The list of performers for the 10th Annual ACM Honorsceremony has just been announced, with Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Cam, Maren Morris, Cole Swindell, Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum all set to take the stage. Lady A will host the two-hour ceremony, which will be held at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium on August 30. The special will also make its television debut on September 9 at 9:00 PM ET on CBS.
· ACM Honors is an evening celebrating the special honorees and off-camera category winners from the 51st Academy of Country Music Awards. Carrie Underwood, Little Big Town, Urban and Glen Campbell are among the Special Award winners at this year’s ceremony.
Oskaloosa–William Penn enters 2016 as a legitimate contender for national success as the NAIA’s preseason top-25 rating was released Monday.
The Statesmen (7-4 in 2015, 3-2 North) popped up two spots from the summer ranking to #23 with 54 points. The Heart of America Athletic Conference is also represented by #5 Baker (Kan.), #6 Grand View, and #15 Benedictine (Kan.), while MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (tied for #32) and Missouri Valley (tied for #34) are in the receiving votes section.
Defending national champion Marian (Ind.) is a unanimous #1 with 314 points and all 14 first-place votes. 2015 runner-up Southern Oregon is second, while Morningside, Saint Francis (Ind.), and Baker round out the top five.
WPU steps out of the gate with a big one, hosting 34th-ranked Missouri Valley on August 27 in a Heart crossover game at 6 p.m.
NAIA Football Preseason Rating – August 9, 2016 (Number in parentheses is first-place votes)
1. Marian (Ind.) (14)
2. Southern Oregon
3. Morningside
4. Saint Francis (Ind.)
5. Baker (Kan.)
6. Grand View
7. Montana Tech
8. Tabor (Kan.)
9. Doane (Neb.)
10. Saint Xavier (Ill.)
11. Reinhardt (Ga.)
12. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)
13. Kansas Wesleyan
14. St. Francis (Ill.)
15. Benedictine (Kan.)
16. Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.)
17. Campbellsville (Ky.)
18. Georgetown (Ky.)
19. Faulkner (Ala.)
20. Arizona Christian
21. Dickinson State (N.D.)
22. Carroll (Mont.) 23. William Penn
24. St. Ambrose
25. Montana Western
Others receiving votes: Eastern Oregon 24; Concordia (Neb.) 18; Southeastern (Fla.) 14; Webber International (Fla.) 11; Point (Ga.) 6; Robert Morris (Ill.) 5; Sterling (Kan.) 4; MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 4; Ottawa (Kan.) 3; Missouri Valley 3.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – “The construction and renovation project for the Oskaloosa Fire Station is on track”, says Fire Chief Mark Neff.
The updates were passed by Oskaloosa voters in November of 2014, to the tune of 3.2 million dollars, that would include enlarging the current station, as well as some rehabilitation of the current station that was built in 1909.
When the project went out to bid, contractors returned bids for the project that were approximately 1 million dollars more than projected.
Some of those changes to reduce costs include not adding the elevator equipment, but still having the shaft for the elevator built; the other is to not convert the third floor room where the band currently practices into a community room.
The biggest cosmetic change to the structure, because of projected cost overrun, was to move to a sloped roof instead of the initially proposed hip roof.
With those initial challenges in construction cost now settled, and the project scheduled to come in for the amount voters approved, construction is now well underway.
Neff took Oskaloosa News on a tour of the station and the construction site, in order to help update us about the progress of construction thus far.
The elevator shaft for the facility is being constructed for future use. The elevator shaft will remain empty until such time when the city installs the elevator car and it becomes necessary.
One of those interesting side-effects of rebidding the project was finding a way to get the newest fire truck into the original building. The truck was ordered before the project was initially delayed because of the cost.
When the truck arrived, it was too tall to fit through the original doors. As construction was taking place, concrete was already being removed, so firefighters dug out an area near the door to allow the newest truck to fit inside the old station.
After considerable infrastructure work, such as sewer lines, construction crews have now installed steel columns and the building will start to go vertical in a relatively short amount of time from this point on.
It’s planned that the new addition will be housing the fire trucks in February of 2017, and the remodel of the original station should be completed by the fall of 2017.
The 2016 season marks the first time the “Chase” format that’s been used by the Sprint Cup Series the past two seasons will also be implemented in the Camping World Truck Series, with the final month of the regular season set to open next week in Bristol, Tennessee. Eight drivers will qualify and if the post-season began today, the field would include rookies Christopher Bell and William Byron, who are teammates at Kyle Busch Motorsports … two-time champion Matt Crafton, John Hunter Nemechek, Johnny Sauter, Timothy Peters and Daniel Hemric. The battle for the eighth and final “playoff” spot is fierce with four drivers within five points of each other: Cameron Hayley, Ben Kennedy, Tyler Reddick and rookie Cole Custer. After Bristol on August 17th, remaining races in the regular season will be run at Michigan International Speedway, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Chicagoland Speedway. The Chase will open September 24th in Loudon, New Hampshire.
