LE MARS TOWN HALL MEETING
It was a full house last night at council chamber, where a town hall meeting was held before the Le Mars city council. The council wanted more citizen involvement in council meetings, and had an open agenda for citizens to talk about items or issues they thought important.
15 citizens came to the podium with a wide range of topics, including: how to pay for a new fire station; handicap access to downtown businesses; hockey rinks in the parks development plan; tree and brush removal; improving the city’s water quality; senior housing; removal of Centennial Hall; and tax incentives for apartment projects.
Le Mars Mayor Rob Bixenman was very pleased with the attendance at the meeting.
Reactions to issues brought up by the citizens.
The item which brought the strongest audience response was a plea for development of independent living arrangements for seniors.
Several of the ideas brought up at the town hall are already under discussion as part of the city’s Vision 2045 plan.
This town hall meeting encourages him to schedule another.
Mayor told KLEM News he’s going to seek re-election next year.
Bixenman was first elected in 2021. He is seeking a third two-year term as mayor.
BURN BAN IN PLYMOUTH COUNTY
A burn ban will take effect across Plymouth County this afternoon, and continue indefinitely. Le Mars Fire Rescue Chief Dave Schipper says several fire departments have been dealing with a variety of fires lately.
The burn ban is focused mainly on open burning.
It is unusual to call a burn ban in January, but there have been a variety of fires reported around the county lately.
The sheer number of fires have strained area fire departments.
There are currently 10 burn bans in effect in Iowa counties, all of them in northeast Iowa.
SCRTS MAY EXPAND TO LE MARS
Le Mars may be in line for a facilities upgrade through the Sioux City Regional Transit System. The agency has filed for a 12 million dollars federal grant to expand their Sioux City facility. If the grant is approved, SCRTS will expand their bus storage, e-storage, and office space. Their current fleet includes 51 units, and have storage for 15. The expansion would house an additional 15 buses. A later phase of the project would construct a satellite bus storage facility in Le Mars. Currently, SCRTS buses are parked at the Le Mars Police Department. A later phase of the expansion would expand the SCRTS Cherokee satellite facility.
IOWA ASTRONAUT TO BE HONORED
Beaconsfield native Peggy Whitson will be inducted into the U-S Astronaut Hall of Fame this spring, recognizing her near-four decades of work at NASA and her continued career at Axiom Space. Six-time shuttle astronaut Curt Brown is executive director of the Hall of Fame, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Brown says Whitson is America’s most experienced astronaut and deserves this honor. Whitson has spent 675 days in orbit, most of that time during three long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station, and she’s training for her second mission to the I-S-S with Axiom. There will be a gala Hall of Fame event to induct Whitson on May 31st beneath the retired Space Shuttle Atlantis, and she’ll become a part of the center’s permanent display in the Heroes and Legends Hall.
STATE AUDITOR REPORTS EMBEZZLEMENT
A special investigation by the state auditor’s office has found the head of a taxpayer funded program to help Iowans get training and land a job embezzled more than 430-thouand dollars over a seven year period. State Auditor Rob Sand says most of that money went to program director Jodi Spargur (SPAR-ger)-Tate, but about 100-thouand of it went to her relatives to cover things like rent, utilities and cell phone bills. Sand says the embezzlement was discovered by a person who took over the director’s duties while Spargur-Tate was on vacation — and saw an invoice for auto body work on a client’s vehicle. The client didn’t have a vehicle.
HINSON DISCUSSES CRASH AT WASHINGTON, DC AIRPORT
Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson is scolding those who are criticizing Congress for adding flight slots at Reagan National Airport last year, an act some say ignored critical safety concerns. A deadly midair crash last (Wednesday) night near the airport between a commercial passenger jet and a military helicopter. Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says this isn’t the time for a debate and nobody should be politicizing this tragedy or jumping to conclusions. She says she voted against the amendment to the F-A-A reauthorization bill and shares concerns about traffic at the airport. Last night’s crash may be the deadliest in the U-S in two dozen years, and Hinson says there will be a thorough investigation.
MORATORIUM ON NEW IOWA CASINOS PASSES HOUSE
A five-year moratorium on new casinos in Iowa easily passed the Iowa House Thursday afternoon and the same proposal has been approved by a committee in the Senate. If the bill becomes law by next Thursday morning, it will block state regulators from taking a vote on the application for a new casino in Cedar Rapids. Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, says the moratorium is warranted due to recent studies suggesting a Cedar Rapids casino would draw customers — and revenue — from currently operating casinos. Representative Sami Scheetz, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says the legislature should let the Racing and Gaming Commission make the call rather than try to protect existing casino operators.
IOWA ED DIRECTOR DISCUSSES DROP IN MATH SCORES
The U-S Department of Education’s national report card released this week showed an increase in Iowa’s reading scores, but a drop in math. Iowa Department of Education director McKenzie Snow says the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP or nape) covers fourth and eighth graders.
Snow says it wasn’t just a drop in Iowa’s math performance the lowered their ranking, other states made progress.
Snow says the numbers show the need for the statewide evidence-based mathematics instruction the governor has proposed.
Snow says the program also extends beyond the classroom.
Snow says the evidenced-based math teaching would be similar to what’s been done with reading. Iowa’s reading ranking went from 22nd to tenth.
The Governor proposed the evidence-based math program in her Condition of the State Address, but Snow says it has not yet been introduced in the Legislature. You can see more on the report card at: www.nationsreportcard.gov.
BRANSTAD TO RETIRE TODAY FROM WORLD FOOD PRIZE
Today is former Governor Terry Branstad’s last day as president of the World Food Prize. Branstad says he intends to remain involved as a volunteer and do what he can to help the organization. Branstad says one of his accomplishments has been reconnecting the World Food Prize with the work of Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug (BOR-log), the agricultural scientist who founded the World Food Prize in 1986. Branstad, who turned 78 this past November, grew up on a farm near Leland. He served nearly 22 and a half years as governor — the longest tenure ever for an American governor. Branstad was U-S Ambassador to China from mid-2017 to the fall of 2020 and he says the relationships he established then laid the groundwork for his role as president of the World Food Prize. Former Governor Tom Vilsack has been chosen as Branstad’s successor.
