Fairfield News

DES MOINES (AP) ? Two Des Moines teenagers escaped a fire in their home by smashing a window and scrambling to safety.KCCI-TV reports a smoke alarm sounded Tuesday morning in the home of Butch Grimm.The alarm roused Grimm?s 13-year-old son, who rushed to wake up his 15-year-old sister.They tried to get out, but the small house was filling quickly with smoke, so the girl wrapped her hand with a cloth and ...

President Barack Obama is expected to endorse changes to the way the government collects millions of Americans? phone records for possible future surveillance, but he?ll leave many of the specific adjustments for Congress to sort out, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the White House intelligence review.That move would thrust much of the decision-making on Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act toward ...

The 2014 session of the Iowa Legislature opened Monday at the State Capitol in Des Moines and State Rep. Curt Hanson of Fairfield, who represents Iowa House District 82, said his top priority would be creating jobs to help grow Iowa?s middle class.?I am ready to work together and strengthen Iowa?s middle class during the 2014 legislative session,? he said. ?We need to provide more economic security to middle ...

DES MOINES (AP) ? Iowa?s judicial system has increased hours and improved efficiency but additional funding is needed to boost judges? salaries, Chief Justice Mark Cady of the Iowa Supreme Court said Wednesday.Cady gave his annual ?state of the judiciary? speech before a joint session of the Legislature. Cady, who has served on the court since 1998, is seeking a budget increase for the fiscal year that begins ...

State Sen. Rich Taylor of Mt. Pleasant , who represents the southeast Iowa counties Lee and Henry, as well as portions of Washington and Jefferson counties, said his top priority continues to be expanding Iowa?s middle class.?Last year, the Iowa Legislature showed that Democrats and Republicans can work together when we focus on helping more Iowans move into the middle class,? Taylor said. ?This year, we need to ...

An outside conservative group began airing advertisements Tuesday that attack two Democratic lawmakers seeking Senate seats because they voted for the 2010 health care bill and repeated President Barack Obama?s now-discredited assurance that people with private health insurance could keep their coverage if they liked it.The move marks an expansion by Americans for Prosperity, whose roughly $1.8 million in ...

Fairfield Police Department?s dispatch log for Tuesday included:5:13 a.m. caller reported vehicle stuck on icy road, at corner by Evergreen Cemetery, not able to make it up a hill; three cars and a semi with a trailer were stuck. Police directed traffic at Pleasant Plain Road/Kirkwood Avenue until city spread sand. Tow truck removed one vehicle.2:36 p.m. landlord reported a rental property had been broken into ...

DES MOINES ? The Iowa Department of Public Health said an influenza-related death of a healthy Iowa child has been reported.IDPH also has been notified of several probable adult deaths related to influenza.The Centers for Disease Control reports that as of Jan. 4, there have been 10 influenza-related pediatric deaths reported nationally.It is not too late to get vaccinated. It is especially important for ...

Terri Ann Prevett pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree theft relating to charges she stole from the Fairfield Professional Clinic while acting as its office manager.Prevett, 57, of Stockport, originally pleaded not guilty in October to the charge she stole from the clinic.She was charged with stealing more than $120,000 from the clinic from December 2007 to July of this year.According to the affidavit of ...

The Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce will host the first of three installments of the Chamber?s 2014 Legislative Breakfast Series at 7:30 a.m. Saturday at the Best Western Fairfield Inn.Local legislators Rep. Curt Hanson, Rep. Dave Heaton, Sen. Mark Chelgren and Sen. Rich Taylor have all been invited to speak.The chamber?s annual Legislative Breakfast series pro- vides the chamber membership, businesses, ...

The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for portions of north central Illinois, northwest Illinois, west central Illinois, east central Iowa, northeast Iowa, southeast Iowa, including Jefferson County and northeast Missouri.Sustained northwest winds, 25-35 mph with gusts to 40-50 mph and isolated gusts to near 55 mph are possible throughout today and tonight, especially in eastern ...

DES MOINES (AP) ? Officials say explosives will be used to quickly bring down the old nurses college building that sits next to Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines.Des Moines television station KCCI says the implosion is scheduled for the morning of March 16.The nurses college has been closed since 1999. The empty building sits just feet from the entrance of the hospital emergency room.Iowa Methodist ...