City Council Gives Final Approval For K-N-S Addition
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars City Council held a special meeting at noon on Thursday to decide the fate of the proposed K-N-S Addition which is to be located along 6th Avenue S.W. from 13th Street to 15th Street. In a 4-0 vote, with Councilwoman Delana Ihrke absent, the city council offered their approval for the new sub-division development. The council granted the investors Bruce Kellen, Mark Nuebel, and Scott Sitzmann the approval they were seeking to convert the once zoned rural land now to be considered as residential property. The property will consist of three different culdasacs.
Monona County Authorities Investigate Attempted Abduction
MAPLETON, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have been searching for a man or men who tried to abduct girls in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska.
The Monona County Sheriff’s Office says a girl was approached about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the city park in Mapleton. Sheriff Jeff Pratt said Wednesday that the girl didn’t get into the man’s dirty,
light blue pickup and was not hurt.
On Monday an 11-year-old girl was approached by a man with a similarly described truck at a beach at the Lakeland community south of Blair in Washington County, Neb. She ran home and wasn’t
harmed.
Nebraska and Iowa authorities say they’re not sure whether the incidents are connected, but they’re sharing information.
Boone Stand-off
BOONE, Iowa (AP) – Police say a central Iowa man accused of leading a nearly seven-hour standoff with officers had no weapons on him when he was arrested.
Boone Police say 33-year-old Joshua Daniels was arrested without incident early Thursday morning. He was alone in the house and there were no reported injuries.
The Des Moines Register (https://dmreg.co/146UmwM ) reports authorities attempted to communicate with Daniels for hours. He had barricaded himself and threatened to burn down the house owned by his parents. He was reported missing Tuesday from a halfway house in Ames.
Daniels was taken to the Boone County Jail. He had three warrants issued for his arrest, but it’s unclear what charges he may face in connection with the standoff.
A message left for the jail wasn’t immediately returned Thursday.
—
Facebook Posting Leads To Vandalism Arrest
DUNKERTON, Iowa (AP) – Authorities in northeast Iowa say Facebook has led to an arrest in a vandalism case.
The Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office says 18-year-old Devin Trumbley, of Dunkerton, was arrested Wednesday. He faces a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree criminal mischief.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (https://bit.ly/19338Nf ) reports police say Trumbley drove his pickup into the metal fence at Bruggeman Park on May 3.
Capt. Rick Abben says they got a break in the case when Trumbley posted photos of the damage to the gate and to his truck on Facebook.
Court records show work to replace the gate was more than $200.
—
Iowa Education Director Finalist For Colorado Superintendent Job
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Education Director Jason Glass is a finalist for a superintendent job at a Colorado school district.
The Eagle County Schools website says Glass is one of three finalists for the job. Glass started as director of Iowa’s Department of Education in late 2010. His past jobs include serving as the director of human resources for the Eagle County Schools and working for the Colorado Department of Education.
The Eagle County School District is located in the Rocky Mountains. The current superintendent is leaving to head up the Poudre school district in Fort Collins.
A spokesman for Gov. Terry Branstad says Thursday the interest in Glass is a sign that he is a top talent. Glass could not immediately be reached for comment.
Iowa State Has New Business Dean
AMES, Iowa (AP) – A top administrator at Dartmouth College will be Iowa State University’s next business school dean.
University President Steven Leath said Thursday that David Spalding’s experience in business and higher education makes him well-suited to lead its business programs “to the next level.”
Spalding is senior vice president at Dartmouth, an Ivy League school where he has worked eight years. He helps implement strategy and previously oversaw alumni relations.
Spalding earlier worked for financial companies, including Chase Manhattan and Lehman Brothers, and at a private equity firm he co-founded.
Spalding says Iowa State’s business school has a bright future, and he hopes to provide an education “that links Iowa’s strengths to global economics and cultures.” He succeeds Mike Crum, who
served as interim dean since July. Spalding will start Aug. 1.
Wet Spring Helps Reduce Severity of Drought
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A wet spring continues to soak soil across much of the Midwest, causing the prolonged drought to retreat ever so slowly westward.
Sections of central Iowa, southeast Minnesota and western parts of Wisconsin and Missouri have seen notable improvement in drought conditions. The weekly drought monitor measures conditions up to 7 a.m. Tuesday. The report is released on Thursdays by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
It shows the drought has subsided for nearly two-thirds of Iowa, most of Missouri and Arkansas.
West of those states drought remains. A smaller portion of western Nebraska is in extreme or exceptional drought and southwestern Nebraska improved slightly.
The soil moisture is good news for corn growers who are now dodging rain storms to get seed in the ground.
Trains Collide – Causes Derailment
GRAND JUNCTION, Iowa (AP) – A Union Pacific Railroad coal train has collided with another train carrying cargo containers in central Iowa derailing 20 cars and shutting down a section of the
company’s mainline track.
The collision is near Grand Junction about 60 miles northwest of Des Moines.
Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis says about seven cars on the coal train are off the track and 13 cars of the intermodal train-which carries ocean-going containers on flatbed cars – derailed.
The cause of the collision at about 6:50 a.m. Thursday is not immediately clear. Investigators are on site.
Davis says the derailment has halted traffic on main tracks between Chicago and the company’s Iowa and Nebraska destinations. If tracks cannot be cleared soon trains will be detoured around the
wreckage.
No injuries are reported.
