MORE WELLS EXPANSION
Wells intends to expand their New York production plant, but the size and cost of the facility won’t be known until later.
Mark Meyer COO Wells Enterprises says that’s because they are not sure which product lines will be expanded in New York at this point.
Expansion will be more efficient for manufacture and distribution of product.
This facility will take pressure off the Le Mars plant
Wells had been sending people from Le Mars to New York to help with the current facility. Meyer is not sure exact size of the new plant. Capital costs of the expansion aren’t well defined, either.
Wells Enterprises announced earlier this week that they intend to more than double the size of their Dunkirk, New York facility, building a new plant right next to the current one.
SIDS WALK
The Iowa SIDS Foundation is holding their annual “Walk for the Future” fundraiser Saturday (August 26) at the Le Mars Municipal Park Shelter House. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. with the walk at 9:30.
Just before the walk, there is a brief ceremony including a roll call of babies lost to sudden infant death syndrome and a balloon release.
Coordinator Pam Jeneary told KLEM news that thanks to the Le Mars United Way, newborns receive a special gift from the SIDS Foundation.
She also talked about the ABC’s for newborn safe sleep
The event also features a raffle, silent auction, door prizes, and lunch after the walk provided by the Plymouth County Pork Producers and Hy-Vee. The event has been held in Le Mars since 2015.
HINSON PROPOSES OVERRIDING CALIFORNIA PORK BILL
A bill intended to help Iowa pork producers is getting pushback from those who say the bill would undo hundreds of laws in other states.
Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson’s bill would override a California law set to take effect next year. That bill requires that bacon and other uncooked pork products sold in California must come from operations that have 24 square foot pens for sows.
Hinson says activists in California should not be able to tell Iowa pork producers how to run their operations.
A bipartisan group of 150 House members also have warned adding Hinson’s so-called “EATS Act” to the Farm Bill would kill the Farm Bill’s chance for passage this year. The lawmakers say Hinson’s proposal would harm pork producers who’ve complied with California’s rules and would overturn other state laws about invasive pests, livestock diseases and puppy mills. The National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau say it will cost 350 million dollars to retrofit U-S hog confinements to meet California’s rules, but the U-S Supreme Court upheld California’s law in May. A coalition of groups lobbying against Hinson’s proposal say it would open the floodgates to China’s take-over of American agriculture.
IOWA BRIDGES ON POSTAGE STAMPS
The U-S Postal Service is issuing a new set of four stamps depicting the architectural beauty of bridges, and two of those bridges lead to Iowa. The series of stamps is simply called “Bridges” and one of them shows an aerial view of the recently-completed Interstate 74 bridge over the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities, officially known as the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge, which connects Bettendorf and Moline. Another stamp depicts a span at the other end of the state: The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge which links Council Bluffs to Omaha, Nebraska. The others are the Skydance Bridge in Oklahoma City and the Arrigoni Bridge connecting Middletown and Portland, Connecticut. The 25-cent stamps are for Presorted First Class Mail and they went on sale Thursday.
For information about the stamps including how to order a First Day of Issue Postmark, visit: https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2023/pb22628/html/info_005.htm.
CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT
A construction accident late Thursday afternoon caused serious injury to a Rock Valley man. The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office investigated a construction vehicle accident that occurred on 290th Street, one mile north of Rock Valley, IA, around 5:19 p.m.
David Ver Burg, age 49, of Rock Valley, was driving a forklift eastbound on 290th Street when he lost control on the gravel, entered the south ditch and rolled. Ver Burg was transported by Rock Valley Ambulance to Hegg Health Center for treatment of serious injuries. The forklift sustained approximately $12,000 in damage.
The sheriff’s office was assisted by the Rock Valley Police Department, Rock Valley Ambulance and Rock Valley Fire Department.
FIRE DRIVES ISU CLASSES ONLINE
A fire at Iowa State University’s power plant has disrupted the cooling system on the Ames campus. According to an I-S-U alert, as many classes as possible were moved online Thursday. All I-S-U classes will be online Friday. University officials are encouraging students living in the dorms to go home for the weekend if they can. I-S-U’s main library has been closed and isn’t scheduled to reopen until Monday. Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine on the south side of Ames is not affected by the outage.
STATE FORESTER TAKES SEEDLING ORDERS NEXT WEEK
One week from today (Friday), the Iowa D-N-R’s State Forest Nursery in Ames will open its phone lines and website for taking seedling orders — both for this fall and next spring. Nursery manager Pat Griffin says they sell the bare-root tree and shrub seedlings in bundles of 25 and some years, sell as many as a million seedlings. Varieties include 23 species of native hardwoods, along with eight evergreen species and 15 smaller trees and shrubs. While orders can be made starting September 1st, the seedlings won’t start shipping out until November 1st. Prices range from 80-cents to a-dollar-20 per seedling. They’re sold in three age classifications, and range in size from 10 to 30 inches, depending on the species. Sales run through May. Orders can be placed starting September 1st at 800-865-2477 or online at nursery-dot-iowadnr-dot-gov.
MEDICAID PAYS OUT MORE FOR COUNSELING
State officials have significantly raised Iowa Medicaid’s reimbursement rate for substance abuse counseling. The 2023 Iowa legislature approved a 13 million dollar increase in Iowa’s Medicaid program for both substance abuse and mental health services. Three million dollars of that is being used to nearly double Medicaid’s reimbursement rate for substance abuse counseling. Seven million dollars is being used to provide a more than 18 percent increase in what Medicaid will cover for a counseling session with a mental health professional. The other three million dollars is being spent to raise the daily Medicaid reimbursement for in-patient psychiatric care for children.
