ACADEMIC TEAM
HONORED AT STATE
Two Southwestern Community College students were honored as members of the 2015 All-Iowa Academic Team earlier this month. Read more on page 12A. >>
Butch Miller of Creston and Darrell Burmeister, coach at Nodaway Valley, were recognized during the state basketball tournament over the weekend. See photos in SPORTS, page 8A.
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MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015
Construction on SWCC’s simulation lab begins
Missing minor located in Montana on Friday
By IAN RICHARDSON CNA staff reporter irichardson@crestonnews.com
The Southwestern Community College (SWCC) simulation lab remodel began Thursday, two days after the board of trustees unanimously approved a bid by Winterstein Construction at its monthly meeting. Winterstein’s bid was $124,850. It will perform all the construction except for the mechanical portion, which will be completed by Camblin Mechanical from Atlantic. Tom Lesan, vice president of economic development at SWCC, said CamLesan blin did the mechanical work when the building was first constructed in 1996. It will charge $28,110. “Camblin knows the building, and they know where everything is,” Lesan said. “The guy that did all the work is the guy that’s doing the work now. It worked out really well for us.” The total cost will be $152,960, which is just over the estimate of $150,000 figured by the architect. When completed, the simulation lab in the Allied Health and Science Center will house full-body wireless
CNA file photo
Southwestern Community College’s Allied Health and Science Center will play host to a new health care simulation lab in the future. Construction on the sim lab began last week.
patient simulators for the nursing education program. Lesan said the projected completion date is May 24. In other SWCC news: • The board approved the fiscal year 2016 budget as presented. • The board approved an agreement to use Accelerated Career Education funds to remodel portions of the Instructional Center for the management information systems program. Plans will be presented at the next board meeting, and a public hearing date will also be set
at that time. • The board approved a 28E agreement with Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) for a joint 260E issuance, which involves industrial job training. The joint issuance allows the colleges to work together PPI of Corning and Lenox, as well as the company that owns Iowa Steel in Osceola. Both companies operate in both colleges’ districts. Lesan said it is the first joint issuance in the state of Iowa. • The board approved an increase in student hous-
ing cost for next academic year. The new rate will be $3,225 per semester for apartment-style housing, including room and board, and $2,850 per semester for traditional housing. Both include $800 to go toward meals at the Spartan Cafe. • The board approved the resignation of Kim Weehler, nursing instructor, for the end of the 2014-2015 contract year. • The board held a closed session to complete the yearly evaluation for President Barb Crittenden.
With borer spreading, towns sacrifice their leafy canopy DES MOINES (AP) — Since she was a child, the giant ash tree that towered over Rebecca Robinson’s small home offered a cool refuge during sultry Midwest summer days. It was the same down her tree-lined neighborhood’s block and throughout much of Waterloo, a leafy Iowa city that’s home to about 4,000 ashes. But work crews have toppled Robinson’s tree and soon, nearly all of Waterloo’s ash trees will be gone too — though many are perfectly healthy — as big cities and small towns from Pennsylvania to Colorado surrender to a small, shiny bug by preemptively eliminating a big part of their urban foliage. With the loss of so many mature trees, some towns may not look the same again for decades. “In some places, you could have a pretty hostile environment,” said Gary John-
son, a forestry professor in Minnesota, where thousands of lush trees are falling. The emerald ash borer, which is native to Asia, was first spotted in the U.S. in 2002, when it showed up in the Detroit area. It devastated ash trees in Michigan and has spread to at least 21 other states as people haul firewood or other wood products from place to place. Now, daunted by the cost and difficulty of stopping the
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Volume 131 No. 204
Most Iowa parents waive teen driving restriction
said Robinson of the 75-foot tree in her yard. “I was sad to see it go, but on the other hand I didn’t want it falling on my house.” Although the emerald ash borer nibbles on leaves, the trouble comes when the insect deposits larvae that burrow beneath tree bark, then zigzag along the tree, cutting off the flow of nutrients. Infected trees usually die within five years. Whereas removal was the only option when the insect was discovered, city officials can apply newly developed insecticides. Johnson, a professor at the University of Minnesota, pushes hard for preservation, noting the mature trees offer energy-saving summer shade and make neighborhoods more beautiful. “There’s been so much evidence that treating the ash
DES MOINES (AP) — An effort to improve some teen drivers’ road safety by limiting their number of passengers is having little impact in Iowa, because the majority of parents are signing waivers to opt their kids out of the requirement. According to data from the Iowa Department of Transportation, about 90 percent of parents signed waivers in 2014 to exempt their teen drivers with intermediate licenses from the restriction, which says that for the first six months with such a license, the 16-year-olds or 17-year-olds can’t have more than one unrelated minor passenger when driving without adult supervision. Lawmakers approved the tougher rules two years ago in an effort to promote safety, citing evidence that driving with multiple young passengers can distract beginner drivers. Sen. Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, said he sponsored the 2013 bill in an effort to “prevent fatalities and accidents for our new drivers.” But he added it gives parents flexibility — and “you can’t go wrong allowing parents to make the decision.” Intermediate driver’s licenses are awarded to 16 or 17-year-olds who have completed certain education requirements. The licenses have some restrictions on when the teens can drive, and the 2013 law added the passenger rule. It went into effect last year, when 44,942 drivers got intermediate licenses
Please see BORER, Page 2
Please see DRIVING, Page 2
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insect, many cities are choosing to destroy their trees before the borer can. Chain saws are roaring in towns where up to 40 percent of the trees are ashes, and rows of stumps line streets once covered by a canopy of leaves. About 50 million trees have been removed so far. With roughly 7 billion ash on public and private land in the U.S., the job has only begun. “It was beautiful. It provided a whole lot of shade,”
A missing 14-year-old from Council Bluffs has been safely located in Anaconda, Montana. Dakota Cook was reported missing Tuesday afternoon after his mother Carolyn Cook of Prescott failed to return him to Children’s Square, U.S.A. — a state placement organization in Council Bluffs. Law enforcement had been searching for Dakota since Tuesday afternoon and believed his mother and possibly her boyfriend Jim Strohman — also from Prescott — had him in the Union and Adams County area. Law enforcement found Dakota and his sister in Montana D. Cook Friday. Dakota and his sister have been temporarily placed with Montana Department of Family Services. Council Bluffs Sergeant Chad Meyers said Carolyn Cook has been arrested by authorities in Montana on two outstanding warrants stemming from this incident. Meyers thanked Adams and Union County Sheriff’s offices and Creston Police Department for their assistance in their search for Dakota.
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