2013 Relay for Life of Polk County is One Month Away

There is still time to sign up and take a stand against cancer.

Media release: Polk County residents are putting on their capes in an effort to fight off cancer at the 2013 Relay For Life of Polk County. The relay will be held on Friday, June 7, at the Mercy Wellness Campus in Clive at 6 p.m. The theme this year is “Up, Up and Away!”. The relay is one month away, but there is still time to make an impact or sign up to be a part of the event. For more information or to register as an individual or team, visit www.relayforlifeofpolkcounty.com. Relay For Life of Polk County will be changing up its event hours this year. Beginning at 6 p.m. with an Opening Ceremony and Survivor Lap and concluding at 11 p.m. with a Closing Ceremony. Events throughout the night will include customary Relay For Life …

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Six Job Openings In and Around Ankeny, Central Iowa

Here's our look at who's hiring in and around Ankeny, Ames and Des Moines for the week of May 12.

Here are six local job opportunities we found this week. View more jobs from CareerBuilder.com right here on Ankeny Patch. Who’s Hiring: Purfoods, LLC Who’s Hiring: City of Ames Who’s Hiring: Goodwill Industries Who’s Hiring: Johnston Community School District Who’s Hiring: Iowa Heart Center West - Des Moines Who’s Hiring: Waukee school district

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Six Job Openings In and Around Ankeny, Central Iowa

Here's our look at who's hiring in and around Ankeny, Ames and Des Moines for the week of April 28.

Here are six local job opportunities we found this week. To find more job openings or post a position, visit our classifieds section or peruse CareerBuilder.com. Who’s Hiring: Children and Families of Iowa Who’s Hiring: Planned Parenthood of the Heartland Who’s Hiring: Johnston Community School District Who’s Hiring: City of Urbandale Who’s Hiring: Iowa Student Loan Who’s Hiring: Waukee Family YMCA

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Ankeny Lawyer Appointed Iowa Probate Judge

Craig Block will replace District Associate Probate Judge Ruth Klotz in Iowa's 5th Judicial District.

Craig Block, a lawyer from Ankeny and a former city council member, has been appointed a probate judge in Iowa's 5th Judicial District, the Des Moines Register reports. A nominating commission selected Block to replace District Associate Probate Judge Ruth Klotz, the article said. Block currently is an attorney at Block, Lamberti & Gocke in Ankeny. Block is a well-known face in Ankeny. He has served on the Ankeny school board, and was re-elected to the city council for a fourth term in November 2011. However, he resigned from his seat in May 2012, citing increased personal and professional commitments.

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REP. JOHN LANDON

LANDON: Iowa House Education Reform Bill Now in Joint Committee

News from Rep. John Landon, District 37, Ankeny.

On April 10, the Iowa House offered the Senate a compromise proposal in an effort to find resolution on the education reform plan and school state funding.  The plan implements policy changes focused on achievement-driven reforms as well as other changes that enhance public, private and home-school education.  It also allows schools to plan for 2015.  The proposal: This compromise plan offers flexibility for school districts, accountability for parents and protection for taxpayers.  Following is a comparison of the proposed costs of the Education Reform/Supplemental State Aid legislation:                                                         Fiscal Year 14             Fiscal Year 15 Initial House Proposal                         $87.5 M…

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REP. JOHN LANDON

LANDON: Property Tax Reform, State Health Care Plan Coming Up for Debate

News from Rep. John Landon, District 37, Ankeny.

Two key pieces of legislation coming up for debate in the Iowa House are the property tax reform bill and a replacement program for the expiring Iowa Cares health care plan.  The property tax reform bill will limit the growth of property taxes in Iowa from the current 4.4 percent annually down to 2 percent.   The bill proposes to hold property taxpayers harmless any time the state sets supplemental state aid (formerly known as ‘allowable growth’ funding).  On average this will save Iowa taxpayers $2.70 per $1000 in property valuation when fully implemented. Additionally, cities’ concerns about lowered revenue are taken into account while at the same time offering close to $400 million in tax relief once fully implemented.  The bill …

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Weird Iowa Rewind: Bus Drives Through House, Unconscious Man Dragged from Burning Car, and Rodeo Clown Faces Prison for Pot Growing

The best of the best weird Iowa news — one more time.

Editor's Note: Everyone could use a little weird to break up the monotony of the work week, so in case you missed our weekend recap of all the best "weird" news from across Iowa Patches, here's your second chance. Weird food is always a part of Iowa lore. Patch has written about fair foods on a stock, about the 5-pound Adam Emmenecker menu item on the Jethro's BBQ menus and more. In Ankeny, you are either weird or just out of touch if you haven't joined the throngs of people who gather at the Yankee Clipper on Tuesdays to devour their famous tacos made on hot Indian frybread. Yum. A West Des Moines school bus driver is lucky in a weird way that he only faces a traffic charge after police said he drove too fast for snowy road conditions …

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Iowa Patch Poll: Minimum Wage. Should It Go Up, and if So by How Much?

Iowa's Sen. Tom Harkin suggests it should be raised by a significant degree, and he says his bill has a chance.

President Barack Obama raised Republican ire when he proposed the nation's minimum wage should be raised from $7.25 to $9 an hour. He also got some guff from the left, such as Iowa's Senator Tom Harkin, who says in a Des Moines Register aritcle that the minimum wage should be raised even higher.  President Barack Obama got “some bad advice” when he suggested boosting the minimum wage to only $9 an hour, Harkin said. Harkin thinks it should be $10.10 an hour – raised by 95 cents a year until 2016. It’s currently $7.25. [...] Harkin said 340,000 Iowans would get a pay raise if the bill he filed with 26 co-sponsors is approved. Of those Iowa workers, 60 percent are women, 82 percent are adults not teenagers, 22 percent are parents, 50 percent…

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Dan Jenson

6:42 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013

Barry you bring up a valid point. We need more intellectual input such as this to really get the clockwork of our brains moving! Thank you for the insight!   more ›

Ankeny Location Spared in Latest Round of Blockbuster Closings

Previous reports stated the store, located at 502 N. Ankeny Blvd., would close, but a marketing specialist with the company told one Iowa newspaper the location will be the lone Iowa store to remain open.

Blockbuster Video is closing a majority of its remaining Iowa stores, but the Ankeny location will remain open. The company recently announced it plans to close its last Iowa locations, according to The Cedar Rapids Gazette. The closings will affect stores in Cedar Rapids, Muscatine, Iowa City and Davenport. The Gazette originally reported the Ankeny store was among the closures, but Kathleen Ory, a marketing specialist with the company, told the newspaper the Ankeny store will remain open. The other stores are slated to close in April, the article said. The decision follows an announcement in January by Dish Network Corp. that it would close about 300 Blockbuster stores across the country and lay off about 3,000 employees, according to …

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Ankeny's Unemployment Rate Drops Slightly, As Does Iowa's

Iowa Workforce Development released the jobless rate in November for Polk county, the Des Moines metro area and the state.

Ankeny's unemployment rate fell slightly in November, continuing a downward trend, according to the latest report from Iowa Workforce Development. The town's unemployment rate was 3.1 percent in October. In November it was 3.0 percent, according to the report. In real numbers, the number of unemployed hovered at 800, but Ankeny's labor force and the number of employed also dipped slightly. The unemployment rate also remained unchanged in the Des Moines metro, the state said, at 4.6 percent in November, the same as the month before. In Polk County, unemployment fell from 5.5 percent in November 2011 to 4.8 percent a year later. “Iowa’s unemployment rate reached a milestone in November,” said Teresa Wahlert, director of Iowa Workforce …

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