SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. — The home of the South Sioux City Cardinals is getting a major upgrade just in time for football season. "We're really excited the community is excited. Our student-athletes are excited about the completion of this field." High school sports and activities play a big role in South Sioux City. "Like many communities, our athletic field is somewhat the hub of the community," said district Superintendent, Todd Strom. "So on Friday night and weekends when no football season's occurring, when soccer games are happening, when there are marching band contests, it's going to be a gem of a place for our students to showcase their talents but also for anyone." The South Sioux City Community School District has been budgeting for this update for years, thanks to diligent work from the school board in ensuring Phase 1 can be fully funded with district money. "The field, the track, and the bleachers will be funded through our general budget from the school district." Phase 1 includes several big items, like moving from a grass to a turf field, "we are building a new field turf field, a new track, some bleachers and a press box for our home crowd and then a new ticket office in this first phase of construction." The 2nd Phase, which will include new concession stands, a plaza area, restrooms and more will rely on donor funding to complete. "The rest of the phases are going to be dependent upon donor funding," Strom said, "which we've already secured and had some very generous partners come forward." Demolition on the old complex started in late spring and is on track to be completed later this fall, but it won't be ready for the start of the football season. So the district is getting some help from friends across the river with home football games being played at Dakota Valley to start the season. "We hope to be able to end our season by playing some games here maybe the end of October," Strom said. "But if not, we definitely have some very supportive educational partners in the Suitland area that were appreciative." Not only will the complex house football games, but track and field, soccer, marching band, and many other community and club events, too. "Foot traffic's not going to wear this out," Strom said of the new turf field. "We want to put as many kids and community members on this field using it as we can that schedule allows. Football is just one sport, obviously track and field on the track, but we want to be able to host soccer, which is a huge activity in our community and we want to be able to host not only school soccer events, but hopefully some of the community and club soccer events here in the future." The Cardinal Athletic Complex is still looking for donors for Phase 2. If you'd like to learn more or donate: ssccardinals.org/news/latest-news/cardinal-activities-complex SEE THE VIDEO
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LE MARS, Iowa — "My mom and dad were standing outside on the porch by the landlord was down in the basement when the explosion happened." It's been nearly two weeks since a Le Mars family lost everything when the home they were renting exploded, sending them to the hospital. Now, their family is helping them rebuild with some help from Siouxland. "My parents moved to this house about a month ago and like the last week, they were dealing with this awful smell which they thought was the sewer. It started out being sewer and it just progressively got worse and worse," Megan Dimmick's parents, Jeff and Laura, survived the unthinkable. A natural gas leak caused the home they were renting to explode. The house they were renting in Le Mars exploded on July 13th after the landlord attempted to relight the pilot light in the basement. All three were injured but survived. The Dimmicks lost everything. "I found out that Jeff and Laura were involved in this accident and so immediately I knew that I wanted to do something," said Tia Hoogland, "but what do you do when when somebody loses absolutely everything." Tia has been a longtime friend of the family. She contacted Megan about starting a GoFundMe for Jeff and Laura. They have a goal of raising $10,000 to help them get back on their feet. FIND THE GOFUNDME PAGE HERE "They would give the shirt off their back to absolutely anybody. They love my son like their own grandson," Tia said about Jeff and Laura. "And I think that speaks volumes to the type of people that they are and I know if anybody else was in this situation that they would be the very first people out there helping." There is a pile of rubble where their house and another destroyed in the explosion once stood. and the Dimmicks are healing a little more each day. They're both stable," Megan said of her parents. "They're both out of the hospital. My dad is doing really good with the burns. My mom will be going in for surgery. For a broken clavicle. But you know, we're each day is a new day and we're getting better." Thankful for the community rallying behind them during this unimaginable time. "We just want to thank everybody who has already donated for Jeff and Laura," Tia said. "It doesn't go unnoticed and aside from, you know, the food, the clothing. They're going to need medical expenses and just finding another home. All those things go into what's being donated to the GoFundMe." "They're having a hard time accepting all the donations and the love and support that they're getting," Megan said, "because they're not the ones to ask but they're very overwhelmed and very appreciated." Megan, Tia, and the Dimmick family say they are so grateful to the Siouxland community for rallying behind them during this time of need. SEE THE VIDEO SGT. BLUFF, Iowa — RAGBRAI is one of the biggest events in Iowa each year and taking place in the middle of summer runs the risk of one thing, severe weather. And with severe storms slated to pass through northwest Iowa Saturday, RAGBRAI organizers are making sure riders are prepared. "We are working with our local weather office, which is out of Sioux Falls and Des Moines as they trek through the state. And they are going to give us extra lead time as things pop up so we can safely get people to shelter as that happens." Sergeant Bluff Fire Chief Anthony Gaul says the town began preparing for severe weather even before official forecasts for the weekend were released. "We did a final test of our outdoor warning system which is meant to alert people that are outdoors in case of severe weather or disasters," he said. "We have a voice function on that that we tested as well as the tone siren alert." While Saturday isn't an official ride day, thousands will be in town and camping outdoors. "The plan right now is, as we follow the same as Sioux City, if a tornado or winds of 70mph or greater are predicted, we will set off the outdoor warning system. If there is severe weather that does not reach that level, we will announce that over the public address feature of that outdoor warning system that covers our town," he said of their plan to warn the thousands of people that will be camping outdoors this weekend. "We also have access to the emergency alert system and Alert Iowa through emergency management." The City of Sgt. Bluff has storm shelters available and is even asking residents to open their homes as shelters should the need arise by posting signs on their doors. Ahead of the weekend and beyond Sergeant Bluff, RAGBRAI goers can ride easy knowing Iowa is prepared to keep them safe throughout the journey. "Our fire district goes out to Old Highway 141 and then Bronson picks that up. And then they will ride through Bronson's fire district, part of Moville's and then into Anthon. So those departments have their own preparations and plans but we have that consistency with the sheriff's office," said Gaul. And with more thunderstorms possible throughout the week, stay weather aware and look for storm shelters set up by communities along the route. Each town has prepped storm shelters and weather-safe areas for participants should they be needed. One other way to stay weather aware this weekend and throughout RAGBRAI is to download a weather app to your phone like the Siouxland News weather app which will send alerts to your phone if severe weather is in your area no matter where you are in the state. SEE THE VIDEO |
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