Road Construction And Bridge Repair Projects Scheduled
(Le Mars) — Several county roads are scheduled to be closed beginning today in order for construction crews to make repairs on bridges and county roads. Plymouth County engineer Tom Rohe says Fawn Avenue from Highway 3 to 180th Street will be closed from today through July 19th due to a bridge replacement project. Meanwhile, 160th Street from Highway 60 to Mahogany Avenue will close today and will remain closed until October. Work crews are replacing a bridge project.
Listen to
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Other road closures include County Road C-38 from K-42 to Key Ave, and County road K-42 from Main Street in Merrill to County Road C-38.
Listen to
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The roads leading into Merrill are scheduled to have new paving.
Legislative Session Goes Into Overtime
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Boxes were stacked in the corner of the Iowa Senate chambers on Thursday, but lawmakers are nowhere near ready to pack up.
Still, the legislative session will look different starting Monday. May 3 was the last day for much of the temporary staff and the student pages who work in the Legislature, as well as the final
day of expense payments for lawmakers.
Most of the 150 legislators will report to work early next week. But if negotiations drag out then numbers will likely dwindle to a smaller group of party leaders and those working on negotiating
committees.
The Republicans who control the House and Democrats who rule the Senate are still trying to find resolution on major issues like education funding, property tax reductions and low-income health care.
Veterans Home Hearing Scheduled
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A state Senate panel will hold a hearing to review the quality of care at the Iowa Veterans Home.
The Monday meeting comes after more than 40 former staffers signed a letter that was printed in The Des Moines Register complaining about the current leadership at the home.
A news release from Senate Democrats says David Worley, the commandant of the Veterans Home, will testify at the hearing.
The home in Marshalltown is Iowa’s largest nursing home and among the biggest in the nation for veterans and their spouses. The home is made up of two separate facilities. One provides nursing
care for about 500 residents. The other is a residential care facility where 100 more people live mostly independently.
50 Sex Offenders Hold Gun Permits
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – More than 50 Iowa sex offenders have permits to carry guns in public thanks to a two-year-old law that makes it harder for sheriffs to deny permits.
Law enforcement officials and some state lawmakers are worried about armed sex offenders.
Washington County Sheriff Jerry Dunbar says he worries about sex offenders having guns because many of them use intimidation to get what they want and a gun could help that.
Most of the sex offenders who have obtained gun permits in Iowa were convicted of misdemeanors like lascivious conduct with a minor.
Ronald Hahn Jr. says he doesn’t pose a threat to public safety and he uses guns for hunting. He has been a registered sex offender since 2005 for an indecent exposure conviction.
Cedar Rapids Haz Mat Team Contain Acid Leak
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – Hazardous-materials crew members and firefighters have contained a leak of hydrochloric acid from a tanker trailer at Cedar Rapids plant.
Officials had blocked access to the Cargill plant after a truck driver noticed the corrosive, dangerous acid was leaking from a nickel-size hole in the tanker on Sunday morning.
Workers used an air bag to stop the leak and then transferred the acid into another tanker.
No injuries have been reported.
Iowa City Beating
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa City woman has reported being beaten and choked while holding her 4-month-old baby.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen says (https://icp-c.com/10636TO ) the woman told officers early Sunday morning that her attacker was the man she lived with, the father of her child.
Police say 21-year-old Jose Luis Avalos-Covarrubias was arrested and was charged with domestic assault by impeding air/blood and with child endangerment with no injury.
The woman reported that Avalos-Covarrubias choked her until she was unconscious and struck her several times while she was holding their baby.
Online records say Avalos-Covarrubias remained in Johnson County Jail on Monday. Online court records don’t list the name of his attorney.
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