(LE MARS)-A rural Le Mars native is the Morningside College “National Alumni Educator of the Year.”
Bruce Borchers first education was at Le Mars Community School.
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The former Bulldog athlete graduated in 1988. Borchers was a student athlete at Morningside where he says found “his love for education.”
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Borchers is a 1993 Morningside graduate who has been superintendent of the Rockwood School since last July. He explains how the personal connection between students and teachers he experienced is part of his educational career in the Eureka, Missouri district of 22-thousand students.
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He is the son of Ron and Twila Borchers of Le Mars. (Photo courtesy Morningside College)
(LE MARS)–A Le Mars Community School District building project boosted building activity in Le Mars in March.
Jason Vacura of Code Enforcement issued 14 permits for nearly seven-million dollars in buildings, signs and remodeling.
The Le Mars Community School District received a permit for a commercial addition valued at six-point-four-million dollars
Two new houses added about 400-thousand dollars to the building total. There were five home remodeling projects for 23-thousand dollars.
A change in location this summer includes a permit for a new sign and commercial addition for Hardee’s Restaurant when the business relocates.
(LE MARS)–A Homer, Nebraska contractor will make street improvements in Le Mars this summer.
City Administrator Scott Langel says the work on 12th Street Southeast, between Seventh Avenue and 14th Avenue Southeast is planned in either May or August.
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The exact timing for the work in southeast Le Mars. will depend on other projects Steve Harris Construction Incorporated is scheduling.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Authorities say a Woodbury County man is charged with supplying alcohol to a teenager who later died in a head-on collision on Interstate 29 near Sioux City.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety says Robin Armfield, of Hornick, was arrested on Wednesday for a February crash that killed 17-year-old Mary Hughes, of Salix.
Authorities say she was driving south in the northbound lane of I-29 and collided with a pickup truck. Tests showed her blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit.
Armfield was taken to the Woodbury County jail on $25,000 bond. The sheriff’s office says he was released on Thursday.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
(SOUTH SIOUX CITY)–A Siouxland area is a finalist for All America City.
Dakota County, Nebraska was notified of the finalist honor. The nomination includes the county and its communities and schools along with the South Sioux City Chamber of Commerce.
The competition is through the National Civic League’s All-American City awards.
To reach this finalist phase, the county completed an application describing three community projects to address local challenges. At least one project was required to focus on the needs of young people.
The 2011 winners will be chosen from the finalists with an announcement during an event in Kansas City June 15-17th.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Two Iowa Army National Guard soldiers have been wounded in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan.
Guard spokesman Col. Greg Hapgood says 21-year-old Spc. Timothy Bagley, of Brandon, and 30-year-old Sgt. Eric Lindsey, of Eldora, were injured on Monday when their vehicle hit an IED while conducting combat operations. Both soldiers are with an Iowa Falls-based company with the 34th Infantry Division.
Hapgood says Thursday that the soldiers were evacuated to a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. He did not have details on their injuries, but says they will eventually be transferred to medical hospitals in the U.S.
WAVERLY, Iowa (AP) A Bremer County jury has convicted a man accused of killing a friend with a hatchet of first-degree murder.
The Messenger in Fort Dodge says the jury deliberated for about an hour on Thursday before returning the guilty verdict against 21-year-old Lucas Faulkner, of Eagle Grove.
Faulkner was accused of killing 19-year Devin Resh, of Webster City, while they were fishing at an old gravel pit near Eagle Grove last May.
Faulkner’s trial, which was moved to Waverly in Bremer County, began Monday. The defense rested its case Thursday morning. The jury got the case Thursday afternoon.
A sentencing date hasn’t been set. Faulkner faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
ALTOONA, Iowa (AP) A Waterloo man accused in a hit-and-run that killed a man in central Iowa faces several charges including vehicular homicide.
Da Jour Sawyers was charged Thursday in a collision that happened during the morning commute in Altoona, near Des Moines.
Police told The Des Moines Register that Sawyers was driving a stolen sport utility vehicle, ran a red light and slammed into a car. The driver of the car, Chad Wells, of Altoona, died at the scene.
Police say Sawyers ran off, but was found inside a nearby garage, where he was allegedly trying to steal a car.
Sawyers is in the Polk County jail on seven charges. Bond was set at $50,000 on the vehicular homicide charge. Jail officials did not know if he had an attorney.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gov. Terry Branstad has ordered all flags in Iowa be flown at half-staff in honor of an Iowa sheriff’s deputy killed in the line of duty in southeast Iowa.
Keokuk County Deputy Eric Stein, of What Cheer, was shot to death last Monday allegedly by a man with a history of mental illness. Jeffrey Krier was later killed by officers after a standoff at his home near Sigourney.
In the order on Thursday, Branstad says all U.S. and state flags under the control of Iowa are to be flown at half-staff from noon on Friday until 8 a.m. on Monday.
Stein’s funeral will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Sigourney High School.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Legislative Democrats have proposed a $200 million plan to ease business property taxes, focusing mostly on smaller businesses.
Under the plan, the first $30,000 of the value of a business property would be taxed at residential property rates, which are about half of commercial rates.
The measure would be phased in over four years, and would cost $50 million in the first year. Cuts in future years would depend on state tax revenues increasing enough to pay for the reduction.
Sen. Joe Bolkcom, an Iowa City Democrat, who helped draft the plan, says the typical business would see about a $600 cut in property taxes in the first year the plan is on the books.
Debate is expected in the Senate next week.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gov. Terry Branstad has signed into law a measure aimed at protecting young athletes from traumatic head injuries.
Under the measure signed Thursday, a student athletic suspected of having a concussion would be removed from competition until cleared by a medical professional.
The National Football League is taking the issue of head injuries seriously, and officials say younger athletes should be protected, too. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is pushing states nationwide to pass similar laws.
Branstad says he spoke with Goodell on Thursday, and the NFL Commissioner congratulated him on signing the measure.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A state audit has found more than $24,000 in questionable spending in the volunteer fire department in the western Iowa town of Modale.
The report released Thursday identifies questionable fuel purchases and parts for vehicles not owned by the department. It also identified spending that does not serve a public purchase, including more than $4,600 spent on alcohol and ice.
The audit looked at records between 2006 and 2010.
It found multiple checking and savings accounts kept by the department that were not monitored by the city council, and raised questions about the handling of donations.
Former department treasurer Julie Gilgen, says everything she signed off on had receipts and there were no concerns she knew of.
A listing for a former fire chief named in the report was not found.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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