ORIENT, Iowa – A native daughter of Orient and graduate of the school district is giving back to her hometown with the formation of a charitable fund. Charlene (Speed) Lamberti along with her husband, Donald, have formally announced the $1-million gift on Saturday, August 24, as part of the community’s Pumpkin Days celebration.

The Helen and Virgil Speed and Family Orient Iowa Charitable Fund is seeded with $1 million from the Lamberti’s and will be maintained at the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines. The fund is named for Charlene Lamberti’s parents who lived in Orient and raised three children.

“If we want rural towns to survive, we have to invest in them and help them maintain their sense of community,” says Charlene Lamberti. “I loved growing up in Orient; it’s a great place to raise a family and we want others to have that opportunity. We are establishing this fund to give Orient added resources for the future.”

Charlene and Don Lamberti

The fund is not an endowment, so all of the money will be allocated to the community through the Orient Area Betterment and Improvement Corp. Ryan Frederick, president of Orient Area Betterment, says the timing couldn’t be better for the town that boasts the birthplaces of Vice President Henry Wallace and National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Dazzy Vance, as well as a stop on the Mormon trail.

“When Jeff Lamberti called me about establishing the fund last October, it was the most unexpected and welcome phone call I have ever received,” Frederick recounts. “Now, after a tornado in Greenfield and the dissolution of our school district, the timing is nothing short of a godsend.

“Most small rural towns do not have an opportunity like this. It can be a real struggle to raise any meaningful sum for a community project sometimes, so when Charlene and her family decide to channel $1 million into our community, it’s a gamechanger,” adds Frederick, who attended the same high school in Orient as Charlene Lamberti and her family.

In addition to establishing the million-dollar fund, the Lambertis are donating $200,000 to the Orient Area Betterment and Improvement Corp. to assist with the dissolution of the Orient-Macksburg School District. Specifically, the money is to be used to ensure that the school district building remains a productive asset for the Orient area community. These funds may also be used for the establishment or maintenance of a public, private or charter school in the City of Orient.

Donald and Charlene Lamberti founded Casey’s General Stores — the third-largest convenience store chain in the United States— from a leased store in Boone, Iowa. The Lambertis give back to Iowa in many ways, supporting education, faith-based efforts, entrepreneurship, addiction treatment and prevention, and community betterment.

(Muscatine County, Iowa) – A collision Friday evening in eastern Iowa resulted in the death of one person and two others injured. The Iowa State Patrol reports a Nissan SUV was traveling south on Taylor Avenue in Muscatine at around 5:55-p.m., when the driver failed to stop at the stop sign with Highway 61. The SUV was struck by a Dodge SUV that was traveling south on Highway 61.

Two of the crash victims were transported to Trinity Hospital in Muscatine, where one of the victims died. A third crash victim was transported to UIHC by helicopter. All of the accident victims were wearing their seat belts. No names had been released as of 12:30-p.m. Saturday (Today).

The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office, Muscatine EMS/Fire, Muscatine Police and Aircare.

(Monona County, IA) – Two people were injured during a collision this (Saturday) morning on Interstate 29, southwest of Whiting. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a semi driven by 64-year-old Theodore Armstrong, of Belmont, NC, was traveling south on I-29 near mile marker 117 at around 7:30-a.m., when the semi collided with the rear of a 1994 Dodge Dakota pickup being pulled by another pickup truck.

Armstrong, and the driver of the pickup, 49-year-old Juan Cardenas Chavez, of Denison, were both injured in the crash, and transported by Monona EMS to Burgess Health Center, in Onawa.

GRIMES, Iowa – Aug. 22, 2024 – Nighttime construction work on the pavement of westbound Interstate 80 will require closing the road to traffic beginning at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 27 until 5 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28, weather permitting, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Grimes Construction office.

While the road is closed you will follow a marked detour route using the U.S. 65 bypass, Hubbell Avenue, Euclid Avenue, and I-235 (see map).

CRESTON, Iowa – Aug. 23, 2024 – If you travel on Interstate 80 between De Soto (exit 110) and Van Meter (exit 113) you need to be aware of overnight closures of the roadway that may slow down your trip. The Iowa DOT’s Creston Construction Office reports crews need to close east- and westbound I-80 overnight from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 28, and Thursday, Aug. 29, weather permitting, so beams can be placed for the Old Portland Road bridge over I-80.

While the roadway is closed, you will follow a marked detour route that will use U.S. 169, U.S. 6, Dallas County Road R-16, and I-80 (see map).

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

BROOKLYN, Iowa (KCRG) – City leaders in Brooklyn, Iowa, are asking for help finding out who is responsible for shooting cats with crossbow bolts. In a Facebook post on Thursday, city leaders said they have received several complaints.

They also shared images in the post, showing a cat that had been shot through the leg.

Photo from the City of Brooklyn (IA) Facebook page

Anyone with information is asked to call 522-7066.

DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI]  — Reports from some Iowans and others across the Midwest, Friday morning, say they saw an unexpected spectacle in the sky. A fireball meteor streaked through the atmosphere around 6:15 a.m. The meteor itself was located over southwestern Wisconsin but was visible from hundreds of miles away.

NASA’s Meteor Watch reports that “over 70 eyewitnesses in the states of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota have filed reports on the American Meteor Society website of a bright fireball seen this morning (August 23) at 6:13 AM Central Daylight Time. An analysis of these accounts indicates that the meteor was first seen at an altitude of 50 miles above the Wisconsin town of Fairchild, moving slightly east of South at 36,000 miles per hour. Traveling 39 miles through the atmosphere, it brightly flared twice before breaking up 29 miles above the town of Shamrock.”

Meteors often break up as they enter the atmosphere and can explode, which is just what Meteor Watch says happened: “The fireball broke apart with an energy of approximately 60 tons of TNT and the flares were easily detected by the Geostationary Lightning Mappers on the GOES 16 and GOES 18 satellites. The available data indicate that the meteor was produced by the atmospheric entry of a small asteroid 3.5 feet in diameter and weighing roughly 4000 pounds.”