(Radio Iowa) – An eight year old child was among six people rescued Saturday afternoon on the West Fork of the Des Moines River, north of Estherville. Travis Sheridan, Estherville’s Fire Chief, said a 911 call indicated a kayak flipped over and a woman and child were in the water.

“Once fire fighters got on the scene, the child was still OK, with just basically her face sitting above the water. Her life jacket was caught in the log jam,” Sheridan said. “They’d tried taking it off, but that just sucked the child further into the log jam.”

Firefighters were able to cut the girl’s life jacket off and rescue her from the river. Sheridan credits the girl’s aunt for keeping the eight year old’s head above water.

“She held onto that child for over 30 minutes,” Sheridan said. “She saved that child’s life until our rescue personnel could get on scene.”

Firefighters used the department’s rescue boat to bring the aunt, her niece and four others to shore. Two others who’d be in the river were able to get out of the water on their own. Sheridan said the Emmet County dispatcher was on the phone for 40 minutes, relaying information from the stranded people on the river to rescuers. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources deployed a back-up rescue boat to the scene and the Iowa State Patrol had three drones flying overhead to monitor the situation.

“It was just a collaborative effort by all,” Sheridan said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.”

The names of the people who were rescued have not been released.

(Elk Horn, Iowa) – Members of the Exira-Elk Horn/Kimballton School Board will meet in a regular monthly session beginning at 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, May 22nd, in the Elk Horn High School Conference Room. Here’s the agenda for their meeting:

(Atlantic, Iowa) – City officials, SplashPad Fundraising Committee members, construction representatives and a local contractor were on-hand this (Monday) afternoon near the Sunnyside Pool in Atlantic, for a groundbreaking ceremony that was held for the SplashPad Project.  Splashpad Fundraising Co-Chair Jeremy Butler reminded those in attendance, about the genesis of the project.

Butler said the Splashpad would not have been possible without the support of the community and generous donors, the City, the Committee and many others.

Even the kids got involved in the fundraising effort.

Fundraising Co-Chair Ali Pieken, he said was instrumental in making the project a reality, as well. She was also thankful for the support the project has received.

The Atlantic SplashPad will feature over 4,500-square feet of water feature fun, including interactive fountains, spray pads, dump buckets, water cannons, and more. Tyler Henley, with the Henley Group, was on-hand for the groundbreaking ceremony. His company was awarded the contract to build the SplashPad.

Rob Stamp with Stamp Construction was on-hand with his skid-steer loader/bucket to take the first bite of dirt, after the dignitaries used spades to turn over the first shovels of dirt.
The project is expected to be completed by Labor Day.

BAYARD, Iowa — A boil advisory has been issued for the City of Bayard in Guthrie  County due to depressurization of the entire water system. More than 200 connections are affected. Operators were unable to isolate a leaking valve while conducting repairs to the system, and had to take the water tower offline, resulting in pressure loss. Once repairs are completed the affected area will be disinfected and flushed. City officials are notifying residents via boil advisory public notices around town.

Officials say there is no reason to believe water quality has been compromised, but as a precaution, customers are encouraged to boil water that will be consumed or used for food preparation. Water should be boiled for two minutes and allowed to cool before use. Water is safe to use for showering, laundry, general washing and outdoor use without boiling.

Two sets of bacteria samples will be collected for testing. The boil advisory will be lifted once two consecutive sets of bacterial samples have tested negative for bacteria.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office has released a report on arrests that took place from May 17th through the 20th. Two people were arrested this (Monday) morning:

• 42-year-old Jonathan M. Green, of Rapid City, SD, was arrested a little after 2-a.m., for Violation No Contact Order. He was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.
• 53-year-old Jamie Jo Jackson, of Rapid City, SD, was arrested for Possession on Controlled Substance. Bond was set at $1,000. Both subjects were arrested in the vicinity of 189th Street.

On Sunday, Mills County Deputies arrested 34-year-old Sandra Marie Martin, of Omaha, NE, in the area of 305th Street, on a warrant for Animal Neglect-with Injury or Death. Her bond was set at $2,000.00

And, there were two arrests last Friday in Mills County:

• 33-year-old Jeffrey Blaine Adams, of Pacific Junction, was arrested Friday morning, for Domestic Abuse Assault. He was being held without bond.
• 32-year-old Keith Allen Wise, II, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Violation of Probation. His bond was set at $2,500.

(Radio Iowa) – A Princeton University study of Iowa’s state-funded accounts for students in about half of Iowa’s private schools has found tuition rates for kindergarteners went up between 21 and 25 percent more than kindergarten tuition in Nebraska’s private schools. Democrats say the study shows the taxpayer-funded accounts are a windfall for private schools. House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst, of Windsor Heights, says the state spent 180 million dollars on the program this year. “Fifty-four percent of the vouchers so far have gone to 10 counties,” Konfrst says, “so how is this helping rural Iowa?”

Senate President Amy Sinclair, a Republican from Allerton, is an advocate of Iowa’s Educational Savings Accounts program. She says private school tuition increases are likely due to inflation. “I think those tuition increases would have occurred regardless of an Education Savings Account scholarship when you have over the course of the last three years cumulative inflation of about 20%, those costs impact non-public schools,” Sinclair says. The Princeton study found tuition in dozens of Iowa private schools for students in first through 12th grades went up 10 to 16 percent. Sinclair says the study is deeply flawed because researchers were unable to get information about tuition rates for all of Iowa’s private K-through-12 schools.

“The interesting thing about that study is that it does indicate that most of the non-public schools are still below the cost per pupil that public schools are spending on a student,” Sinclair says. Sinclair and Konfrst made their comments during recent appearances on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S. The 2024 Iowa legislature approved a two-and-a-half percent increase in general state funding for Iowa’s public schools, along with funding to raise starting salaries for public school teachers to 50-thousand dollars within two years.