LE MARS FIRE RESCUE JULY REPORT
The monthly report from Le Mars Fire Rescue shows a total of 193 service calls in July, 142 of them were EMS/rescue calls, transfers and second calls. There were 18 fire/rescue calls, Some of Fire Rescue’s other activities included holding rthe 4th of July Fireworks display; 33 members donated110 hours to provide Fire and EMS coverage at the Plymouth County Fair. They also worked with FEMA on flood issues, and implemented part of the city’s disaster plan due to the damaging storm earlier this week.
ALTON FLOOD DAMAGES
The bridge crossing the Floyd River in Alton stands as a symbol of the damage suffered in the city from the flood last June. Alton city clerk Dale Oltmans says the bridge across 3rd Street remains closed, because of road damages caused by the flood.
3rd Street repairs aren’t going to take place anytime soon, until federal officials decide how they will help the city recover from damages.
Oltmans says the road damages will cost an estimated 1.5 million dollars to repair.
But there’s more damage beyond 3rd Street. The city’s waste treatment lagoons on the south side of town were overwhelmed, and need extensive repair.
Olmans says fixes for these issues will be slow in coming.
Erosion of the river and the waste treatment cells adjacent to it will require extensive excavation.
The flood of a month ago is the latest in a string of record floods which have struck the city over the past eleven years.
The latest high-water mark was up to nine feet above the previous record flood stage.
NAIG SAYS LAWMAKERS COULD CONSIDER ‘GUIDELINES’ FOR PIPELINES
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig (NEGG, rhymes with “egg”) says he’s concerned about what state law says about how crop land and pastures are to be restored after a hazardous liquid pipeline is built.
But Naig says the legislature’s priority should be establishing guardrails and defining terms.
Naig has read through the Iowa Utilities Commission decision granting a construction permit to Summit Carbon Solutions.
But any eminent domain changes would be for projects proposed in the future, not the Summit pipeline. Naig says there could be an upside for the ethanol industry and corn growers if the pipeline’s built.
Naig expects lawsuits will be filed to challenge the state-issued construction permit for the pipline and he says there may be other things lawmakers can learn through that process. Naig made his comments during a recent appearance on Iowa Press on Iowa P-B-S.
IOWA NATIVE, UI GRAD IS BOEING’S NEXT CEO
A Dubuque native who led Cedar Rapids based Rockwell Collins for five years will become chief executive of Boeing next week. Robert “Kelly” Ortberg graduated from the University of Iowa in 1982 with a degree in mechanical engineering and got a job at Texas Instruments making semiconductors. Ortberg’s Rockwell Collins career started in 1987 and he was the company’s C-E-O from 2013 to 2018. Another Iowa native was named Boeing’s C-E-O in 2015. Four years later Dennis Mullenberg was fired after the Boeing 7-37 MAX was grounded worldwide following two overseas crashes that killed 346 people. Mullenberg is a native of Sioux Center.
NW IA MA SENTENCED FOR STABBING IN STORM LAKE LAST SEPT.
A northwest Iowa man sentenced for a stabbing in Storm Lake last September will have to serve at least 17 and a half years in prison for attempted murder before he’s eligible for parole. Storm Lake Police say Ortiz stabbed a man five times with a hunting knife, then stole the victim’s phone. The man was able to escape, ran to the entrance of the local hospital and was flown to another hospital for treatment. Thirty-one-year-old Oscar Ortiz of Laurenz turned himself in to Storm Lake Police about 15 minutes after the stabbing. Ortiz originally pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea this week. A judge immediately sentenced Ortiz to the maximum 25 year term for attempted murder because Ortiz waived his right to a delay in sentencing.
HULSHOF SAYS HELPING UKRAINE IMMIGRANTS HAS GOTTTEN TOUGHER
An Iowa advocate for Ukrainian immigrants says it’s become harder to get people out of the war-torn country. Martha Hulshof of Ireton has helped about 150 Ukrainians move to northwest Iowa through her sister, who is a missionary in western Ukraine. Hulshof says the process that had taken a couple of months can now take more than six months. She hasn’t been told why there’s been a delay, but says it is putting lives at risk.
Hulshof says northwest Iowa floods have compounded the issue of finding help for the refugees.
Hulshof says she is looking for northwest Iowans who want to open their homes to Ukrainian refugees.
IOWA SEES DROP IN ALCOHOL AND DRUG DEATHS, BUT A RISE IN SUICIDES
Iowa mirrors a national trend with a slight drop in deaths due to alcohol, drugs, and suicide, according to a report from a non-partisan public health policy group. Nadine Gracia (GRAH-see-uh), president and C-E-O of Trust for America’s Health, says figures for 2022 show the first drop in those deaths in five years, though there’s still much work to be done. She says the long-term trend is still alarmingly high. The report says 16-hundred Iowans died from alcohol, drugs and suicide that year, down one-percent overall from the previous year. While Iowa deaths due to alcohol and drugs fell, the study says suicides rose by six-percent. Gracia says rural residents appear to be especially at risk and she points to a lack of access to treatment options. The report finds 59-percent of Iowans live in an area that has a mental health care shortage.
10 IOWA DISTRICTS TO OPERATE FOUR-DAY WEEKS
When school starts in less than a month, students in 10 Iowa districts will go to school just four days a week. Iowa Senate President Amy Sinclair says it’s happening because of a recent change in Iowa law. It lets schools choose to calculate the required amount of classroom instruction each school year by the total number of days or just over a thousand hours.
Over 16-hundred districts in 24 states have opted for a four-day week and most offer child care on the other weekday. Sinclair says research shows parents depend upon schools for child care.
There’s been some pushback in other states on a four-day school week. A bill introduced in Louisiana sought to ban four day school weeks and legislators in Missouri and Texas have considered limiting which districts can switch to four days a week.
