Mt. Pleasant News

CEDAR RAPIDS ? Her students attend a ?little, itty-bitty, tiny school,? but coach Robin Crow says speech competitors from Cedar Valley Christian School in Cedar Rapids are earning big honors this year.Fresh off a group performance Feb. 17 at an All-State event for the Iowa High School Speech Association ? a ?huge honor,? Crow said ? the small, private school of about 250 K-12 students hosted its first-ever ...

?Building Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities? community training will be held Thursday, March 8, from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of First Presbyterian Church.The speakers will be Vern and Cindy Reed, of Building Bridges, A Southeast Iowa Initiative. This program is free to the public. Refreshments will be provided.To RSVP, email Amanda Sanders at asanders@teamssi.com or ...

DES MOINES ? Bipartisan approval Monday by the Iowa House of a plan to buy down transportation costs in those districts that spend the most on busing sets up a showdown with the Senate.The House proposal is a one-year plan while the Senate has taken a multiyear approach to assisting local schools.The House voted 92-5 to approve Senate File 455 after amending it to make a one-year commitment to appropriating ...

(Reuters) A Wisconsin man convicted of murder in the case that was chronicled in the Netflix documentary, ?Making of a Murderer,? on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to toss out his 2005 confession that his attorneys claim was coerced by investigators, the Washington Post reported.Attorneys for Brendan Dassey, 28, made a similar argument to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago in December and ...

LIMA (Reuters) - At least 22 people died in Peru on Wednesday when a bus hurtled some 100 meters into a ravine in the mountainous south in the country's second major bus crash this year, a local official said.?There are at least 22 dead. There are some more bodies, so this could rise,? Gustavo Rondon, in charge of health care in the Arequipa region, told RPP radio.The head of civilian defense in the regional ...

Musicians, dancers, comedians and magicians are taking the stage at Iowa Wesleyan University on Friday, Feb. 23.As a benefit for the music department, a performance is being held at University Chapel on Iowa Wesleyan's (IW) campus. A silent and live auction will be held. IW's showcase package, ?Air, Land and Sea,? will be live auctioned during the show.Following the show will be a reception in the lobby of ...

Vivian (Barton) Hildebrand will be celebrating her 90th birthday on Friday, March 2. Vivian was born around Oakland Mills and lived in Henry County all her life. She married Willis Hildebrand and they had three children, Trudy, Mona and Larry (deceased).Vivian was a schoolteacher in Henry County before she retired. She moved closer to Tennessee to be closer to family in 2014.Her family invites friends to send ...

U.S. evangelist Billy Graham, who counseled presidents and preached to millions across the world from his native North Carolina to communist North Korea during his 70 years on the pulpit, died on Wednesday at the age of 99, a spokesman said.Graham died at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, according to Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.With his ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Secret Service evacuated a government office building near the White House, closed down adjacent streets and cleared pedestrians from sidewalks on Wednesday in response to a suspicious vehicle in the area.The Secret Service said in a post on Twitter that two blocks bordering the White House had been closed to traffic.Witnesses said authorities turned away federal workers heading ...

The Houghton Knights of Columbus recently ran a Knights of Columbus Food for Families food drive seeking cash donations for area food pantries.The Houghton #3905 council teamed up and matched cash donations with Holy Trinity Schools, who raised $900 at the elementary school in West Point, as well as holding special collections at mass in Houghton and St. Paul.In total, the Houghton Council donated $1,500 to the ...

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump, a strong supporter of gun rights, planned to meet on Wednesday with parents, students and teachers who have been victims of gun violence, including those affected by last week's school shooting in Florida.The White House meeting comes a day after Trump said his administration would take steps to ban bump stocks, an accessory that enables a rifle to shoot hundreds of ...

(Reuters) Staff members will return to work on Friday at the Florida school where a gunman shot and killed 17 people in the deadliest shooting ever at a U.S. high school, district officials said, with students expected back next week.Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland near Fort Lauderdale will also hold a voluntary orientation for students and parents on Sunday and hopes to have students resume ...