Sioux City residents can vote until 8 p.m. today in the sole primary election contest on the ballot.
The three people running for the Sioux City Council seat are incumbent Councilwoman Julie Schoenherr, plus candidates Tricia Frederick and Tom Murphy.
Since there are more than two people running for a Sioux City Council position this year, the extra primary election is being held, in order to narrow the field to two people for the November ballot.
Frederick is a vice president of lending at a mortgage bank in Sioux City.
Murphy retired in 2022 from several roles as a longtime city of Sioux City employee.
Schoenherr, a restaurant owner, is attempting to win a second four-year term on the council after first being elected in 2019.
Four weeks from today, people in Northwest Iowa will have many more contests to decide, when mayors, city council members and school board members will be determined on November 7.
Additionally, a new school building project is moving forward in one of the larger towns in Northeast Nebraska that is experiencing enrollment growth.
Voters in Wayne, Nebraska, approved a $28 million bond issue package in March, in order to build a new school that will serve lower elementary students.
Plans for the school continue to move forward, as on Monday officials from Wayne Community Schools and others in the town held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new building, which will serve students from pre-kindergarten through second grade.
According to information about the project on the school district website, school officials said the bond issue funding was needed to reduce congestion in the current K-6 grades building, and to improve the existing junior high and high school building with some
Some discussion was given to moving the junior high students to a different building, but ultimately decided against. The overcrowded current elementary building in Wayne will hold grades 3-6 once the new lower elementary building is finished. The elementary building opened in 1910, and was extensively remodeled in 2000.
The Wayne Community Schools are experiencing enrollment growth, with 66 new students in the 2022-23 year. School officials said the elementary addition was needed since new apartments and housing are being built, so continuing enrollment growth is expected.
In related action also Monday, the Wayne Community School Board approved a $25 million agreement with Hausmann Construction, of Lincoln, Nebraska, to carry out the work. The timeline has the new school opening in two years in August 2025.
The bond issue passage comes at a time when there is only two years left on other previously set bonds. The new bonds of up to $28 million will have a payback of 25 years.
Additionally, a new report says Iowa has under-invested in solar energy that could complement the amount of renewable wind power produced in the state.
That’s according to the latest Iowa Climate Statement, signed by more than 200 scientists and researchers at Iowa colleges and universities, who are urging urging utilities to replace coal power with solar energy.
Retired Iowa State University climate scientist Gene Takle says when wind is paired with solar, they tend to make up for each other’s weaknesses.
Around 60 percent of electricity generation in Iowa comes from wind.
