Floyd Valley Establishes Phone Number To Set Vaccine Appointments
(Le Mars) — Floyd Valley Community Health is anticipating additional COVID-19 vaccine shipments in February. With that knowledge, the COVID-19 vaccine phone line will be activated on Monday, February 8th at 8 a.m. Those that are 65+ and live in or doctor with healthcare providers in Plymouth County may call 712-546-3646. Please leave a message as directed with your name and contact information and you will be placed on the waiting list to be called once we receive future allocations of vaccine. Please only call once as we will call you as soon as we are able to get you scheduled.
For those coming in for their vaccinations, please DO NOT arrive early as we need to observe social distancing while others are receiving their vaccine AND waiting in their 15 minute observation period. Appointment times are spaced accordingly to limit the numbers in the vaccination clinic. Also, please remember to wear your mask, bring your driver’s license and your insurance card to your appointment.
Le Mars Community Board of Education To Convene This Evening
(Le Mars) — Le Mars Community Board of Education will convene this evening for its monthly meeting. The school board will start at 6:00 p.m. at the Educational Center. The school district’s principals will deliver their reports to the school board. The board will have an open enrollment update regarding three students who wish to attend Le Mars Community from the
Boyden-Hull Community Schools. The Board of Education will review a series of digital workshops hosted by the Iowa Association of School Boards focusing on policy, governance, and legal issues.
The school board will send requests for proposals to financial auditing firms to provide audit services for fiscal years 2021, 2022, and 2023. The Williams and Company audit agreement expires on June 30th of 2021. The school board will consider approval of a new three-year agreement on March
8th.
In terms of action items, the school board will consider a time change with the pre-school courses with the morning session to go from 8:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. and the afternoon session to start at 12:45 a.m. and continue until 3:15 p.m.
The school board is expected to approve a new policy regarding operation during public emergencies. The board will complete the first of two readings for the new policy code 1007. The board of education will also appoint two of its members to serve on the Meet and Confer team with Superintendent, Dr. Webner for the purpose of discussing contracts with the support staff and
administration for 2021-2022. The school board will consider the addition of a secondary level computer science teaching position for the 2021-2022 school year, to meet the Iowa Computer Science Standards.
The school board will act upon some resignations, including Bill Dalton as a boys tennis coach, Sheryl Brooks is resigning her position as a third grade teacher at Kluckhohn, effective at the conclusion of the 2020-21 school year.
Lorraine DeJong is resigning her position as a 7th grade teacher, also effective at the conclusion of the school year.
Contracts will be extended to Kady Leusink as the girls assistant track coach, Greer Milledge as the assistant tennis coach, Jenna Bowmaster as the girls assistant track coach, Eva Valesco, as the Director of Food Services, and Ken Vigdal as a secondary level computer science teacher and head varsity football coach.
Plymouth County Republicans To Host Alternative Social Media Seminar
(Le Mars) — Conservatives that have been disappointed with some of the social media platforms, especially if they have been banned from those popular social media platforms for sharing their political thoughts and ideas can now find some assistance. The Plymouth and Woodbury County Republican parties are sponsoring a social media technology seminar scheduled for next
Friday, February 12th, or Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Shelly Stabe tells more about the seminar.
Stabe says the popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have been known to ban people from expressing their thoughts.
She says people are uncertain about the course of actions.
Stabe says a meal will be served with tickets priced at $12. The event is scheduled to begin with doors opening at 5:00 p.m. and the meal to be served at 5:30 p.m. The event will be held at the former Long Branch restaurant in Hinton located on Main Street or county road C-60, east of the railroad tracks, and past the Central Valley grain storage offices on the north side of the street. Stabe says registration is due on Monday, February 8th.
The Republican party official says the event is open to anyone, and she tells how to reserve your tickets.
Stabe says if people have questions about the alternative social media technology event they can reach out to her by calling (712) 395-2100, or email her at shelleystabe@gmail.com, or message her on Facebook.
Stabe reminds people the deadline to register and reserve tickets is Monday, February 8th.
Officials Concerned Drought May Worsen
(Des Moines) — While parts of Iowa are seeing near-record snowfalls this winter, points west are seeing less snow than usual, reinforcing concerns about a worsening drought in the spring. Hydrologist Kevin Low, with the Missouri Basin River Forecast Center, says instead of a flood threat, low water may be more of an issue along the Missouri River in a few months.
Low says the forecast for the region is for a below-normal runoff season, which lasts from April through September.
The Drought Monitor report for Iowa this week shows much of Iowa’s western third in moderate, severe or extreme drought. Kevin Grode (GROW-dee), a civil engineer for the U-S Army Corps of Engineers, says snowpack across the Great Plains is also contributing to lower-than-normal runoff expected this spring.
That’s despite January runoff above Sioux City at 1.1-million acre feet — or 141% of average. Corps officials attribute the above-average January runoff to above-normal temperatures, melting any accumulated plains snowpack, and inhibiting river ice formation. Releases at Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota will be maintained at the winter release rate of 17,000 cubic feet per second. Corps officials say the releases will be adjusted, if needed, in response to ice formation on the Missouri River below Gavins Point.
Governor Lifts Mask Mandates
(Des Moines, IA) — Governor Kim Reynolds has lifted the mask mandates she established on November 10th when COIVD cases rose substantially. Reynolds had required mask-wearing in public indoor spaces and by the crowds at high school sporting events. She required masks in state-owned buildings that house executive branch agencies. The governor had required masks to be worn inside certain businesses, like hair salons and barbershops. People attending funerals, weddings, and other gatherings were required to socially distance. All of those requirements ended Sunday. Customer limits in bars and restaurants have also been lifted.
Axne Critical Of Lifting Mask Mandate
(Washington, DC) — Democrat Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne issued a statement saying Republican Governor Kim Reynolds’ lifting of the mask mandate “is short-sighted, ill-conceived, and dangerous as it puts our community and most vulnerable at risk.” Axne went on to say in her statement that the governor is sending the message “that masks and safe social interactions are no longer important to slowing the spread of COVID-19.” Axne says she has spoken with the Governor and federal health partners in recent weeks about increasing Iowa’s vaccine allocations– but says the new proclamation “undermines all of those efforts – disregarding the lagging vaccinations of our seniors and other vulnerable populations and skipping ahead to a return to normalcy that is unwarranted.”
Two Cedar Rapids Firefighters Injured When Hose Fails
(Cedar Rapids, IA) — Two Cedar Rapids firefighters were injured when a hose failed and struck them as they worked at an apartment fire early Sunday morning. The spokesman for the Cedar Rapids department says one firefighter was struck in the head and rendered unconscious — and the other firefighter was struck in the chest and knocked down when the hose malfunctioned. The firefighter hit in the head sustained serious injuries and was transferred to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The other firefighter remains hospitalized in Cedar Rapids. The two have not been identified and their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. The other firefighters faced extreme cold as they worked to put out the fire. The apartment building sustained major fire, smoke, and heat damage throughout. The cause of the fire is still not known.
Man Shot And Killed By Bettendorf Police Officer
(Bettendorf, IA) — The Iowa D-C-I is investigating a fatal shooting by a Bettendorf police officer. The D-C-I says officers were called to a domestic disturbance just after midnight Sunday — and found that both people involved had left by the time they arrived. Officer responded to a suspicious vehicle about two hours later. A woman got out of the car and told officers the man inside had threatened to kill her. Officers say the man refused to get out of the car and pulled out a handgun. An officer fired and hit the man — and he died. The names of the man who was killed and the officer who shot him have not yet been released.
