Train De-railment Happens Near Manly
(Mason City) — It’s still not known what caused several cars of a freight train to jump the tracks last night (Sunday) in the northern Iowa town of Manly, forcing the closure of a nearby highway.
The Manly Police Department responded to the Union Pacific crossing at State Highway 9 last night after the report of some grain cars being derailed. The Iowa Department of Transportation says the roadway re-opened at about 6:15 this morning. No injuries were reported due to the derailment.
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Vandals Strike Artwork Featuring Confederate Flags
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Vandals have defaced the artwork and property of an Iowa man who displayed paintings of Confederate flags and swastikas in his front yard. The Des Moines Register says the vandal or vandals scrawled the
words “Nazi scum” on a trailer and the pickup parked at William Stark’s house in Des Moines and spray-painted over several of the wooden pallets in his yard on which he had painted the Confederate battle flag. The vandalism was discovered Wednesday. Stark told the newspaper for a story earlier last
week that he isn’t a racist or white supremacist and would paint any flag, if asked.
Carroll Man Arrested After Killing Animal At Animal Rescue League
(Des Moines) — A Carroll man was arrested Sunday after the operators of a central Iowa animal shelter say he killed an animal.
The C-E-O of the Animal Rescue League of Iowa says they were closing up Sunday and discovered a man in the shelter and asked him to leave. A few minutes after the man left the Des Moines shelter, workers found a rabbit which they say had been violently killed. Polk County deputies investigated
and arrested 64-year-old Bobby Caruthers of Carroll. He is charged him trespassing and animal cruelty.
School To Close In Order For Students To Attend Principal’s Funeral
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) – Schools in Burlington will be closed Tuesday to allow staff and students to attend the funeral of an elementary school principal who died last week in a car crash. Superintendent Pat Coen says he decided to cancel school so all who wanted to could attend the funeral for Chris Richards, the principal at Black Hawk Elementary. The funeral will be
held at the Burlington High School gymnasium. The Hawk Eye newspaper reports Richards was killed Thursday morning when he attempted to turn from U.S.
Highway 61 onto another road and collided with a pickup truck.
Study Shows Inequity For Flood Relief
(Iowa City) — Researchers at an Iowa City-based think tank says some communities face bigger challenges than others when it come to protecting themselves from flooding. David Osterberg of the Iowa Policy Project says low-income people often live in the areas most impacted by flooding. He says funds available to help aren’t always available right when needed.
He says that creates a flood inequity as people try to recover.
Osterbeg says the uncertainty of when relief is coming is a big issue.
University of Iowa graduate student Joe Wilensky wrote the report.
The report has several recommendations, including a “rebalance” mitigation efforts with an emphasis on community impact and vulnerability rather than up-front economic loss. It says the economic loss approach puts higher-value properties ahead of those properties of people less able to cope on their own. It also suggests putting more flexibility in FEMA guidelines to ease
community burdens and allow for a creative use of funds. Better directing of Community Block Development Grant funds to the best place for mitigation efforts — not necessarily within the damage area — but outside if needed.
And keeping state funds flowing pending the arrival federal aid. State funds might be delayed after a federal disaster is declared and then the state stops processing and paying disaster claims.
