Supervisors To Canvass City Elections
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors are scheduled to meet today, and on
their agenda is to canvass the city elections from the Plymouth County communities. The supervisors are also expected to declare a sheriff’s vehicle as being surplus property. The county supervisors will also hear a report from Jessica Trobough on the county’s wellness program. County engineer Tom Rohe will update the supervisors on various construction projects.
Le Mars School Board Revises And Expands Tobacco Policy
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Community Board of Education revised and approved its policy regarding smoking and the use of nicotine products during last evening’s school board meeting. The local school board had already had a policy against students, faculty and staff, and visitors from smoking or using tobacco products on school property. In last evening’s meeting, the school board expanded the policy to include any nicotine products. Dr. Todd Wendt, superintendent of schools, informed the board that there has been some creative marketing directed towards younger people by disguising the tobacco product to resemble gum.
No School Today For Le Mars Community School District
(Le Mars) — Speaking about the Le Mars Community School District, there will not be any classes scheduled for today, as the Lady Bulldogs are scheduled to play in the state volleyball tournament in Cedar Rapids.
Floyd Valley Board Of Trustees To Meet Tuesday Evening
(Le Mars) — Floyd Valley Board of Trustees are scheduled to meet this evening and they will review and approve a resolution to approve issuance of bonds and borrowing money. The trustees is also expected to name depositories of Floyd Valley Hospital, and appoint a signator for the financial institutions.
Iowa State Association Of Counties Scheduled To Meet In Des Moines
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – More than 800 county officials from Iowa are gathering in Des Moines for an educational conference.
The Iowa State Association of Counties, a private nonprofit corporation made up of county officials, will meet Wednesday to begin discussing legislative priorities they want to lobby in the future.
The group’s board of directors has recommended issues like road funding, mental health and disability services and user fees. The legislative priorities are debated and approved at the conference.
The group will meet at the Veterans Memorial Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center through Friday. Plymouth County Attorney Darrin Raymond serves as the president of the ISAC organization.
Sioux County Prosecutor Defends Position On Waiting For Autopsy Before Filing Charges
(Orange City) – A prosecutor is defending his decision to wait for additional testing before deciding whether to bring murder charges against a northwest Iowa daycare provider who allegedly admitted to causing injuries that killed a 3-year-old girl.
Sioux County Attorney Coleman McAllister said Monday he wants the state medical examiner to rule on Autumn Elgersma’s cause of death before deciding whether to charge Rochelle Sapp.
The medical examiner has requested additional testing by University of Iowa pathologists, which could take two weeks or longer.
Investigators say Sapp admitted to throwing Autumn to the floor while watching her in Orange City on Oct. 29. The girl was hospitalized with severe head trauma, and died days later.
Charges of willful injury and child endangerment were dismissed last week against Sapp,
whose phone rang unanswered.
Christie Vilsack Returns To Iowa
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – Former First Lady Christie Vilsack is returning to Iowa as part of her new federal job promoting international education.
After failing in her bid to unseat Iowa Congressman Steve King last year, Vilsack has worked since March as a senior adviser at the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington.
Kirkwood Community College says Vilsack will visit its main campus in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday to meet with students from Central America who are studying agricultural business under a USAID scholarship program. Kirkwood says the 37 students are part way through a two-year program, and Vilsack wants to see the progress and connections they have made.
A former teacher, Vilsack is the wife of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who served as Iowa governor from 1999 to 2007.
Iowa Farm Bureau Offers Grants For Teachers
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa Farm Bureau program designed to teach children about agriculture is opening the process for teachers to apply for grant money.
The Teacher Supplement Grant program was established in 2003 and this year will award $200 to teachers in language arts and science who develop classroom programs that help students learn about agriculture.
Farm Bureau has awarded nearly $100,000 to teachers in the last three years of the grant program.
The organization says with one of six Iowa jobs related, indirectly or directly, to agriculture, there’s a great need to bring creative agriculture education to Iowa’s elementary students to help them understand how farming is part of their everyday lives.
Teachers are encouraged to incorporate lessons of food safety, seed genetics, and environmental practices in their current curriculum.
