THANKSGIVING MEAL AT REJOICE
Thanksgiving in Le Mars means Rejoice Church is once again putting on a Thanksgiving meal. Maggie Catton is helping organize the event that has become a fixture in Le Mars each Thanksgiving.
The meal will be served at the church, and they will also deliver meals.
And there’s takeout, too…
Catton says the meal has turned into a great community event, and it’s open to everyone.
LE MARS CHAMBER RECEIVES FUNDING FOR WINTER WONDERLAND
The LeMars Chamber of Commerce has received a grant to help stage the Pioneer Village Winter Wonderland. The Chamber received a 48-hundred dollar grant from the Le Mars Convention and Visitors Bureau. This event is held on the first two weekends of December at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds. This will be the second year that the Chamber of Commerce is organizing the event.
ERNST PRESENTS TRUMP TEAM WITH IDEAS FOR ELIMINATING WASTE IN FEDERAL BUDGET
Senator Joni Ernst says she’s led a “squeal team” of staff who’ve come up with ideas that would chop at least one TRILLION dollars out of the federal budget. She’s presented the list to the businessmen President-elect Trump has asked to lead his Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE. Ernst recently went to Florida and met with DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy.
Ernst was first elected in to the U-S Senate in 2014 after running an ad promising to — in her words — “make ’em squeal” in Washingon. Ernst says one of her most important recommendations relates to unused federal office space and federal employees who are working from home.
Ernst says it costs nearly 16 BILLION dollars a year to lease, maintain and pay the utility bills for federal government office space. Ernst’s budget cutting list also calls for collecting millions of unpaid taxes from Internal Revenue Service employees and contractors.
Billions of dollars set aside to deal with COVID hasn’t been spent and Ernst says it is no longer needed for that purpose.
One of the penny-pinching ideas on Ernst’s list calls for changing the composition of two coins. According to Ernst, it costs the government three cents to produce each penny and over 11 cents to produce each nickel. Ernst is the co-chair of a new group of Senate Republicans who call themselves the DOGE Caucus.
GOVERNOR TALKS ABOUT CELL PHONE BAN IN SCHOOLS
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds talked more about her proposal to ban cellphones in classrooms Tuesday. The governor says she wants to add to what some districts are already doing.
Reynolds says she wants a policy that will blend in with what is already being done.
She says they need to work out a plan that helps the schools that have phone policies in place, while looking to get more schools to take part.
Reynolds says some schools have gone bell to bell and restrict cellphone use all day, while others give them back to the kids to used during lunch.
Reynolds says she’s excited to work with schools that have already done it and come up with a plan.
NW IOWA BRIDGE DAMAGED BY FLOODING REPLACED, TRAFFIC FLOWING ON NEW STRUCTURE
The replacement for a northwest Iowa bridge destroyed by flooding in June opened to traffic last (Tuesday) night. The flood damaged remnants of the bridge on U-S Highway 18 over Stoney Creek in Clay County, near the town of Everly, were removed in August. Construction crews were able to complete work on the new bridge about a month earlier than scheduled. The Iowa D-O-T reports all the bridges and roads damaged by the historic flooding in northwest Iowa this past June are now open to traffic.
