Home News KLEM News Update November 20, 2010

KLEM News Update November 20, 2010

(LE MARS)–Bids could be opened next April to reconstruction a Le Mars street.
The amount of federal funds for reconstruction of 12th Street Southeast, from Eighth Avenue East to 12th Avenue East, has increased by 88-thousand dollars. The additional funding for the 350-thousand dollar project put the federal share of reconstruction at 71.4 percent of the cost.
City administrator Scott Langel says the final design will determine how much the crest of 12th Street Southeast and other parts of the street are cut. Figures now, he explained, are preliminary.

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Reconstruction will limit access to some homes and vehicles. Langel said details about that will also be part of the final design for the street work.

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City officials say residential driveways will be re-worked at no cost to the property owner.

(LE MARS)–A rural Hinton woman is stepping into a shoe career in Le Mars.
Rebecca Binneboese bought the business location of Vollmar’s on Central Avenue. Binneboese hopes to open the shoe store in late spring.

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Jea Heeren closed Vollmar’s after her husband Dave died. Asked what appeals to her about being in the shoe business, Binneboese explains she was a Vollmar’s customer. 

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Binneboese was ready for what she descrbies as a huge change in her life. She’s worked as a probation/parole officer for the last 19 years. In the shoe business she looks forward to creating things such as displays.

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Binneboese Shoes and Etc. will probably have three to four employees. There will be changes when Binneboese opens the business, but she says she’s hoping to provide the same kind of service.the Heerens did. In her words, “Customer service is going to be of the utmost importance to me.”
Customer service and clean stores bring Binneboese to Le Mars to shop and it’s an experience she says she loves.

 

(SIOUX CITY) A blend between The Rat Pack and Glee…that’s what Shaun Johnson of Tonic Sol-Fa says sums up their music.

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Tonic Sol-fa will present their Holiday Show at the Orpheum Theater in Sioux City. Shaun Johnson, one of four singers with the male accapella group, says their music is a mash of all different styles.

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They also write a lot of their own songs, including this Christmas original, Sno.

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Shaun says the year’s Holiday Show will be different than years past.

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Tonic Sol-fa has a Le Mars connection. Shaun explains their work with work with Wells’ Blue Bunny.

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The Tonic Sol-fa Holiday Show is December 19th at 7:30 p-m at the Orpheum Theater in Sioux City. (Angela Drake, KLEM News)

(SIOUX CITY)–Changes in traffic patterns are planned on Interstate 29 tomorrow (Sunday).
Dean Herbst of the Iowa Department of Transportation says the southbound lanes of I-29, south of the Riverside Boulevard interchange, will close Sunday at noon, weather permitting.
The closing will be in place for 24 hours to allow the contractor to work on the southbound I-29 pavement. A detour will be in place for southbound traffic. Northbound I-29 traffic will not be detoured.

(ROCK RAPIDS)–A Lyon County business prepared for future ethanol blend choices.  Popkes Car Care of Rock Rapids offers E15 as one of five ethanol blends. The blender pump was installed two years ago with state funds to offset installation costs. Flexible fuel vehicles were the only vehicles to fill at the pumps of the Rock Rapids business until recently. The EPA announced in October that E15 can be used in 2007 and newer cars and light trucks. Popkes says E15 is rapidly becoming a popular fuel for the business’s customers. He says EPA approval for 2001 and new vehicles is needed. Renewable fuels industry experts Friday indicated a decision on that is no longer expected from the EPA this year.

Paulsen: GOP wants up to $300 million in cuts

JOHNSTON, Iowa
(AP) Iowa House Speaker Kraig Paulsen says Republicans who gained a majority in the chamber would move to cut up to $300 million from a broad range of programs in the current budget.

Paulsen, a Republican from Hiawatha, says the cuts would range from ending teacher sabbaticals to selling the state’s vehicle fleet. He also called for reducing spending on programs designed to boost Iowa’s alternative energy industry.

The cuts would be especially substantial because there will be only six months remaining in the budget year when the Legislature convenes.

Paulsen was speaking Friday on the public television program, “Iowa Press.”

Iowa court: Police stops OK after license checks

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The Iowa Supreme Court says police can stop and search motorists if a license plate check indicates a vehicle owner has a suspended license.

The court issued the ruling Friday, upholding lower court decisions from Black Hawk and Muscatine counties.

In the Black Hawk County case, the court upheld a conviction of Robert Joseph Vance for possessing the chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine. Police stopped him after a license plate check indicated the car owner had a suspended license.

