DeSANTIS CAMPAIGN THROUGH IOWA
Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is on a three day campaign swing through Iowa following this week’s debate with seven other candidates. DeSantis says he chose to emphasize his record as Florida’s governor rather than quarrel with the others.
DeSantis and his family stopped at the Field of Dreams Thursday night and DeSantis spoke to a crowd in Rock Rapids Friday morning.
DeSantis also has promised to classify Mexican drug cartels that are shipping fentanyl into the U-S as foreign terrorist organizations.
Former Iowa G-O-P co-chair Cody Hoefert of Rock Rapids also spoke to the crowd and said after watching Wednesday’s debate, he decided to endorse DeSantis.
SIDS WALK
Seven locations throughout the state host the Iowa SIDS Foundation Walk for the Future this morning. One of the locations is 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. 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.
MUSEUM FALL TRIP
The Plymouth County Historical Museum fall bus trip is headed north this year. Judy Bowman, director of museum, says the trip is Titled “Pipes and Stein”.
The rest of the trip will extend east to New Ulm.
The registration deadline for the event is coming soon.
The bus will leave Thursday, Oct 12 from the Museum in Le Mars and return Saturday, October 14. For more information, contact the Plymouth County Historical Museum at 546-7002 ro 539-0223
THE HEAT WAVE HAS PASSED
That excessive heat warning held on for a fifth consecutive day for 28 counties in southern Iowa until early Friday evening. Temperatures will stay hot, just not as hot as earlier this week. Meteorologist Alexis Jimenez, with the National Weather Service, says the extreme heat wave is finally cooling off, though it’ll be gradual as a cold front arrives. Today, Jimenez says temperatures should be closer to normal for Iowa in late August. Forecasters say some areas of the state may see highs next week only in the 70s. That’s a big change from this week, as multiple records were set in triple-digits, including 105 degrees in Waterloo on Wednesday, and a heat index of 122 degrees in Sioux City on Monday.
FELONY DRUG POSSESSION
A Sibley man was arrested Friday afternoon after a motor vehicle accident near Sioux Center. The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office arrested Marvin Lopau, age 50, of Sibley, IA. The motor vehicle accident occurred on Thursday evening on 410th street, a mile east of Sioux Center. Lopau’s vehicle crossed the center line and sideswiped a tractor coming from the opposite direction. There were no injuries, but methamphetamine was found in Lopau’s possession. This was his third meth possession offense, a Class D felony.
GAS PRICES DROP BEFORE LABOR DAY
This is the last weekend before Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer, and gasoline prices are inching downward as demand drops with less travel, though prices are still high compared to a year ago. Triple-A-Iowa spokesman Brian Ortner says crude oil prices are gradually falling and that translates to a drop in prices at the pump. The motor club says the average price for a gallon of self-serve unleaded is now three-61 in Iowa, which is 21-cents below the national average. On Labor Day last year, prices were averaging three-43 a gallon. Triple-A says the highest gas prices in the state are in both Ames and Dubuque at three-76 a gallon, while the lowest prices are in Waterloo/Cedar Falls at three-47.
POSTAGE STAMPS HONOR IOWA BRIDGES
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”. One of them shows depicts the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge which links Council Bluffs to Omaha, Nebraska. Another is 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. 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.
