(Le Mars) — A new face can be seen at Floyd Valley Hospital. Hospital administrator Mike
Donlin has announced that Emily Garcia has accepted the position of Patient Relations
Manager. This position is responsible for working with patients in areas of concern,
safety, risk management and corporate compliance. Garcia has a variety of professional
experience including most recently serving as Quality Support Manager at the Siouxland Community
Health Center in Sioux City.
Akron Scarecrow Festival Today
(Akron) — For twelve years, the folks at Akron have held a fall festival celebrating the
scarecrow. Co-president Angie Price says this year’s event, scheduled for today (Saturday) will
provide great family fun, and is expected to feature at least 60 scarecrows.
Listen to
{audio} images/stories/mp3/September 2012/Price1.mp3{/audio}
Price says on occassion, contestants submit scarecrows that follow a theme.
Listen to
{audio} images/stories/mp3/September 2012/Price2.mp3{/audio}
Besides the scarecrows on display, the Akron park will have several vendors consisting of
crafts, food, and games. Price says the proceeds that are raised from the Scarecrow
festival go back into the Akron community.
Listen to
{audio} images/stories/mp3/September 2012/Price3.mp3{/audio}
The Scarecrow Festival is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. and continue until 4:00 p.m.
Afterwards, the Akron Fire Department will host their steak fry at the fire house beginning
at 5:00 p.m.
Hudreds Expected to Attend Octobers Health Fair
(Le Mars) — Floyd Valley Hospital has announced the date for the next “Well Aware” Health
Fair. It is scheduled for Wednesday, October 10 from 2:00 p.m. -6:30 p.m. and it will be
held on the upper level of the Le Mars Convention Center. Kari Daale, Education Assistant
and Health and Wellness Coordinator for Floyd Valley Hospital says there will be over 50
exhibitors at this year’s health fair.
Listen to
{audio} images/stories/mp3/September 2012/Daale1.mp3{/audio}
Daale says the local health fair is a good time to get your annual flu shot.
Listen to
{audio} images/stories/mp3/September 2012/Daale2.mp3{/audio}
The Floyd Valley official says this will be the tenth year for the “Well Aware Health Fair”.
She says in the past up to 800 people have attended the health fair. Weather permitting, the Mercy
Air Care helicopter is scheduled to make an appearance. The Well Aware Health Fair is sponsored by
Floyd Valley Hospital and Wells Blue Bunny.
Elk for Dinner Tonight, Anyone?
(Hinton) — The Plymouth County Conservation Board will be holding its annual elk auction on
today (Saturday). Molly Wilmes, the Community Outreach Coordinator, says this year’s auction will
involve not one, but three elk.
Listen to
{audio} images/stories/mp3/September 2012/Wilmes1.mp3{/audio}
Wilmes says the elk is usually sold for meat, but because of the older bull elk with the
larger antlers, she anticipates many bidders will want the elk to mount on a wall.
Listen to
{audio} images/stories/mp3/September 2012/Wilmes2.mp3{/audio}
Wilmes says the annual elk auction attracts people from Plymouth and Woodbury counties, but
she believes there will also be bidders from other states. That elk auction will begin at
1:00 p.m. at the Hillview Recreation Park just west of Hinton.
Judge blocks Iowa plan challenging voters
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A district court judge says Iowa
Secretary of State Matt Schultz cannot move forward with new rules
that would challenge voters appearing on databases as noncitizens.
Judge Mary Pat Gunderson issued a ruling Friday blocking Schultz
from implementing voting rules he established without holding a
public hearing.
Schultz created the new rules in July, using an administrative
emergency rulemaking process. He says he needed to act quickly
before the November election because noncitizens might be
registered to vote.
Biden plans stops next week in Ottumwa, Grinnell
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The campaign for President Barack Obama
has released more details about Vice President Joe Biden’s trip to
Iowa next week, noting he will hold events in Ottumwa and Grinnell.
Biden will arrive in Iowa on Monday and hold an event at the
Port of Burlington.
On Tuesday, he will speak at The Bridge View Center in Ottumwa,
then later in the day will speak at Grinnell College.
The events are free and open to the public, but tickets are
required.
Biden’s stops continue a string of visits to Iowa by the
president and vice president, as well as Republican nominee Mitt
Romney and his running mate Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan.
Iowa is one of about six battleground states that likely will
decide the winner of the presidential election.
Feds mull appeal of CEO’s release in fraud case
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Prosecutors continue to consider whether
to appeal a judge’s order that would free disgraced Iowa
businessman Russ Wasendorf Sr. from jail before sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan disclosed in a filing
Friday that prosecutors ordered a transcript of Wasendorf’s
detention hearing on an expedited basis as they consider appealing
U.S. Magistrate Jon Scoles’ order.
Scoles ruled that the founder of Peregrine Financial Group in
Cedar Falls can leave the Linn County jail after he pleads guilty
Monday to mail fraud, embezzling customer funds and lying to
regulators.
Scoles says Wasendorf will be confined to his pastor’s Marion
home under GPS monitoring. Joining him will be Nancy Paladino, who
Wasendorf secretly married days before the fraud was uncovered.
Freedom would be short-lived for Wasendorf, who’s facing a
lengthy prison term.
ISU president looks to make higher ed affordable
AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State University President Steven Leath
has set a goal of raising $150 million in private gifts for student
financial aid during the next five years.
Leath announced the fundraising goal Friday during a ceremony in
which he was installed as Iowa State’s 15th president. He’s been
working at Iowa State since January.
In his address, Leath called for universities to do more to help
students pay for their education, noting this was a key to making a
higher education accessible. Leath says “being accessible means
being affordable.”
Leath also proposed a plan addressing student debt issues that
includes limiting university cost increases and providing better
financial counseling to students.
Iowa inmate serving life for murder dies in prison
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A man sentenced to life in prison for
first-degree murder in Black Hawk County 35 years ago has died at
the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison.
The corrections department says 59-year-old James Henderson was
found dead in his cell Friday morning. Officials say it appears he
died of natural causes. There was no sign of foul play. An autopsy
is pending.
Henderson began serving his sentence in January 1977.
Iowa mom pleads guilty to child neglect
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A Des Moines woman has pleaded guilty to
three child neglect charges as her husband awaits trial on charges
that he sexually abused three of their nine children.
The Des Moines Register reports the woman pleaded guilty on
Thursday. She faces up to 30 years in prison when she’s sentenced
on October 25th in Polk County District Court.
Her husband is to stand trial in January on nine counts of
first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of child endangerment.
The investigation began last fall with a runaway case. The
parents were arrested in April.
The Associated Press is not using the couple’s names to protect
the privacy of the children.
Mammoth skeletons found in Iowa are of 2 species
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Researchers say the two mammoth skeletons
discovered in southern Iowa are different species of extinct beasts
that once roamed North America.
A University of Iowa-led research team announced Friday that
skull fragments and teeth found last month at the site in Oskaloosa
are those of a woolly mammoth. The team had already identified a
four-foot femur found in April as belonging to a Columbian mammoth.
Sarah Horgen of the university’s natural history museum says
that finding two species in one spot is a first in Iowa and raises
many questions, such as whether they lived together and were
present at the same time.
Researchers say Columbian mammoths were larger than woolly
mammoths and had long spiraled tusks. Both died out when the Ice
Age ended about 11,000 years ago.
