 60,000 and 70,000 hunters this season.
Des Moines company to open Indianola call center
INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) A Des Moines company says it will open a sales call center in Indianola.
The Des Moines Register reports Marketlink will open the center in December. The company offers telemarketing to the cable television and financial services industries. The company says the Indianola facility will focus on telephone-based sales for communications companies. Fifty workers will be employed in the first year and up to 100 in the second year.
The Indianola Development Association says a University of Northern Iowa study shows the project will have an estimated $2.6 million initial impact in Indianola and Warren County, increasing to nearly $5.9 million within two years.
Marketlink employs more than 400 people at six call centers in Iowa and Minnesota.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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