GRAIN BIN ACCIDENT
The Plymouth County Sheriffs Office responded to a report yesterday afternoon that a person was trapped in a grain bin at 24689 County Road K22. The subject, who was not identified, was removed from the bin without incident. The incident was reported at 4:44 p.m. Responding to the call were Hinton Fire/Ambulance, Merrill Fire and Ambulance, Hinton Police, the Iowa State Patrol, the Plymouth County Sheriffs Office, and Mercy Air Care.
MANURE GAS LINE
Methane produced from cow manure will be run through digesters to generate natural gas that will run through a pipeline to the city of Sioux Center.
Aaron Maassen is one of three Sioux County dairy farmers whose operations are part of the project.
He says it will not only expand the town’s capacity for natural gas, it will also capture methane emissions from livestock waste.
Maassen says the greenhouse gas emissions eliminated will be equivalent to around 88-hundred cars.
Sioux Center utilities assistant manager Adam Fedders says the community needs more natural gas capacity.
The farm digesters are expected to bring in around 350 M-M-B-T-Us a day, or around a third of the natural gas typically used in Sioux Center on a summer day.
Construction on the pipeline is expected to begin as early as April.
IOWA FLIGHTS RESUME
Sioux Gateway Airport Director Mike Collett says the airport wasn’t greatly affgected by the computer problem that ghrtounded planes across the county early Wednesday.
Flightaware says over 4-thousand flights within, into or out of the US had been delayed as of mid-morning. Collett says an inbound flight to Sioux City was one of them.
The FAA issued a ground stop Wednesday morning due to a problem with its computer system.
IOWA ELK
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says elk sightings are becoming more common in Iowa as the number of trail and outdoor cameras has increased.
The D-N-R’s Tyler Harms says the source of the elk is not as certain as it used to be.
But he says the wildlife bureau has started to collect tissue and fecal samples from the animals to conduct some genetic analysis to determine where they might be coming from.
An elk was hit and killed on I-80 this fall and another was found dead within sight of Highway 20, east of Sioux City.
The Woodbury County elk was a 1 to 1-1/2-year-old adolescent animal weighing approximately 450-500 pounds.
Harms says the size is the key thing that makes them different from deer.
Elk were native to Iowa, but left as the state was settled.
Harms says there isn’t a concern the elk will cause issues with the deer population.
Though sightings are up in the fall, elk numbers are still low in Iowa, and multiple sightings are likely due to one animal traveling a great distance.
Harms says there’s one thing to do if you see an elk.
Harms says there are some rare cases when an elk may damage fences or create other issues.
Elk and moose are protected in Iowa Code and you can be fined for illegally killing them.
MUSIC MAN DOCUMENTARY
Iowa-born composer and playwright Meredith Willson is the focus of a new documentary that will premiere next month. Caryline Clark, engagement manager for Iowa P-B-S, says “Meredith Willson: America’s Music Man” follows his long and distinguished career as well as his devotion to his home state. Clark says the hour-long documentary highlights Willson’s work as a musician, a conductor, a composer and Iowa’s champion on Broadway. The documentary will air statewide on Iowa P-B-S on February 28th at 6:30 P-M, but there will also be two special early showings on the big screen, in Willson’s hometown of Mason City on February 11th and in Iowa City on February 12th.
ATTORNEY SHORTAGE
Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen says there’s a critical shortage of Iowa attorneys who’ll represent indigent defendants and it’s leading to trial delays. Christensen calls it a crisis. She’s urging Iowa lawmakers to raise the hourly rate for attorneys willing to be appointed to represent clients who cannot afford an attorney. Christensen says many are traveling long distances to be at hearings and trials and should be reimbursed for mileage. Christensen says she’s signed an order giving judges authority to conduct hearings online rather than in person to deal with some of the mileage challenges court-appointed attorneys face, particularly in rural Iowa.
IDA COUNTY FATALITY
One person has died in a collision between a car and a semi on U.S. High 20 around noon Wednesday in Ida County. The Iowa State Patrol says the driver of the car was at the stop sign on Highway 59 at the west junction with Highway 20, and failed to yield to an oncoming semi. The car pulled out in front of the semi and was struck by the truck. The unidentified driver of the car sustained fatal injuries in the collision of the two vehicles. The driver of the semi was not injured.
This fatal accident occured one day after another fatal accident north of Sioux Center, in Sioux County. The victim of that two-vehicle crash was 18 year old Emma Nibbelink of Luverne, Minnesota. The other driver in that crash, 25 year old Dylan Taylor of Le Mars, was not seriously hurt.
STATE REORGANIZATION
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds used Tuesday night’s Conditions of the State address to reveal a state government reorganization plan. Reynolds hired a private consulting firm to help develop the outline, which would shrink the number of state agencies from 37 to 16.
The governor’s aides say there will be no employee layoffs and more than 215 million dollars would be saved over the next four years under the reorganization plan. Reynolds also called on legislators to provide one-and-a-half million dollars in state funding to groups that would offer parental counseling to men and teenage boys in at-risk households. This would be in addition to continued state funding for groups that provide pregnancy tests and other resources for expectant mothers.
Reynolds has not proposed new state abortion restrictions. The governor and Republican lawmakers say they’re waiting for an Iowa Supreme Court ruling on a six-week abortion ban that’s been blocked from taking effect.
FEENSTRA COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT
U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra of Hull was selected to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee. The Ways and Means Committee involves policy on taxes, healthcare, trade and agriculture. While in the Iowa legislature, Feenstra’s work focused on economic issues and tax policy.
STATE TREASURER OATH
State Treasurer Roby Smith recited his oath of office in a ceremony at the Iowa Capitol Wednesday afternoon. Smith’s term officially began January 1st. He defeated Democrat Mike Fitzgerald, the nation’s longest serving state treasurer, by about two-and-a-half points. Smith thanked Governor Reynolds, who was at the event, for winning by 19 points — as Smith said that margin helped other G-O-P candidates, including him. Smith, who’s from Davenport, served a dozen years in the Iowa Senate. He’s the first Republican from Scott County to win statewide office in nearly 50 years. Former Scott County Supervisor Roger Jepsen was elected to one term in the U.S. Senate in 1978 and lost his 1984 race for reelection.
