SUMMER HEAT FOR RAGBRAI
Those thousands of bicyclists who will trek across Iowa next week will face many challenges, not the least of which will be Iowa’s summer heat. Meteorologist Kristy Carter, at the National Weather Service, says they’re predicting a heat wave to arrive right around the time the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa begins on Sunday, meaning, those RAGBRAI riders will be roasting for much of the journey. Carter says they’re predicting highs in the mid to upper 90s, and heat index values may reach at least 100 degrees. Depending on the humidity levels, the weather service may be issuing heat advisories or even heat warnings next week. RAGBRAI begins Sunday in Sioux City. The riders will travel through southeast Plymouth County, including Kingsley, on their way to their first overnight stop at Storm Lake.
STREET REOPENS
One traffic note this morning. Le Mars Street Superintendent Scott Kneip says they will open the 18th St. S.W. detour back up to traffic this morning at 8 a.m. The street was closed because of a railroad crossing upgrade.
KLEMME STEPS DOWN
A former Le Mars-area legislator and school board member, Ralph Klemme, says he will not seek reelection to the Floyd Valley Healthcare Board. Klemme has served ten years on the board.
In those ten years, expansion at Floyd Valley Healthcare was the biggest accomplishment.
Klemme says he’s thankful to have been in positions of public service, including the hospital board.
Klemme “just wanted health care to be better” during his time on the board. He took a patient’s point of view.
Klemme says he strived to bring the best people available into the hospital operation.
PLYWOOD TRAIL CHANGE ORDER
The Le Mars city council this week approved a change order in the Plywood Trail Phase 1B Project. The Iowa Department of Transportation, the project engineer and the contractor, have been working on reducing costs on the project. The low bid for the project, 2.3 million dollars, came in over the project estimate. The council approved modifications in construction of a retaining wall that would save some 375-thousand dollars in construction costs. The revised project cost is now 1.93 million dollars.
DROUGHT MAP SHOWS IMPROVEMENT
The new map from the U-S Drought monitor show some slight improvement following rains across the state. All of the state still has some sort of drought rating, but the area that was in extreme drought dropped below four percent in the last week. The severe drought areas dropped from nearly 39 percent to less than 14 percent. With those percentages dropping, nearly 60 percent of the state is now in moderate drought, and around 22 percent is abnormally dry. The worst drought conditions remain in northwest and southeast sections of the state.
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION HIGHER
Iowa’s unemployment rate held steady in June at two-point-seven percent. Iowa Workforce Development spokesperson, Jesse Dougherty, says the even more notable was the fact that our labor force participation rate has continued to rise throughout this year. It was the fourth month in a row it rose and is at one of the highest numbers in the country. Dougherty says they do have some information from surveys of those entering the workforce and nearly every one of the Iowans who entered the labor force did so by finding a job. It was the second straight month that the unemployment rate was unchanged.
