City To Install Two Additional Storm Warning Sirens
(Le Mars) –– City officials are in the process of installing two new storm warning sirens this week. The new warning sirens will be located on the far north end of Central Avenue, and the second is to be installed at Foster Park. Assistant Fire Chief Mike Wise says the new sirens will be tested after installation is complete which will occur on Tuesday, and possibly into
Wednesday of this week. With the two new additional warning sirens, the city will have a total of eight outdoor sirens located throughout the city. If residents have questions, they should direct their questions to the Le Mars Fire Department.
Rexwinkle Funeral Homes Donates Toys To Children At Sanford Children’s’ Hospital For Easter
(Le Mars) — Rexwinkel Funeral Homes of Le Mars and Akron recently held a toy drive for young boys and girls spending the Easter holiday at Sanford Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls. They collected new toys and crafts to be donated to these brave and deserving children. Dan Rexwinkel, president and owner of Rexwinkel Funeral Homes says, “The ‘Honoring Wonderful Lives’ program sponsored by America’s Best Funeral Homes is not just about helping families gather, remember & celebrate the lives of their loved ones, it is also about honoring those among us who need our strength and support.”
Last week, Lori Rexwinkel delivered toys to Sanford
Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls. “We would like to thank all those that donated toys and crafts and helped make this possible,” added Rexwinkel.
Lori Rexwinkel (left) is delivering toys to Sanford Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
(photos contributed.)
Drivers Ignore Road Closed Signs And Find Themselves In Flooded Waters
(Atlantic) — The drivers of two vehicles who disregarded flooded road barricades in southwest Iowa paid for their errors in judgement on Saturday.
Deputies with the Fremont County Sheriff’s responded to two incidents of vehicles inside the flood zone Saturday morning. Christopher Hawes, of Coffeyville, Kansas, reported his vehicle had hit a retaining wall and was in the water. The car was westbound on Highway 333 at around 1:40 a.m., when it
went over the temporary levee and ended up nose first in the water. Hawes was cited for failure to obey a traffic control device. And a deputy found a semi in the flood water off Highway 2 on 195th Avenue. A boat was called in to rescue the driver of the semi, who had driven past two barricades as he was
traveling south on 195th Avenue in the flood water. His rig went off the west side of the road and became stuck on the shoulder. The man from Minnesota was cited for failure to obey a traffic control device and driving through a safety zone, as well as being in an evacuated area.
El Nino Weather Pattern May Last Several Months
(Des Moines) — While it was slow to develop, it appears the effects of the current El Nino (NEEN-yo) weather pattern will hang around the region for a while — likely several months. Meteorologist Dennis Todey (TODD-ee), director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub, based in Ames, says they expect a longer-than-average El Nino, which typically means warmer, wetter
weather for Iowa.
An El Nino occurs when Pacific Ocean surface temperatures rise, which in turn impacts weather across North America. An El Nino can last just nine to 12 months or sometimes as long as seven years. Todey says the center is predicting warmer-than-normal temperatures at least through early summer.
Todey says the long-range outlooks calls for above-normal rainfall for most of the summer.
It follows a snowy winter and a rainy early spring which led to record flooding on the Missouri River and significant flooding on the Mississippi and elsewhere, with billions of dollars damage in Iowa and several neighboring states.
Republicans Ask Attorney General Tom Miller To Seek Approval Before Signing On To Any Lawsuits Against Trump Administration
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Republican lawmakers in Iowa want to limit the powers of the state’s attorney general, citing frustration that the Democrat joined lawsuits opposing the actions of President Donald Trump.
Attorney General Tom Miller joined six lawsuits in 2018 that aimed to obstruct Trump’s policies, which included separating families of immigrants on the southern U.S. border and requiring additional citizenship information on the 2020 census.
Miller’s office was also involved in 26 amicus briefs and 50 letters
to federal agencies opposing the Trump administration’s actions.
The Des Moines Register reports that Rep. Gary Worthan’s sponsored measure would require Miller’s office to get permission from the governor, the General Assembly or the Executive Council before joining any out-of-state lawsuits.
Miller is the longest-serving sitting state attorney general in the
U.S.
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Des Moines Water Works Say New Nitrate Removal Program Is Complete
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A Des Moines area water utility says construction and testing are complete on a $2.5 million system that will enable it to treat nitrate removed during it purification process rather than dump the material back into the Raccoon River.
Des Moines Water Works announced Monday it had finished work on a pump station and pipe that will carry nitrate from a facility to the Des Moines wastewater center, where it will be treated and turned into a material that can be applied to farms.
For more than 25 years, Des Moines Water Works has removed nitrates from the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers as it purifies drinking water, but then dumped the chemical back into the Raccoon.
The nitrate comes mainly from animal waste and chemical fertilizers that drain into the rivers from farmland.
Des Moines Water Works provides drinking water for about 500,000 people.
Democratic Presidential Candidate Taking Advantage Of High Approval Ratings
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – One of the hottest names in the Democratic presidential primary – and one of the most difficult to pronounce – is Pete Buttigieg (BOO’-tuh-juhj). Whether the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, can build an effective
national campaign to maximize the sudden interest in his presidential bid remains a question.
The Buttigieg campaign has a long way to go to match the national presence expected of a top-tier candidate. There are no policy positions on his website. He has virtually no paid presence in states that matter most.
And his campaign manager is a high school friend with no experience in presidential politics.
Buttigieg expects to expand his paid staff in Iowa and New Hampshire and hire staff in South Carolina, Nevada and California.
Dubuque Man Accused Of Stealing Drugs From Ambulance
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) – A man has been accused of stealing drugs from an ambulance at a Dubuque hospital.
Dubuque County court records say 31-year-old London Gavin is charged with theft. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him.
The Telegraph Herald reports that an ambulance worker told police that Gavin had ridden in the ambulance Thursday as she and others took a patient to MercyOne Dubuque Medical Center. She noticed after talking to hospital staffers that vials of morphine and ketamine she’d placed on the ambulance cot were missing.
A court document says a surveillance recording showed Gavin grabbing something off the cot while the ambulance worker was talking to the hospital staffers.
The document says the drugs turned up when Gavin emptied his
sweatshirt pocket for police.
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