SCOTT VISITS LE MARS
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott made a campaign stop in Le Mars Wednesday. The GOP Presidential candidate spoke to some 200 people at the Uptown Event Center in Le Mars. Scott wants to break a sense of victimhood he sees in America. In order to protect America, Scott says we must uphold and strengthen law enforcement, secure the southern border…
…stand up to China…
… and support education choice for all American families.
Senator Scott also announced a new plan to empower parents and protect children. Scott campaigned in Le Mars and Sioux Center yesterday Wednesday and is scheduled to make stops in southeast Iowa today. Republican presidential candidates Mike Pence and Vivek Ramaswamy are also campaigning in Iowa today.
PLYMOUTH COUNTY ARRESTS
Two Sioux City residents were arrested in Plymouth County after a motor vehicle stop. The Plymouth County Sheriff’s office conducted the traffic stop on 18th St SW in Le Mars. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Barry Haefs, age 47 of Sioux City, Iowa. Haefs was placed under arrest and transported to the Plymouth County Jail. At the jail Haefs was found to be under the influence of a drug other than alcohol by a drug recognition expert with the Le Mars Police Department. He was booked into the Plymouth County Jail for OWI 2nd offense, and several other motor vehicle violations. A female passenger in the vehicle gave a false name and date of birth to law enforcement. She was eventually identified as Heather Aranda, age 46 of Sioux City, Iowa. Aranda was found to have two valid arrest warrants out of Woodbury County, Iowa: One for child neglect, and the second warrant for theft in the 4th degree. Aranda was placed under arrest and transported to the Plymouth County Jail. Aranda was booked for providing false identifying information, and her arrest warrants. The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Le Mars Police Department.
IRS RECORDS LOST
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is calling for an investigation of the Internal Revenue Service after a watchdog report found the agency lost backup data from millions of taxpayers’ returns. Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, says I-R-S bungling has led to pallets full of tax records either going missing or being left in insecure locations. In one case, the agency sent dozens of cartridges containing some 200-thousand photos of tax records to an outside contractor for reformatting. That contractor went out of business in 2018 and the records vanished. Grassley says after hundreds of millions of dollars were spent to upgrade the agency’s computers, the I-R-S has shown it is incompetent. Grassley says the information from the lost records could be usedto commit identity theft or tax fraud by people he describes as “nefarious actors.”
KUM & GO SALE
The sale of the Iowa-based Kum & Go convenience store chain is now complete. The Salt Lake City-based Maverik convenience store chain announced that it has completed the acquisition of approximately 400 Kum & Go stores. The sale also includes the Solar Transport trucking company. Bill Krause and his father-in-law T.S. Gentle started Kum & Go in Hampton in 1959 and it has been run by the family until the sale. The purchase price was not disclosed, and Maverik says this will expand their company to more than 800 stores in 20 states.
WILDFIRE SMOKE RETURNS
Smoke from the Canadian wildfires is showing up over of Iowa again. National Weather Service Meteorologist Dylan Dodson, says it’s most notable in over the western parts of the state. He says it is visible on on satellite with a faint hazy look to it. Dodson says things are different from July when the smoke was clearly visible across the state and made an impact on the sunset and sunrise, as they are not seeing much of anything as far as visibility reductions. The D-N-R Air Quality monitor Wednesday did not showing any air that is at the unhealthy level in the state.
