ELDRIDGE, Iowa (AP) — Leaders of the Quad Cities suburb of Eldridge are moving to create a commercial and industrial park in the hopes of attracting new employers and lowering property taxes. The Quad-City Times reports that the proposed 500 acre site is mostly privately-owned farmland located between Eldridge and the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center in north Davenport. Eldridge has been working with Quad-Cities First, the economic development arm of the Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce, to pursue site certification through the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Officials are also working to market some of the parcels that are available in the future business park.

Eldridge Mayor Marty O’Boyle says the Industrial Center is running out of large-sized tracts to attract another major development. Sterilite and Kraft Heinz recently constructed plants at the center.

Cass County Deputy Auditor Sheri Karns today (Monday), provided an update on candidates filing for office in the County. Kevin A. Stender and Travis Erickson have filed to fill two Non-partisan Edna Township Trustee positions. Incumbents Kristi Plagman and Chad Becker have filed for the Non-Partisan Ag Extension Council, along with Jeb Peck. There are five seats open on the Council. Republican Incumbents Michael D. Hooper, Mary Ward and Tracey J. Marshall have all filed for election as Cass County Attorney, Recorder and Treasurer, respectively.

Incumbent Julie Pollock has filed papers to run for the single open seat on the Hospital Board, Northeast District. Mark T. O’Brien, who won in the June Primary, will be on the ballot for the open District 2 Board of Supervisor’s seat. Republican John Hartkopf, who also won in the Primary, will face a challenge from Dana Halder, who lost in the Primary, but was Nominated By Petition. Both men will be vying for the Board of Supervisor’s seat in District 3.

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (AP) — A man accused of trying to smother a fellow state psychiatric hospital patient has been sentenced to 10 years in an Iowa prison. Buchanan County District Court records say 45-year-old Terrance Rooney Jr. was sentenced last week after pleading guilty to burglary and harassment. Prosecutors dropped a charge of attempted murder in exchange for Rooney’s pleas. Court records say an evaluation determined Rooney was competent to go to trial.

Rooney has been a patient at the Mental Health Institute in Independence for years and was a patient there when he pleaded guilty in 1999 to making a threat to the life of President Bill Clinton. Authorities say in the latest case that Rooney tried to suffocate another patient in November and twisted the thumb of a staffer and threatened to kill her in February.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque racing group hopes to spend $3.4 million on a veterans memorial for an island in the Mississippi River that’ll include walkways, a waterfall and a sculpture. The Telegraph Herald reports that the Dubuque Racing Association Board of Directors is expected to vote on the project during their monthly meeting on Tuesday. The memorial would honor local World War II veteran Chaplain Aloysius Schmitt, who was aboard the USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941, when the ship was torpedoed and eventually capsized. He was one of more than 400 crew members who died in the attack.

The project also needs approval from the Dubuque City Council and the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission before it can move forward. If the project is approved, DRA officials would expect to break ground next spring.

CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 2-year-old who’d shot himself with his father’s gun at a suburban Des Moines hotel is expected to soon leave a hospital. The shooting occurred Sunday at the Sterling Inn in Clive. Officers say he’d picked up and fired the .45-caliber handgun his father had left in some luggage. Police say the bullet passed through the boy’s chest and neck before lodging in a wall.

Police said in a news release Monday that the little boy is improving and is expected to be released from Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines “in the very near future.” Police identified his parents as 29-year-old Jonathan Hauser and his mother as 28-year-old Kylie Harvey. They live in Council Bluffs. Police say Hauser has an Iowa handgun permit.

(Radio Iowa) — The only grocery store in the northwest Iowa town of Remsen was destroyed in a weekend fire. Firefighters from Remsen and several neighboring communities fought the blaze for more than five hours. The fire was reported at about 4:15 AM Sunday. Remsen Assistant Fire Chief Mark Gaskill says they believe they’ve pinpointed what sparked the fire at Farm Fresh Foodtown. “The breaker box that the main power comes into the grocery store in the back, it had blown a fuse and the panel was not secured shut, so that is probably where the fire started,” Gaskill says. “From there, it started a bunch of cardboard on fire and then started moving through the building itself.” Gaskill says the building was demolished.

“I would consider it being a total loss,” Gaskill says. “Some of the building might still be okay but contents inside would be a total loss.” Sammy Chodha (CHO-dah), the owner of the store, says he will rebuild and bring back a grocery store to small community. “I’ll be sooner than the insurance company to make it a better establishment and make it work for the people of Remsen,” Chodha says. Five different fire departments responded to the blaze, from: Remsen, Oyens, Marcus, Granville and Le Mars.

Glenwood Police report 33-year old Emily McCord, of Glenwood, was arrested Saturday, on a charge of Theft in the 2nd Degree. Her bond was set at $5,000.