(LE MARS)–Older adults have a source of help for health insurance information in the Le Mars area. Floyd Valley Hospital’s sponsorship of the Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) for 20 years is being recognized.
Kris Gross is Senior Health Insurance Information Program director in Iowa. The program is known as SHIIP.
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The complexity of Medicare and health insurance for people on Medicare is the sole focus of SHIIP.
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The SHIIP coordinators at Floyd Valley Hospital are Lisa Hodgson and Michelle Ten Napel. The volunteer counselor is Dianne Baack. Individuals may make an appointment to meet with a Senior Health Insurance Information Program Counselor by calling 546-3385. Counseling is by appointment only.
Council sets fees for 2011
(LE MARS)–Fees, charges and licenses for 2011 are in place in Le Mars. The City Council tuesday approved the numbers . Mayor Dick Kirchoff pointed out the golf course membership rates have a new pay early date for a $50 discount.
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Water rates are unchanged with a note of potential new rates after a study is completed.
Divers, fire-rescue crew trained for winter water rescue
(LE MARS)-…One news note this (Thursday) morning, the Le Mars Fire-Rescue Department and the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office Dive team trained in water rescue techniques Wednesday night at the Le Mars Municipal Park.
The training was a drill to prepare for an emergency
Drug overdose ruled as cause of Tennessee man’s death
SAC CITY, Iowa (AP) Authorities say a Tennessee man found dead in a car three days after it was towed to a northwest Iowa gas station during a snowstorm died of drug overdose.
The body of 46-year-old Earl Ealey, of Clarksville, Tenn., was discovered on Nov. 16 by a gas station employee. The Sac County sheriff’s office on Tuesday says the state medical examiner’s office determined he died of an overdose of prescription medication and ruled his death a suicide.
Ealey’s car was towed because it was blocking traffic on U.S. Highway 71 during the storm. All four doors were locked, and a tow truck driver towed the car to a gas station in Early.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Woman found after house fire in Spirit Lake
SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa (AP) Authorities say an 82-year-old woman has been found dead inside a burning home in Spirit Lake.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety says firefighters responding to the fire shortly after 9 a.m. on Wednesday found the house engulfed in flames. Firefighters found the body of Marjorie Anderson, of Spirit Lake, once the fire was out.
A cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy. The fire is under investigation.
Firefighters were called out earlier Wednesday on another house fire when the fire at Anderson’s home was reported. The first fire was at a vacant property and there were no injuries.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Iowa patient shoots himself after standoff
MARION, Iowa (AP) Authorities have released the name of a patient at a Marion care center who shot himself after a two-hour standoff with deputies.
The Linn County sheriff’s office says 63-year-old William Null, of Marion, died Wednesday morning, about six hours after he shot himself at the Abbe Center for Community Care.
The standoff began about 11 p.m. Tuesday after center officials called to report an armed patient.
Sheriff Brian Gardner says Null had returned to the facility from a pass allowing him to leave. He says Null went outside and shot himself about 1:30 a.m.
The center provides services to people who are unable to live on their own because of age, illnesses or developmental problems. Abbe CEO Dan Strellner declined to comment.
MN teen seeks trial as juvenile in Iowa killings
ALGONA, Iowa (AP) The attorney for a Minnesota teenager charged with killing two store clerks in northern Iowa wants the cases transferred to juvenile court.
Seventeen-year-old Michael Swanson, of St. Louis Park, Minn., is charged as an adult with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in Kossuth and Humboldt counties. He’s accused of killing a clerk in Algona on Nov. 15. Authorities say he then drove to Humboldt where he’s accused of killing another clerk.
Defense attorney Charles Kenville filed motions to transfer jurisdiction on Monday. Kenville declined to comment on Wednesday.
WHO-TV of Des Moines first reported the request.
Swanson’s trial for the Humboldt slaying is Feb. 16. Trial for the Algona killing is March 1. He remains in the Kossuth County jail on $1 million bond.
Shooting suspect warned of violence in online post
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) The teen suspected of shooting two administrators, one of them fatally, at his Omaha high school warned in a Facebook post on the same day of the attack that people would hear about the “evil” things he did and said the school drove him to violence.
Police say 17-year-old Robert Butler Jr. opened fire Wednesday at Millard South High School, wounding his principal and vice principal before killing himself. The vice principal, 58-year-old Vicki Kaspar, died hours later.
Authorities say they don’t know what prompted the attack.
Butler recently transferred to the school from Lincoln, Neb. He wrote in the post that Omaha changed him and said he wanted people to remember him for who he was before affecting “the lives of the families I ruined.”
A friend of Butler’s from a high school in Lincoln confirmed the Facebook post.
Iowa proposes safety fine in glass worker’s death
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Safety regulators are proposing an $8,750 fine against a glass company that employed a worker who fell to his death during a construction project at the University of Iowa law building.
Iowa’s Occupational Safety and Health Bureau on Wednesday released the findings of its inspection of Clive-based Swanson Glass, Inc. in the wake of the death of 49-year-old Tom Fosdick in September. Investigators say he fell 40 feet to his death from a ladder while working on Boyd Law Building windows.
The citation says the company failed to train employees on the safe use of ladders. In particular, it says an employee used a ladder with fully-extended levelers despite a manufacturer’s warning not to do so.
Swanson referred questions to parent company KAS Investment, which had no immediate comment.
Branstad names director of Department of Aging
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gov.-elect Terry Branstad has named Donna Harvey as director of the Iowa Department of Aging, which provides a variety of services for the state’s elderly, their families and caretakers.
Since 1987, Harvey has served as executive director of the Hawkeye Valley Area Agency on Aging based in Waterloo.
Branstad announced the appointment on Wednesday, saying the department will “need a steady hand” as the number of older Iowans continues to grow.
Harvey and her husband, Jon, and their family live in Denver, which is just north of Waterloo.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Submit your news release, confidential news tip or news idea by email klemnews@lemarscomm or by calling 712.546.4121 or 712.546.9672 fax.
