The City of South Sioux City is seeking to expand options in city parks, including adding a splash pad at Raymond Park.
The city council on Monday approved applying for $692,000 from a Nebraska state agency grant that revitalizes public areas with recreation options. South Sioux City Parks Director Gene Moffit told Siouxland Public Media News that a grant of that amount would cover all the projected parks piece costs.
Moffit said splash pads have been well received in Sioux City parks in recent years, so it would be nice to have a first standalone splash pad in the existing Raymond Park in South Sioux City near 23rd Street.
The main outdoor water option in South Sioux is the aquasplash outdoor pool, with waterslide and one splash pad. Other pieces in the parks expansion proposal includes playground pieces at Baumer Park and basketball courts at Klasey Park.
*Since December. a federal ruling has blocked the state of Iowa from enforcing a law banning books with sexual content in school libraries. Now, an appeals court will decide if that injunction stays in place.
In oral arguments delivered on Tuesday, a judge on the panel from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals appeared to criticize the groups suing the state for challenging how the law was written, instead of how it has been applied.
Christy Hickman, an attorney for the Iowa State Education Association, says school districts don’t seem to agree on how the law is supposed to work.
“If you look at the extreme differences across school districts and the number and types of books that have been removed, it shows you that there is a lot of confusion and ambiguity and interpretation,” Hickman said.
In a recent report, the Des Moines Register found nearly 1,000 different titles were taken out of school libraries, but most districts had not removed any books.
The appeals court must decide on the injunction before two cases against the education law continue.
*Two-thirds of South Dakotans support an initiated measure that would prohibit the state from collecting sales tax on "anything sold for human consumption, except alcoholic beverages and prepared food,” according to a scientific poll co-sponsored by South Dakota News Watch.
The poll of 500 registered voters, also sponsored by the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota, showed that 66 percent of respondents are for the November ballot measure, with 26 percent opposed and 7 percent undecided. That means public support for Initiated Measure 28 has increased since a November 2023 poll that showed 61 percent of registered voters in favor of it.
Opponents criticized the wording of the measure as broader than just groceries. They said it could cause a budget crunch by preventing the state from collecting sales tax on “consumable” items such as tobacco and toothpaste.
“This is not a food tax repeal – it’s a consumables tax repeal,” said Nathan Sanderson, executive director of the South Dakota Retailers Association.
Supporters call the measure a long-overdue effort to take the tax burden off low-income families and individuals. They point out that South Dakota is one of just two states, along with Mississippi, that fully taxes food without offering credits or rebates.
*Many Native Americans are expected in Northeast Nebraska the next several days, to celebrate 30 years of the Religious Freedom Act.
The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska is commemorating that act with events from Wednesday through Sunday, June 16. The 30th anniversary of the Religious Freedom Act is tied in with activities of the 75th annual Native American Church Conference.
Those will be held in Macy, Nebraska, at the Omaha Tribal Pow-Wow Grounds. Among the activities will be daily guest speakers, plus prayer services in the mornings and evenings.