Vance wasn’t the owner but was still arrested.

The court rejected his claim that police must confirm a driver’s identity.

His lawyer says the ruling had limited significance because the circumstances are rare.

The Muscatine County case was similar and resulted in the conviction of a person on drunken driving charges.

Police seek man in connection with DM killing

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Des Moines police say a material witness warrant has been issued in connection to a shooting death.

Police on Friday say the warrant was issued for 32-year-old Renard Eugene Andrews in connection with the death of 36-year-old LaCarlton Henderson of Des Moines. Henderson’s body was found Thursday morning in a sports utility vehicle idling n a parking lot.

Sgt. Jeff Edwards says Henderson had been shot in the head.

Police say Andrews is wanted in connection with the killing. He also has several unrelated felony warrants.

He’s considered armed and dangerous.

Trial delayed for man charged in CR kidnapping

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) The trial of a man accused of kidnapping a convenience store clerk in Cedar Rapids has been delayed.

Keith Elson Jr. is charged with first-degree kidnapping. He’s accused of abducting the female clerk at knife point from a Kwik Shop on May 17.

Police found the woman and Elson at his apartment about seven hours later. The woman told police she was sexually assaulted.

The Gazette says Elson’s trial, which had been set for Nov. 29 in Linn County District Court, is now scheduled for March 7.

Court documents show Elson plans to claim insanity, diminished capacity and intoxication as his defense.

A judge ordered a mental evaluation for Elson in August.

Information from: The Gazette, https://www.gazetteonline.com/

TN man found dead in snow-covered car in Iowa

EARLY, Iowa (AP) Authorities are investigating the death of a Tennessee man whose body was found inside a car three days after it was towed to a gas station during a snow storm in northwest Iowa.

KTIV-TV in Sioux City reports that that the Sac County sheriff’s office says the car was blocking traffic on U.S. Highway 71 during last Saturday’s storm.

Authorities says all four doors were locked, and a tow truck driver towed the car to a gas station in Early.

Officials say the body of 46-year-old Earl James Ealey, of Clarksville, Tenn., was found inside the car on Tuesday.

The sheriff’s office says the cause of death has not been determined, but no foul play is suspected.

Deputies believe Ealey was in Iowa to visit an Army buddy.

Information from: KTIV-TV, https://www.ktiv.com

Passer-by led to MN teen’s arrest in Iowa killings

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Webster City Mayor Janet Adams says an alert passer-by led to the arrest of a Minnesota teenager charged in the killings of two convenience store clerks in northern Iowa.

Adams says the passer-by noticed a young man in a vehicle stopped at a traffic signal in Webster City near a McDonald’s for “a period of time” Monday night.

Adams says the passer-by “thought that seemed odd” and called police. Officers arrived and arrested 17-year-old Michael Swanson in the McDonald’s parking lot.

Adams says Police Chief Brian Hughes was proactive after receiving word of the killings. She says he and other officers went to convenience stores and late-night restaurants, giving them a description of the suspect’s Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Swanson, of St. Louis Park, Minn., is accused of killing clerks Vicky Bowman-Hall in Algona and Sheila Myers in Humboldt.

Iowa woman dies after being bitten by her dog

IDA GROVE, Iowa (AP) Authorities believe a 79-year-old northwest Iowa woman bled to death after she was bitten by her dog.

The Ida County sheriff’s office says Lou Bird was found dead in her home in Ida Grove on Monday. Deputies discovered her body when they went to her home to check on her.

Authorities told KTIV-TV in Sioux City that they believe Bird had been bitten several times by her German shepherd several days earlier.

Sheriff Wade Harriman says she went to a bathroom to stop the bleeding, and got in the bathtub. That’s where deputies found her.

Harriman says Bird was on a blood thinner and it contributed to her death because it would have been difficult for her blood to clot.

The sheriff says the dog was euthanized.

Information from: KTIV-TV, https://www.ktiv.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) The president of the University of Northern Iowa is expected to take some time off work to get treatment for prostate cancer.

UNI President Ben Allen says he has been diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer and expects to undergo surgery in the near future.

Board of Regents President David Miles says he is confident Allen will work his way back to good health.

Miles says he is going to recommend the appointment of Provost Gloria Gibson as acting president from the date of Allen’s surgery until he is able to resume normal duties. The regents will decide that appointment Dec. 9.

Miles says the appointment will ensure the university can function while Allen is recovering.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)