SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Officials of a city in western Iowa have agreed to spend more than $100,000 on a project to silence train horns that now frequently blare through downtown.  The Sioux City Journal reports that Sioux City Council voted on Sept. 18 to approve a contract with Twin Cities-based SRF Consulting Group Inc. to create a “quiet zone” at multiple BNSF Railway train crossings downtown. Quiet zones are areas which meet specific safety guidelines that allow trains to pass through a crossing without sounding their horns.

Mayor Bob Scott was the lone dissenting vote. He says he voted against the project because the contract was being given to an out-of-state company instead of a local business. The city created another quiet zone in the downtown area seven years ago.

SLOAN, Iowa (AP) – The Winnebago Tribe is hoping to reclaim land in Iowa that was once part of its reservation in northeast Nebraska, but local hunters are concerned they might lose access. The Sioux City Journal reports the 1,643 acres of land is owned by the federal government and attracts hundreds of hunters each year. The land, which is near the tribe’s WinnaVegas Casino, was part of the Winnebago reservation when it was created in 1865. But the eastern border of the reservation was the Missouri River, which changed course over the years.

U.S. Rep. Steve King introduced a bill earlier this month to transfer the land to the Bureau of Indian Affairs where it would be held in trust for the tribe.

What started off as a single vehicle accident resulted in one person dead and two others injured early Saturday morning, in eastern Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol says the accident happened at around 1:40-a.m., when a 2007 Freightliner semi tractor-trailer driven by 37-year old Destom M. Kidane, of Tyler, TX., entered the ditch off Interstate 80 eastbound in Iowa County, near mile marker 209. The semi came back onto the road and overturned, coming to rest partially on the road and in the median. A passenger in a passing vehicle, 43-year old Stanislow Gruszka, of Palinfield, IL., stopped to assist. As Gruszka was going back to his vehicle, a secondary collision occurred between a 2017 Chevy Malibu driven by 56-year old Gregg Robert Vigna, of Plymouth, MI, and a 2005 Ford Freestyle SUV driven by 62-year old Donal Pirkl, of Victor, Iowa. 

The impact resulted in one of those vehicle striking Gruszka, causing fatal injuries. Kidane (The driver of the tractor-trailer), and Vigna, were transported by ambulance to the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics in Iowa City. The crash remains under investigation.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Mason City man has been sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa says 47-year-old Jeffery Landheer was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Cedar Rapids to 121 months.

He had pleaded guilty May 19 to one count of possession of child pornography, admitting that between 2009 and 2016, he knowingly possessed child pornography on a computer hard drive. The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa lawmakers will not return to the state Capitol for a special session, but Iowa’s finances remain on shaky ground. Staff for Gov. Kim Reynolds announced last week a projected shortfall for the roughly $7.2 billion budget that ended in June was drastically smaller than expected. Final accounting turned up more than $70 million in additional revenue. The Republican governor will borrow $13 million from emergency reserves to offset the shortfall.

Iowa has borrowed about $144 million from such reserves this year, and lawmakers plan to repay that money in the next two years. There are also unknown costs tied to the privatized Medicaid health care program for poor and disabled people.

This will impact the current budget, though it’s unclear by how much. It could lead to additional agency budget reductions, or complicate a Republican priority next year to cut taxes.

The Adams County Auditor’s Office late this past week provided KJAN News with a list of candidates for the Nov. 7th City Elections across the County. The individuals whose names will appear on the ballot, had submitted their petition papers by the required deadline.

In the City of Carbon, Larry E. Johnson is running unopposed in his bid for Mayor, and there are five candidates running for five open seats on the City Council in Carbon. They include Incumbents Vicky L. Haley, Michael Kempton, and Donna Rochau, along with newcomers Helen Hickman and Harold Mitchell.

In Corning, Incumbent Mayor Janice Mercer Leonard is running unopposed in her bid for re-election, as is Jerry Peckham in Ward 2 of the Corning City Council. And, no one is challenging Judy Beckett in her run for the At Large seat on the Council. Residents of Corning also have two Public Measures to vote on. Public Measure A says “Shall the City of Corning…be authorized to impose a hotel and motel tax…at the rate of 7%, beginning January 1st, 2018?”  Public Measure B asks “Shall the Board of Trustees of Corning Municipal Utilities, consisting of three members, be discontinued as of January 1st, 2018, and shall a Board of Trustees of {CMU} consisting of FIVE members be established as of January 1st, 2018?”

In the City of Nodaway, in Adams County, Mayor Patricia Shipley is running for re-election with no opposition. And, there are five people running for five seats on the Nodaway City Council, all five are incumbents: Gene Dixson; Brenda Dunn; Christine Dunn; Becky Poen, and Gary Poen.

And finally, in the City of Prescott, Mayor Greg Wilkinson is unopposed for re-election. Three positions are open on the City Council. The candidates include Glen Hickman, Incumbent Brenda Robison and Kevin Ray Schafer. There’s also on seat on the Council to fill a vacancy, with Ann R. Lydic running for that position.