Fairfield News

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping face weighty issues when they meet at a private estate in California next week, but their most important task may simply be establishing a strong rapport.Tucked away at a mansion with a private golf course on the edge of the Mojave Desert, Obama and Xi will search for the kind of personal chemistry that has eluded their predecessors for the past several ...

The Libertyville Fire Department sponsors a coloring contest at the Libertyville Elementary School every year and the winner of the contest gets to ride to school in a fire truck. Hailey Pickerd, left, won the contest this year, and was escorted to school Friday morning by Libertyville firefighter and training officer Jeff Johannes.

Fairfield Economic Development Association director Tracy Vance showed the Fairfield City Council a video Tuesday his office commissioned to attract workers and business owners to town.Vance showed the council the introductory video, which is just one of a four-part series of videos.In the video, people from the community are interviewed about what makes Fairfield special. Interviewees included Mayor Ed Malloy, ...

DES MOINES (AP) ? Democratic Sen. Jack Hatch says he's considering a run for governor in 2014 and will spend the next few months raising money for a possible bid.Hatch was set to hold a news conference this morning to talk about his plans. He says he will spend the summer in an exploratory stage, raising money and meeting voters.Hatch plans to make a decision on whether to launch a formal campaign by September....

Fairfield?s biggest need preparing for RAGBRAI right now is housing, Tracy Vance, director of Fairfield Economic Development Association, told the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.?All of the committees are making good progress,? he said. ?There is a need for more residents to volunteer to house bicyclists. Mostly what riders are looking for is access to showers, bathrooms and drinking water.?A ...

Recent rains have caused area creeks to flood and portions of county roads are barricaded due to water over roads. According to county engineer Scott Cline, affected Jefferson County roads include:? 160th Street near the Skunk River.? 256th Street east of Highway 1 is flooded from Cedar Creek.? Osage Avenue is flooded from Cedar Creek.

DES MOINES (AP) ? The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 85 percent of Iowa's corn crop and 40 percent of the state's soybean crop has been planted.The estimates released Tuesday by the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service show the corn crop is far behind the five-year-average of 98 percent for this time of year. The soybean crop's five-year average is 83 percent planted by this time.Although ...

IOWA CITY (AP) ? With the Iowa River rising, workers at the University of Iowa will erect a new flood wall that's been installed to protect an art building from water damage.University of Iowa official Rod Lehnertz said Tuesday the assembly of the so-called "invisible wall" system at Art Building West begins today and will last roughly four days. He says that when it is complete, the system will surround the ...

The threat of rain Monday morning forced Memorial Day services in Fairfield to move to the Iowa National Guard Armory. Members of the 34th Army Band provided music for the event. Trumpet player Jeff Six, left, plays ?Taps? along with David Krcil, not pictured.

The city of Fairfield experienced six sanitary sewer overflows Sunday that resulted in approximately 330,000 gallons of untreated wastewater to be discharged.Due to the rain totals of 2.11 inches from Friday through Sunday, extreme runoff surcharged the city?s sewer system. The system also received rainfall totals of 0.27 inches Monday, which started overflows again this morning.Totals from this event will be ...

Fairfield Fire Department responded to a possible natural gas leak at 8:04 a.m. today at Jackson Avenue and 33rd Street. A gas leak was found in the ditch between houses. Owner Alliant Energy on the scene, cleared the fire department.

CEDAR FALLS (AP) ? Cedar Falls has become one of the nation's first "gigabit cities."The city utility service announced Tuesday that it can provide Internet service of up to 1 gigabit a second for downloads. That's a boon for businesses that wish to hold video conferences and for city residents who want blazing speeds for their Internet games.The service will cost businesses $950 a month. Residents will pay ...