(Radio Iowa) — There’s a brand new Wells Dairy Ice Cream Parlor and Visitors’ Center in the northwest Iowa city that bills itself as the Ice Cream Capital of the World. Adam Baumgartner, the vice president of retail sales, gave local media a tour of the facilities in Le Mars yesterday (Thursday). “It’s all about fun. It’s all about bringing that to our guests and our employees as well,” Baumgartner says.  The new, three-million-dollar Visitors Center tells the Wells Dairy story, starting as a family business delivering milk to what is now the second-largest dairy in the country. Interactive exhibits show how ice cream is made. The new Ice Cream Parlor features 37 different flavors of ice cream. “It really creates a one-of-a-kind event and place and location that you won’t be able to find anywhere else,” Baumgartner says.

Before the Ice Cream Parlor closed for renovations, it annually attracted more than 200-thousand visitors. “Our goal is to more than double that and the investment that we’ve put into this facility and everything we’ve done will truly support that,” Baumgartner says. “We think beyond the Iowa State Fair this will be the single-biggest tourist attraction in the state of Iowa.”

The new facility will have a staff of 40 full-time employees. A “soft” opening will be held tomorrow (Saturday). The grand opening is set for Wednesday, the start of Ice Cream Days in Le Mars, which is also celebrating its sesquicentennial.

(Radio Iowa) — The board that governs the state’s public universities has approved a nearly four percent increase in undergraduate tuition for students at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University. There will be NO tuition increase at the University of Northern Iowa. The three-point-nine percent increase in tuition at Iowa and Iowa State takes effect this fall. The 2019 legislature did not provide as much of a boost in state taxpayer support of the schools as the Board of Regents requested. The tuition hike is nearly one percent higher than the board predicted last November. Regent Milt Dakovich says it makes sense for the board of wait until state funding decisions are final. “I think it’s a lot better mechanism than we’ve had in the past,” Dakovich says. “Previously, we’ve been setting tuition prior to the legislative session.”

That meant after approving tuition rates in November for the NEXT fall, the board might vote AGAIN in the spring to hike the rate if state funding was below expectations. “It provides a lot more predictability to students and parents,” Dakovich says. The legislature provided a 12 million dollar increase in taxpayer support of the schools for the next academic year. Each institution will get four million dollars.

QUIMBY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a city’s untreated wastewater no longer is flowing into the Little Sioux River in northwest Iowa’s Cherokee County. The Iowa Natural Resources Department had said a sewer main break was reported Monday morning by the town of Quimby. River flooding has kept repair crews from finding the break and fixing it, allowing more than 15,000 gallons (56,780 liters) of untreated wastewater to flow into the river each day.

The department said Thursday that Quimby hired a manure hauler who’s begun moving wastewater from a pump station to the city’s wastewater lagoon. The city is working with an engineering firm to determine how best to fix or replace the sewer main.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests, two warrants served, and several prisoner transfers-in to the Pott. County Jail from other jail facilities. At around 11:45-p.m. Thursday, 32-year old Phillip Michael Houston, of Walnut, was arrested in Avoca, following a traffic stop for speeding. Houston was charged with Driving While Barred/Habitual Offender. His bond was set at $2,000. 23-year old Shyanne Allison Dalton-Birdsong, was taken into custody in a Pott. County Courtroom, Thursday morning. Dalton-Birdsong was wanted on a valid Pottawattamie County warrant for Violation of Probation.

A prisoner at the Pott. County Jail was presented with a Nebraska warrant Thursday morning, for being a Fugitive from Justice. 45-year old Corey Anthony Tarascio, of Council Bluffs, is being held in the jail on a charge of Criminal Trespass/3rd offense. His bond was set at $2,085. 19-year old Mason Sande Beaverson, of Council Bluffs, was also presented with a warrant out of Nebraska, Thursday, for being a Fugitive from Justice. Beaverson was being held on numerous drug-related charges. His bond set at $2,300 altogether.

Prisoners transported to the Pott. County Jail from other agencies include:

• 35-year old Douglas Dean Peck, who was wanted for Theft in the 2nd Degree and on a hold for another agency.
• 32-year old Edward Joseph Bartunek, of Council Bluffs, who was wanted for: Attempt to Commit Murder; 1st degree Robbery; Theft in the 1st degree; 2 counts of Theft in the 2nd degree, and Willful Injury resulting in serious injury. He was being held on a total of $40,000 bond.
• and, 46-year old Phillip Ryan Rasmussen, of Omaha, was transported to the Pott. County Jail, where he was wanted for Violation of Probation.

The Creston Police Department reports two people were arrested on drug charges, Thursday. 26-year old William Gene Cromar, of Creston, and 42-year old Dixie Lou Hernandez, of Omaha, were arrested in the 200 block of N. Maple Street at around 4:10-p.m. Both faces charges that include Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Paraphernalia, Possession of Meth, and two-counts each of Child Endangerment. Cromar was being held in the Union County Jail on $6,300 bond as well as on a warrant out of Nebraska. Hernandez was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $5,300 bond.

The Creston P-D reports also: 29-year old Kenny Joe Cunningham, of Creston, was arrested Thursday afternoon at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on a Union County warrant for Simple Assault. He was later released on a $300 bond; 55-year old Troy Eugene McKinney, of Creston, was arrested Thursday morning for Driving While Barred. He was released on a Promise to Appear (in court); and, Tara Joleen Oshel (address unknown), was arrested Thursday on a Union  County warrant for Theft in the 5th Degree. She was later released on a $300 bond.