BLACK FRIDAY
While retailers nationwide are bracing for a shopping extravaganza on this Black Friday, locally-owned merchants across Iowa are hoping for a bigger boost tomorrow. Jayne Armstrong, director of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Iowa District Office, says Small Business Saturday is a crucial day for the state’s consumers to “Be Loyal, Buy Local.” Armstrong says 97-percent of Iowa’s businesses are small businesses and embracing them improves the backbone of our state. If you’d like to support Iowa’s wealth of merchants who are outside of your immediate area, dozens of businesses are now offering their wares at shop-iowa-dot-com, which Armstrong says makes it easy to patronize even more hometown heroes in -other- Iowa towns. The website covers a wide array of goods, including artwork, furniture, food, toys, t-shirts, beauty care products, jewelry and more, all crafted in the Hawkeye State.
HOMETOWN CHRISTMAS
Le Mars is getting ready to celebrate a Hometown Christmas. Margaret Catton, speaking on the What Now program, says activities begin tonight.
Saturday is packed with events starting in the morning.
Lots of events for the kids throughout the day…
Where to see the full schedule of events
New events include a free concert by Jill Miller Saturday afternoon. There are also pony rides and a petting zoo. There’s also reindeer at the petting zoo Saturday.
FATAL ACCIDENT
A Hartley Iowa man died early Tuesday in a crash between a pickup and a truck. The Iowa State Patrol says the driver of the pickup, 75 year Richard Leth of Hartley, was traveling south on Iowa Highway 4 in Pocahontas County, when the vehicle crossed the center line and crashed into a northbound truck driven by 65 year old Daniel Meyers of Spencer. Leth was pronounced dead at the scene. Meyers was not injured. The accident occurred around 2-30 am Tuesday.
STATE MEDICAL DIRECTOR
There’s a new state medical director on the job after nearly one year when the position was vacant. Doctor Robert Kruse is not a native Iowan, but Kruse says he established strong roots here as a young adult at the University of Iowa in biomedical engineering. Kruse, who is 37, was medical director of occupational health at MercyOne in Des Moines when he interviewed for the job of state medical director. Kruse says his background gives him a vision of how primary patient care and public health interact. Kruse started with the state on October 7th, shortly after the Department of Public Health and Human Services merged. He says under the new alignment, there may be more ways to address the health of Iowans at risk for chronic disease. Kruse replaces Caitlin Pedati as state medical director. Pedati was hired in 2018 and became a central figure in the state’s early response to COVID-19. She resigned in late October of last year and is now director of the Virginia Beach Department of Public Health.
