Another Republican Joins the Race for the 4th District Seat
A farmer and land appraiser from north central Iowa is the latest candidate to announce he is running in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, which covers western and northwestern Iowa. In a campaign video on his website, Kyle Larsen of Humboldt says he’s driven by three things.
Larsen plans to center his campaign around lowering costs, protecting seniors, and making sure farmers are heard in Washington.
There are now three Republicans in the race for what appears to be an open seat since incumbent Randy Feenstra is exploring a run for Governor in 2026.
The other candidates are the head of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, Chris McGowan of Sioux City, and Iowa House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl (WIND-shit-uh) of Missouri Valley.
So far, one Democrat has announced her candidacy, and that’s Ashley WolfTornabane (wolf-TORN-uh-bane), a stay-at-home mom from Storm Lake.
Meeting at the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors Meeting on today at 9:30 a.m.
Supervisors will discuss the approval of Zomermaan Homestead Heights, a minor subdivision in Section 6 of Elgin Township. They will also take up the approval of County Semi Annual Settlement of funds.
City Council to Consider Apartment Lease Agreement
Today at noon the Le Mars City Council will hold a public hearing that would change the lease agreement for an historic Le Mars apartment building located on city property.
Floyd Valley Apartments, owned by Weinberg Investments, Inc. of Sioux City and Sioux Falls Environmental Access, a Sioux Falls, nonprofit, is being sold to Trinity Housing Resources, a nonprofit based in Milwaukee.
Sioux City community development consultant Roger Caudron asked the Le Mars City Council at its Tuesday, July 1, meeting to approve the transfer of the land lease. The agreement provides an annual payment to the city through 2077.
Currently, that payment is $5,000 and will remain at that level until 2028. It will increase until 2056 and it will top out at $20,000 a year through the end of the lease.
Caudron said the change is because Lewis Weinberg and his partner in the building are both over 80 and are liquidating their properties.
Woodbury County LEC
Officials in Woodbury County have outlined millions of dollars of potential legal damages surrounding the new Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center.
The facility opened last year and has faced major delays and design flaws.
Woodbury County and the authority that oversees the construction project sent a demand letter earlier this month to the companies that helped build the facility. It claims the companies cost the project an extra 7 million dollars.
The county released the letter after the Sioux City Journal filed a Freedom of Information Act request.
Officials say they still hope to resolve the issue through mediation, rather than filing a lawsuit.
ICN in Northern Iowa
The Iowa Communications Network or ICN says it has upgraded its fiber optic infrastructure in North Central Iowa. The new equipment at ICN aggregation sites in Fort Dodge, Humboldt, Pocahontas, and Emmetsburg offers a dedicated 10Gb connection at each location. Local healthcare sites, 911 public safety answering points, government offices, and community college sites all benefit.
These four sites use a daisy-chain method, linking rural locations together to ensure Network redundancy. If an unexpected fiber cut occurs near the Pocahontas aggregation site, the impacted fiber connection can be redirected to either Emmetsburg or Humboldt.
