It’s another day of bitter cold, but a warming trend is in the forecast. The National Weather Service has issued a Cold Weather Advisory for Plymouth County and a narrow area of northwest Iowa and southeast South Dakota until 10 a.m. this morning. The high temperature is forecast to reach 2 above zero, with wind chills as low as -31 There will be a Cold Weather Advisory from 9 tonight until 9 a.m. Thursday. Lows tonight will be -18, with a wind chill index as low as -29. Thursday and Friday, temperatures will be in the single digits and teens. Saturday will see a high above freezing. By the middle of next week, 50 degree temperatures are forecast.
CVB RECOMMENDATIONS APPROVED BY LE MARS COUNCIL
A recommended list of events to be funded by the Le Mars Convention and Visitors Bureau was approved by the city council.
These events include Ice Cream Days; Pioneer Village Christmas Wonderland; a national Junionr Golf event at Willow Creek; the Olson Concert Bash; the Tour de Plymouth; and a sidewalk project at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds. Total investment in these projects and events is 31-thousand, five hundred dollars.
The recommendations were part of a list of consent items approved by the city council this week.
LE MARS MUNICIPAL PARK IMPROVEMENTS
The Le Mars city council Tuesday approved an agreement with ISG for design work on improvements at the Municipal Park. This project is part of several that are being done through the Le Mars Area Betterment Foundation. CBP III includes expansion of the banquet hall at Willow Creek; 6 new pickleball courts, 3 new tennis courts, renovation of two volleyball courts, an outdoor fitness court, and new lighting and fencing. The contract with ISG will not exceed 77-thousand dollars. The city of Le Mars will contribute 5.5 million dollars to the park projects, and they will be paid for using local option sales tax proceeds.
ULTRASOUND BILL
A bill that would require schools to show an ultrasound as well as a video about fetal development to students in 4th through 12th grades has passed the Iowa Senate.
Senator Jeff Taylor, a Republican from Sioux Center, says the video will encourage respect for life, no matter how small.
Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner of Iowa City, who is Jewish, says the bill pushes a political agenda.
All but one Democrat in the Senate voted against the bill. Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says the bill is based on an ideology and local schools should decide what’s appropriate to show in classrooms.
District 7 Republican Senator Kevin Alons of Salix says the bill addresses the fundamental question of when life begins.
Republicans in previous years have proposed similar bills that would have required that schools show a video — titled “Baby Olivia” — that was produced by a group that opposes abortion. This year’s version does not mention a specific video.
AUDITOR, GOVERNOR QUARREL OVER INFO ABOUT STATE E.S.A. PROGRAM
State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, and Republican Governor Kim Reynolds are in a standoff over access to information about state funding for private school expenses. Sand says C-P-As who’ve worked for him as well as three other Republican state auditors asked for more data about the Education Savings Accounts parents of private school students applied for to cover tuition or other expenses.
Governor Reynolds says Sand is using his office for political gain.
Reynolds says state agencies would provide more information about the Education Savings Accounts, if Sand spells out in a letter what is requested, but Sand has failed to do so.
Sand says the Iowa Supreme Court previously ruled the state auditor’s office doesn’t have to submit the extra paperwork the Reynolds Administration says must be provided.
Sand says C-P-As sought information about how the private company hired to manage the state’s Education Savings Accounts is protecting the personal information of parents and students.
GRASSLEY EMPATHIZES WITH FEDERAL JOB CUTS
A social media post from a park ranger who was fired from his dream job at Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeast Iowa has gone viral, as many federal workers in Iowa fear for their jobs. Firings loom at the F-A-A, the V-A, the S-B-A, the I-R-S, the Department of Education, and a range of other agencies. During a conference call Tuesday with Iowa reporters, U-S Senator Chuck Grassley called it a “tragedy” for those being laid off. Perhaps thousands of federal workers were fired across the country in recent days as President Trump and Elon Musk launched what’s described as a purge of the nation’s bureaucracy. Grassley says it’s all within the president’s authority to make these changes. “Congress can’t do anything except complain about it,” he says, “but I think we have to have sympathy and understanding for people that are laid off.”
