(LE MARS)–Scheduled repairs for the City of Le Mars will mean some workers on the roadways.
City administrator Scott Langel says a couple of water main projects will begin soon.
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Separate from city workers, Langel expects five contractors to complete repairs scattered throughout the community which could involve traffic control and workers on streets. He urges drivers to be cautious in the work zones.
(LE MARS)–An outreach at REJOICE! Community Church is helping those with needs.
REJOICE! has been serving Banquets in Le Mars with an open invitation to the meals to anyone who’d like to join in.
Outreach Leader Adri Ruisch reports more than 275 people who are in need, lonely or elderly have been served at The Banquet this month.
The Banquet has distributed more than 13-hundred dollars worth of Dean Foods tea, milk and orange juice . The amount donated by Hy-Vee Bakery was more than 65-hundred dollars.
More than 200 bags of meat from Zestos was given out. Nor-Am Cold Storage provided 24 pallets of space with a monetary value of more than $500.
During the month of March Ruisch reports about 135 boxes of Hy-Vee bakery goods were provided to Banquets in Orange City and Sioux Center. Food that is not needed at The Banquets is being accepted at the Gospel Mission.
(LE MARS)–Final spring flushing of water mains is scheduled to begin this week in Le Mars.
According to Water Superintendent Gayle Sitzmann, the water department will start from Plymouth Street and work south to 12th Street beginning tomorrow (Tuesday). Water crews will also be working from Central Avenue to 14th Avenue.
The water main flushing is expected to be completed on Thursday.
Those living in areas where water flushing is occuring are asked not to wash clothes until water is clear. The outside hose bib may be checked for water clarity.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gov. Terry Branstad is urging local school officials who are planning for next year to assume that the Legislature will eventually approve his education funding proposal.
Branstad has proposed no increase in basic state financing for local schools, and he wants to offer preschool scholarships only for families who can’t afford to pay themselves. Those proposals have stalled in the Legislature as schools near a deadline for getting their budgets certified.
Meeting with reporters Monday, Branstad advised school officials to assume that the final budget approved by the Legislature will be close to his proposal.
With Republicans controlling the House and Democrats in charge in the Senate, lawmakers will reach a compromise, and Branstad says history indicates such an agreement will come close to what the governor proposes.
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) Davenport officials aren’t worrying too much about spring flooding at least not yet.
The Mississippi River is expected to top flood stage at 15 feet late Wednesday before leveling off at 15. 2 feet for a few days.
The river was at 14.19 feet Monday.
A hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport says how high the river goes will depend on further snowmelt up north and when and how much rain falls.
Slight chances of rain Thursday night, Friday and Sunday should not affect the river level.
Mayor Bill Gluba says when the river tops flood stage only riverside parks, parking lots and bike trails will be affected. He says the city doesn’t “break a sweat” until the river reaches 19 feet.
GARNAVILLO, Iowa (AP) Authorities say three people died in a flaming vehicle that had run off a rural highway near Garnavillo in northeast Iowa.
The Clayton County Sheriff’s Office says the accident and fire occurred along U.S. Highway 52 around 4:15 p.m. Sunday.
It’s unclear whether the vehicle crashed into something before it left the highway and ran into a field. The vehicle soon was engulfed in flames.
The sheriff’s office says one adult and two children couldn’t get out and died in the vehicle. Two other adults escaped but were burned badly.
Names of the victims and other details about the accident have not been released.
AMES, Iowa (AP) The Ames train crossing where a woman in a wheelchair was hit by a train was in a “quiet zone,” but barrier arms and warning bells were installed there as additional safety measures.
Authorities have not released the name of the woman who died Sunday morning as she tried to cross the tracks.
Ames officials told The Des Moines Register that quiet zones also were established for five other Ames crossings. Train engineers are barred from triggering their horns in such zones but may do so if they spot obstructions or people on or near the tracks.
Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis says UP trains carry devices that record speed, brake uses and horn soundings. He says it usually takes two to three weeks to release the information that information.
MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) The caves at Maquoketa Caves State Park will remain closed for the upcoming summer season as the Iowa Department of Natural Resources tries to slow or stop the spread of a disease that’s been killing bats across the country.
Earlier this month, state experts said they found no sign of white-nose syndrome when they looked at the hundreds of hibernating bats in the eastern Iowa caves.
It’s not certain humans can spread the fungal disease to bats, but state officials didn’t want to risk that possibility.
The disease causes a white fungus to grow on a bat’s muzzle and skin. It doesn’t let bats hibernate, which can fatally weaken them.
According to Dubuque radio station KDTH, the department says other parts of Maquoketa State Park will remain open.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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