Assistant City Administrator Bill Cole said the city would have the same tax rate and the same number of employees in the new budget proposal as the current budget. But Cole explained the city will have increases in benefit costs such as an estimated 10 percent health insurance premium increase.
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Council member John Rexwinkel serves on the Council’s Finance Committee and provided this explanation of budget work.
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Rexwinkel later said the cost of family insurance was projected at 16-thousand dollars for each employee who had the coverage.
Council Finance Committee member Rex Knapp asked to have 150-thousand dollars in the budget due to state funding uncertainties. Knapp referred to information State Senator Randy Feenstra of Hull had posted on a blogTuesday.
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The Council budget workshop broadcast on Premier Cable Channel 12 was suspended during the meeting because it was causing some customers to lose cable and internet service.
(ORANGE CITY)— Kat Evans, an actress, playwright and teacher from Chicago, will perform a one-woman show, “So Much a Lady: The Life of Annie Oakley,” at Northwestern College’s England Proscenium Theatre tonight (Thursday) at 7:30 p.m. The show, which Evans was commissioned to write and perform by Ohio State University for the Ohio bicentennial, will be sponsored by the Orange City Arts Council.
Evans says she has been writing her own plays and involved with theater for quite some time.
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She says her start in small town theater makes her appreciate what the Orange City Arts Council, and other groups like it, do to bring art to small communities.
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Evans said she will be putting on her family friendly show, “So Much a Lady: The Life of Annie Oakley,” 3 times while in the area.
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The performance at Northwestern is the only performance open to the public. Advance tickets are $4 for adults and $3 students. At the door, tickets are $6 and $5. Purchase tickets at the Dove Christian Bookstore or Orange City Arts Council at ocarts@orangecityiowa.com or by calling 712-707-4885. Again, that performance is this evening at 7:30 p.m.
(LE MARS) During 2011-2012 budget discussions yesterday (Tuesday), the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors talked about reducing the counties economic development budget. For the current year that budget was just under $80,000, and as of now it is cut to $40,000. This would eliminate the full time Economic Development Director position beginning in July of this year. That position is currently held by Andrea Westergard.
The position was originally created with state grants and utility firms’ financial support, it is now funded fully by the county. Westergard was hired in March of 2009 and was the second person to have the job. Gary Tucker was the first economic development director for Plymouth County and resigned in January of 2009 after about nine years in the position.
(SIOUX CITY)— An area bank has established a memorial account for the South Dakota man killed on the job while drilling holes near a retirement community in Orange City last Friday. Pioneer Bank has established the account for the family of Andy Lambert of McCook Lake, South Dakota. Andy is survived by his wife Suzanne and three sons: Taylor, Tanner and Trevor. Donations to help support the Lambert family can be made to the “Lambert Family Fund” and deposited at any Pioneer Bank location, or mailed to the bank.
Mystery witness ID’d in Ohio tub drowning case
LEBANON, Ohio (AP) A mystery witness in the case of an Ohio man accused of drowning his wife in their bathtub has been revealed as the former manager of a gentleman’s club in Iowa.
Jennifer Crew of Cedar Rapids was identified during opening statements yesterday in the third trial of Ryan Widmer. He’s charged with murdering Sarah Widmer in 2008 at their home north of Cincinnati.
Prosecutors told jurors Widmer appeared to be drunk one night and admitted to the new witness in a phone call that he killed his wife.
The defense identified Crew and says she lied. They say Widmer expressed his love for his wife to Crew and that she made up conversations by memorizing an episode about the case on the TV show “Dateline NBC.”
Widmer’s conviction from his first trial was thrown out. The second ended in a hung jury.
Iowa man arrested in Nebraska killing
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Omaha police have arrested an Iowa man in the shooting death of a worker at a lube-and-oil business in Omaha.
Police say Justin Reinders, of Persia, Iowa, was charged yesterday with first-degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony. Reinders is accused of killing Milton Jackson, of Omaha, on Jan. 6 at the Shell Rapid Lube on the city’s west side.
Witnesses told police the shooter fled in a car with Iowa plates.
Officer Michael Pecha (PECK’-ah) says Reinders was booked into the Douglas County jail in Omaha yesterday afternoon. No other details about his arrest were released.
Jail officials say Reinders is being held without bond. They had no information on whether he had an attorney.
Judge closes hearing for teen charged in slayings
(Information in the following story is from: The Messenger, https://www.messengernews.net )
DAKOTA CITY, Iowa (AP) A judge has closed a hearing to determine if a Minnesota teenager charged in the slayings of two Iowa convenience store clerks should be tried as a juvenile.
Michael Swanson, of St. Louis Park, Minn., is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree robbery for the Nov. 15 shooting deaths of 47-year-old Vicky Bowman-Hall and 61-year-old Sheila Myers.
The Fort Dodge Messenger says District Court Judge Thomas Bice ruled yesterday to close the Feb. 1 hearing in Humbodlt County, where the 17-year-old Swanson is accused of shooting Myers during a robbery at a store in Humboldt.
A hearing has not been scheduled in Kossuth County, where Swanson is charged in the death of Bowmall-Hall, who was shot during a robbery at a store in Algona.
Iowa lawmaker says he got pot prescription in CA
(Information in the following story is from: The Des Moines Register, https://www.desmoinesregister.com )
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A medical marijuana supporter says he’ll file an ethics complaint against an Iowa lawmaker who says he obtained a medical marijuana prescription in California under false pretenses to show the flaws in such a program.
The Des Moines Register says Mike Pesce told a House subcommittee yesterday that Rep. Clel Baudler, of Greenfield, should be investigated.
Baudler wrote in an e-mail in October that he went to California and lied about medical problems to obtain a prescription, which is illegal in California. He made his plans public last year when the Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted to recommend that lawmakers reclassify marijuana.
Baudler says he doubts the person in California has a medical degree, so he didn’t break the law. And, he’d be glad to answer to the ethics board.
Pregnant woman stabbed; former boyfriend charged
(Information in the following story is from: KTIV-TV, https://www.ktiv.com )
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) A pregnant Sioux City woman is recovering after being stabbed six times and having her throat cut.
KTIV-TV is reporting the 20-year-old woman was attacked Monday morning at her home. Police say the woman’s estranged boyfriend, 20-year-old Thomas Rausch Jr., is charged with attempted murder and nonconsensual termination of a pregnancy.
Court records show Rausch allegedly entered the home to get some belongings but walked up behind the woman and cut her throat. Authorities say he then stabbed her six times.
The woman’s condition and the condition of her unborn child have not been released.
Police say Rausch is the child’s father.
Rausch is being held in the Woodbury County jail on $500,000 bond. His attorney, public defender Mike Williams, declined comment.
Official: 13 Iowa players have muscle disorder
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) A University of Iowa spokesman says 13 football players are hospitalized with a muscle disorder following grueling offseason workouts.
Spokesman Tom Moore said yesterday the players have rhabdomyolysis, a stress-induced muscle syndrome that can damage cells and cause kidney failure in severe cases.
Moore says the cause of the disorder has not yet been determined. All of the players, however, had participated in winter workouts.
University of Iowa physician John Stokes says the common denominator is they had all participated in strenuous exercise, which commonly brings on the disorder in otherwise healthy young people. The school said the players, whom they would not identify, were “in safe and stable condition” and responding well to treatment.
Online:
https://www.messengernews.net
https://www.desmoinesregister.com
https://www.ktiv.com
(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.