We continue our look at the districts in our area with Class 3A District 6.
The two-time defending state champion Pella Little Dutch have won their last 28 games in back-to-back unbeaten seasons, but it won’t be easy to do it a third time.
Pella defeated Norwalk twice last season, including in the championship game. Norwalk is also in District 6 and with returning quarterback Brady Brandsfield, they are looking to leapfrog the Dutch.
Norwalk and Pella will undoubtedly be the top two teams on paper heading into the season, even with Pella losing Class 3A Player of the Year Noah Clayberg to graduation.
The teams that are looking to muscle into that mix are Bondurant-Farrar, Carlisle, Grinnell, Knoxville, Nevada, and North Polk.
Bondurant-Farrar was 6-4 last season and will be in good shape to challenge for a top three spot in the district. Carlisle (6-4) is in very much the same position, having finished third last year in the same district behind Pella and Norwalk.
Knoxville was also a part of that district, and finished the season 5-4, missing the playoffs as the #5 team in that district (Chariton finished 4th).
Grinnell also could be in for a leap as they return most of their top contributors from a 4-5 team in 2015.
Nevada finished 2-7 last season, missing the playoffs, and North Polk lost in the first round of the playoffs to finish 5-5 as a Class 2A team last year.
This district seems to have a few different levels but if a team like Grinnell makes a leap, it could get interesting to see if anyone can upset Norwalk or Pella for a playoff berth in this district.
We’ll keep trucking through our district previews tomorrow with a look at Class 2A District 5, which features Mid-Prairie.
On this day in 1991, Vince Gill became the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry. That same year, Gill released his fourth studio album Pocket Full of Gold. The album reached #5 on the charts, and produced the singles “Pocket Full of Gold,” “Liza Jane,” “Look at Us” and “Take Your Memory with You.”
On 08-10- 2016 at approximately 0618 hours the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by Marshall County Sheriff’s Office of a pursuit that began in Marshall County and was about to enter Jasper County. Information at the time from Marshall County was the vehicle being pursued was considered a stolen vehicle from Marshalltown.
Our officers assisted in the pursuit in our county along with the Iowa State Patrol. Near the intersection of E. 116 th St. N., 2 Marshall County Patrol vehicles sustained damage as well as a Jasper County Patrol car and a car from the Iowa State Patrol.
Approximately 2 miles east from there, the subject left the roadway and entered a bean field and was apprehended at that time. Subject was taken into custody by Marshall County with numerous charges. Jasper County also has numerous charges pending as well.
A Jasper County Deputy sustained minor injuries from the airbag deployment as the suspect rammed his patrol in attempt to flee.
Check with Marshall County and the Iowa State Patrol for further information.
Chris Lane’s single “Fix” has reached the summit of both the Billboard Country Airplay and Mediabase charts this week, giving Chris his first-career #1 song. After hearing the exciting news, Lane exclaimed, “My First #1… doesn’t even feel real. Thank you country radio for giving me a chance.”
Students falling behind in reading will again get the help they need this year. Oskaloosa Elementary School has been awarded funding for two full-time reading tutors in the 2016-2017 school year.
The tutors are part of the Iowa Reading Corps, a statewide initiative to help ensure that all Iowa students are on track to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade.
In July, Iowa Reading Corps was awarded $1.6 million by the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service that will fund more than 100 tutors throughout the state, including two in Oskaloosa.
Those funds will then be matched locally through the support of United Way of Mahaska County.
“The program has seen tremendous growth,” said Amy Meyer, director of United Way of Mahaska County. “When Reading Corps was introduced four years ago, there were only 10 tutors in Iowa and Oskaloosa had two of them. So we saw pretty early the potential this program had to impact students in our community.”
Each school day, tutors meet 1-on-1 with students in Kindergarten through 3rd grade for 20-minute tutoring sessions. Students selected for the program are ones who need some individual attention to reach their reading goals.
“Students who aren’t reading as good as they should be by third grade are four times more likely to not graduate, so keeping them on track is very important,” said Meyer.
Oskaloosa Elementary School is currently working to fill the two Reading Corps tutor positions. Shannon De Penning, a reading teacher at OES, said the job is a great opportunity to change lives.
“Tutors have a positive impact on students learning to become stronger readers while also boosting their confidence in themselves,” said Penning.
For more information or to apply to be a reading tutor, go to www.uwiowa.org/IowaReadingCorps or contact Amy Meyer at United Way of Mahaska County at 641-673-6043.
On this day in 2011, Luke Bryan released his third album, Tailgates & Tanlines. The album produced four singles, “Country Girl (Shake It For me)”, which hit #1 four on the charts, “I Don’t Want This Night to End”,”Drunk on You”, and “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye”, which all hit #1.
Tailgates & Tanlines has since become 2x Platinum certified by the RIAA.
