LE MARS WATER LINE SURVEY
The Le Mars Water Department is urging residents to fill out a questionaire concerning the kind of water lines and water treatment that are in your home.
Water Superintendent Rich Sudtegte says the survey is mandated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency
The survey is being distributed in Le Mars through the Water Department
Sudtegte Describes what information the EPA wants to know.
Sudtegte says it’s important that a large number of Le Mars residents respond to the online survey, so that water department employees won’t have to go door to door to gather information.
The survey wan be found on the City of Le Mars website or Facebook page.
DORDT TO BUILD TOWN HOMES FOR STUDENTS
Dordt University is going to build a series of town homes, intended to house more students on campus. The site is on 4th Avenue, adjacent to the President’s Home. There will be ten units housing a total of 60 students.
The University is partnering with Vision Builders to design and build the town homes. A home that is on the property will be removed in December. Construction will begin in late winter. The town homes are to be completed by August 2024.
Long-term, the town homes will provide relief for staff, faculty, and married students navigating the housing market as they relocate to Sioux Center.
Dordt’s enrollment continues to grow. Last fall a record overall enrollment of 1,911 students was reached. President Erik Hoekstra says Dordt’s undergraduate enrollment has grown by more than 15 percent over the last decade. Higher education overall has contracted by nearly 15 percent.
The Board of Trustees approved the concept of a plan at their October meeting.
GRASSLEY PROPOSES IMMIGRATION POLICY CHANGES
Senator Chuck Grassley says if Republicans in the U-S Senate stick together, they may be able to force Democrats to put immigration policy changes in an aide package for Israel and Ukraine.
President Biden has proposed security funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan along with targeted funding to address U-S border security, fentanyl smuggling and help U-S cities struggling to accommodate migrants. Grassley says a bipartisan group of senators are discussing the addition of immigration policy changes that also would address border security.
Earlier this month, the U-S House passed a bill to provide over 14-billion dollars in aid to Israel and cut funding to the I-R-S, but the U-S Senate’s Democratic leader says senators will consider a bipartisan package that aligns with President Biden’s request.
CAASA REPORT AND REQUEST
CAASA, the Centers Against Abuse and Sexual Assault, had representatives before the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors Tuesday, reporting on their activities, and making a budget request for fiscal 2024. Executive Director Stephanie Henrich and Victims Advocate Kristi Erickson met with the Supervisors. They told the Supervisors that in the current fiscal year, they have provided 36 survivors of abuse with direct support from local advocates. These services include counseling, crisis response, food, clothing and shelter. They have also provided assault prevention education training to school groups, businesses, and other organizations in the county. Much of their work is done through volunteers. CAASA serves 19 northwest Iowa counties, including Plymouth, with state and federal funding totaling less than 600-thousand dollars per year. Most of that goes to salaries, leaving little left to rent, utilities, and other expenses. They asked the Supervisors for 10-thousand dollars in the next county budget to support their operations in Plymouth County.
TAYLOR INTENDS TO FINISH HIS CURRENT TERM
The husband of a Sioux City woman convicted of voter fraud says he intends to complete his term on the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors. Jeremy Taylor’s term ends next year. His wife was convicted last week of illegally collecting votes in Sioux City’s Vietnamese community for her husband when he was running for office in 2020. Mathew Ung, chairman of the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors, is among those who’ve called on Taylor to resign.
During Tuesday’s Woodbury County Board of Supervisors meeting, Ung again questioned whether Taylor was unaware of his wife’s election-related activities.
Taylor has agreed to step down from his role as vice chair of the county board.
Taylor and his wife are the parents of six children. Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill is calling on the board to ask Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird to investigate both Jeremy and Kim Taylor’s activities during the primary and general elections in 2020. Taylor, who is a Republican, has accused Gill, who is a Democrat, of trying to get him fired from his job in the Sioux City school district while he was deployed to Iraq. Taylor is an Iowa National Guard chaplain. Taylor did resign from the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors in early 2020 after the address listed on his voter registration was successfully challenged. Taylor lost a bid for congress in the June Primary that year, then was reelected to the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors in November of 2020.
CORN HARVEST VIRTUALLY COMPLETE
The U-S-D-A crop report shows just a few farmers still combining corn in southern Iowa. Last week’s report showed twelve percent of the corn in south-central Iowa remained to be harvested, while all the other districts had less than four percent remaining. The corn harvest ends up nine days ahead of the five-year average. Farmers will be hoping for more moisture from now until spring, as the crop report shows only 33 percent of the state with topsoil moisture that’s adequate and only 26 percent of the subsoil moisture condition is rated adequate.
OTTERS AND BOBCATS SEE COMEBACK IN IOWA
The Iowa D-N-R is easing off the collection of information on bobcats and otters in the state as it appears the two species are doing well. D-N-R furbearer biologist Vince Evelsizer says they had been collecting teeth samples from trappers who caught the animals to keep an eye on the age distribution of otters and bobcats. The didn’t want over harvesting and he says they will still keep an eye on the populations in other ways to be sure their numbers don’t drop too low. Evelsizer says the re-emergence of both bobcats and otters is considered to be a wildlife success story for both of them after they had disappeared from the state.
IOWA ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP COST STUDY
The Iowa Environmental Council has found Iowans will pay 333 million dollars over the next five years to remove nitrates from drinking water supplies if nitrogen pollution rates don’t change. The Iowa Environmental Council reviewed data from the state agency that issues permits for construction and operation of livestock confinements and the Iowa Environmental Council cites recent research indicating nitrates in drinking water increase the risk of premature births. A spokeswoman for the group also points to this year’s Cancer in Iowa report which found that Iowa has the second-highest overall incidence of cancer cases in the country. The Iowa Environmental Council’s report concludes every Iowan is paying direct or indirect costs associated with nitrates.
