Officials with PRIDE (the Progressive Rural Iowa Development Enterprise) say three legislative coffees have been scheduled to take place in Cass County during the 2013 session. PRIDE President Kenner Baxter says coffees “Are opportunities to have face-to-face dialogue with our Iowa legislators.”  Redistricting means the addition of Senators Hubert Houser and Jake Chapman to Cass County and the return of Representatives Clel Baudler and Jack Drake.

The first coffee takes place 10-a.m. Saturday, February 16th, at the Cumberland Fire Station. The next event will be held at the Marne Community Center beginning at 10-a.m., on Saturday, March 16th. The final gathering is at 10-a.m. Saturday, April 20th, at the Griswold Library. Also taking place that day is the community celebration to reopen the facility after its extensive remodel.

P.R.I.D.E. is the economic development organization that works on behalf of communities, businesses, and citizens from Cumberland, Lewis, and Marne for Southwest Iowa development. For additional information, or to join P.R.I.D.E., contact Kenner Baxter, president, at 781-2395, or Clarke Gerlock, vice-president, at 712-774-5476.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley says he will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin.  Braley said Thursday in an email to potential supporters that the decision is “a big responsibility” and he’s forming a fundraising committee to get started.   The Waterloo Democrat was elected to the House in 2006.

He has been eyeing a Senate run since 2010 and his announcement follows Harkin’s Jan. 26 announcement that he will not seek a sixth term. Braley had already said he was weighing a run, and he met last week in Washington with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and chairmen of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.   Among Republicans, Iowa Reps. Tom Latham and Steve King are considering Senate campaigns.

A Shenandoah man suffered what were described as non-incapacitating injuries during a single-vehicle accident Wednesday afternoon, in Page County. According to the Sheriff’s Department, 48-year old Timothy Allen Lekey was flown by Mercy 3 Air Ambulance to Creighton Medical Center in Omaha following the crash, which happened at around 3:55-p.m.

Officials say Lekey was traveling north on Highway 59 just south of 170th Street, or about two-miles north of Shenandoah, when his 1993 Oldsmobile Cutless drifted off the road to the east. When Lekey overcorrected, the car drifted off the road to the west, and after Lekey overcorrected again, the car entered the east ditch. It then crossed 170th Street and came rest in the east ditch, just north of 170th.

Lekey was cited for Failure to Maintain Control. His car was declared a total loss.