Fairfield News

Washington Elementary School first-grader Hannah Hughes enjoys her milk from Grandma Deb Hughes? lap during the school?s Breakfast With Grandparents this morning before class began. In addition to the breakfast, the school is having a book fair, to which many grandparents went to see what books their grandchildren might like to have.

Phoenix Johnson, who is nearly 3 years old, tries sushi for the first time at the new Fairfield Hy-Vee Food and Drug Store,which opened its doors to the public at 6 a.m. today. There is special pricing on some items and samples of several of the new offerings in various departments of the new facility.

DES MOINES (AP) ? A lawmaker says he?s worried that a legislative impasse over supplemental spending could force layoffs at the state?s prisons.Sen. Tom Hancock, a Democrat from Epworth, says prison officials could be forced to lay off workers as early as next month if the impasse isn?t resolved.Speaking with reporters Monday, Gov. Terry Branstad says he has met with top Democratic and Republican legislative...

A public hearing on amendment of Jefferson County?s current fiscal year budget has been set for 9:30 a.m. May 9.During this morning?s meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors, supervisor Steve Burgmeier explained budgets are routinely amended to address unforeseen changes during the course of the year.He noted township trustees have gone over their budgets because more meetings have been needed ...

Judges unlikely to commit mentally ill DES MOINES (AP) ? An Iowa law governing forced commitments for people with mental illness may have prevented relatives from getting help for a man who was fatally shot this week after killing a Keokuk County sheriff?s deputy.The family of Jeffrey Krier tried to have him committed for mental health treatment a few weeks ago, the Des Moines Register reported. But, the ...

SIGOURNEY (AP) ? Thousands of people gathered Saturday to mourn a sheriff?s deputy shot during a standoff in southeast Iowa.Mourners packed the gymnasium and two overflow rooms at Sigourney High School for the funeral of 39-year-old Eric Stein of Sigourney. About 7,000 people, including law-enforcement officers from across the U.S., were estimated to be in attendance, the Des Moines Register reported.?It ...

DES MOINES (AP) ? A tornado swept through the small western Iowa town of Mapleton Saturday night, destroying downtown buildings and flattening a grain elevator.?It was huge, just huge,? said Thomas Mohrhauser, an attorney who lives in the town of about 1,200 people. ?It just kept getting bigger and bigger.?Mohrhauser said the tornado appeared to be about a quarter-mile wide when it cut a northwest path ...

RIVERSIDE (AP) ? This year?s TrekFest won?t be beamed up to Scotty after all.The Mindbridge Foundation this week unanimously voted to give the final $5,000 necessary to ensure the annual festival continues.The event celebrating Riverside?s self-titled claim as the ?future birthplace? of ?Star Trek? Capt. James T. Kirk had been in doubt because of financial woes. The Riverside City Council, citing the fact ...