Le Mars Chamber Holiday Dollars Are Sold Out
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Chamber of Commerce is reporting that all Chamber Holiday dollars have been sold. Each of the three catergories are now gone. The Chamber sold a total of $240,000 to local residents, offering as much as a 15 percent discount.
POET Ethanol Officer Says Ethanol Production Needs To Expand
(Kansas City) — With U-S farmers expected to harvest a record 14 billion bushel corn crop, and prices have been cut in half of what they were a year ago, an ethanol industry official believes the answer to reducing the corn surplus and increasing corn demand is to expand the ethanol market. Jeff Broin serves as C-E-O to Poet, the nation’s leading ethanol producer based in Sioux Falls.
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Broin says farmers need to understand there is a battle for marketshare in the fuels industry between agriculture and the petroleum industry.
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Broin says the Environmental Protection Agency has stalled with its decision regarding the Renewable Fuels Standard, and that too, has led to a decline in ethanol production.
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The ethanol official was asked what Washington can do to help pump up the ethanol demand, especially since E-15 has already been approved.
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This past summer Poet started its cellulosic bio-mass ethanol production at Emmetsburg, entitled “Project Liberty”, and Broin believes every corn grain ethanol processing facility should be equipped to handle bio-mass material.
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Healthcare Sign Up Begins Saturday
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The sign up period to get benefits under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul kicks off Saturday.
The second enrollment period to get benefits starts Nov. 15 and runs through Feb. 15. A poorly functioning website and public confusion caused problems during the first enrollment period, but officials are hopeful things will run more smoothly this time.
Just over 29,000 people signed up for health insurance in Iowa using the federal insurance marketplace during the first enrollment period.
The health care law was designed to reduce the number of people without health insurance, both through an expansion of Medicaid and with new health care marketplaces where people can shop for private coverage and apply for government aid to pay premiums.
Iowa State University Professor Says He Will Appeal Judge’s Decision
AMES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa State University math professor says he’ll appeal a judge’s recommendation that he be fired for poor performance.
Moulay Tidriri says he’ll submit the appeal to ISU President Steven Leath soon. Legal briefs filed in September detail his claims that the university’s disciplinary case against him has been malicious and unwarranted.
Administrative Law Judge Carol Greta ruled Oct. 27 that Tidriri should be fired, saying his teaching, research and service were unacceptable from 2008 to 2013. The decision was to become final in 20 days without an appeal.
Tidriri argues that another professor initiated the disciplinary case while Tidriri was suing him – a conflict of interest. He alleges the university relied on a falsified review committee report and ignored evidence that Tidriri was a good teacher and researcher.
Elderly Couple Killed In Auto Accident
BANCROFT, Iowa (AP) – An 88-year-old man and his 84-year-old wife have been killed in collisions with two semitrailers at an intersection in northern Iowa’s Kossuth County.
The Iowa State Patrol says the accident occurred around 4 p.m. Thursday on the southern edge of Bancroft.
The patrol says a minivan driven by Edward Foertsch, of Algona, was headed south on a county road when it failed to stop at an intersection. The minivan soon was struck by an eastbound truck driven by 42-year-old Brooke Strom, of Wells, Minnesota. The impact spun the minivan into the path of a truck driven by 60-year-old Terry Alt, of Algona.
Foertsch and his wife, Agnes Foertsch, were pronounced dead at the scene. The patrol says the truckers were unhurt.
The accident is being investigated.
