The Marshalltown City Council Monday evening approved the fiscal budget for 2010-11. The budget shows just over 34 million in spending with revenues just over 40 million dollars. The largest area of expenditures is for public safety. The Budget will mean a 13cent per thousand valuation increase in taxes.
The official meeting minutes and meeting notices will be split between the Times Republican and the Marshall County Sun. Those items that are time sensitive will be published in the daily with meeting minutes to be published in the weekly paper. The council approved the move in an order to save money on publication costs. Because Marshalltown's population is less than 100,000, the state requires publication of city meetings.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Things are back to normal at the Polk County jail in Des Moines after some employees and visitors were evacuated Monday afternoon because of a suspicious briefcase. It turns out the briefcase belonged to someone who had been arrested and contained a cell phone and an alarm clock - nothing dangerous.
MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) - A fire in Mason City destroyed a former lumberyard warehouse, but no injuries have been reported. Building owner John Boland says he stored several vintage cars in the warehouse, including street rods and restored old trucks. Fire officials are trying to figure out what caused the blaze.
INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) - Authorities are investigating the death of a rural Indianola man who was apparently crushed when a vehicle he was working on fell off its jack. An autopsy is planned on 40-year-old Michael James Martin.
WESTMORELAND, N.H. (AP) - The oldest person living in the United States is now 114-year-old Neva Morris of Ames, Iowa. She was just a little younger than Mary Josephine Ray, who died in a Westmoreland, N.H., nursing home Sunday.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Iowa's largest health insurance provider has put plans to increase premiums on hold after Gov. Chet Culver raised questions to the state insurance commissioner. Culver says he's concerned about Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield's average increase of 18 percent for roughly 80,000 Iowans with individual policies. Culver wants an independent review.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Iowa's youngest drivers won't be able to use cell phones under a bill approved by the House. The bill bans the use of cell phones, either for calls or text messaging, by 16- and 17-year-olds. The measure goes back to the Senate.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senator Chuck Grassley says Iowa is getting eight grants totaling more than $3 million through the federal Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program. The money goes to rural utility and telephone cooperatives who re-lend it to local businesses to create or retain jobs.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The Rebuild Iowa Office reports that disaster recovery funds promised to the state because of the 2008 floods and tornadoes now exceed $3.8 billion. More than $1.1 billion has already been spent in Iowa.
