Home News Thursday News, July 8th

Thursday News, July 8th

Kingsley Man Involved In Motorcycle Accident In Clay County

(Spencer) — A Kingsley, Iowa man was injured Tuesday when a motorcycle he was riding struck a truck and trailer at a rural Clay County intersection just north of Everly. According to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the collision occurred at about 1:30 p.m. when Dakota Nelson, 29, of Kingsley was heading northbound on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Booker Bell, the driver of the eastbound Freightliner semi pulling a flatbed trailer, pulled out from a stop sign on 270th Street in Clay County. Nelson was unable to stop his motorcycle in time and struck the trailer. Nelson was transported to the Spencer Municipal hospital with head injuries. Bell, 43 years of age, from Sioux Falls was cited for failure to yield at a stop sign.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheriff’s Office Completes Theft Investigation, Le Mars Woman Arrested

(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office has completed a theft investigation that was first reported back in December of 2020. Upon completion of the theft investigation an arrest warrant was requested for Danielle Darlene Morris, age 46 of Le Mars for theft in the first degree, a class C felony. Morris turned herself in to the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office in reference to that arrest warrant.

 

 

 

Floyd Valley Healthcare To Begin Weight Loss Clinic

(Le Mars) –Floyd Valley Healthcare, in partnership with the Tri-State Specialists announces that Dr. Steve Udelhofen will begin providing a Bariatric Weight Loss Clinic at Floyd Valley Healthcare beginning on July 16th. His clinic will be held on the first and third Friday mornings every month. To make an appointment with Dr. Udelhofen, you are asked to call (712)
224-8677. Referrals are not necessary unless required by the individual’s insurance carrier. Dr. Udelhofen practices in bariatric care and general surgery with interests in weight loss and surgical interventions including weight loss medical management, gastric bypass, gastric banding, endoscopic
sleeve gastroplasty and gastric balloon placement.

 

 

 

City Council Approves Bid And Contractor For Plywood Trail

(Le Mars) — The city council approved the contractor with its bid for the construction of the Plywood Trail Phase 1-A. The council approved a bid of$1,513,754.24. Godberson-Smith Construction Company of Ida Grove was given the contract. Construction on the recreational trail from Merrill
extending to Le Mars is scheduled to begin on April 15th of 2022, with construction to be completed by mid-June of 2022.

 

 

 

City Council Begins Discussions Focusing On Salaries

(Le Mars) — During the city council’s discussion focusing on future city council and mayor salaries, talk turned to the possibility of changing the form of government. Councilman Rex Knapp wondered if Le Mars would be better if all five council positions would be designated as a “At-large” positions,
rather than the specific three wards and two “at-large” positions that is currently being used. City attorney Mike Murphy told Knapp of some of the concerns he has heard with regard to having all five council positions listed as an “At-large” position.

Knapp then clarified his position.

Knapp offers a scenario that he sees could evolve into a possibility.

Both Murphy and City Administrator Jason Vacura said in order to have a change of form of government a petition would first need to be completed before the issue would be brought to the attention of voters on a city election ballot.
No further action was taken, other than the city council directed city administration to set July 20th as a date for a public hearing on the topic of council and mayor salaries.

 

 

 

Grassley Is Concerned With Biden’s Spending And Growing Inflation Rate

(Washington) — U-S Senator Chuck Grassley is still concerned about inflation running rampant throughout the nation’s economy. During his weekly news conference with Iowa reporters, Grassley says when he first entered Congress inflation was at that time was running at about 12 percent.
He says he sees similar events today, especially with the Biden’s
administration proposed spending. Grassley says a bi-partisan effort was made with an agreement with regards to spending for the nation’s infrastructure system. However, Grassley says Democrats want to load up so many of their desired programs that it will become too costly, and it will be difficult to
get Republican support, if the bill doesn’t exclusively focus on the infrastructure.

Grassley says President Biden should at this time focus only on the infrastructure spending.

The Iowa Republican Senator says Biden has switch his original position regarding the infrastructure bill. Grassley says the president is now feeling some pressure from big name Democrats.

