Fairfield News

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama told insurers this week his health care overhaul has had some growing pains. But with premiums rising and marquee insurers bailing, could the real diagnosis be ?failure to thrive??The medical term refers to when patients, often youngsters but also adults, fail to achieve or maintain proper weight. This is the fourth election cycle in which the Affordable Care Act has been ...

SAUGUS, Mass. (AP) ? The giant orange dinosaur seen by thousands of motorists a day on U.S. Route 1 in Saugus, Massachusetts, has been saved from extinction.Some feared the 20-foot dinosaur would disappear because the miniature golf course on which it has stood since 1958 was sold to a developer, who plans on building apartments, a hotel and retail space at the site.But project partner Michael Barsamian tells ...

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama said today that he created the Atlantic Ocean?s first national monument because the planet cannot be protected without trying to safeguard its oceans.Obama announced the new Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument at a State Department conference.?We cannot truly protect our planet without protecting our oceans,? Obama said at the conference, which was ...

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) ? A federal judge has said he'll rule by Friday on the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's lawsuit that challenges federal permits for the four-state, $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline.The lawsuit alleges that the pipeline, which would be placed less than a mile upstream of the reservation, could impact drinking water for more than 8,000 tribal members and millions who rely on it downstream. There ...

The American Cancer Society Relay for Life of Jefferson County is picking up where the Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce left off several years ago by hosting a citywide garage sale from 9 a.m. ? 4 p.m. Sept. 17 during the Kiwanis Kids? Day celebration in Fairfield. The organization is currently recruiting vendors to sell their wares old and new, while simultaneously donating to the American Cancer Society ...

Representative Curt Hanson presents Holly McCoy with the Jefferson County Democrats Scholarship. McCoy is a 2016 Fairfield High School graduate and will attend Indian Hills Community College.

SIOUX CITY (AP) ? Two men who pleaded guilty in the 2011 robbery and fatal shooting of a northwest Iowa man have been sent to prison. On Thursday 26-year-old Devery Hibbler, of Dumas, Arkansas, was given 35 years and 35-year-old Robert Beaver, of Sioux City, was given 20 years in prison. A third man involved, 26-year-old Courtland Clark, of Flowery Branch, Georgia, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday. All ...

Local authorities are searching for a Jefferson County Jail inmate who escaped custody after he was temporarily released to help Fairfield Police officers conduct an unspecified operation. James Pleas Surber Jr., 25, who was incarcerated on a charge of second-degree theft of a motor vehicle, contacted police claiming to have information regarding an open case. The police department agreed to enlist Surber?s help ...

Monday is Labor Day, a federal holiday, and many offices and businesses will be closed.Fairfield public schools are closed Monday. All students return to classes Tuesday.Pekin community schools are closed Monday and Tuesday; Tuesday is a teacher in-service day. Students return to class Wednesday.Cardinal community schools are closed Monday.Van Buren community schools start the 2016-17 school year Tuesday.Fair...

MT. PLEASANT (GTNS) ? Midwest Old Threshers CEO Terry McWilliams likes to tell the story about the time he was browsing in a bookstore last winter. McWilliams saw a copy of the Old Farmers Almanac. He couldn?t resist the temptation ? the temptation to look at the weather forecast for the first part of September 2016. Three words ? ?hot and humid? ? gained his attention. After seeing the forecast, McWilliams ...

Jefferson County Attorney Tim Dille reported that the man involved in a standoff with police on Aug. 25 has died. Dille said he received word Friday that Kelley Robinson, 45, had died earlier that day at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. Dille said he had not received the autopsy report on the cause of death. A Jefferson County Special Response Team found Robinson with what appeared to ...

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration wants all U.S. blood centers to start screening for Zika, a major expansion intended to protect the nation?s blood supply from the mosquito-borne virus. Friday?s advisory means all U.S. states and territories will need to begin testing blood donations for Zika. Previously, the FDA had limited the requirement to Puerto Rico and two Florida counties. ?There is ...