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Irish Examiner
28-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Limerick farm fetches €17,000/acre at auction
Limerick-based auctioneers GVM Property had another successful auction last week with a 30-acre property at Ballyshane, Newcastlewest, Co Limerick. This is a part of the Golden Vale that has been much coveted over the last number of years, and the size of this holding meant that there was always likely to be a wide range of potential suitors. The auction was a 'hybrid' type, with bids coming live from the floor, as well as from online bidders. The property was described by auctioneer Tom Crosse as a compact parcel of land of medium quality located near the village of Monagea and on the road linking Monagea and Newcastle West. Significantly, the property included a derelict house — an element that draws a lot of attention these days with such a severe shortage of housing. 'Part of the land requires drainage,' Mr Crosse added, 'And there's good road frontage.' In all, there were eight bidders lining up on the day. Three of them were pre-registered online bidders, with five more bidders going the traditional route of being present on the floor. The bidding opened at €350,000 and after a number of bids, the farm was placed on the market at €475,000 (€16,000/acre). Bidding continued until the gavel fell at €510,000 (€17,000/acre) to a buyer believed to be a local farmer. Commenting immediately after the auction, Tom said that the price 'reflects the continuing and excellent demand for land". Unsurprisingly, the bidders on the day were a mixture of farmers and business people. Read More A solicitor's tips for a smooth land sale
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
Wisconsin pursuit, crash into cemetery; driver arrested for OWI
The Brief A Wisconsin man was arrested for OWI after a pursuit and crash into a cemetery. Multiple agencies reported a car driving at "dangerous speeds" before the chase. If convicted, police said it would be the 27-year-old man's third OWI offense. MONONA, Wis. - A Wisconsin man was arrested for operating while intoxicated after he led officers on a chase and crashed into a cemetery early Wednesday morning, March 26. What they're saying Shortly after 2 a.m., an officer spotted a silver car speeding with no headlights on Highway 12. Multiple police agencies ultimately reported a car driving at "dangerous speeds" along the highway. One report estimated the car was driving around 110 mph as it headed toward Monona from Madison. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android Monona police officers tried to pull the car over as it re-entered the city, but the driver refused to stop – sparking a pursuit. As efforts to stop the driver unfolded, the car was spotted on Marsh Road southbound in McFarland where it failed to negotiate a turn, left the roadway and crashed into a cemetery where it hit multiple headstones. The driver, who police identified as 27-year-old Rojae Crosse of Sun Prairie, got out and ran. Officers set up a perimeter, found Crosse nearby and took him into custody. A deputy was injured while trying to take Crosse into custody. While in custody, Monona police said Crosse refused to cooperate and made multiple threats to harm and kill the officers. It was in assessing Crosse that officers noted signs of impairment. Crosse was processed for OWI and taken to a hospital as a precaution. An evidentiary blood sample was sent for testing, the results of which are pending. SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News If convicted, police said it would be Crosse's third OWI offense. He was also arrested for felony eluding, threats to law enforcement and misdemeanor resisting an officer. McFarland police conducted the crash investigation. The Source Information in this report is from the Monona Police Department.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iowa House passes public school funding with 2.25% per-pupil spending increase
Rep. Dan Gehlbach, R-Urbandale, spoke on funding Iowa's public K-12 schools on the House floor Feb. 13, 2025. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch) The Iowa House passed a bill Thursday with a 2.25% per-pupil funding increase alongside other funding changes for Iowa's public K-12 schools. The move sends the legislation back to the Senate, which proposed a 2% rate. The House voted 58-35 to pass an amended version of Senate File 167, reflecting the House Republicans' State Supplemental Aid proposal introduced earlier in February. It includes a 2.25% SSA rate and other funding components like increasing transportation equity payments and adding a one-time boost of $22.6 million for per-pupil costs. The Iowa Senate passed the legislation Tuesday with a 2% SSA rate that did not include the other funding components in a 29-18 vote. Rep. Dan Gehlbach, R-Urbandale, the bill's floor manager, said the measure was a 'responsible and a sustainable increase' for Iowa's public school funding. