WIUM Local

The Keokuk School District could soon know if it should expand its preschool program. 

The district currently serves 30 four-year-olds.  Half of them meet in the morning while the other half attends preschool in the afternoon.

Superintendent Lora Wolff says sign-up for next year is already underway.  She says more than 40 applications have already been returned to the district.

Iowa’s June 5 primary will feature multiple contested races in the southeast corner of the state.  Friday, March 16 marked the end of the filing period for state and federal office.

Four men beat the deadline to enter the race in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes 24 counties in southeast, south-central, and east-central Iowa.

Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-IA2) is being challenged in the primary by Joe Seng of Davenport.  On the Republican side, John Archer of Bettendorf will square off with Dan Dolan of Muscatine.

Former Fort Madison Police Officer William Bowker will not be returning to the department.  He was fired by City Manager Byron Smith on Feb. 25, 2010.

Smith cited various acts of misconduct.  They include falling asleep and/or missing phone calls while serving on the Southeast Iowa Narcotics Task Force and having an affair with the wife of Police Chief Bruce Niggemeyer.

Bowker appealed the ruling to the Fort Madison Civil Service Commission.  That panel sided with the city in mid-2010, prompting Bowker to sue the city and the commission in district court.

The Irish poet and playwright William Butler Yeats said “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” That pretty well sums up the thinking behind a concept often referred to as progressive education.

One of the concept's biggest advocates is Amy Valens. Her final year in the classroom is the subject of the documentary film August to June, which was screened at Western Illinois University.

The West Prairie School District will begin incorporating wireless devices into classes at the high school next year.

Superintendent Jonathan Heerboth said the district is studying the best way approach the change.

He said one class at the high school has been testing the “one-on-one” technology. The students preferred devices that use a regular keyboard over tablet devices that use a keyboard on a touchscreen He said the students found they do so much typing the regular keyboards were much easier to use.

Bushnell Mayor Steve Russell said the city is “very frugal” when it comes to street repairs. He said the city has a long-term plan to fix streets, sidewalks and gutters. All it needs is a new source of revenue to make that happen.

The city is putting a half-cent sales tax increase before voters next Tuesday. If approved, the city's sales tax would increase to 7.25%.