SUPERVISORS APPROVE ROAD AND BRIDGE PROJECTS
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors gave approval to plans for a road resurfacing project and a local bridge replacement project.
The county will open bids on June 17 for resurfacing county road C80, between U.S. Highway 75 and County Road K22. This is a 3.8 mile project, where asphalt will be laid over concrete. County Engineer Tom Rohe told the Supervisors the estimated cost of the project is 2.3 million dollars, with 1.9 million coming from the federal governement under a Surface Transportation Program grant. The work will take a couple of months… one month for the resurfacing, another month to pave the 70 driveways that are connected to the road.
The Supervisors also approved a bridge replacement project on Diamond Ave, a half mile north of Iowa Highway 3, and two miles east of Akron. The work involves removal of an old steel bridge, and replacement with a precast concrete deck. Letting date is April 8.
REPUBLICAN WINS SPECIAL ELECTION FOR IOWA HOUSE SEAT
A Republican has won a special election in southeast Iowa for a seat in the Iowa House. State Representative Martin Graber of Fort Madison died on January 31st. Blaine Watkins of Donnelson has been elected to replace him. Watkins earned a political science degree from Grand View University in December and had worked as a clerk for a state senator from Lee County for the past two years. Watkins finished a little over three points ahead of Democrat Nannette Griffin, a small business owner from Fort Madison.
LCSD BUDGET HEARINGS SCHEDULED
The Le Mars Community School Board has approved their fiscal year 2026 budget timeline. This includes publication on March 18 of the first hearing notice for proposed taxes, and budget adoption. The proposed tax rate for the next fiscal year is 11 dollars, 92 cents per thousand assessed valuation. That’s an increase of 2 dollars, 5 cents per thousand higher than this year. The increase is due to the bond issue passed by the voters for construction of a new elementary school. This is also based on a 2% state aid increase. Total tax valuations are 1.3 billion dollars in the next fiscal year, up some 85 million dollars from the current budget. The first public hearing on the budget will be April 1 at noon, the second on April 14 at 5:45 pm. Approval of the budget will take place at the regular board meeting on the 14th.
ARREST MADE IN WOODBINE COLD CASE MURDER
The state Cold Case Unit started last year has made its first arrest. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced the arrest is in the death of Barbara Lenz of Woodbine, who disappeared in May of 1989. Woodbine Police investigated Lenz’s home and determined she had been taken against her will. The investigation stalled and Lenz was never found. The Attorney General reports the Cold Case Unit reviewed the case and 61-year-old Robert Davis of Council Bluffs, who was Lenz’s boyfriend when she disappeared, was arrested Monday (March 10) and charged with first-degree murder. According to the complaint, at least two witnesses told investigators that Davis had threatened to kill Lenz if she ever left him and there were multiple occasions where the two got into fights. It also says Davis admitting to having “choked her down” during the fights.
TRUMP NOMINEE TO HEAD THE IRS WANTS IT TO BE ‘MORE FRIENDLY’
Iowa U-S Senator Chuck Grassley met Monday with President Trump’s nominee for commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, who he says has “very aggressive plans” for overhauling the agency. Grassley, a Republican who serves on the Senate’s Budget and Finance committees, says it will be difficult for former Missouri U-S Representative Billy Long to accomplish all he’s hoping to do at the I-R-S. Grassley says Long wants to change the agency’s name to something else to be “more friendly.” Grassley says he told Long, if he becomes commissioner, how important it is that he respond to inquiries from Congress as they relate to government oversight. He also asked Long to reinstate whistle blowers who were “treated like skunks at a picnic” after blowing the whistle on Hunter Biden not paying his taxes.
USDA KILLS CONTRACTS THAT HELP BUY LOCAL FOOD FOR IOWA KIDS AND FOOD BANKS
The Iowa Food System Coalition says the U-S-D-A has cancelled contracts worth more than 11-million dollars. The money was to help the state’s food banks, schools and child care centers purchase local food from more than 300 Iowa farmers over three years. Coalition executive director Chris Schwartz says the U-S-D-A has not explained why it’s cancelling the contracts for a program that’s been “wildly successful” and a “national model.” He says the money from previous contracts is set to run out at the end of this month. Schwartz says this action may send farms into foreclosure and cause people to lose their homes as “good faith partners” who want to help feed Iowa children are “going to be hanging…out to dry.”
REPUBLICAN WINS SPECIAL ELECTION FOR IOWA HOUSE SEAT
A Republican has won a special election in southeast Iowa for a seat in the Iowa House. State Representative Martin Graber (GRAY-ber) of Fort Madison died on January 31st. Blaine Watkins of Donnelson has been elected to replace him. Watkins earned a political science degree from Grand View University in December and had worked as a clerk for a state senator from Lee County for the past two years. Watkins finished a little over three points ahead of Democrat Nannette Griffin, a small business owner from Fort Madison.
