Sioux City Council To Decide Whether To Proceed With Winter Recreational Park
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A committee will make a recommendation to Sioux City leaders this week to contract for design work on a proposed winter recreational park.
An engineer estimates that it would cost $18 million to build the facility. Amenities could include sledding, tubing, skiing and a lodge.
Local philanthropist Ruth Cone endowed $200,000 to the city to go toward the project. Cone died in 1981, and the funds were held for 25 years before they were released in 2006.
Cone’s gift is now worth more than $2 million. The city has an additional $800,000 set aside for the project.
The city council will be asked Monday to approve a resolution accepting the recommendation for Cone Park.
Branstad Asking Iowa National Guard To Review Its Security Policy
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Gov. Terry Branstad is asking the Iowa National Guard to review security at its facilities in Iowa, in the wake of last week’s shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Branstad on Monday asked Iowa National Guard Maj. Gen Timothy Orr to assess the protection for those working at the Guard’s military facilities and recruitment sites.
The Republican governor also plans to ask the federal government to review the protections at all military facilities. He’ll make that request during a meeting this week in Washington for a group of governors who advise federal officials on security matters.
Last Thursday, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire at a military recruiting office and a Navy-Marine operations center in Chattanooga, killing four Marines. A sailor wounded in the attack died Saturday.
Lottery Official Found Guilty Of Fraud
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A former lottery security official has been found guilty of fraud for rigging a Hot Lotto game so he could win a $14 million jackpot.
An Iowa jury on Monday convicted 52-year-old Eddie Tipton, of Norwalk. He faces up to five years in prison on each of the two counts when sentenced in September. Tipton’s lawyer says he’ll appeal.
Tipton denied being involved, saying he wasn’t even in Iowa on Dec. 23, 2010, when someone bought the winning ticket at a Des Moines area convenience store. His attorney says store surveillance video was too fuzzy to identify the buyer.
Prosecutors argued Tipton had access to the room housing the computer that picked Hot Lotto numbers and lied about being out of state.
Tipton was never awarded the money.
Plane Crashes In Eastern Iowa
OXFORD, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say two people were treated at a hospital after the plane they were in crashed as it tried to take off from a private airport in eastern Iowa.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office says the accident occurred around 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Green Castle Airport near Oxford. The office says the single-engine plane overturned when it ran off the runway. The pilot and another person were able to get out of the wreckage and were taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said Monday that he didn’t have any information about the two people or about what caused the accident.
Vilsack Not Ready To Declare Bird Flu Is Over
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says he’s not ready to declare the Midwest bird flu outbreak over.
While no new cases of the H5N2 virus have been detected over for over a month, Vilsack told The Associated Press on Monday that the threat hasn’t passed.
Vilsack said poultry producers have caught a break thanks to the summer weather because warmer temperatures tend to kill the virus.
But he also said his agency is aware of the need to be prepared in case the disease reappears this fall. He noted that USDA officials and poultry industry groups plan to meet in Iowa next week to discuss those plans.
Bird flu has cost Midwest poultry producers about 48 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens in in Iowa and turkeys in Minnesota.
Two-Cylinder Club Has Final Show
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – This year was the last for a convention that brought together John Deere fans and restoration experts from around the country to Iowa.
The 25th and final Two-Cylinder Expo was held Saturday at the National Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo.
Organizer Jack Cherry says that expo honors, such as for excellent restoration of a machine, will still continue. He launched the Two-Cylinder Club in 1985, and it now has more than 13,000 antique John Deere tractor fans.
Cherry tells the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that he’ll miss seeing people who refurbish vintage equipment converge at the Cattle Congress grounds to show their work.
