(LE MARS)-Funds from two housing programs in Le Mars in the 1990s are getting new life.
A total of about 125-thousand dollars was leftover from what were known as a HOME program and a Community Development Block Grant CDBG. The programs were used to spur housing in an area known as Countryside Estates.
City Administrator Scott Langel says the HOME funds are no longer restricted to a specific geographic area in the community.
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Langel explains the Le Mars Housing Review Board is hearing options for the Community Development Block grant funds.
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The block grant amount that remains is about 50-thousand dollars.
New tenants renting Plymouth County-owned building
(LE MARS)–New tenants will fill offices left vacant when a state agency reduced fulltime offices in Plymouth County,.
Plymouth County supervisors today (Tuesday) approved contracts with Parent Partners and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.
They’ll be located in the county-owned Iowa Department of Human Services building near downtown Le Mars. The Iowa Department of Human Services Director reduced the office to part-time and many employees were relocated to other counties, prior to the start of the new state budget year July first.
Jacob Wingert, a Sioux City North and Morningside College graduate, was introduced to supervisors today by Sheriff Mike Van Otterloo. Wingert previously worked in law enforcement in Denison and he’ll fill a vacancy due to a retirement in the sheriff’s department.
Board members updated the Court Administrator, Leesa McNeil, on plans to find the source of water leaks in the state clerk of court’s office that follow rainfall. Testing to pinpoint the problem is planned tomorrow (Wednesday).
Engineer Tom Rohe reported weather is delaying progress on a bridge north of Seney on County Road C-16. The completion is pushed back at least a couple of weeks. Rains have also played havoc with paving progress on County Road K-22 north of Sioux City. The contractor is Cedar Valley Paving of Waterloo.
Info released on fiery crash that killed 3
REMBRANDT, Iowa (AP) Buena Vista County authorities have released more information on a fiery crash that killed three people near Rembrandt.
The sheriff’s department said Tuesday a car driven by 55-year-old Pedro Pablo Gordillo Nino, of Storm Lake, collided with a vehicle driven by 66-year-old James Victor Clausen, of Sioux City on Sunday afternoon. The accident happened at the intersection of Highway 3 and County Road M-44.
The Gordillo car burst into flames. Bystanders and a Rembrandt paramedic were able to pull Gordillo from the wreckage, but could not free his passenger, who died in the fire. She’s identified as 51-year-old Ma De Lourdes Melo De Gordillo. All three victims died at the scene.
Authorities are still investigating.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Suspect arrested in Spirit Lake assault
(SPIRIT LAKE) –A Spirit Lake man is facing attempted murder charges after an early morning assault on a woman.
Spirit Lake police say they were sent to a home this (Tuesday) morning. Dispatchers had gotten a 9-1-1 call during which no one would speak. Officers found a woman at the home who had been violently assaulted with a knife.
She was taken to Lakes Regional Healthcare then life flighted to a Sioux Falls hospital. Dickinson County sheriff’s officers, Okoboji and Arnolds Park police and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation helped process evidence. Detectives say 39-year-old James Michael Naujock is charged with first-degree kidnapping, attempted murder, willful injury, going armed with intent and domestic abuse assault.
He also faces counts of interfering with official acts and obstruction of emergency communications. Naujock is being held in the Dickinson County Jail. More charges are possible and investigators are still working the case. (News report by Mark Bruggom, KICD Spencer/Radio Iowa)
Culver adds 4 counties to disaster list
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gov. Chet Culver has added four more counties to a disaster declaration because of flash flooding.
The proclamation, issued Monday, is for Buchanan, Clayton, Dickinson and Jackson counties.
Culver issued proclamations on Friday and Saturday for Dubuque, Delaware and Jones counties.
Eligible residents can seek up to $5,000 in reimbursements for damage incurred for individuals and families whose income is less than 200 percent above the poverty level. For individuals, it’s about $22,000 or less. For a family of four, it’s about $44,000 or less.
More information is available on the state’s Department of Human Services’ website.
UI looks at new power plant
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) The University of Iowa wants to build a $70 million power plant to help provide electricity and steam for buildings on the west side of campus.
Spokesman Ferman Milster says the plant would be a backup generator for University Hospitals and Clinics and research buildings.
Those buildings are powered by the university’s main power plant, which is on the Iowa River. That plant was knocked offline for four months during the floods of 2008. The hospital was forced to cancel nonessential surgeries and procedures.
Milster says a new plant would be powered by natural gas and would be away from the Iowa River. It would continue to provide power during a major flood.
The Iowa Board of Regents has given the initial approval to begin planning.
Jury convicts man in 1995 Iowa gang shooting
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A Polk County jury has convicted a man of voluntary manslaughter in a gang killing in Des Moines in 1995.
Jarmaine Allen was accused of killing reputed gang leader Jody Stokes outside a bar.
Allen was charged with first-degree murder. The jury on Monday convicted him of a lesser charge. Allen faces up to 10 years in prison. A sentencing date was not immediately set.
It was Allen’s fifth trial for Stokes’ death.
Stokes’ killing prompted a wave of violence that included the 1996 death of a Des Moines woman who was caught in the crossfire between rival gang members. Allen was convicted of second-degree murder in that shootout and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Iowa police seek suspect in cleaning woman attack
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) Burlington police are seeking a suspect who assaulted a cleaning woman with a pry bar when she interrupted him during a break-in at her employer’s business.
Police say the woman, who was not identified, suffered facial injuries when she fought off the man early Sunday.
Police say the woman was attacked when she went to the Crazy Coyote tavern around 5 a.m. Police say she noticed a security light above the back door was out. As she got closer, she saw a man near the back door.
Police say the woman yelled at the man, who hit her with the pry bar, which he was using to break into the bar.
The woman went to a nearby convenience store and called for help. The suspect fled the area.
Low oxygen level caused fish kill in Iowa lake
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) State environmental officials say low oxygen levels related to the weather, not chemicals, probably caused a fish kill in a Burlington lake earlier this month.
The fish kill at West Lake was discovered on July 21. The Department of Natural Resources says a combination of warm lake water and cold rain likely caused oxygen levels to drop.
Spokesman Brian Lee said Monday that chemicals were not an issue. He says fewer than 1,000 fish died, most of them small bluegill.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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