BOOT UP SHOWCASE
The two elementary schools in the MOC Floyd Valley School District will showcase their computer literacy at even Thursday.
Superintendant Russ Adams describes Boot Up, the organization which has helped district teachers integrate technology and learning, even to the elementary school level.
Adams says the school district’s approach is to teach teachers how to apply technology in all their lesson plans.
MOC Floyd Valley leaders wanted to extend technology education to all grade levels.
Adams says the district partnered with the Boot Up organization to make computer literacy sustainable throughout the district.
The Boot Up Showcase Thursday will take place at the Hospers Elementary School in the morning, and the Orange City Elementary School in the afternoon.
The School building principals will help direct visitors to the demonstrations in various classrooms.
The Thursday morning Boot Up Showcase sessions will take place at Hospers Elementary from 8:45 to 10:50. There will be a Boot Up sponsored luncheon for visiors at the District boardroom in Orange City at 11-30 am. The afternoon sessions at Orange City Elementary School will take place from 12:40 to 2:390 pm. The public is invited to attend.
BRIDGE REPAIRS
The Plymouth County Engineer is planning for another season of bridge and culvert work in the county.
Tom Rohe describes what is in the county’s construction plan for the next season.
Several other bridge projects are also planned, and not all will be let to contractors this year.
There are a couple of road resurfacing projects on the plan for this year, but one was moved back.
Most of the county’s road work over the next five years will involve bridges.
Rohe says the county seeks to find the most economical way to repair or replace bridges.
This year it’s becoming more difficult to attract contractors to some of the county’s projects. (That’s because many have already committed to other projects this year. And inflation has increased the cost of construction materials, and that’s caused counties to delay some of their projects.
The Iowa Department of Transportation has a couple of bridge projects planned in Plymouth County. One is over Mink Creek west of County Road K-42, and over the Floyd River, half a mile north of Iowa Highway 3. DOT also plans to repave Iowa Highway 3, near First Ave NE in Le Mars.
Plymouth County is one of seven Iowa counties with an inventory of over a hundred bridges.
GRASSLEY HEARING
The U-S Senate Agriculture Committee is holding a hearing Tuesday on two of Senator Chuck Grassley’s bills which he says aim to improve fairness and competition in the cattle industry.
The Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act is designed to help independent cattle producers get a fair price for their livestock. That would be done through a public contract library and by setting a minimum level of cattle sales. There’s also the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act which would create a dedicated office at U-S-D-A to investigate anticompetitive behavior in the ag industry.
Grassley says he has a long, bipartisan list of co-sponsors for the pair of bills.
Grassley says the nation’s four major meatpackers — Cargill, Tyson Foods, J-B-S, and National Beef Packing — control up to 85-percent of the hog, cattle and chicken markets.
HANDICAPPED PARKING
The legislature has sent the governor a bill that would give more medical professionals authority to recommend patients be permitted to park in handicapped spaces. Under the bill, licensed physical therapists and occupational therapists would be able to recommend the Iowa D-O-T issue license plates for Iowans with permanent disabilities or permits that hang on a rear view mirror for those with temporary disabilities. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Dennis Bush of Cherokee, says under current law it’s only doctors, physicians assistants and nurse practitioners who can recommend Iowans with a disability get special parking privileges. The bill also lets health care professionals in other states issue the recommendations to the Iowa D-O-T for plates or temporary permits that allow a vehicle to park in designated handicapped spaces. The bill passed the House unanimously in February and the Senate gave it unanimous approval Monday.
OMAHA STREET
Omaha residents and traffic engineers are talking about keeping Farnam Street between Happy Hollow and 46th Street two-way everyday. For decades Farnam along that stretch has changed to one-way eastbound for the weekday morning commute and then to one-way westbound in the late afternoon. The city says in order for Farnam to be two-way all the time changes would have to be made to intersections in the area. The city is still getting feedback from residents.
