Supervisors To Set Dates For Public Hearings
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Board of Supervisors will meet this morning at the Plymouth County Courthouse and they will set the dates for public hearings relating to Van’s Sanitation development agreement, and also set the date for a public hearing regarding the approval of the Local Options Sales Tax. The Supervisors will also get a construction update from County Engineer Tom Rohe.
City Council To Discuss New Dogwood Addition
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars City Council is scheduled to convene at the City Council chambers at noon today. The council will address the proposed dog park, as well as discuss the new Dogwood First Addition. The council is expected to address the Community Development Building Grant downtown revitalization award. The council is also expected to discuss the stop sign request, and they will discuss the rail maintenance plan.
Mercy Medical Center Plans To Expand
(Sioux City) — Mercy Medical Center of Sioux City has scheduled a news conference for this morning. The hospital will announce its intentions to spend $16.8 million investment in Mercy’s critical care and imaging services. The investment includes renovation of the current intensive care units and the installation of the largest MRI in the region, the 3.0 Tesla (3T)! We are actually “raising the roof” here at Mercy to allow for the installation!
Kessenich Honored For Bishop’s “Excellence In Education”
(Le Mars) — A Gehlen Catholic faculty member was honored Monday by the Sioux City Diocese.
Carol Kessenich of Le Mars was informed that she is one of four recipients of the Excellence in Education Honorees. Dan Ryan of the Sioux City Diocese explains why Kessenich was selected for the honor.
Listen to
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Kessenich was surprised by the recognition. Her family was also in attendance, and by her side when the announcement was made. Kessenich expresses her feelings about the award and gives credit to her mother.
Listen to
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Kessenich has been a teacher at Gehlen Catholic for 17 years. Prior to Gehlen, she also taught at Remsen St. Mary’s. She teaches both junior high religion and mathematics. Kessenich is the seventh Gehlen faculty member to be honored with the Excellence in Education award by the Sioux City Diocese. The last Gehlen faculty member to be given the honor was the late Steven Shea, for which the Gehlen gymnasium is being named for this year. Carol Kessenich will be again recognized during the Bishop’s Dinner scheduled for October 13th in Sioux City.
Dynamite Found At Buena Vista County Farm
(Storm Lake) — Buena Vista County authorities found some old explosives located on a farm near Newell. Deputies responded Saturday morning to 2345 590th Street and determined the items to be dynamite and other related items which were located in an outbuilding. The area was secured and the state fire marshal’s office was notified. The dynamite was disposed of by the state fire marshal. The dynamite was determined to be extremely old and had been stored on the property by previous owners. Officials warn that if suspicious explosives such as dynamite, blasting caps, or gun powder are found, do not attempt to move them as age makes the items become extremely unstable. Contact authorities and get to a safe distance.
Authorities Suspend Search For Escaped Inmate
NEW MARKET, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in southwest Iowa decided the search for an escaped inmate suspected of shooting a sheriff’s deputy had to be called off in the hours of darkness. But they said patrols in the area would be increased so that officers could respond quickly if needed.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety said the ground search for inmate Rodney Long in Taylor County was terminated Monday night.
Long escaped the minimum-security prison facility in Clarinda on Friday morning. He’s suspected of shooting deputy Dan Wyckoff, who attempted to talk with him late Sunday as he walked along a highway. Long fled in Wyckoff’s patrol car after the shooting. After joining another deputy in a chase, Wyckoff was taken to an Omaha hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
Iowa’s Unemployment Rises During July
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent in July as total employment in the state dropped for the first time this year.
Iowa Workforce Development reported Monday that unemployment was up from 4.6 percent in
June.
Despite the increase, Iowa’s rate is far less than national rate for July of 7.4 percent. Iowa’s unemployment rate also is down from 5.5 percent in July 2012. Workforce Development says Iowa’s total employment in July was 1,573,200. That’s a drop from the 1,577,200 employed in June.
Ahlers Awarded Seed Association Scholarship
(Ames) — Six $3,000 scholarships have been awarded by the Iowa Crop Improvement Association to support Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences students planning to pursue careers in seed science or the seed industry. Rebecca Ahlers of Le Mars was one of the scholarship recipients.
Ahlers is a senior majoring in Agronomy and Journalism and Mass Communications. Her passion for agriculture began young and has developed into a love of plant sciences coupled with sustainable agriculture. Ahlers has a goal of communicating agronomic information to farmers while also being an advocate for agriculture.
Crop Conditions Decline Slightly
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Another dry week has caused the condition of Iowa’s corn and soybean crops to slip backward.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says in Monday’s report that 48 percent of the corn crop is good or excellent, down 1 percentage point from the week before. Eighteen percent is poor or very poor, one point above the previous week. About a third of the crop is fair, the same as the previous week.
Soybeans retreated with 18 percent now rated poor or very poor. That’s up three percentage
points from the week before.
Corn pollination remains significantly behind normal. Statewide average precipitation was less than half an inch while normal for the week is nearly an inch.
It was the sixth week of the past seven to bring less than normal rainfall.
State Fair Attendance Passes One Million, But Lower Than Past Years
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – More than 1 million visitors attended the Iowa State Fair during its 11-day run that ended Sunday, but the number was a little smaller than last year.
The fair reported Monday that 1,047,246 people attended the event this year.
That’s nearly 50,000 less than last year’s attendance.
The fair’s top attendance day was Saturday, Aug. 17, when 112,534 made it to the sprawling fairgrounds in east Des Moines.
The fair is Iowa’s largest event and ranks among the top state fairs in attendance across the country.