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'We believe in funding students and not systems, and this is a year-over-year increase that we continue to see,' in addition to addressing rural school districts' needs through measures like transportation equity and incentivizing operational sharing of administrative staff between school districts, Gehlbach said. Democrats and school advocates argued the House's funding proposal, though better than the Senate's, will not provide adequate funding for Iowa's public K-12 system. House lawmakers held a public hearing before voting on the measure Thursday. While more than 900 public comments were submitted online with a vast majority opposing the legislation and calling for higher funding for Iowa's public K-12 system, only two speakers came to address members of the House Education Committee in person at the Capitol. Anne Crosse, president of the the Des Moines Education Association and Ruth Henderson, a retired teacher representing the Iowa State Education Association, both asked lawmakers at the public hearing to provide a 5% SSA increase to give schools the ability to keep up with rising costs. Crosse said many schools have outdated materials and overcrowded classes, and that a higher rate was needed to ensure students have access to quality education throughout the state. She also criticized the state's funding of the Education Savings Account program, providing public funds for private school tuition and associated costs, while not providing higher funding for public education. 'The rising cost of running our schools has not been adequately addressed,' Crosse said. 'Further, the private school voucher program in Iowa is exasperating the problem. With the state focusing on spending millions of dollars for just 40,000 students in private schools, the 480,000 students in our public schools are being shortchanged.' Henderson and others with the ISEA have called for a 'minimum' 5% SSA rate, saying higher funding of the state's public K-12 system is needed to help school districts across the state that are facing budget cuts, leading to reductions in staff and fewer resources for students from individualized attention in classrooms to extracurricular activities. 'Setting SSA lower than 5% shortchanges our students, education professionals, and communities across the state that depend on their public schools,' ISEA President Joshua Brown said in a statement. 'We implore the Iowa House to do everything they can so our public schools are best positioned to ensure our more than 480,000 students thrive.' House Democrats proposed an amendment raising the SSA rate to 5%, alongside the other funding changes proposed by House Republicans. Rep. Heather Matson, D-Ankeny, said this change was needed because Iowa public schools are in 'survival mode' due to years of lawmakers underfunding the state's public education system. 'Let's make a commitment today to support our public schools in the way we know they need, the way they have to told us they need, not just to survive, but get on a path to thriving,' Matson said. Some speakers said the 2024 law making changes to the state's Area Education Agencies has raised costs for schools, alongside other unfunded mandates proposed or enacted by state lawmakers, are adding costs to Iowa school districts while not providing resources needed for schools to implement these policies. Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport said for legislation being discussed this session requiring computer science classes for students in grades 9 through 12, and the governor's proposal on math and civics education, a 5% SSA increase is needed to make these changes 'actually achievable.' 'If school districts are mandated to make major curriculum changes, or add expensive classes like computer science, or mandated to improve scores, they must receive additional funding to make these things happen,' Kurth said. 'Funding that falls below the current prediction of inflation, which is expected to be well over 3% in the coming year, does not allow for the time and money to make these things happen.' Democrats in the Senate also proposed increasing the SSA rate to 5%. The Democrats' amendments failed in both chambers. Minority party members spoke in opposition to House Republicans' proposed 2.25% per-pupil funding rate, saying the measure will increase property taxes in many Iowa communities — an impact at odds with GOP lawmakers' stated goal of cutting property taxes this session. Matson said the House GOP funding proposal would put 146 of Iowa's public school districts on budget guarantee, meaning that needed costs will be financed through increased property taxes when supplemental state aid does not meet funding obligations. 'Six billion dollars, that is the size of Iowa's budget surplus,' Matson said. 'When I say we can do better with school funding, I mean quite literally, we have the capacity in our budget to do better. It's not a platitude, our amendment will increase school funding by $401 per student, rather than $186. Our amendment would significantly decrease the number of school districts that will need to raise local property taxes just to make ends meet.' House Speaker Pat Grassley told reporters after floor debate that while Iowa school districts are all impacted by the Legislature's appropriations, he noted that organizations including the School Administrators of Iowa, Iowa Association of School Boards and Rural School Advocates of Iowa were registered in support of the House proposal — a 'strong sign' that the measure reflects the needs of Iowa school districts. 'That's why we brought this bill forward, because it fits the needs of the schools … all across different school districts in Iowa,' Grassley said. The amended legislation returns to the Senate for consideration. Grassley said that he has had conversations with members of the Senate about the House proposal about the additional funding components included in the legislation. 'I think we were in a position where we wanted to take firm action so that we could show, as a House, we supported this plan,' he said. '… I'm hopeful, as this bill now goes back to the Senate, they will take a look at what some of those other things are (on top of) the SSA.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
