LE MARS NATIONAL GUARD UNIT TO BE DEPLOYED THIS SPRING
The Le Mars National Guard unit is preparing for a deployment to the middle east this spring.
Le Mars Troop C, 1-113 Cavalry Regiment is among Guard units from around Iowa that will be part of this deployment, 1800 soldiers in all. It was first announced in the Condition of the Guard Address by Major General Stephen Osborn in January before the state legislature.
Besides the 113th unit, two companies from Sioux City and Storm Lake, will be deployed. There will be an information town hall meeting in Le Mars on Friday, April 4 at noon at the Le Mars armory. The meeting is open to the public.
LE MARS RAIL EXTENSION
An Edgerton, Minnesota firm was awarded a contract to extend rail service into the Le Mars Industrial Park 4th Addition. Hulstein Excavating submitted the low bid among six contractors. Their bid was 349-thousand dollars, well below the engineer’s estimated cost of 504-thousand dollars. The rail line will be extended across 27th Street, five hundred feet south. Hulstein will hire a subcontractor, Ellis Eastern of Sioux Falls, to install the rail at the site. The project is to be completed by October 3. It will be paid for through Tax Increment Financing proceeds.
DOWNTOWN TRAFFIC SIGNAL PROJECT
A public hearing will be held April 15 on a traffic signal modernization project downtown. The city wants to upgrade traffic signals at Plymouth St and Central, Plymouth Street and 1st, and Central and 1st. The equipment at these intersections are 40 years old.
Bids on the project will be opened on May 7, with a contract awarded May 20th. The estimated cost of the project is 865-thousand dollars, and will be paid for through Local Option Sales Tax proceeds. Project completion is November 30 of this year.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION MONTH
May is National Historic Preservation Month.
Rich Ziettlow, Chairperson of the Le Mars Historic Preservation Commission, told KLEM about some of the duties of the local group.
Ziettlow says there is a special room at the museum in Le Mars that provides an important resource for residents.
The Le Mars Historic Preservation Commission hosted the Community Coffee at the Plymouth County Historical Museum Wednesday morning. Le Mars Mayor Rob Bixenman read and signed a proclamation designating May as “Preservation Month.”
TWO U.S. 75 DETOURS AT MERRILL
The Iowa Department of Transportation and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad will be closing U.S. Highway 75 in both directions at the BNSF railroad crossing south of Merrill next Monday, April 7th. Weather permitting. the full closure will last for 12 days.
Crews from BNSF and the Iowa DOT will perform work around the crossing. A rail crew will replace the rail crossing surface and the Iowa DOT will start the pavement replacement of Highway 75 at the crossing.
There will be separate detour routes for north- and southbound traffic on U.S. 75. Northbound traffic from Hinton will travel east on Plymouth County road C-60, north on county road K-49, then west on county road C-38 to reach U.S. 75. Southbound traffic in Merrill will be diverted west on Main Street, then south on 3rd Street/Iowa 470 to reach U.S. 75.
Starting April 18, the highway reconstruction on U.S. 75 between Hinton and Merrill will begin. Highway traffic will be in a head-to-head pattern in the northbound U.S. 75 lanes. Weather permitting, the project will be completed for the winter shutdown in mid-November and will carry over into 2026.
This will be the last of six phases for U.S. 75 reconstruction which started in 2017.
TWO INJURED IN SIOUX COUNTY ACCIDENT
Two people were injured in a three vehicle accident Tuesday in Sioux County. At 12:11 p.m., the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office was called to the intersection of K52 and B30, two miles northeast of Sioux Center, IA.
Lennet Harmelink, age 57, of Sioux Center, was driving a cargo van north on K52. Joshua Van Wyk, age 34, of Hospers, was driving a pickup east on B30. Marcus Den Herder, age 33, of Sioux Center, was driving a pickup west on B30. Harmelink stopped for the stop sign at B30, entered the intersection and struck Van Wyk. That impact pushed Van Wyk into the westbound lane where he struck Den Herder.
Harmelink and Den Herder were transported by the Sioux Center Ambulance to Sioux Center Health for treatment of injuries.
Harmelink was cited for failure to obey stop sign.
The sheriff’s office was assisted by the Sioux Center Ambulance, Sioux Center Fire Department and Sioux Center Police Department.
HOUSE AND SENATE D.E.I. BILLS STILL UNDER REVIEW IN LEGISLATURE
Bills to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education as well as local governments have been debated in the legislature this year, but so far none have become law. Tuesday morning, a House subcommittee approved a Senate bill that would ban D-E-I offices and staff in city and county governments. A lobbyist for the Iowa Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers told lawmakers ending D-E-I initiatives doesn’t make discrimination go away. Republican Representative Skyler Wheeler of Hull says D-E-I is extremely unpopular and he encouraged his political opponents to continue to defend D-E-I programs. Tuesday afternoon, a Senate subcommittee reviewed a House-passed bill to forbid D-E-I programs at private colleges that enroll students who receive Iowa Tuition Grants from the state.
ANOTHER SPECIAL ELECTION FOR A SEAT IN THE IOWA LEGISATURE
A Democrat who has represented Cedar Rapids in the Iowa House since 2023 has been appointed to fill a vacancy on the Linn County Board of Supervisors. Democrat Sami Scheetz — a union organizer — is the first Arab American elected to serve in the Iowa legislature. Scheetz told reporters in Cedar Rapids he has resigned from the House to take on his new role as a member of the Linn County Board of Supervisors. The governor has five days to set the date for a special election in Cedar Rapids for the now vacant House seat Scheetz had held.
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE UP IN 2024
The Iowa Department of Education reports that high school graduation rates are back to pre-pandemic levels for the first time since 2020. The Department reports the high school graduation rate was up eight-tenths of a percent in 2024 to 88-point-three percent — the same four-year graduation rate as the class of 2019. The graduation rate for females was three-point-two percent higher than the rate for males at 89-point-nine percent. Iowa’s graduation rate for 2024 is significantly higher than several neighboring states, with only Missouri and Wisconsin reporting graduation rates above Iowa’s, at 90-point-eight percent and 91-point-one percent.
