(LE MARS)–This is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa.
Today’s awareness effort by Plymouth County Emergency Management, Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the National Weather Service is Flash Floods.
The Emergency Alert System will issue a Tornado drill for broadcast on radio stations like KLEM 1410 AM and 96.9 FM Wednesday morning at about 10 a.m. You’re encouraged to respond to the test Tornado drill as if it were an actual weather emergency.
Information on preparing for severe weather is available at www.bereadyiowa.org.
As of today, the City of Le Mars will resume monthly siren tests through the summer months. The test of the outdoor siren warning system in Le Mars begins at one this afternoon and is repeated each first Monday of the month at 1 p.m. The tests are a joint effort of the City of Le Mars Public Works Department, Le Mars Fire-Rescue and the Plymouth County Communication Center.
(LE MARS) A teacher whose peers describe her as always working for the students’ best interests is the latest Le Mars Community School District “Employee of the Month.”
Seventh grade Reading and Language teacher Jill Martin will also be honored at the Le Mars Community School District Foundation Banquet April 12th.
Martin is credited with coming to work each day with a positive outlook on the day and the learning that is going to occur. The nomination for the “Employee of the Month” also characterizes her care level for her students as second to none.
Martin is a team builder with other teachers doing everything from providing candy treats to a staff breakfast. She began a traveling fish effort given by one teacher to another for their great effort and work with students each day.
Tickets for the April 12th Le Mars Community School District Foundation Banquet may be reserved by Friday by contacting the Superintendent’s Office at the Education Service Center.
(LE MARS)–Spring construction work for rural Plymouth County begins this (Monday) afternoon with a road closing in the northeast part of the county.
According to Plymouth County Engineer Tom Rohe, a bridge replacement project will close 150th Street. The closing on 150th Street from County Road L-22 to Sunset Avenue begins at two this afternoon.
Graves Construction of Spencer is the contractor for the work in Meadow Township section 35. The bridge will be replaced at a cost of 256-thousand 115 dollars.
The work on the bridge on 150th street is expected to be completed by July 8th, weather permitting.
(SIOUX CITY) A road project in Siouxland will change traffic patterns beginning at nine this morning.
According to Dean Herbst of the Iowa Department of Transportation, eastbound Interstate I-29/U-S Highway 20/75 ramp from South Sioux City to southbound I-29 at Exit 1A will be closed.
Traffic will be detoured by routing eastbound Highway 20/75 traffic to the Lakeport Drive interchange and then west on Highway 20/75 to the southbound I-29 ramp. There’s a map of the change with this news story on klem1410.com.
The ramp is slated to re-open May 13th, weather permitting.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) A nursing home resident has died from injuries suffered when a visitor drove into the building in Denison.
Ruth Tech died Saturday, on her 92nd birthday.
Mindi Baker, director of Eventide Lutheran Retirement and Nursing Home, says Tech was drinking coffee in the dining room Thursday when a car driven by 84-year-old Loys Rowen careened into the building. Rowen was on his way to visit his wife, who lives at the nursing home.
Tech and Rowen were the only ones hurt in the crash.
Baker says she believes Rowan suffered a medical problem that led to the crash. He was admitted to the nursing home after treatment at a hospital.
Denison police say no charges were filed.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) More than 150 homes and eight businesses in Cedar Falls are expected to be demolished through flood buyout programs.
City officials told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that 144 of the 226 properties eligible for buyouts in the wake of 2008 flooding have already been accepted into the program. The city says it expects the number to grow by a few more by the filing deadlines in 2012.
Demolition is estimated to cost $13.5 million. The city says 111 of the properties purchased through buyouts have already been torn down.
Officials are trying to decide what to the do with the land, which must remain green space under the terms of the federal buyout programs. Three separate programs are being offered.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A Michigan-based fundraising organization has agreed to change its marketing practices in Iowa.
State Attorney General Thomas Miller says Associated Community Services, of Southfield, Mich., solicited donations on behalf of a group called Vietnam Veterans of Iowa Inc. and implied its representatives were calling from in-state and that all the money donated would be used in Iowa.
Miller says 80 percent of the donations go to Associated Community Services and the rest to the actual charity.
The attorney general says the group has agreed to stop the deceptive practice and to pay $35,000 to the state’s Consumer Protection Division.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A Monticello man has been given five years’ probation for allowing hazardous chemicals to seep into Kitty Creek.
Federal prosecutors say 75-year-old Gene Riddle pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act. As part of a plea agreement, he’ll need to pay $273,000 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Authorities say Riddle stored chemicals used at his manufacturing business, Riddle Inc., at a deteriorating building a few hundred feet from Kitty Creek. During floods in 1993, 2002 and 2009, the creek poured into the building and disturbed drums of chemicals.
EAGLE GROVE, Iowa (AP) A trial is set to begin Monday for a northern Iowa man accused of killing a friend with a hatchet.
Twenty-one-year-old Lucas Faulkner, of Eagle Grove, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Devin Resh, of Webster City. Faulkner is accused of killing Resh while they were fishing at an old gravel pit northwest of Eagle Grove last May.
The Fort Dodge Messenger reports jury selection will begin Monday in Waverly, in Bremer County. The case was moved out of Wright County because of pretrial publicity.
Faulkner is being held in the Wright County jail on $500,000 bond.
Two other people have pleaded guilty to being accessories to the killing and were each sentenced to two years in prison.
DECORAH, Iowa (AP) A live video feed in northeast Iowa is offering an eagle’s eye view of nature in action, and it’s getting a lot of attention on the Internet.
The camera sponsored by the Raptor Resource Project shows a nest 80 feet up in a tree at the Decorah Fish Hatchery, where a pair of eagles is welcoming their brood.
Three eggs were laid in late February, and the first eaglet started to emerge from its shell Friday. The project’s Bob Anderson says the second hatched about 5:30 a.m. Sunday and the third should emerge in about three days.
The site reports more than 100,000 people are watching the video. Anderson says a spike in traffic overloaded the site Saturday. It was down for about two hours.
Online:
Raptor Resource Project: www.raptorresource.org
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Submit your news release, photo, confidential news tip or news idea by email klemnews@lemarscomm or by calling 712.546.4121 or 712.546.9672 fax.
