Home News KLEM News AM Update December 23, 2010

KLEM News AM Update December 23, 2010

(LE MARS)–Plans are being made to sell a former outdoor science camp northeast of Le Mars.

The Le Mars Community School Board of Education next week will be asked to consider setting a time for public comment on the sale of the Camp Quest property on Marble Avenue, north of Highway Three East.

The site of about 18 and a half acres is proposed to be sold by bids opened after the public hearing during a February 14th Board of Education meeting at 7:30 in the evening.

According to information provided to the board for a meeting next Monday night, if the bids received by the board are deemed inadequate, the board may decline to sell the Camp Quest property.

The possible sale is on the agenda for a regular meeting of the Board of Education at 7:30 p-m December 27th at the Education Service Center, 940 Lincoln Street Southwest.

Ihrke is on Inaugural Committee

(DES MOINES)–Siouxlanders are serving on the 2011 Inaugural Committee for the next governor and lt. governor in Iowa.

Governor-elect Terry Branstad announced the Inaugural members of the committee. They include Scott Ihrke of Le Mars; Eldon and Regina Roth of Dakota Dunes; and George Moriarty of Spencer.

Honorary Colonels of the Militia have also been named. They include Charese Yanney of Sioux City and Vergene Donovan of Spirit Lake. The “Colonels” have been known in history as individuals highly respected in their community; capable, honest and willing people who could not turn down a request for assistance at any time. A commissioning ceremony will include Yanney and Donovan January 14th at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines.

Branstad says the inaugural is focused on raising funds for the Branstad-Reynolds Scholarship Fund and is about putting service above one’s self by working together to improve the state.

Boons injured in one-vehicle accident near Hull

(HULL) Two people were injured when a vehicle went into a ditch two and a half miles northwest of Hull late Monday morning.

According to the Sioux County Sheriff’s office, 74-year-old Arie Boon of Hull was driving a pick up truck south on Highway 75. The pickup was pulling a travel trailer.

Boon lost control and the vehicle came to rest on its side. Boon and his passenger, Majorie Boon, were extricated by the Hull Fire Department. The Boons were taken to a hospital in Rock Valley by Hull Ambulance.

The sheriff’s office reports their injuries were NOT incapacitating.

Select Farms donates food

(Undated)– One of Iowa’s largest family-owned pork producers is making a series of donations to help feed the hungry during the holidays. Mike Faga  is spokesman for Iowa Select Farms, which is shipping out 45-thousand pounds of fresh pork loin and 15-thousand pounds of cured ham to Iowa’s communities, large and small.

Faga says, “Jeff and Deb Hansen, through their company Iowa Select and the Iowa Select Farms Foundation, put together packages of pork for food pantries in the Des Moines metro area as well as in the rural areas and where Iowa Select is based, here in Iowa Falls.” Faga says the donations are being well-received.

He says the hams were valued at $90,000, in addition to the fresh pork. Faga says more than 500 bone-in hams were distributed to local Iowa food pantries. Iowa Select has about 900 employees in 43 Iowa counties, with warehouse and office facilities in Hardin, Palo Alto, Sac, Mitchell and Union counties. (News report by Radio Iowa)

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Iowa union members approve contract

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Employees in Iowa’s largest state workers’ union have overwhelmingly approved a contract that’s been criticized by Gov.-elect Terry Branstad.

Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said in a statement late Wednesday that 98.2 percent of the members who voted from Dec. 16 to Dec. 22 backed the contract.

Though a string of unions have reached agreement with the state on new contracts, an aide to Branstad said Tuesday that they will all go back on the table next month when Gov. Chet Culver leaves office.

Branstad has said he was upset that Culver accepted the contract with the AFSCME without consulting him.

Council 61 has said union leaders will be open to discussions with Branstad.

Iowa teen dies after fall into icy Indiana lake

COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP) Authorities say a 16-year-old Iowa boy who fell through the ice on a lake in Indiana has died and two other boys were being treated after being rescued.

