GEHLEN BAND
Members of the Gehlen Catholic marching band took part in the Holiday Bowl football game in San Diego, CA . 30 students and 8 chaperones attended the trip. They had been planning since 2019 for this trip.. Instrumental Director Nathan Klaumann said they raised money for trip expenses by covering silage piles and selling Meats and Sweets. Any student in grades 7-12 who participated in Competition Marching Band during the 2022 season were eligible to board the bus for San Diego on Christmas Day. Students took part in parade festivities, the Bowl game halftime performance, and sightseeing around the city. Students were able to perform with other high school musicians, sit next to collegiate marching bands, and meet some of the football players.
BRIDGE REPLACEMENT
The Plymouth County road Department has closed a rural road in Union Township, in order to replace a bridge. 240th west of Quartz Ave was closed Friday. The construction project is to be completed by mid-May.
ORANGE CITY COUNCIL
The Orange City council meets in regular session today. Their agenda includes public hearings on two project. One is for authorization of a Loan Agreement to raise funds to build infrastructure around the MOC-Floyd Valley Elementary School project. The city plans to issue up to 2.7 million dollars in General Obligation Capital Loan Notes for this project. The second public hearing is for the issue of up to 700-thousand dollars in Capital Loan Notes for the Puddle Jumper Trail Park Project… The city council also consider approval of transfer of a 4.5 acre parcel of land to the city of Alton. This action will allow for Alton to annex the property. The parcel is located at the southeast corner of the Gelderland Addition, adjacent to the new MOC-Floyd Valley Elementary School.
FEEDLOT FORUM
The annual Feedlot Forum takes place tomorrow at Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center.
This year’s forum features ways to add income to the beef feedlot enterprise.
Zach Smith from South Dakota State University will discuss methods to increase the nutritional value of high moisture corn and high moisture ear corn.
Wes Gentry from Midwest PMS will discuss how to interpret corn feed tests and new changes for cattle implants.
Dan Anderson from Iowa State University will present new strategies to add value
to beef manure.
The highlight of the meeting is a grain and cattle market outlook from Caitlyn Grudzinski of Commodity Ingredient and Hedging.
IOWA CCI ADDRESS
Democrats and progressives say polls show the top agenda items Republican lawmakers plan to pursue in the 2023 legislature are unpopular with Iowans. Matt Sinovic, executive director of Progress Iowa, hosted what he called “The People’s Condition of the State” event at the Capitol last week.
Governor Reynolds unveiled her latest plan to provide state money to parents who send their kids to private schools. Mazie Stilwell of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa says her organization is on high alert because she expects the Republican-led legislature to pass new abortion restrictions.
Some labor union advocates predict G-O-P lawmakers to try to pass more restrictions on bargaining rights and pass new limits on benefits. Peter Hird is an officer of the Iowa Federation of Labor A-F-L-C-I-O.
Connie Ryan of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa says despite November’s passage of a constitutional amendment on gun rights, polls show Iowans oppose repeal of gun safety laws.
The Republican Leader in the Iowa House says more Iowans voted for the gun rights amendment than for any candidate running for statewide office, showing Iowans want their freedom to carry weapons protected.
FIRST LOOK AT SCHOOL CHOICE
Majority Republicans wasted no time on Governor Kim Reynolds’ school choice plan. Late last week, hundreds gathered in person and online for the first subcommittee hearing on the governor’s plan. Arlene McClintock says private school was out of reach when she was growing up and being bullied at school. She’s leading a group called Hispanics Aligned for Choice in Education Reform.
The governor’s office estimates when fully implemented, the parents of about 40-thousand private school students would be getting at least 341 MILLION dollars in state money annually to cover tuition and other private school expenses. Justin Hollinrake told lawmakers sending that much state money to support private schools like likely weaken schools where his relatives live in rural Iowa.
Governor Reynolds is proposing state-funded Educational Savings Accounts for low income parents who enroll their children in a private school over the next two years, but in the third year the parents of every Iowa private school student would be eligible for thousands of dollars in state money to cover private school expenses.The newly-formed House Education Reform Committee will hold a public hearing on the bill on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
FEENSTRA-PETROL RESERVE
The U.S. House, late last week, passed a measure which prohibits the sale and export of crude oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China. 4th District Representative Randy Feenstra of Hull says China is a threat to the U.S. economy, energy and military security. Feenstra, who voted for the bill, is concerned over China’s attempts to purchase U.S. farmland, and slowing investigations into the origins of the Covid 19 pendemic.
INJURY ACCIDENT
Two people received minor injury Saturday morning in an accident on U.S. Highway 18 in Sioux County. The Sheriffs Office says Fernando Mercado, 22, of Sioux Center, was driving a pickup pulling an enclosed trailer east on U.S. 18, when he lost control of the vehicle, and entered the south ditch. The trailer came to rest of its side. Mercado was transported to Hegg Health in Rock Valley. A passenger, Otilia Mercado, 55, of Sioux Center, was transported to Sioux Center Health. Both had minor injuries. Damage to the pickup and trailer was an estimated 10-thousand dollars. Hull Ambulance and Fire Department assisted at the accident scene.
EMS APP
Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg says the State of Iowa will be testing a smart phone app that could improve emergency response times in rural Iowa. Gregg says the United Hatzalah app is like Uber, but for E-M-S — a way to crowd source emergency responders. In Jerusalem, 62-hundred trained medics are alerted to emergencies by an app on their smartphone and they respond on specially-equipped motorcycles — stabilizing the patient until an ambulance arrived. Gregg says the average response time to emergency calls in Jerusalem is now about 90 seconds. Gregg says the state of Iowa will launch a pilot project to see if the system could be adapted to address the lack of ambulance services in rural Iowa.
