Municipal Campgrounds To Get Flags And Flag Poles At Entrance
(Le Mars) — Construction began Wednesday afternoon for what will be flag poles to be erected at the Municipal Park Campgrounds in Le Mars. Crews from Campbell’s Lawn and Landscape of Le Mars were boring holes in the ground and pouring concrete for what will be the base for those flag poles. The idea to have flags flying at the campground entrance was the brain child of campground manager Chad Poeckus (peek-us).
Doug Harms serves as the vice president of the local American Legion Riders Motorcycle Club, and they were given the task to raise the money for the project.
Monica Hanson serves as the manager of the American Legion Hall and tells how the fund raising project took place.
Hanson says there is an effort to expand the project to include additional flag poles sometime in the autumn.
A dedication ceremony showcasing the new flags and flagpoles will take place next Wednesday, August 26th at 5:00 p.m. at the entrance of the Municipal Park Campgrounds.
Governor Sued For In-Person Classes Requirement
(Des Moines, IA) — The state’s largest teacher union and the Iowa City Community School District are filing a lawsuit in Johnson County seeking to block the governor’s requirement that schools have at least 50 percent in-person classes. I-S-E-A lawyer Jay Hammond says the governor’s emergency order violates the Iowa Constitution. Hammond says the governor has exceeded her authority in interpreting the law passed by the Iowa Legislature in their special session that says classes should be primarily held in person. Hammond says they are asking for a hearing as to whether the court believes there is merit to the lawsuit. And if so, they want a temporary injunction — which would then restrain any enforcement of these proclamations.
Debris Removal Still Going On At Meskwaki Settlement
(Tama, IA) — The Meskwaki Settlement near Tama was hit hard by the derecho the roared across Iowa and work continues there to move debris. Tribal Response Emergency Manager Roxane Warnell says many homes had roofs torn off and the rain got inside. Warnell says recovery work is just starting because the first week was focused on response. She says they’ve been fortunate to be able to provide shelter for those who were pushed out of their homes. As a federally recognized tribe, the Meskwaki is working directly with FEMA. It doesn’t have to go through the state. Warnell says the initial damage assessment is more than one million dollars.
Corrections Department Stops Taking Inmates From County Jails
(Coralville, IA) — The Iowa Department of Corrections is temporarily stopping admissions from county jails to the facility where prisoners are evaluated before being sent to a permanent placement in a state prison. The D-O-C says they are experiencing a rise in COVID-19 cases at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville and will suspend admissions until they no longer believe the virus is spreading there. The department says it conducted 800 new tests in the last week after an inmate tested positive and that led to 59 confirmed positive cases.
Local Option Sales And Service Tax Develops $38M For Des Moines
(Des Moines, IA) — When it first went into effect Des Moines city leaders estimated the new local option sales and service tax would produce about 37 million dollars in revenue. Voters approved the increase in the sale tax from six to seven percent last year. The estimates were very accurate. The 38-point-one million dollars raised was used for street repairs, stormwater upgrades, enhanced public safety, neighborhood improvement and expanding library hours. Mayor Frank Cownie says the local option tax will lead to decades of positive change, making a difference for neighborhoods and residents.
ISU Coronavirus Testing of Students Shows 97.8 Percent Negative Results
(Ames, IA) — Iowa State University reports eight-thousand-954 students were tested for COVID-19 as they moved back to residence halls and campus apartments in Ames. There were 175 positive tests — giving them a 97-point-eight percent negative rate for the tests. Students who tested positive are required to isolate for ten days. The school reports about half of the students are staying in isolation rooms provided by the department of residence, and the rest have returned home. Quarantine rooms are also available for students notified through contact tracing that they were exposed to a positive case.
COVID-19 Deaths Top 1000 in Iowa, 614 Additional Cases
(Des Moines, IA) — The Iowa Department of Public of Health says 16 more people have died from COVID-19, increasing the state’s death toll to one-thousand-and-three. Six-hundred-14 positive tests were confirmed today for a statewide total of 53-thousand-538 cases since the pandemic began. Two-hundred-99 people are hospitalized with coronavirus, 90 patients are in intensive care and 33 are on ventilators. Nearly 42-thousand patients have recovered. Just under 570-thousand tests have been done in the state.
