Chickasaw County, IA

The inaugural “Bob Svec Memorial Tractor Ride” is now officially set to trek throughout Chickasaw County June 12th. Quentin Reicks with the New Hampton Chapter of FFA says the ride will honor former 95.1 The Bull morning show host and avid FFA supporter, Bob Svec, who passed away almost a year ago.

Voters can now submit absentee ballots for the June Primary elections to their County Auditor’s Office. The first day to cast an absentee ballot in the auditor’s office was Wednesday, May 18th, also the first day auditors’ offices could mail out an absentee ballot. Ballot request forms are available at the auditor’s office, online at www.sos.iowa.gov/elections, or by calling the Auditor’s Office.

Chickasaw County officials heard four possible routes to take with ambulance service in the county Tuesday night. In a joint meeting between the Chickasaw County Board of Supervisors and the Chickasaw Ambulance Council, representatives from SaveTech Solutions presented their findings from a feasibility study on the current state of EMS and ambulance service as well as what could be done in the future.

A feasibility study of the Chickasaw County Jail got the green light Monday. During their regular meeting, the Board of Supervisors approved contracting with The Samuels Group to assess whether the 65-year-old facility can be upgraded versus the possibility of building a new jail. The feasibility study would also explore a joint law enforcement center (LEC) with the New Hampton Police Department.

Chickasaw County officials will get an update Tuesday (05.17) evening on the initial findings from a Minnesota company studying the feasibility of the county operating its own ambulance service. The Chickasaw Ambulance Council has contracted with SaveTech Solutions for the study, which began in mid-March with a series of interviews...

Opposition against companies seeking to build carbon capture pipelines in north Iowa has been more vocal than those in support of the projects thus far. To date, the rate of voluntary easements from landowners to allow construction of the pipelines has been a slow return for both Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator C02 Ventures. If that trend continues, the companies could seek out the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) to implement eminent domain to get the remaining easements necessary, which could make things contentious.

Construction of a pipeline to transport carbon dioxide (C02) in liquid form hasn’t been approved in Chickasaw County yet, but the County wants to be prepared just in case. Summit Carbon Solutions has targeted the Homeland Energy Solutions ethanol plant between Lawler and New Hampton as its easternmost starting point for its Midwest Carbon Express pipeline. Construction can’t begin unless the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) approves a building permit, which isn’t expected to be ruled on until next year.

A house fire early Thursday morning in Nashua took the life of the family pets. Nashua Fire Chief Tom Johnson says they were called to the residential fire at the corner of Greeley and Cedar streets at about 2 a.m. He says as many as four people were in the home at the time of the blaze, but all had evacuated the house by the time firefighters arrived. However, three cats and a dog perished in the fire.

Short term road projects are coming to Chickasaw and Butler counties next week. The Iowa Department of Transportation’s New Hampton construction office says the entrance ramp to and exit ramp from southbound U.S. Highway 218 at Nashua will be closed for daytime asphalt resurfacing work beginning Monday. The daytime closures are expected to be in place for a week and message signs will be used to provide travelers with advance notice of the closures.

Members of a northeast Iowa family have been sentenced for defrauding a bank and the federal government over “double-pledged” crops in Chickasaw County. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa says 53-year-old Aimee Rosenbaum of Lawler, 68-year-old Donald Rosenbaum of Cresco, and 27-year-old Marshal Rosenbaum of Fredericksburg, conspired to illegally obtain over $1.4 million in loans over their 2015 harvest. Court records state Aimee and Donald Rosenbaum farmed land in Chickasaw County and Aimee directed their son, Marshal, to apply for a USDA crop loan in 2015 on the pretense that he would be taking over the farm due to his parents’ health problems.