w/ Chris Parks
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The new Elementary School addition to the Griswold Middle School/High School building is officially open. Griswold School Administrators hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday afternoon for the 33,000 square foot addition.
The new building will house two classrooms per grade level and have an area for Special Education and Preschool. The building also has a multipurpose area which will serve as an auditorium, gymnasium, and cafeteria. The new addition also includes new administrative offices, with the previous offices being converted to classrooms.
JEFFERSON—DNR is onsite investigating a fish kill in Hardin Creek about two miles east of Jefferson in Greene County at 5 p.m. today.
Local USDA Service Center staff noticed the dead fish while stream sampling in the area.
DNR has little information yet. While the fish differ in size and species, and the affected area is at least three miles long, the source and extent of the fish kill are still under investigation.
Downstream livestock producers may want to consider using another water source for their animals until the pollutant has been identified. Residents should keep children and pets out of the stream for 24 to 48 hours after the pollutant is gone.
DNR will continue to investigate.
DNR asks anyone seeing a fish kill or an obvious pollutant to notify the local field office or call the 24-hour spill line at 515-725-8694. The earlier DNR is notified, the easier it is to trace the pollutant source.
The Cass County Democratic Party recently completed their school supply drive by dropping of supplies to area schools. The drive yielded ten large plastic tubs plus several sacks of supplies. The donations were distributed prior to the school year starting so that the children would have their new back packs and supplies, ensuring their new school year started off right.
Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle said, “I want to thank the community for their generosity. And, of course, thank you to the businesses that agreed to be drop-off sites in their communities for the donations. Without their help, the drive would not happen. Thanks also to my volunteers who helped pick up the donations from the drop-off sites.”
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The National Weather Service says the tornado that damaged or destroyed several buildings in rural Warren County was rated at EF3, with peak winds of 150 mph (241.4 kph).
It touched down near Lacona a little before 6 a.m. Tuesday and ran for nearly 6 miles (10 kilometers). It damaged the Iowa Operator and Engineers training facility. No deaths of injuries have been reported.
The Des Moines Register reports that another tornado spotted Tuesday touched down a little before 6:25 a.m. near Tracy. It was rated an EF1, with peak winds of 110 mph (177 kph). It damaged several roofs and trees but didn’t injure anyone.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines man who recorded what he says was the abuse of a show pig at the Iowa State Fair earlier this month has been banned from the fair for life.
Wheaten Mather tells the Des Moines Register that he and a friend were at the fair Aug. 8 when he saw a boy hitting a squealing show pig in the face with a stick called a hog whip, and Mather started recording on his cellphone.
Mather confronted fair CEO Gary Slater about the incident 10 days later. Mather says Slater tolerated his questions at first, then became dismissive and called fair police.
Mather says that’s when an officer told him he was being ejected for life.
Fair spokeswoman Mindy Williamson says Mather was banned because he was combative and “a little threatening.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri appeals court has ruled that the former superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol overstepped her authority when she fired a trooper who was driving a boat when a handcuffed Iowa man fell out and drowned.
The appeals court on Tuesday sent the case back to the patrol to determine proper punishment for Trooper Anthony Piercy in the 2014 death of 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson, of Clive, Iowa, at the Lake of the Ozarks.
The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports a patrol review board recommended Piercy be reinstated but transferred out of the Jefferson City troop. Former Superintendent Sandra Karsten fired Piercy in 2017.
Piercy is still fighting to have his law license reinstated after it was revoked twice. A hearing on the appeal is scheduled for early next month.