Work is happening on all three segments of the long-sought recreational trail that will connect Sioux City to Le Mars, Iowa, and two segments could be done by spring.
The northmost segment from Le Mars south to Merrill looks finished, but it is not properly smooth, PlyWood Trail committee member Mark Sturgeon said Friday.
Sturgeon said PlyWood Trail officials are in negotiations with Godberson Smith contractors to work out needed smoothing tweaks, which will take a few more months.
He said a ribbon cutting for that segment will likely happen in the spring. Sturgeon said Plywood Trail officials can’t officially prevent the bicyclists who have been using that segment by Le Mars.
Additionally, the south segment from Sioux City to Hinton is proceeding very speedily, so it may also be done by spring instead of the October 2025 deadline, which Sturgeon praised.
He said the middle segment from Merrill to Hinton will be finished last. Trail officials are applying for a grant to pay for that pricey piece, which is not likely to be finished in 2025.
The PlyWood Trail is named after the two counties it connects, Plymouth and Woodbury. The trail costing at least $23 million is being funded with grants and private contributions, and much of it is in proximity of U.S. Highway 75.
*In other news, just one out of four Iowans have received a flu shot this year.
According to state numbers, just under a quarter of Iowans have gotten the flu shot so far. That’s down from a third of the state who got the shot last flu season.
Aneesa Afroze is an infectious disease consultant with MercyOne in Des Moines. She said people who are young and healthy aren’t at great risk of getting severely ill from the flu.
But Afroze recommends that Iowans get the flu shot now in preparation for the holiday season, to protect more vulnerable people around them. Those vulnerable people include infants and older people.
*Additionally, mental health experts say Iowa is facing a critical shortage of providers, especially during the stressful holiday season.
ISU Extension reports Iowa is 45th in the nation for mental health providers per capita. Some Iowans turn to technology via telehealth for care.
Psychiatric nurse practitioner Tarrah Holliday treats anywhere from 24 to 30 patients daily at Zion Integrated Medical Services in Atlantic. Holliday says there are only 300 psychiatry providers statewide.
“It’s actually a nationwide problem. There just are not enough providers and there are lengthy wait lists. Some offices you can get in within three months. Some, it takes up to six months,” Holliday said.
Some of her clients live as far as a three-hour drive away, so sas a solution, Holliday said 75 percent of her clients turn to telehealth.
*The superintendent of the second-largest Nebraska school system is retiring, as Paul Gausman announced that step on Friday.
Gausman formerly was superintendent for the Sioux City School District for 14 years through summer 2022. He then went to work for Lincoln Public Schools, and has announced plans to retire at the end of December.
Gausman plans to work with LPS leaders as a superintendent emeritus until the end of June 2025 to ease the transition to a new leader. Several decades ago, Gausman began his education career as a teacher at Wisner-Pilger Public Schools in Northeast Nebraska.
*Additionally, the price for unleaded self-serve gas in Iowa has dropped again in the first week of December.
The average price has dropped 5 cents to $2.70 per gallon.
According to AAA, the statewide average price of $2.70 is 18 cents less than a year ago at this time, and the current national average is $3.03.
Many Sioux City and surrounding town stations are selling unleaded this week in the range from $2.38 to $2.59, or less than the state average.
Of the last 16 weeks dating back to August, gas prices have only gone up over two of those weeks, held steady once, and dropped 13 weeks.