Bartholomew County Coroner Allen Smith tells The Republic that Derek Lodestein of Davenport, Iowa, died Wednesday night at Columbus Regional Hospital. He fell into Terrace Lake in Columbus about 6:30 p.m. and was pulled from the water about 9 p.m.

Authorities say the former Columbus boy was walking with a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old on the ice-covered lake when they fell through about 200 feet from land.

A person who lives at the lake helped quickly rescue two of them with a boat, but authorities say Derek apparently couldn’t get inside and went under.

Trial reset for Muscatine man charged with murder

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) A Muscatine man charged with first-degree murder in the death of a woman is now slated to go on trial in February.

The Muscatine Journal says Brett Noble’s trial is to start on Feb. 7 in Muscatine County District Court.

Noble is charged in the Jan. 6, 2010, death of Kristi Nicosia, who was found dead in her home. Court documents show she was strangled, stabbed and bludgeoned. Noble also is charged with first-degree theft for allegedly stealing Nicosia’s vehicle.

Noble’s trial has been delayed twice.

Noble remains in the Muscatine County jail on $2 million bond.

Father charged in baby’s death in Iowa

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) Ankeny police say a Des Moines man is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his infant daughter last summer.

WHO-TV in Des Moines says 20-year-old Ryan Trowbridge was charged Wednesday. He’s accused of causing fatal injuries to his 4-month-old daughter, Rylee, on July 12.

Trowbridge and his daughter lived in Ankeny at the time. Police received a call about an infant who was not breathing. According to police, Trowbridge told officers his daughter had been laid down for a nap and he found her blue and unresponsive.

An autopsy showed the child suffered head injuries.

Trowbridge is in the Polk County jail on $500,000 bond. There was no listing for him on the state’s online court system. It was not immediately known if he had an attorney.

Letter carrier hit by van in Davenport

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) A letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service has been seriously injured after being struck by a van in Davenport.

Davenport police say 52-year-old Gregory Kline of Bettendorf was delivering mail Wednesday afternoon when he was hit by a van driven by a Davenport man.

KWQC-TV is reporting that Kline was taken to a local hospital and then transferred to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

The driver of the van, who was not identified, wasn’t hurt.

The investigation is continuing.

UI researcher files suit to keep records secret

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) A prominent University of Iowa researcher has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the school from releasing any information about a lengthy criminal investigation that closed without him being charged.

Gary Hunninghake filed the civil action in Johnson County seeking an injunction prohibiting university officials from disclosing records requested by The Associated Press and the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

Hunninghake says the release of any information about the investigation “would result in substantial and irreparable injury to my reputation” as a scientist, doctor and educator.

Hunninghake has been on paid leave from his $360,000 per-year job directing UI’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Research since April. Authorities served search warrants at his office and home, but their contents have been sealed. The university has not said what it was investigating.

Iowa GOP leader non-committal on justices

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Incoming House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer says she’s not making any decision yet on whether a measure to bring impeachment charges against the four remaining Iowa Supreme Court justices will be debated in the upcoming legislative session.

Several GOP lawmakers say they’ll try to impeach the justices who joined in a unanimous 2009 ruling that legalized gay marriage in Iowa. Last month, voters ousted three justices who were up for retention.

Upmeyer, a Garner Republican, told The Gazette on Tuesday that she wants a clear understanding of what constitutes “malfeasance” and she wants to discuss the issue with the GOP caucus before deciding how to proceed.

An impeachment measure needs to pass with a simple majority in the House and a two-thirds majority in the Senate.

Rust Belt states losing people, political clout

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) After years of losing residents to more prosperous states, the nation’s Rust Belt is confronting another blow to its economic prospects: losing some of its votes in Congress.

The latest census figures show that states from Massachusetts to Missouri have been overtaken in population growth by the South and West, so they will have to make do with smaller delegations in Washington. That means having less political clout to attract government money and jobs.

Analysts say the changes will raise pressure on elected leaders to work together more closely and to redouble efforts to strengthen and diversify their state economies.

Growth across the region was anemic 3 percent in the Northeast and 4 percent in the Midwest. Population in the South and West shot up nearly four times more.

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

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