Iowa opera star honored by legislature

International opera star and Centerville native Simon Estes has been honored by the Iowa House of Representatives. The House today passed a resolution honoring Estes, but as he prepared to sing, a fire alarm went off in the capitol building. Estes offered to sing fast so everyone could avoid smoke inhalation. While people in the rest of the building left, the House members and staff stayed — and it turned out to be a false-alarm, triggered by water in a fire detector. Estes then performed a well-known ballad.Estes is an artist-in-residence at Iowa State University for the next two weeks.He met yesterday with middle school classes in Ames.