County Supervisors To Meet Today
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Board of Supervisors are scheduled to meet this morning at the County Courthouse Boardroom beginning at 9:30 a.m. The county governing board is expected to approve 2021 wages paid for publication. They will also discuss the courtroom changes orders, and they will discuss purchasing a generator for the courthouse. The supervisors will hear from attorney, Justin Vondrak as he seeks an extension to file a minor subdivision. Plymouth County Engineer, Tom Rohe will appear before the county board and will submit a construction permit from Frontier Communications. The county board of supervisors will go into closed session to discuss the county employee’s collective bargaining contract. The supervisors will also discuss the county’s budget.
City Council To Hear Several Annual Reports During Tuesday Meeting
(Le Mars) –– The Le Mars city council will begin today’s meeting at 12:00 noon with a public hearing regarding sign ordinances. The council will discuss a fee for portable or temporary signs. In action items, the city council will decide upon the agreement with the manager’s position with Willow Creek Campground. The council will decide to approve a contract agreement with Bolton and Menk Incorporated, with a services contract dealing with the waste water treatment facility. Annual reports will be presented by the Building and Code Department, Fire and Rescue Department, YMCA, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Jeneary Schedules Constituent Town Hall Meetings
(Des Moines) — State House District 5 Representative, Republican, Dr. Tom Jeneary has announced the dates he will be holding local town hall meetings. Beginning this weekend on February 5th, Representative Jeneary will appear in Akron and Le Mars. The Akron site will be held at Security National Bank Community Room located at 251 Reed Street, Akron, Iowa 51001. The town hall meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m.
To meet with State Representative Jeneary during his Le Mars town hall meeting, you are asked to come to Floyd Valley Healthcare in Conference Room 1 located at 714 Lincoln St. N.E. at Le Mars, Iowa 51031. The meeting will begin at 12:30 p.m.
On the following weekend, February 12th, Jeneary will visit with constituents at Moville and Correctionville. February 19th, he has scheduled town hall meetings for Kingsley and Pierson, and on March 12th he will hold town hall meetings at Hinton and at Merrill.
Casey’s Getting Help With Its Pizza Dough
(Ankeny, IA) — Iowa-based Casey’s General Stores is asking the Iowa legislature to let 16- and 17-year-old workers operate the machines that roll out the pizza dough. Casey’s lobbyist Tom Cope says they are having trouble finding employees. Current Iowa law bars anyone under the age of 18 from operating a pizza dough rolling machine. Casey’s is the country’s 4th largest pizza chain – selling the pies out of its stores across the state. A Senate subcommittee has approved the bill that adopts federal guidelines, so 16 and 17-year-old workers would be able to operate pizza dough machines here.
State Agencies Work On Iowa Drought Response
(Des Moines, IA) — Three state agencies have started to review plans for how the State of Iowa would respond to a significant drought. Iowa Department of Natural Resources director Kayla Lyon says her agency issued weekly reports on drinking water supplies last year as extreme drought hit some areas of the state. Lyon says the state was close to having a real problem in some parts of Iowa. Despite heavy rains in the fall, the U.S. Drought Monitor shows more than half a million Iowans live in an area where drought conditions persist. The state’s current drought response outlines were developed in the 1980s according to Lyon. Work is being done now to modernize the program. That should take about a year.
Man Sneaks Into Des Moines Hospital, Bottle Feeds A Baby
(Des Moines, IA) — Officials at Des Moines’ MercyOne Hospital say it is “extremely troubling” that a man was able to sneak in and bottle-feed a baby. The child wasn’t hurt. W-H-O reports 36-year-old Adam Wedig is in the Polk County Jail following his arrest on charges of criminal trespassing. Investigators say Wedig slipped past a nurse, entered the neonatal intensive care unit, and then misrepresented himself as the child’s father. The hospital has expanded its security effort to keep this from happening again.
State Audit Report Shows COVID-19 Data Is Accurate
(Des Moines, IA) — A state audit report finds that the COVID-19 data provided to the public is accurate. Auditor Rob Sand’s office says the Iowa Department of Public Health is doing a good job reporting COVID numbers. K-C-C-I reports that Sand says the D-P-H shouldn’t be blamed for delays or tests results that are reported late. He says it was private testing labs that caused the delays. Sand points out there is room for improvement with the COVID-19 dashboard which is currently updated three times a week. The report indicates the dashboard should be updated each day because it contains information vital for schools and long-term care centers.
Plan Creates Another Path For Potential Teachers
(Des Moines, IA) — The chairman of the House Education Committee has a plan that would let college graduates with three years of work experience get a teaching license within one year. Republican Representative Dustin Hite of New Sharon says these alternative licenses would be for potential teachers in 7th through 12th grade courses and Hite’s proposal would require applicants to complete an internship in a classroom and 15 additional hours of college credit. That’s faster than the current pathway for college grads seeking a license to teach in Iowa. Hite says he’s hoping his plan will appeal to people with life experience in key occupations who are looking for a second career — and fill some of the demand schools have now for teachers.
Lawmaker Wants To Change Required Reporting Of Student Abuse
(Des Moines, IA) — State Representative Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids wants to change the state law so educators have to report if they suspect abuse for any student. The law currently only requires reporting for students under the age of 12. Jones says age involving the sexual exploitation of a student should be irrelevant. Jones says a teacher or school employee can leave a school district and just go on to a different school district and then we have the same problems happening again. Jones says two House committees have been working on legislation to address the issue.
Man Rescued From Grain Bin Was Lucky To Survive
(Cedar Rapids, IA) — New details show a Cedar Rapids man rescued from a grain bin last was lucky to get out — and the first fireman on the scene was working his last day on the job. Darrell Benish, of Cedar Rapids, was rescued by members of the Cedar Rapids and Swisher Fire departments. Benish tells K-C-R-G T-V he was trying to push the auger in with my foot, and it slipped and he was sucked into the corn. Cedar Rapids fire captain Brian Hall was the first on the scene, and having a person survive this type of thing is very rare. It was Hall’s first-grain bin rescue in his 33-year career — and also his last full shift — before he retired Sunday.
Paddlefish Season Set To Open
(Sioux City, IA) — The paddlefish season opens Tuesday on the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers. The D-N-R’s Chris Larson says the paddlefish season was reinstated in 2014 and they had a big interest — but have settled down to about 300 licenses sold each year. Survey results find about 25 to 35 percent of those who get a license are successful in catching one of the oddest looking fish in Iowa waters. Paddlefish have a long snout which gives them their unusual appearance — says they now have a pretty stable population. Visit the D-N-R website at www.iowadnr.gov/paddlefish to learn more.
