School Students Help With Tornado Clean Up
(Kingsley) — Students from several area schools traded their pencils and notepads for a set
of work gloves as they spent Thursday assisting with the clean up from last Friday’s
tornadoes that hit northwest Iowa. Remsen-Union, Lawton-Bronson, Woodbury Central, Hinton,
River Valley, and Kingsley-Pierson have all suspended classes for a day or two in order for
students to help clean up debris. Scott Bailey is the superintendent and principal for the
Kingsley-Pierson school district. He says more than 135 K-P Middle School students
participated in the clean up process on Wednesday, and on Thursday, 140 High School students
helped. Bailey says it’s good the students give back to the community.
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Bailey says the clean up efforts focused on the Pierson area. He says Remsen-Union and
Kingsley-Pierson students worked side-by-side on the clean up efforts. He says students
were a bit mystified by the destruction exhibited by the recent tornadoes.
Listen to
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The Kingsley-Pierson school official says faculty members also left the classroom to lend a
hand at picking up the debris. He says the teachers were asking the question “What can we
do?” Many of the teachers were assisting with coordinating the students clean up detail.
Bailey says the Kingsley-Pierson community has suffered several tragedies during the past
decade, but he believes all of the tragedies have helped the students build upon their
leadership and character.
Listen to
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Bailey says those farms that suffered the most extensive damage in the Pierson area no
longer have students attending school.
Dean’s Foods Present $5000 To Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department
(Le Mars) — Dean’s Foods made a contribution to the Le Mars Fire Department on Thursday.
The local milk processor presented the Le Mars Fire Department with a check amounting to
$5,000. Dean Foods representatives Jarrod Otta, Darrell Kleihauer, and Pat Henrich
presented the money gift to Fire Chief David Schipper, and Asst. Fire Chief Mike Wise. The
money will be used for haz-mat equipment such as hands free lights, identifying personnel
marking devices, and detection equipment. Le Mars Fire-Rescue and Dean Foods train
together to handle emergencies in the Dean Foods Plant to keep workers, firefighters and the
community of Le Mars safe.
Bomgaars Plans To Expand Warehouse
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City-based retailer is planning an estimated $17 million
expansion of a warehouse that will create at least 15 new jobs.
Bomgaars Supply plans to begin construction next spring of a 150,000-square-foot addition
to its existing warehouse in Sioux City.
Sioux City and the state have pledged more than $3.5 million in tax incentives.
The additional space will let the retailer keep up with demand for the merchandise it sells at 66 stores in six states, including Le Mars.
Bomgaars considered sites in Nebraska and South Dakota before deciding to stay in Sioux
City, where the business began in 1944.
The Sioux City Council is expected to seek the incentives from the Iowa Economic Development Authority, which will consider the matter Oct. 18.
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Sioux City Schools Can’t Use Federal Funding For Reading Teachers
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – The U.S. Department of Education won’t let Sioux City schools use
$500,000 in transportation and tutoring money to hire reading teachers.
The district filed a waiver request in May after learning it might have to cut 10 reading teacher positions.
District Superintendent Paul Gausman says the district was not asking for more money.
Rather, he says, “we were asking to waive the way we spend the money.”
The earmarked funds are for students from poor families attending schools struggling to
meet federal requirements.
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Schaller Woman Dies From Skid Loader Accident
SCHALLER, Iowa (AP) – The Sac County Sheriff’s Office says a Schaller woman has died in a
skid loader accident at her home.
The sheriff’s office says in a news release Thursday that a friend found 53-year-old Karen Jeanne Terry on Wednesday. She was pinned beneath a skid loader and a boom arm.
Friends had become concerned after being unable to reach Terry on Wednesday, prompting someone to visit her home.
The friend called 911. Terry was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Sac County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.
Government Shutdown Hurting National Guard, Again
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa National Guard has laid off 100 state employees and canceled more training due to the ongoing partial government shutdown.
The state Department of Public Defense employees received notice Thursday afternoon that they would be temporarily laid off for up to 60 days beginning Friday. Officials say
this immediate action is in lieu of a 30-day temporary layoff that was scheduled to begin on
Oct. 18.
An additional 16 state employees continue a 20-day temporary layoff, and five federal technicians remain furloughed.
About 2,100 full-time Iowa National Guard employees remain on duty. Many were furloughed then called back to work due to the Pay Our Military Act.
The Iowa National Guard continues to fund “excepted” activities like deployments.
Judge Rose To Stand Trial For Retaliation
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A judge is ordering a trial to determine whether U.S. District Judge Stephanie Rose and an aide retaliated against a subordinate when Rose was the top federal prosecutor in Cedar Rapids.
U.S. Senior Judge Richard Kopf rejected the Department of Justice’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by former assistant U.S. Attorney Martha Fagg.
Thursday’s ruling is a setback for Rose, who became the nation’s youngest federal judge at 40 last year.
Rose became the U.S. Attorney for Iowa’s Northern District in 2009. Soon, she hired
35-year-old Teresa Baumann as a top aide and removed the office’s 60-year-old civil chief.
Fagg says she raised concerns about age discrimination, and faced months of retaliation that ultimately resulted in her termination.
The government argues Fagg’s termination was justified for behavioral problems.
Russian Professors Learn From U of I
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Administrators from a top Russian university have been visiting the
University of Iowa this week to learn about best practices at an American major research
university.
The delegation from the National University of Science and Technology in Moscow arrived
in Iowa on Sunday and will leave Saturday.
In a news release Thursday, a Russian official says the group wants to learn about
everything from university budgeting practices to student housing. The group has visited the
National Advanced Driving Simulator, attended a panel discussion on STEM education with Lt.
Gov. Kim Reynolds, and visited experts in numerous different campus departments.
The university has been charged by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science to
become a top-100 international research university by 2020. Its employees have visited
several American universities since 2011.
U of I Students Study And Help Washington, Iowa
WASHINGTON, Iowa (AP) – A University of Iowa program that teams students with community
leaders to improve the social, environmental, and economic conditions in small cities is working with Washington in southeast Iowa.
The Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities was launched in 2009 by the University of Iowa’s School of Urban and Regional Planning to help small cities with improvement projects.
In Washington students in art, business, engineering, and library science are working
under the direction of university faculty, the Washington Public Library, the Washington
Chamber of Commerce, and the city.
Projects include developing a branding campaign for the Washington Chamber of Commerce,
improving the city library’s search capabilities, completing a mural painting on the back of
the library building, a concert series, and a new park on the north side of the city.
Upper Iowa University Has New President
FAYETTE, Iowa (AP) – A private university in northeast Iowa is inaugurating its new president.
Upper Iowa University in Fayette will hold a ceremony Friday morning for William Duffy
at the Harms-Eischeid Stadium on campus.
Duffy, a retired Army colonel, was named the university’s 21st president in April. He replaced Alan Walker, who resigned in January ahead of the end of a sabbatical.
Duffy was previously the school’s senior vice president for academic extension. He also spent more than a decade as executive director of the University of Tennessee at Martin.
The inauguration ceremony is open to the public.
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