School Board To Hear End Of Year Reports, And To Decide 3-Year Contract For Superintendent Webner
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Community Board of Education is scheduled to meet this evening. The agenda includes whether to grant school superintendent Dr. Steven Webner a three-year contract. The school board will hear an end-of- the year report from members of the Teacher Leadership and Compensation
Committee. Curriculum Director Rachel Leavitt will present a report to the school board on progress made on the district student achievement goals.
High School principal, Dr. Mark Iverson, will present his 2017-2018 end of the year report. The board of education will decide the milk and bread contracts for the upcoming year. The school board will consider adding cyber liability, data compromise, and identify recovery coverage to the school district’s property and casualty insurance policy. The board of education will finalize the process of identifying legislative priorities for the 2018
legislative session as requested by the Iowa Association of School Boards.
Land Of Lakes Choirboys To Perform Tonight In Le Mars
(Le Mars) — The sounds of a boys choir will be heard this evening coming from the All Saints Parish – St. Joseph Church, as the Land of Lakes Choirboys will perform beginning at 7:00 p.m.
The Land of Lakes Choirboys of Minnesota Concert Choir, is under the direction of Gehlen Catholic 1993 Alum, Aaron Carpenter. The boys choir will present a concert of sacred & secular music. The concert will be hosted by All Saints Parish & is open to the public. A free-will offering will be taken to offset a portion of the travel expenses for the ensemble, as the
Land Of Lakes Choirboys is a non-profit organization. Land of Lakes Choir touring this area are boys ages 10 to 15.
photo contributed.
Solar Utility Vehicle To Appear In Le Mars
(Le Mars) — The world’s first solar utility vehicle, built by Iowa State University engineering students will be on display in Le Mars during Ice Cream Days. Named “Penumbra”, this solar-assisted electric vehicle has been made to change the paradigm of transportation. During the month of June, members from PrISUm (the Iowa State University student organization that
manufactured the car) are traveling to various counties in the state of Iowa to showcase the vehicle. The solar utility vehicle will be on display on Wednesday, June 13th at the Tri-State Drive In Cruisers located at Bob’s Drive Inn.
Museum To Feature Supreme Court Father-Son Exhibit
(Le Mars) — Two attorneys who were the only father-son team ever to serve in the Iowa Supreme Court are the subject for a traveling exhibit to be on display at the Plymouth County Historical Museum in Le Mars.
The display, featuring Justice Bruce M. Snell Jr. and his father, Justice Bruce M. Snell Sr., officially will open on the first day of the Le Mars “Ice Cream Days” on Wednesday, June 13, and will continue through June 29. The exhibit is located in the main hallway on the first floor of the Museum.
The Museum will host a reception for Justice Bruce M. Snell Jr. from 1 to 2 p.m., Tuesday, June 19. The public is welcome; a special invitation is being extended to Plymouth County attorneys.
Bruce M. Snell Sr. served on Iowa’s highest court from 1960 to 1970, and his son served from 1987 to 2001. Bruce M. Snell Jr. also was on the original Iowa Court of Appeals, to which he was appointed in 1976.
Wind Turbine Manufacturer Fined By OSHA
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa maker of wind turbine blades has been fined nearly $155,000 for multiple workplace safety violations.
The Des Moines Register reports that Iowa’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration levied the fines against TPI Composites for violations at its Newton plant. The violations included fire hazards, airborne contaminants, faulty record keeping, fall hazards and a lack of employee training.
The citations support complaints from dozens of former workers who say TPI didn’t properly protect them from dangerous chemicals that caused them severe skin injuries. Those complaints were first reported by the Des Moines Register. Some workers say they were fired after reporting the
injuries.
The company said Friday it was evaluating OSHA’s findings and that safety is a core value of the company.
Six former employees are suing the company.
—
Many Iowa Communities To Ban Fireworks
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Many cities in Iowa have implemented new restrictions on fireworks a year after the state allowed legal sales for the first time since 1938.
Des Moines and Cedar Rapids both banned the use of fireworks after last year’s season. So have other large cities including Davenport, Waterloo, Iowa City, Ames, Dubuque and West Des Moines.
Some cities, like Council Bluffs, have decided it’s not worth the
effort to enforce bans. Mayor Matt Walsh says it’s “almost impossible” to regulate them on the Fourth of July.
The state fire marshal’s office expects between 700 and 800 retail locations this year, up from 664 last year. The Department of Revenue expects more than $24 million in sales this fiscal year.
Temporary firework stands can begin sales Wednesday. The season runs through July 8.
Officials To Decide Whether To Extradite Escaped Prisoner From 37 Years Ago
PHOENIX (AP) – Iowa officials are trying to decide whether to extradite or release an Arizona man arrested in March after escaping from prison 37 years ago.
Iowa Corrections Department spokesman Cord Overton says Charles Cagley’s case is “rather unusual” and that officials are trying to determine what’s most appropriate under state law.
Cagley’s wife, Virginia, says a private investigator they hired in
2005 told them that Iowa’s escape warrant had been dropped, a claim echoed by an Iowa warden in a letter to the Veterans Administration in 2006.
Overton says Charles Cagley was arrested in March under a new warrant issued after a review indicated the escape case was still pending.
He is being held in a jail 23 miles (37 kilometers) from his Prescott Valley, Arizona, home.
Reynolds Joins Ernst On “Roast and Ride” Fundraiser
(Boone) –– Republican Senator Joni Ernst is joining her friend and political ally Kim Reynolds in questioning whether wealthy businessman Fred Hubbell — the Democratic nominee for governor — has the proper kind of Iowa roots.
photo contributed.
Ernst’s fourth-annual “Roast and Ride” fundraiser attracted about a thousand people in Boone Saturday afternoon. Ernst led a long line of motorcyclists on a 49-mile ride to the event, with Governor Reynolds alongside, riding on the backseat of her husband’s motorcycle. Ernst told the crowd the governor’s opponent “doesn’t appreciate” the state.
During a debate in late May, Hubbell said voters are “dissatisfied” with the status quo and he disagreed with a recent magazine analysis which ranked Iowa as number one among the states in terms of infrastructure, health care and education. Reynolds mentioned Hubbell’s remarks during her speech at the Ernst fundraiser.
And Reynolds again suggested Hubbell, as part of a prominent Des Moines family, is unable to relate to ordinary Iowans.
The Hubbell’s family fortunes date back to the mid-1850s, from investments in real estate, railroads and the founding of a Des Moines-based insurance company. Fred Hubbell has contributed three million dollars of his own money to his campaign so far and he’s offered this response to Reynolds’ criticism.
That’s a reference to the couple’s experience as hostages to airplane hijackers back in 1981. Hubbell touts his experience in corporate boardrooms as an asset.
Hubbell points to last fall’s withdrawal from the state’s cash reserves to balance last year’s budget and the mid-year cuts to this year’s state budget.
