Historic House Tour Scheduled For Saturday
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Historical Commission will hold its annual “Tour of Homes” on Saturday, May 9th. Linda Mayrose serves as the chair for the committee. She says this year’s tour will include four homes near the Foster Park area.
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Mayrose explains the third home on the tour.
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This year the Historical Homes Tour will feature a ranch-style home, and Mayrose says the house is over 50 years old, allowing for it to qualify for the tour.
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Mayrose says the city’s historical commission has offered the home tour for more than 15 years, and she explains how it got started.
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The Historic Preservationist says people will enjoy seeing the architecture and other unique features of each home.
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Mayrose says often times it is the intricate details that make the home interesting.
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Tickets for the historical house tour are $10 and Mayrose the historical commission donates the money to either the Le Mars Arts Center, or in this year’s case the money will be donated to the Plymouth County Historical Museum. She says more than 60 volunteers help with the historic house tour. Mayrose says people can start this year’s tour at the museum, and the entire tour is within easy walking distance.
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People interested in showing their home for future tours should contact Linda Mayrose.
Sioux City Man Sentenced To Ten Years For Sexual Abuse Of A Teen
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City man accused of having sex multiple times
with a teenage girl has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. 32-year-old Joshua Case was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty last month to four counts of third-degree sexual abuse and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Case’s sentence also requires him to register as a sexual offender.
Court documents say a teenage girl reported having sex with Case about 20 times over a nine-month period. Case was also accused of having photos of sexual acts with the girl, who was 14 or 15 years old. Authorities say they knew each other through their involvement in community theatrical productions in Sioux City.
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Denison Man Found Guilty For Shooting And Burning Victims
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A jury has found a 20-year-old Denison man guilty of killing two elderly people and trying to burn their bodies.
Jurors delivered the guilty verdict Tuesday to Jayden Chapman, convicting him of two counts of first-degree murder and reckless use of fire in the deaths of 80-year-old Marvin Huesling and 81-year-old Alice Huisenga.
Chapman testified Monday in his own defense, saying he shot Huisenga because another man,
27-year-old Michael Schenk, gave him the gun. Chapman said Schenk threatened to
kill him if he didn’t shoot.
Authorities say Schenk and Chapman shot the pair in March 2014 at a trailer home in Deloit and then set it on fire. Schenk was sentenced in March to two life terms for his role in the slayings.
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Bird Flu Found In Three More Iowa Facilities
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa agriculture officials say three additional Iowa poultry farms show signs of the presence of bird flu including two more turkey farms in Buena Vista County, raising the number in the county to 10.
A Sioux County egg-laying operation with 60,000 chickens also appears to have the virus. Testing is underway to confirm the disease. The farms experienced an unusual number of bird deaths, prompting an initial test which indicated presence of the H5N2 virus.
The new cases raise Iowa’s total number to 28 cases in 11 counties.
More than 20 million of Iowa’s chickens will be affected if the latest cases are confirmed. The number of turkeys to be lost is approaching 500,000.
Judicial And Natural Resources Budgets Now Approved
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa House has passed budget bills that would fund several services including the state’s judicial branch and natural resources department.
The Republican-controlled House voted Tuesday for the bills, which would pay for various state departments in the fiscal year that begins in July.
The chamber voted 56-43 to allocate more than $174 million to the state’s judicial branch. That would keep funding at the same level as last year. Lawmakers voted 57-42 for a bill in support of $42 million for agencies like the state Department of Natural Resources and the state Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. That’s slightly less than last year’s level.
The Democratic-led Senate has proposed allocating slightly more money than the House. Lawmakers are expected to reach a consensus in special meetings.
Branstad Wants To Change Abortion Policy
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Gov. Terry Branstad wants to end to a perplexing abortion restriction adopted in Iowa two years ago.
The Republican governor’s proposed Health and Human Services budget doesn’t renew a requirement that he sign off on any payments for publicly funded abortions. Lawmakers adopted that policy, which effectively halted state reimbursements for abortion under Medicaid because providers stopped submitting the claims.
Branstad spokesman Jimmy Centers says Tuesday the governor sought the change because Branstad hasn’t been asked to approve reimbursement.
Republican Rep. Matt Windschitl says anti-abortion conservatives still want to ensure public funds don’t go to abortions.
Iowa’s Medicaid program previously paid for a small number of abortions. Federal guidelines require payment in cases of rape, incest and to save the mother’s life. Iowa’s program also covered some fetal deformity cases.
Eminent Domain Legislation Advances In Senate
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Legislation that would make it harder for two energy projects to win eminent domain rights has passed another legislative hurdle in the Iowa Senate.
The Senate Government Oversight Committee approved the bill Tuesday. Under the proposal, a project seeking eminent domain to build through private properties could get permission only after negotiating voluntary deals for at least 75 percent of the affected land.
The proposed change could impact two current proposals, both before the Iowa Utilities Board. One is to build an oil pipeline that would ship 450,000 barrels daily from production sites in North Dakota to an oil hub in Illinois. The other proposal is to build an electrical line across 16 Iowa counties that would transmit wind-generated energy from Iowa to customers in the Midwest and East Coast.
Senate Panel Wishes To Change Broadband Internet Bill
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa lawmaker says a Senate panel will make changes to Gov. Terry Branstad’s broadband expansion bill to ensure it clearly focuses on the state’s most underserved areas.
Sen. Janet Petersen, a Des Moines Democrat, chaired a Senate Ways and Means subcommittee meeting Tuesday. The panel took no action on the bill.
Petersen says the three-member subcommittee will meet again before deciding whether to advance the bill to a full committee. She says she wants to review the bill’s grant program aimed at helping service providers. She also wants to review the legislation’s property tax relief program to make sure it focuses on areas of the state with no high-speed Internet.
A spokesman for Branstad’s office recommended during the meeting that the bill advance without changes.
