Sioux Center to Host NAIA National Tournament Play
Softball teams from around the U.S. will be playing NAIA national tournament games in Sioux Center May 12-15.
For the second year in a row, Sioux Center’s Open Space Park softball diamond was selected as one of 10 sites across the country for the 2025 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round.
Northwestern College is the host and worked with Sioux Center Parks staff to apply again for site selection. Five of the 48 National Championship teams, including Northwestern, will play in a double-elimination bracket in Sioux Center for the Opening Round. The winner from each Opening Round site will advance to the NAIA Softball World Series in Columbus, Georgia, which begins May 22.
Senators reveals tweaks to property tax reform plan
A key G-O-P senator has unveiled a new version of a property tax reform package. It no longer provides a 50-thousand dollar property tax exemption for homeowners. Dan Dawson of Council Bluffs — chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee — says that one size fits all number didn’t work, since it would wipe out most property tax revenue for small towns where home values are low.
The bill still sets a two percent limit on city and county budget increases, however it would allow local government budgets to rise during periods of high inflation. Iowa Taxpayers Association executive director Nate Ristow says that’s area that needs tweaking.
Travis Squires, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of School Boards, says the bill changes how much local tax revenue schools may use to pay off the bonds that are borrowed for school remodeling and new construction.
But Senator Dawson says many school districts have cash reserves that are too large and districts could use that to offset lost tax revenue for infrastructure projects. Dawson says the bill is a priority for passage before legislators adjourn for the year.
Vietnam Era Plane Moved to Sioux City Airbase
A former A-7 airplane from the Vietnam War era was moved by helicopter Wednesday from its most recent home at south Sioux City’s old martin’s airfield to the 185th air national guard base for refurbishing.
Marty hogan of Siouxland freedom park’s board of directors says when the plane is repainted, it will be permanently displayed outdoors at the park:
Two army chinook helicopters flew up from boone, iowa to move the plane to the 185th airbase from the old airfield, where it has been for the past 22 years
This particular plane never saw combat overseas but was used for training by the 185th and other military combat pilots. The repainting process is expected to take around two or three months TO COMPLETE.
Iowa Summer Food Plan Approved
Federal officials are giving Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds the go-ahead for a pilot project that will supply boxes of food to some low-income families this summer.
During the Biden Administration, Reynolds rejected a summer feeding program for low-income households with school children. It extended $120 worth of electronic benefits for grocery purchases. Reynolds instead proposed having the State of Iowa buy healthy food in bulk and provide boxes of food to those families. The Trump Administration has now granted Iowa a waiver for the governor’s “Healthy Kids Iowa” summer feeding program.
Under the “Healthy Kids Iowa” program, an eligible family will be able to select $40 worth of food for each school-aged child each month during the summer. Parents will pick up the groceries at food pantries. Iowa Hunger Coalition leaders say they appreciate that more federal resources will be used to provide food for children over the summer, but the group is concerned about barriers parents may face in picking up the food boxes and the additional strain it could place on food pantries already experiencing record-breaking demand.
