By Sam Parsons
The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors will meet this morning to hold their first budget hearing for Fiscal Year 2023/24.
At the meeting, the board will hold a public hearing on their proposed maximum tax levy and then will approve the Maximum Tax Dollars number for the upcoming fiscal year. The board will then set the date for the final hearing on the Mahaska County budget for FY24.
The meeting will begin at 9am in the Mahaska County Courthouse.
Born and raised in Oklahoma, he may be living the Hollywood lifestyle these days, but Blake Shelton is still a country boy at heart. When he’s not judging “The Voice” or playing shows to packed houses across the globe, Blake has a side-hustle/hobby he obviously loves – corn farming.
Tweeting out a clip from high atop his Kubota tractor (get off the phone while you’re driving, Blake!), the country singer enthused about the warmer weather and what comes next.
“It’s corn time y’all!!!!!! #kubotacountry.” The video showed the country star riding on his tractor as he said, “It’s early April, there is absolutely no frost in the forecast. That means it’s corn time, baby. Woo! We’re farmin’.”
Source: CountryNow
Today in 2013, Kenny Rogers, Bobby Bare and songwriter/producer Jack Clement were announced as the 2013 inductees in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
By Sam Parsons
The Oskaloosa Indians hosted the 95th Osky Relays yesterday. Several area teams were in attendance at the meet. The Indians came away with 6 total gold medals and a new school record.
Boys Meet Results
Team points:
Individual/relay teams (Oskaloosa):
Place/Event/Name(s)/Mark
1st/11om Hurdles/Tatum Westercamp/15.39
1st/Long Jump/Tatum Westercamp/21′ 6.25″
1st/Shuttle Hurdle Relay/Dom Piersel, JT Baker, Waylon Bolibaugh, Tatum Westercamp/63.96 (*NEW SCHOOL RECORD*)
1st/4×800 Relay/Javion Reeves, Sam Nelson, Will Roach, Reed Peterson/9:03.20
2nd/400m Hurdles/Waylon Bolibaugh/59.45
2nd/Discus/Lukas Toubekis/125′ 5″
2nd/4×100 Relay/Dom Piersel, Dylan Messamaker, Tatum Westercamp, Waylon Bolibaugh/46.77
2nd/Shot Put/Lukas Toubekis/41′ 7″
3rd/110m Hurdles/Dom Piersel/16.95
3rd/High Jump/Waylon Bolibaugh/5′ 8″
3rd/Shot Put/Wyatt Grubb/41′ 0″
3rd/Discus/Boston Barnhart/120′ 2.25″
4th/800m/Javion Reeves/2:12.39
4th/100m/Dom Piersel/11.93
4th/1600m/Blake Herny/5:10.40
5th/800m/Will Roach/2:13.71
5th/4×200 Relay/Aidan Scholes, JT Baker, Tre Bullock, Dylan Messamaker/1:43.43
6th/Sprint Medley/Dylan Messamaker, JT Baker, Aidan Scholes, DaMarion Winchel/1:48.21
6th/400m/Reed Peterson/60.11
6th/Distance Medley/Dre Bullock, Tre Bullock, DaMarion Winchel, Sam Nelson
Girls Meet Results
Team points:
Individual/relay teams (Oskaloosa, top 4 finishes):
Place/Event/Name(s)/Mark
1st/High Jump/Ryleigh Wilken/5′ 1″ (6TH ALL-TIME)
1st/100m/Maleah Walker/13.02
2nd/Long Jump/Maleah Walker/17′ 2.25″
2nd/Shuttle Hurdle Relay/Lydia Van Veldhuizen, Ryleigh Wilken, Emmalee Wells-Stout, Hannah Quang/1:11.76
2nd/100m Hurdles/Hannah Quang/16.68
2nd/2o0m/Maleah Walker/26.77
2nd/400m Hurdles/Evelyn Adam/1:12.76
2nd/4×100 V/Addison Beane, Hannah Quang, Maddy Moorman, Maleah Walker/53:13
3rd/High Jump/Tierney Carter/4′ 8″
3rd/Distance Medley Relay/Maddy Moorman, Alison Arellano, Sarah Phillips, Evelyn Adam/4:49.25
3rd/800m/Tierney Carter/2:32.33
3rd/1500m/Tierney Carter/5:40.18
3rd/4×400 Relay/Emmalee Wells-Stout, Lydia Van Veldhuizen, Tierney Carter, Evelyn Adam/4:30.19
4th/4×200 V/Maddy Moorman/Lydia Van Veldhuizen, Alison Arrelano, Ryleigh Wilken/1:59
Luke Combs believes in his fans – and he believes in the democratic process. Together, those two things will determine which of his new tracks will be his next single at country radio.
Luke jumped on Twitter to ask fans to go to his website and vote for what they want the next single to be: “Love You Anyway” or “Five-Leaf Clover.” He’s giving fans a week to vote and he’ll announce the ultimate fan-voted choice at his concert next Saturday in Nashville.
“I always just believed in the songs that you guys love and this is just a way for you guys to actually pick my next single, so if you’d go vote I’d sure appreciate it – and I look forward to seeing what y’all decide!” Cast your vote now at lukecombs.com.
Source: CountryNow
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Details of how tech executive Bob Lee came to be fatally stabbed in downtown San Francisco early Tuesday were scarce as friends and family continued to mourn the man they called brilliant, kind and unlike others in the industry.
San Francisco police found Lee, 43, on the sidewalk in front of a condominium building with stab wounds shortly after 2:35 a.m. Tuesday. He was taken to a hospital, where he died. He leaves behind two children.
