Thursday, March 29, 2012

Shell Rock pasture fire


Fire departments from four area communities battled a blaze on a pasture on Lake Road near Shell Rock Wednesday afternoon, March 28, 2012. The cause of the fire was undetermined, and crews from Shell Rock, Waverly, Clarksville and New Hartford took 90 minutes to douse the flames.
The Butler County Sheriff's Office and Shell Rock Police Department also responded to the emergency.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Southeast Elementary 3rd Graders reading


Third-grade students in Sally Kittleson's third-grade class at Southeast Elementary in Waverly practice their reading while discussing the education reform bill that recently passed the Iowa House.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

UNI students stage study-in



Students United for Academics staged a study-in on the main floor of Seerley Hall on the University of Northern Iowa campus from March 5 to 9 to protest the expected academic cuts. Students stayed in the UNI administration building in shifts through the week, with undergraduate and graduate students and faculty bringing attention to President Ben Allen's proposed budget reductions at the university.

PLS hosts school info fair



The University of Northern Iowa held a school information meeting inside Nielsen Fieldhouse at Price Lab School on Monday, March 5, with eight school districts and private schools offering information to PLS students and parents in their options for the 2012-13 school year.

Representatives from the Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Janesville, Hudson, Dike-New Hartford and North Tama districts as well as Valley Lutheran in Cedar Falls and Waterloo Christian School were on hand to talk to the PLS families, but the event was lightly attended. A group wishing to keep the school open was in Des Moines lobbying legislators to reverse President Ben Allen's recommendation and the Board of Regents' approval of the June 30 closure.

Monday, March 5, 2012

UNI no confidence in Ben Allen



The faculty of the University of Northern Iowa cast a vote of no confidence in the leadership of President Ben Allen and Provost Gloria Gibson during an all-faculty meeting called by their union, United Faculty.

The vote on Allen was 197-53 in favor of the no-confidence resolution with four people abstaining, while Gibson received a thumbs-down by a 172-69 margin with nine abstentions and one spoiled ballot. More than 250 faculty members of the university attended the vote.