LE MARS SCHOOL BOARD SPECIAL MEETING
The Le Mars Community School Board will hold a special meeting this afternoon. The Board of Education will present their initial bargaining proposal for a fiscal year 2024-25 contract with staff.
The meeting is at 5 p.m. at the Education Service Center.
LE MARS POLICE COMMUNITY MEETING
Le Mars Police will hold a community meeting tonight, to share with the public information on a couple of important topics. Chief Kevin Vande Vegte says these meetings are done periodically to connect with citizens of Le Mars.
One of the topics that will be discussed are active threats to the community.
Police have been working with schools and business on this topic, but now want to engage the general public about it.
The other topic is Internet Crimes Against Children.
There will also be a general discussion of items from the audience.
The meeting is this evening from 6 to 8 pm at the Le Mars Convention Center, lower level.
GRANT APPLICATIONS
Applications for federal funding of two road construction projects in Plymouth County were approved by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
Zach Holtgrewe of the county highway department presented the applications. One would repave C66, between C60 and the city of Kingsley. The estimated cost of the project is 1.84 million dollars. Under the federal Surface Transportation Block Grant application, the federal share of the costs would be 1.2 million, and Plymouth County would cover 644-thousand.
The other project is to place a box culvert across K64, 1.2 miles south of C30, in Marion Township, east of Le Mars. The cost of the project is estimated at 430-thousand dollars. Federal funds would cover 80%, or 344-thousand dollars, with the remaining 20%, or 86,600 dollars, covered by Plymouth County.
If approved, both projects would take place in fiscal year 2028.
REPORT: CANCER CASES ARE RISING IN IOWA WHILE CANCER DEATHS FALL
A new report estimates 21-thousand Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer this year, an increase of 200 from last year, while the projected number of Iowans who will die from cancer this year fell to around 61-hundred. Iowa Cancer Registry director Mary Charlton, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa, says breast, prostate, lung and colorectal make up roughly half of all cancer cases in Iowa. In terms of cancer deaths, lung cancer continues to be the most common cause of cancer deaths, accounting for nearly one out of every four cancer deaths in Iowa.
IOWA SENATE PASSES RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT
The Iowa Senate has passed a bill modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, says court rulings have infringed on the free exercise of religion and the bill outlines how state courts are to decide cases in the future.
Thirty-one Republicans in the state senate voted for it, while the 16 Senate Democrats opposed it. Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, says the bill would open the door to all sorts of discrimination.
Senator Jeff Taylor, a Republican from Sioux Center, says the bill makes it clear the Constitution is the law of the land.
An identical version of the bill is eligible for debate in the Republican-led Iowa House.
BILL SETS $135 FINE FOR LEFT LANE LOITERERS
The Iowa Senate has passed a that would establish a 135-dollar fine for motorists caught lingering too long in the left-hand lane of roadways. Current Iowa law requires drivers to stay in the right-hand lane unless they’re passing another vehicle, avoiding an obstruction or preparing to take an exit that requires driving in the left lane. Senator Mike Klemish of Spillville says the bill strengthens those provisions by letting law enforcement issue warnings for driving too long in the left land lane. The bill then allows the fine tp go into effect on July 1st of next year. The bill passed on a 38 to eight vote. One critic says he’s concerned about the safety of bicyclists as long lines of vehicles in the right hand lane could make it difficult to drivers to see bicyclists riding along the side of a road.
MAKING ‘SWATTING’ CALLS A FELONY
The Iowa Senate has unanimously voted to make it a felony to call 9-1-1 and falsely report a mass shooting, a hostage situation or some other allegation that would prompt a massive law enforcement response. They’ve been dubbed “SWATTING” calls. It’s a reference to “Special Weapons and Tactics” or SWAT teams used by police in these situations. Officials in Iowa and around the country say SWATTING calls are becoming more frequent.
SUPREME COURT TAKES UP SIOUX CITY CALL CASE
The Iowa Supreme Court is considering a Sioux City case involving the right to talk to a lawyer when you are taken into custody. The case involves Faron Starr who was taken into custody in 2022 after a stabbing and the alleged theft of guns in a separate break in. The district court ruled his confession was inadmissible after police refused to let him make a call during questioning. During oral arguments before the Supreme Court Monday evening, prosecutor Thomas Ogden told the justices officers didn’t allow Starr’s call as the guns were missing.
He says there are exceptions for such instances. Chief Justice Susan Christensen asked how this case was different from other cases.
Ogden says they didn’t know if the guns were left where a child or someone else could get them. Starr’s Attorney Lucas Taylor says his client’s rights were violated.
Taylor says it was six hours before Starr was apprehended. He says there is a very narrow public safety exception, and cited an example of where the exception might be used.
Starr pled not guilty and the case is pending the ruling by the Supreme Court. The justices will consider the oral arguments and make a ruling at a later day. Starr is currently in jail on an unrelated murder charge.
SENATE VOTES TO END GENDER BALANCE RULE FOR BOARDS, COMMISSIONS
The Iowa Senate has voted to repeal a law that requires state and local boards and commissions to have an equal number of men and women. Iowa was the first state in the nation to pass a gender balance requirement and Governor Kim Reynolds is asking lawmakers to end it. Republican Senator Annette Sweeney of Iowa Falls said she never wants to learn she’s been selected as the “token female” on a board and wants to be chosen because she earned it. The bill passed with the support of Republican senators and one Democrat. Other Democrats said the gender balance rule should be retained because more qualified women sometimes don’t get leadership opportunities until that less qualified man is taken out of the equation.
