Le Mars Community Board of Education To Review Resignations
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Community Board of Education will convene this evening for its bi-monthly meeting. The school principals will offer an update to the school board. In addition, Dr. Mark Iverson will present to the board’s attention information regarding the 2019-2020 Iowa Department of Education Physical Education waiver. The board is expected to take action
on the issue. The school board will be dealing with several requested resignations including: Morgan Staab has resigned his position as custodian effective immediately. Marilyn Molthan resigned her position as bus driver effective February 8th. Tony Gunter has resigned his assistant high school football coaching position. The following staff members intend to retire
from their positions effective upon the conclusion of the 2018-2019 school year. They include: Al Engebretson, Middle School Math; Barb Shostak, Middle School Language Arts; Joann Johnson, Family and Consumer Sciences; Daletta Bruggeman, Franklin 4th Grade teacher; Curt Ohrlund, High School
Instrumental Music; Colleen Bortscheller, High School Math; Jayne Willer, Kluckhohn Kindergarten teacher. Contracts will be extended to Bill Miller, Kluckhohn head custodian, and David Den Herder, Assistant Middle School Track Coach. The board of education will enter into closed session as allowed by Iowa Code to discuss the performance of the district superintendent, Dr. Steve Webner.
Remsen Chamber of Commerce Banquet Re-scheduled For This Evening
(Remsen) — The Remsen Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual awards banquet this evening. The event was originally scheduled for this past Thursday, but was re-scheduled due to weather-related concerns. The Remsen Chamber of Commerce will award its “Citizen of the Year” as well as its “Business of the Year.”
Power Outage On Saturday Hits Le Mars And Oyens
(Le Mars) — Shortly before 10:00 a.m.Saturday morning, power was knocked out for the northeast portion of Le Mars. A power line had snapped and dropped across Highway 3, near 6th Avenue N.E., causing traffic to be detoured until such time, MidAmerican officials were able to repair the line. The outage affected Floyd Valley Healthcare as the local hospital had
to resort to auxiliary power from a stand-by generator. Power was also interrupted for the small town of Oyens. According to MidAmerica website, more than 473 residences and businesses were without power. MidAmerica Energy spokesperson Geoff Greenwood explains.
Power was restored to the affected region about an hour after the incident.
Army Corp of Engineers Say Missouri River Can Handle Additional Waters To Be Released
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Officials say the reservoirs along the Missouri River are ready to handle the floodwaters that are expected to flow into the system this year.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has the full flood storage space available in the reservoirs, so it is in good shape headed into the year.
The amount of water being released from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will be reduced again in mid-February to 17,000 cubic feet per second.
The Corps’ John Remus says the current forecast calls for slightly
more than the normal amount of runoff this year.
Video Shown During Kidnapping Trial
ELDORA, Iowa (AP) – Video taken on the cellphone of a woman accused of abusing her boyfriend’s young son shows the boy screaming in agony that he needed to use the bathroom.
The Courier reports that prosecutors showed the cellphone video of the 8-year-old boy Friday during the kidnapping trial of 40-year-old Traci Tyler. In the footage, the child is seen dressed in pajamas in a dining room as he screams and holds his groin before wetting himself minutes later.
Tyler and her boyfriend, 30-year-old Alex Shadlow, are each charged with kidnapping. They are being tried separately.
The couple is accused of locking the boy in the basement for at
least nine hours a day during the summer of 2017. Investigators say the boy was forced to sleep on the concrete and use a tin cup as a toilet. The couple argued that’s because they had trouble with him urinating in the house.
Testimony in Tyler’s trial is set to resume Tuesday.
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Library Books Are Soaked From Busted Water Pipe
ASBURY, Iowa (AP) – Hundreds of water-soaked library books in eastern Iowa are in a deep-freeze while officials figure out how to save the publications.
The Telegraph-Herald reports the books were damaged Feb. 1 when a pipe burst in the Dubuque County Library’s branch in Asbury. Officials estimate about 10 percent of the branch’s 18,000 books became soaked.
When books get wet, they must be frozen within hours to prevent the growth of mold.
The books were first moved to a refrigerated semi-trailer provided by Hy-Vee and then carried to another trailer provided by Hirschbach Motor Lines, a Dubuque-based transportation company.
Library district Director Michael Wright says some of the books will be dried with fans, some might go to a specialized freeze dryer and some will be thrown away.
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Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobucher Announces Presidential Campaign
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota says she’s taking her campaign for president – and her Midwest sensibilities – directly to parts of the region Donald Trump won and that her party wants to recapture in 2020.
Klobuchar announced her bid Sunday during a snowy rally along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, where temperatures were well below freezing.
The three-term senator says her broad appeal in Minnesota could
translate to other Midwestern states such as Wisconsin and Michigan, which have been reliability Democratic for decades but backed Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Klobuchar said she would travel next weekend to Iowa, home to the nation’s first caucus. That trip will be followed by stops in Wisconsin, where Clinton was criticized in 2016 for not spending enough time.
Klobuchar says: “I’m going to be there a lot.”
Senator Warren Visits Iowa, and South Carolina
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Sen. Elizabeth Warren is returning to South Carolina this week as part of a tour of early voting states following the official launch of her 2020 presidential campaign.
Warren’s campaign says the Massachusetts Democrat will make her first trip to Greenville on Saturday for an organizing event. She did something similar last month in the state capitol of Columbia.
Warren’s South Carolina swing overlaps with Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who is also eyeing the White House. Harris will be in the state on Friday and Saturday.
Warren officially announced her candidacy Saturday in Lawrence,
Massachusetts, and is visiting New Hampshire and Iowa this weekend.
In addition to South Carolina, she is also making stops in Georgia, Nevada and California.
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