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A 9-year-old Fairfield boy was reported missing by his mother around 7:30 a.m. today.Jefferson County Sheriff Jerry Droz said he was located just before 9 a.m. by one of the boy?s teachers.The missing child report was released to local media.?Everyone responded great,? said Droz. ?Deputy Josh Tarrence was first on the scene and set up incident command. He did a good job of coordinating it all.?The mother told ...

Fairfield school district?s technology department followed school board guidelines this past year to reduce expenditures and will continue to replace aging computers at low cost.Director Mark Cremer reported at Monday?s school board meeting his department spent about $190,000 less in the 2011-12 school year than the previous 2010-11 year.?That was accomplished with district-wide support,? said Cremer. ?We cut ...

Fairfield school board members peppered Shive-Hattery Architect and Engineering representatives with questions Monday, trying to sort out responsibility for a possible $45,386 change order charge for work at the middle school.?We?ve run into serious issues in the geo-thermal well field, not necessarily issues we were able to predict,? said Chuck Hildenbrand from Shive-Hattery.He and co-worker Michelle Huggins ...

Pekin hires interim school superintendent PACKWOOD ? Pekin School District Board of Directors hired an interim superintendent for the 2012-13 school year.Fredrick Whipple, formerly school superintendent at Mediapolis, and retired for the past two years, was approved at Thursday?s school board meeting. He has begun working in the district.Pekin?s previous superintendent John Dotson left the district at the end ...

Restored tractors, used in the fields a generation or more earlier, will come to Fairfield Thursday evening, gathering at Jefferson County Fairgrounds for the 10th annual, two-day, Red Rock Threshers Tractor Ride.Chairman of the tractor ride committee Lawrence Roose of Pella anticipates 240 tractors to participate this year, including local Jefferson County residents.?We have anywhere from 230 to 275 tractors ...

Residents asked more questions about rural roads and deficient bridges at today?s Jefferson County Board of Supervisors meeting, and the board agreed with a plan to expand the hospital parking lot.?I had a farmer call during the week, concerned about the statement of embargoing 185th Street,? said supervisor Dick Reed. ?That was expressed as just a possible option. Placing an embargo on a road takes something ...

Jefferson County supervisors approved a resolution to adopt the Bridge Inspections and Posted Ratings in the 2012 Bridge Report today ? delaying it last week to give new county engineer Scott Cline an opportunity to visit four deficient bridges.One of those Jefferson County deficient bridges on Amber Avenue, a pony truss construction, will be closed to traffic.?The truss is deteriorating and bending,? said ...

Iowa Department of Education filed a request to waive key provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind requirements in February, was denied June 21, and Monday, Iowa was granted a one-year freeze of target increases in testing scores.What does this mean for local schools, students and teachers??The one-year freeze on proficiency levels provides schools and the state Legislature a chance to work on this,? said ...

Three full-time Jefferson County Area Ambulance workers met with Jefferson County Supervisor chairman Steve Burgmeier informally this morning to air frustrations and warn that pay cuts and hour cuts are hurting morale and possibly staffing/service.?The city, the county and the hospital are committed to having an ambulance service in the county,? said Burgmeier. ?Whether they [private owners of the service] can ...

Story Construction, headquartered in Ames, wrapped up Thursday the five presentations to the Fairfield school board and administrators about facility updates for Fairfield High School.Three representatives from the company, established in 1934, Mike Espeset, president; Jamie Rochleau, project manager; and Chad Allen, business development, didn?t bring floor plans ? ?We are not architects,? said Espeset ? but ...