HINTON SCHOOLS OPEN HOUSE
There’s an open house in Hinton tonight.
Voters in the Hinton Community School District will vote next month on four ballot questions which relate to the school district’s proposed expansion project. One question seeks approval for selling over 16 million dollars in bonds to expand school facilities. The other three ballot questions relate to funding for the project. The open house is from 5-30 to 7-30 at the high school/middle school library.
MEETINGS TONIGHT
The Plymouth County Fair Board meets tonight at 7-30 pm at the lower level of the Le Mars Convention Center. Their agenda includes signup for the Iowa Association of Fairs conference, to take place December 8 through 10 in Des Moines. Discussion items include fiar groudnd snow removal and the Pioneer Village Christmas.
The Plymouth County Conservation Board meets tonight at 7 at Hillview Recreation Area.
Their agenda includes Master Planning for trhe Hillview Recreation Area, the new maintenance building, and land acquisition. there will also be opening discussions on next years budget.
RECORDERS REPORT
Plymouth County Treasurer Jolynn Goodchild submitted a quarterly report to the County Board of Supervisors this week. Goodchild reported that total fees for the quarter ending September 30 was 202-thousand dollars, of which the county received 58-thousand, or 30%. Transfer taxes were 85-thousand of the total.
Sales, Use and LOST taxes totaled 57-thousand dollars in the quarter. Plymouth County received 15-thousand, 700 dollars in mortgage fees.
There were 199 applications for passports, and 239 passport photos.
This is the time to renew ATV/ORV and Boat registrations. There were nearly 500 processed in this category.
There were 42 marriage license applications between July and September in Plymouth County.
STORM LAKE SCHOOL THREAT
Storm Lake Police took several juveniles into custody after a reported threat Wednesday morning at the Storm Lake Elementary School. According to Storm Lake Police, officers got word of the threat during the morning drop-off period. School staff and officers quickly escorted students into the elementary building and into their classrooms. All other schools in Storm Lake were immediately notified, and they were also put on lockdown as a precautionary measure. Three juveniles were taken into custody for questioning. The Storm Lake Police Department says there is no active threat, and all lockdowns were lifted later in the morning. The school day continued as planned at the Storm Lake schools, with increased police presence throughout the day.
SHERIFFS REPORT
The Plymouth County Sheriff reported on the latest quarter’s activities. Sheriff Jeff Te Brink says their treasury report indicates a drop of 8-thousand dollars in the department’s running balance from July through September, to just over 12-thousand dollars. This is due in part to Service fees being lower from the previous quarter. He says since covid, the number of civil papers services have gone down. The number of complaints to the Sheriffs office was 1459, an average amount for the quarter. Total E911 calls were 1761, down nearly 700 in the quarter. Te Brink says this is due to fewer auto-dials from cel-phones. Total jail revenue for the quarter was 110-thousand dollars, up 45-hundred dollars in the quarter. Most of that amount, 84-thousnd dollars, was from housing federal inmates for the US Marshals Service. There was also an increase from Bureau of Prisons inmates.
IOWA AG OPPOSES MASSACHUSETTS HOG LAW
Iowa’s Attorney General is leading a 13 state coalition opposing a new Massachusetts law that puts restrictions on the sale of pork based on how the animals are raised. A statement from Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office says the Massachusetts law goes even further than a similar California law. Shipments of non-compliant pork into the state would be banned even pork meets all Iowa and federal safety and quality standards. A-G Bird’s statement says these strict new mandates will create extreme costs and regulations to compete in the industry, forcing many family hog farms to close shop.
GRASSLEY SAYS NO U.S. SOLDIERS TO ISRAEL
The Pentagon is moving an aircraft carrier strike group, as well as squadrons of fighter jets, closer to Israel following the weekend terrorist attacks, but Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley doubts the U-S will dispatch soldiers directly into Israel — and into harm’s way.
Saturday’s attacks by Hamas (hah-MAHS) left a thousand “innocent civilians” dead, according to Grassley, along with at least 11 Americans. The Republican notes how one American media outlet had four sources linking the attacks to Iran, in addition to Hamas leaders thanking Iran for the backing, but Iran’s leaders deny any involvement.
The attacks are a “sobering wake-up call to the world” and to America, Grassley says, as “state-sponsored terrorist groups want to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth.”
He calls the attacks on Israel a threat to the entire Middle East. A group called the Party for Socialism and Liberation organized an event in downtown Des Moines Tuesday night which it called a Rally for a Free Palestine.
MORE CHARGES IN SIOUX COUNTY CASE
Wednesday, the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office filed additional charges on Andrew Joslin, age 35, of Hospers, IA. The charges stem from an ongoing investigation that began on September 25, in Hospers, IA. Joslin was charged with Two Counts of Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree, Two Counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, and one Count of Possession of Depiction of a Minor in a Sex Act. Joslin remains in custody at the Sioux County Jail.
NO NEW TRIAL FOR DEFENDANT IN TIBBETTS DEATH
The Iowa Court of Appeals has denied a request for a new trial by the man convicted of murdering University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts in Brooklyn in 2018. Cristhian Bahena Rivera (Christian buh-HAY-nuh) appealed his first-degree murder conviction, arguing statements he made to police early on should have been suppressed. He also argued statements from a jail inmate and the investigation of a man for sex trafficking in the Brooklyn area were newly discovered evidence that should require a new trial. The Appeals Court ruling says there were repeated references to Bahena that he was free to leave as officers questioned him, but he chose to stay and continue the questioning. The ruling also says the confession and investigation do not align with much of the other evidence in this case, and neither one would have changed the guilty outcome.
HEALTH CARE MERGER CALLED OFF
One of Iowa’s largest health care providers, is no longer planning a merger with a New Mexico-based heatlh care system. West Des Moines-based UnityPoint operates 32 hospitals and 280 clinics in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. UnityPoint announced earlier this year that it was negotiating a merger with New Mexico-based Presbyterian Healthcare Services, which operates nine hospitals. This is the second round of merger talks UnityPoint has started, but then tabled. In 2019, negotiations with South Dakota based Sanford Health stalled. That merger would have created one of the largest health care systems in the country.