 

 

 

Authorities Release Names Of Man And Woman Found Dead At State Park

(Des Moines, IA) — Authorities have released the names of the man and woman found dead inside a vehicle at a state park in eastern Iowa last weekend. An obituary posted online indicates 27-year-old Courtney Lynn Rhodes and 31- year-old Cody Michael Rhodes were married. The obituary for Courtney Rhodes
lists her address as Gladbrook and describes her as a loving mother of two children. Courtney and Michael Rhodes were found dead Saturday inside a vehicle parked at Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area in rural Linn County.
An Iowa Department of Public Safety news release indicates autopsies have been conducted, but the cause and manner of the couple’s deaths have not been determined.

 

 

 

Algona Police Investigate Apparent Double Murder-Suicide Involving 2 Boys

(Algona, IA) — Algona police are investigating an apparent double-murder suicide that has left two young boys dead. Officers were called to a home Monday night where they found the bodies of six-year-old Logan and three-year-old Seth Phelon. Thirty-two-year-old Christopher Phelon’s body was also
discovered there. Autopsies determined the boys had been shot to death and their father had committed suicide. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is working the case along with Algona police and E-M-S, the Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office, Medical Examiner’s Office, and County Attorney’s Office, and the Iowa State Patrol.

 

 

 

Wounded Linn County Sheriff’s Deputy Released From Hospital

(Cedar Rapids, IA) — The Linn County Sheriff’s deputy shot by an armed robber at a Casey’s General Store in Coggon is out of the hospital. Deputy William Halverson was shot several times by 36-year-old Stanley Donahue of Chicago on June 21st. The shooting started a 12-hour manhunt for Donahue.
The sheriff’s office Tweeted a photo today (Wednesday) with the caption, “Deputy Halverson received a huge welcome home today from his law enforcement family.”

 

 

 

Council Bluffs Police Officer Arrested For Domestic Assault

(Council Bluffs, IA) — A police officer in southwest Iowa is accused of domestic assault. Council Bluffs detective Craig Shuetze was arrested Tuesday following an investigation by the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office.
Schuetze was taken into custody for domestic abuse assault and strangulation with bodily injury and later released. Council Bluffs police officials report Detective Schuetze has been placed on paid administrative leave. No other information about the case has been released.

 

 

 

Retrial Set for Man Charged With Killing Woman and 2 Kids in Des Moines

(Des Moines, IA) — A retrial is set for the man accused of killing a Des Moines woman and her two children in July of 2019. A mistrial was declared in the first trial of Marvin Escobar-Orellana last year. He will stand trial again on December 13th for the first-degree murders of 29-year-old Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez, 11-year-old Grecia Alvarado-Flores and five-year-old Ever Mejia-Flores in a duplex both families shared. Court documents show he admitted to shooting Flores-Rodriguez, but he claims she shot and killed her children and he was acting in self-defense. His wife testified that she saw Escobar-Orellana shoot Flores-Rodriguez in the head. But the jury was unable
to agree on a verdict in the children’s murders.

 

 

 

Iowa Natural Resource Commission Takes Action To Protect Creek

(Des Moines, IA) — The Iowa Natural Resource Commission voted Wednesday to add a five-acre easement along Bloody Run Creek in northeast Iowa’s Clayton County. The D-N-R says the action will help protect the creek, which has a natural population of brown trout and is stocked with rainbow trout.
Environmentalists say they are concerned about plans approved for a nearby cattle operation. The Iowa Environmental Council’s Ingrid Gronstal says the protections will be undermined by Supreme Beef’s plan to open an 11-hundred head cattle feedlot upstream. Iowa DNR director, Kayla Lyon says she doesn’t
have the authority to review the agency’s approval of the plan for the cattle feedlot. Advocates disagree and say they are considering legal action to stop the feedlot.

 

 

 

New Amazon Fulfillment Center Coming to Davenport

(Davenport, IA) — Amazon plans to a build a 640-thousand square foot warehouse in Davenport that will employee one-thousand people. The company calls the warehouse where products are sorted and stored before shipping an Amazon “fulfill center.” Davenport Mayor Mike Matson says it will be located
in the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center by Interstate 80. Amazon is investing 250-million dollars in the project. The Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce estimates the Amazon facility will have an economic impact of 148-million dollars annually.