TEN NAPEL – CROP CONDITIONS
There’s more than enough moisture available for crops planted in northwest Iowa. What’s unknown is when planting can be completed. ISU Extension Area Agronomist Leah Ten Napel says when they took their spring subsoil moisture readings, they found almost all of the measuring sites had above normal moisture available. After the rains of late April and early May, topsoil is almost saturated, too.
Ground is now saturated with moisture in most of the area, but Ten Napel says part of her reporting district are recovering from drought.
Ten Napel says it’s great to have the moisture, but especially in the northern part of the district, it’s causing some issues in this planting season.
Ten Napel says it’s difficult to say how much planting progress farmers have made this season.
Ten Napel says completion of planting by mid-April is the ideal, but wet conditions have farmers wondering when they can get into the fields again.
The big picture is that fields are wet, but farmers are not yet in dire straits
Ground is now saturated with moisture in most of the northern part of her crop reporting district, but Ten Napel says the southern part of her reporting district are still recovering from drought The latest drought monitor says as of April 25, all of northwest Iowa has emerged from drought conditions. Most of the rest of Iowa is anywhere from abnormally dry to extreme drought.
TAXIWAY PROJECT
The Le Mars city council has approved details of a paving project at the municipal airport.
After a public hearing Tuesday, a resolution approving of plans, specifications, form of contract, and project estimates was passed by the city council.
This is called the Airport Taxiway to New Hangars Project. Construction is to begin this September on a taxiway to new hangars that are planned for the airport.
Cost estimates are anywhere from 600-thousand dollars on the base bid to 1.06 million dollars for the base plus four alternates. Bids are due May 15, and a contract will be awarded on May 21. Construction is to be completed by Spring of 2025.
SIOUX FALLS MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR FORGERY
The Sioux County Attorney’s Office says a Sioux Falls man was sentenced to prison on a forgery conviction. County Attorney Thomas Kunstle says Donald Emile Joseph Chasse III, 32, was sentenced last week in Sioux County District Court. In November, 2022, Chasse entered four northwest Iowa bank branches, cashing forged checks totaling nearly 20-thousand dollars. When the checks were returned, the banks contacted Sioux Center Police. They used surveillance footage from the banks to identify Chasse as a suspect. He was originally charged with First Degree Theft, a class C felony, and four counts of Forgery, class D felonies. He was also charged as an habitual offender, having been previously convicted of two previous felonies. Chasse pled guilty to two counts of Forgery, and was sentenced to up to five years in prison. He was ordered to repay the banks for the stolen funds. Upon serving his Iowa sentence, Chasse will be turned over to South Dakota authorities, where is also wanted.
AKRON MAN ARRESTED
An Akron man was arrested Tuesday on an outstanding warrant. 34 year old Duran Abad Medina was wanted on an outstanding Plymouth County warrant for probation violation. He was originally charged with assault causing bodily injury or mental illness. The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office arrested Medina and booked him into the county jail. He is held on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.
CONSTRUCTION SITE ACCIDENT
Orange City Police say a Rock Valley man was injured in an accident at a work site Monday. 33 year old Mario Martinez Adame of Hull was operating a skid loader at a work site at Canal Drive SE, when he backed over a fellow worker, Ricardo Avila of Rock Valley, and injured his leg. Avila was taken to Orange City Health System for treatment.
COMPANY FINED FOR EMPLOYING KIDS AT SIOUX CITY PLANT
A Tennessee-based cleaning company will pay 649-thousand dollars in penalties for employing children at facilities that include the Sioux City Seaboard-Triumph pork plant. The US Department of Labor announced the fine. An investigation earlier this year found that children, some as young as 13, were put on overnight sanitation shifts at the Sioux City plant and Perdue farms facility in Virginia. At the Seaboard Triumph facility, federal investigators witnessed children concealing their faces carrying glittered school backpacks before starting their overnight shift. They learned children were assigned to use corrosive cleaners to clean dangerous kill floor equipment. Seaboard Triumph has since fired the company.
LE MARS FIRE RESCUE PROMOTIONS
A promotion ceremony took place before the city council met Tuesday. Two members of Le Mars Fire Rescue were promoted.
Colby Hannansch was promoted to Lieutenant. He joined Le Mars Fire Rescue in 2017. He was awarded Firefighter of the Year in 2021. Colby is a paid on-call volunteer. He works as a project manager for MidAmerican Energy.
Kevin Bolton was promoted to Captain, the highest rank among the volunteers at Le Mars Fire Rescue. He joined the department in 2004, and recently received a 20-year membership certificate. He has served as a Lieutenant for the past decade, and also serves as the Secretary/Treasurer for the department. Kevin is also a paid on-call volunteer. He works for the 185th Air Guard Fire Department in Sioux City.
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR TOUTS AMENDMENT TO IOWA CONSTITUTION
Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg is urging Iowans to vote for a proposed amendment to Iowa’s Constitution.
Reynolds was sworn in as governor in mid-2017 after long-time Governor Terry Branstad resigned to become U.S. Ambassador to China. Tom Miller, who was Iowa’s attorney general at the time, issued an opinion saying Reynolds — who was lieutenant governor — did not have the authority under the state’s constitution to pick a successor in mid-2017. Reynolds said she disagreed with the attorney general’s assessment and picked Gregg to take the role of lieutenant governor. The proposed amendment makes it clear governors have that authority.
Gregg is Iowa’s 47th lieutenant governor. The state’s lieutenant governors used to be elected independently, but after the passage of a constitutional amendment in 1988, candidates for governor AND lieutenant governor have been running together as a team, just like presidents and vice presidents.
