LIBRARY FUNDING
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors this morning approved funding allocations for the libraries in the county. 140-thousand dollars will be distributed by their action today.
The funds are allocated in two ways: Half of the funds are distributed in equal shares – 14-thousand dollars each. The other half is allocated on the basis of patronage, the percentage of rural residents who use the libraries. The five county libraries – Le Mars, Remsen, Akron, Kingsley and Merrill – will receive county funding in the next fiscal year.
PLYMOUTH COUNTY SUPERVISORS
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors meets this morning. Today, the Supervisors will take action on Library contracts and funding distribution for 2024-25. Utility permits and right of way purchases will also be considered. There will also be a discussion on damage to the bridge which collapsed into West Branch Creek near Struble last week. Updates on several road projects will be presented to the Supervisors at today’s session.
AG DEPARTMENT LOCAL GRANTS TO SCHOOLS
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says the final round of Local Food for Schools grants are out for this year. They provide grants of two-thousand dollars to those school districts as an incentive for them to buy meat, eggs, produce, dairy and other local foods from area farmers. He says 137 public and private schools were awarded grants in this round. Naig says through the first two rounds, more than one-point-seven million dollars has been awarded to 162 Iowa schools, and more than 110 farms and food businesses have sold products to schools through the program. Schools receiving grants include:
Akron-Westfield, Le Mars Community, Lawton-Bronson, Rock Valley Community, Sheldon Community, Sheldon Christian,
MORNINGSIDE STUDENTS DONATE FOOD GROWN FOR CLASS
Students in the Morningside University’s Applied Agriculture and Food Studies program put their work to good use by donating food from their on-campus garden Monday to the Food Bank of Siouxland. Food Bank associated executive director, Valerie Petersen, says it’s a great way to receive fresh food.
Associate Ag professor, Dan Witten is also a board member of the Food Bank.
Witten says students did most of the work to raise the vegetables
The students also donated food to local pantries, including 100 pounds of cucumbers donated to the United Methodist Church, which is located next to the Sioux City campus.
SIOUX CITY WOMAN OUT OF FEDERAL PRISON IN VOTER FRAUD CASE
A Sioux City woman who is the wife of a Woodbury County Supervisor has been released from a federal prison in Minnesota after serving time for voter fraud. Fifty-year-old Kim Taylor will now spend four months on home confinement in Sioux City. She was convicted last November by a federal grand jury on 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, three counts of fraudulent registration, and 23 counts of fraudulent voting. Taylor was released from the minimum security prison in Waseca, Minnesota Friday. Her sentence is under appeal. The charges all stem from signing up voters during her husbands Jeremy’s runs for supervisor and Congress. He was never charged but did decide not to run for another term on the Board of Supervisors.
DNR INVESTIGATES DIESEL SPILL NEAR MAPLETON
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating a diesel spill in a tributary of Willow Creek in Monona County.
On Sunday, August 25, the Monona County Sheriff’s Office notified DNR of a pickup truck that had run off the road into a tributary of Willow Creek, northwest of Mapleton. Officials say the truck was carrying a 50 gallon drum of red diesel when the driver, Christopher Kreger, lost control at an intersection. The tank’s contents emptied upon the pickup truck entering the tributary, including a small amount of oil. The diesel fuel flowed downstream reaching Willow Creek. Booms were placed in Pumpkin Run and downstream in Willow Creek.
The driver is cooperating with the DNR and local sheriff to clean-up the diesel fuel.
No injuries were reported and no dead fish were observed. The investigation is ongoing.
CROP REPORT
The latest USDA crop report for Iowa showed mostly dry conditions in the past week. Most of the field activities continued to be cutting and baling hay and preparing for the fall harvest.
Topsoil moisture condition rated 26% short to very short, 72 percent adequate and 2 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture condition rated 23 percent short to very short, 75 percent adequate and 2 percent surplus.
Corn and soybean condition rated 77 percent good to excellent.
The State’s third cutting of alfalfa hay reached 79 percent, 6 days behind last year but 6 days ahead of the five-year average. Hay condition rated 77 percent good to excellent. Pasture condition rated 65 percent good to excellent. Temperatures rose at the end of the week, with stress becoming a concern for livestock.
LAW ENFORCEMENT WILL ZERO IN ON SPEEDERS, IMPAIRED DRIVERS
For the last time this summer, law enforcement agencies are ready to launch a STEP, or a Selective Traffic Enforcement Program. Iowa State Patrol spokesman Trooper Paul Gardner, from the Fort Dodge post, says STEP will put dozens of extra law enforcement officers on the roads during the upcoming holiday weekend, and they’ll be seeking out speeders, impaired drivers and other lawbreakers. Gardner says parties are common over Labor Day, and so is drinking. He implores Iowans who are hosting events for the holiday to make sure their guests don’t drive impaired by calling them a taxi or Uber, giving them a ride home or offering them a place to stay.