The neighborhood where the stabbing occurred is near the Embarcadero waterfront and full of tech offices, towering condominium buildings and not much else late at night.
Lee is known for creating the widely used mobile payment service Cash App while working as chief technology officer of the payment company Square, now known as Block. He was the chief product officer for the cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin at the time of his death.
Lee was back in San Francisco for a visit after moving to Miami in October, his father, Rick Lee, said on social media. The two had been living in the San Francisco suburb of Mill Valley.
“Bob would give you the shirt off his back,” Rick Lee wrote. “He would never look down on anyone and adhered to a strict no-judgment philosophy. Bobby worked harder than anyone and was the smartest person I have ever known.”
San Francisco Police Sgt. Adam Lobsinger said in a video message Thursday that the investigation is still early and the department would not comment on evidence or speculate on circumstances.
Lee defied the arrogant and self-centered “tech bro” stereotype affixed to certain men in the San Francisco Bay Area tech scene, and instead exuded an “innate kindness,” said longtime friend Tommy Sowers.
Sowers and Lee first met at a fundraiser in Washington, D.C., where Sowers, a former Green Beret and Iraq war veteran, was running for Congress. Lee, newly hired at Square, was touting an app that could help his campaign fundraising. Both men were from Missouri.
Lee’s two children joined the men on hikes and dinners. It was not unusual for Lee to be out late, said Sowers, and he loved San Francisco.
“I’d want to go to bed at like 9. He talked me into going someplace till midnight, and then he’d be like, ‘Well, there’s another one,’ and you’d go to that. And he’s like, ‘There’s another one.’ He just had real boundless energy.”
Part of those late-night sessions involved talking about technology, including San Francisco’s unique role far away from the political power in Washington and the big money in New York.
“San Francisco is all about the idea, and you’re as good as your current or next idea,” said Sowers, who, with Lee’s counsel, went on to start his own real estate technology company and now works for a North Carolina-based private jet company.
Sowers said he doesn’t know the origins of the “Crazy Bob” handle Lee used on Twitter.
“But it fit. Not in a way of being reckless, but, he was kind of up for anything.”
Lee was also generous with his time coaching and championing fellow engineers and entrepreneurs, said Wesley Chan, co-founder of FPV Ventures. The two met more than a decade ago when they both worked at Google, where Lee helped to build the Android smartphone operating system before its 2008 release.
Lee’s death has further enflamed debate over public safety in San Francisco and its moribund downtown, which has not yet bounced back from the pandemic. Twitter’s owner Elon Musk took to the social media site to post that “violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.” Musk tagged the city’s district attorney in the post.
San Francisco suffers from property crime more than violent crime such as murder, rape, robbery and assault. In a statement, San Francisco Mayor London Breed called the homicide “a horrible tragedy” and said that the city is prioritizing public safety.
Sowers said it’s hard to picture what led to Lee’s violent death.
“I can’t imagine a situation where he would instigate a conflict,” he said. “That’s the tragedy of it.”
By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)
Next year, Iowans will vote on a proposed amendment that will align the Iowa Constitution with an election-related change made nationally more than five decades ago.
In 1971, the 26th Amendment the U.S. Constitution was ratified, changing the legal voting age in America from 21 to 18. The proposed amendment to Iowa’s Constitution would specify that U.S. citizens who are at least 18 and residents of the state may vote in Iowa elections.
“It also says 17 year olds who will be 18 by the General Election to register to vote and vote in the Primary, so this is how we already run our elections,” Representative Cindy Golding, a Republican from Palo, said during House debate this week. “It puts in our constitution what is already in our code.”
This proposed amendments to the state constitution got final approval from the House and Senate this spring. It means Iowa voters will see the language for proposed amendment on their 2024 election ballots.
OTTUMWA — After Monday and Wednesday recycling collection was suspended, regular recycling collection in Ottumwa will resume Friday April 7.
Recycling collection was halted while equipment necessary to process recyclables underwent urgent repair at the Recycling Center and there was no space to accept and store new material.
Prior communications from the city attributed the damages to the storms that came through the area last Friday.
“It’s very frustrating for our customers to cancel collection and something we always try our best to avoid,” said Recycling Coordinator Janice Bain. The issue, which impacted a critical baler, took several days of outstanding effort from landfill and recycling mechanic Doug Pilcher and the staff at the Recycling Center. “We want to thank our customers for their patience and our staff for the excellent work they put into getting us back to operation,” said Bain.
Recycling and trash collection service changes are announced by media release and shared on the City and Recycling Center Facebook pages. Customers can also sign up for text message alerts for holiday and emergency schedule changes on the homepage at www.ottumwarecycles.com. Customers may drop off recycling in person at the Ottumwa Recycling Center at 2415 Emma Street from 7:00a.m. to 4:00p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7:00a.m. to noon on Saturday.
OTTUMWA — Authorities who have arrested an Ottumwa man say he was running a false massage therapist operation that led to sexual abuse, and that he is not a first-time offender.
The Wapello County Sheriff’s Office says that on March 29, they began investigating an alleged sexual assault, and that the investigation led them to discover that Corey Blake West, age 50 of Ottumwa, was portraying himself as a massage therapist to entice victims into his home with the intent of committing sexual assaults.
On Wednesday, a search warrant was executed at West’s residence and authorities say that evidence was found and seized. West was placed under arrest and was transported to the Wapello County Jail, charged with Sex Abuse in the 3rd Degree.
Additionally, West was a registered sex offender at the time of the arrest; he was also charged with Sex Offender Registry Violation. According to a press release, West’s criminal history spans over several decades and several states.
He was released from Wapello County Jail after posting a $12,000 bond.
