News Center newsletter

Yellow River State Forest event set for October 6

Public and private forests will be part of this year’s fall forestry field days, offered by Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach. “The fall forestry field days are a great way to see some science-based practices and also connect with additional people from the forestry industry,” said Billy Beck, forestry specialist with ISU Extension and Outreach.

“Visitors will get to see public and private forest projects and hear about the struggles and successes of each forest.”

In addition to Beck, speakers include Ed Zaworski, plant pathologist with the Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic at Iowa State; and Miranda Curzon, assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resources Ecology and Management at Iowa State.

Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) is inviting everyone to celebrate the start of the school year at Fall Fest Thursday, September 8 from 5-8 p.m. The event is open to all and there is no cost to attend.

Community members are welcome to attend and enjoy music, inflatables, rides and carnival games for kids of all ages. Highlights include the U.S. National Guard rock climbing wall and jousting challenge, the NICC train, cotton candy and the Moo Mobile. The Bruce Bearinger Band will perform from 5-7:30 p.m.

The Fall Fest dinner will be pulled pork sandwiches and hot dogs, chips, cookies, root beer and water. Cost for Fall Fest is by free-will donation. Tickets for rides and games are available for purchase for 25 cents each, and most activities require only one or two tickets. The event will be located in the center of campus with parking available near campus.

The NICC Calmar campus is located at 1625 Hwy 150 South.
 

Water Rocks!, the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach youth water education program, has opened its Water Rocks! classroom visit request platform for fall semester 2022 for in-person learning sessions. The Water Rocks! program brings science- and research-based lessons about conservation, natural resources and water quality to Iowa schools free of charge. All sessions are correlated with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), adopted to guide curriculum in most Iowa schools.

Saturday, September 10, family and friends of lifelong resident and local “River Rat” Pat Sandry will be honoring his memory with the Fifth Annual Pat Sandry Memorial Fishing Derby and Friends of Pool 9 Fundraiser held on the Mississippi River. Sandry passed away in November of 2017 after a short, courageous battle with cancer. He thoroughly enjoyed the outdoors, had a great passion for fishing and hunting, and he truly treasured the beauty of Lansing and the surrounding area.

Entry fee is $50 per boat with 50% payback in prize money and 50% being donated to Friends of Pool 9. There is a limit of two adults and two children per boat.

Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
August 31: Dairy Margin Coverage Premiums Due
October 31: Organic Certification Cost-Share and Transition/Education Certification Program

Farm Loan Presence in Allamakee County
The USDA/FSA Farm Loan team will have a Loan Officer in our office every Tuesday during normal business hours (8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.).  If you would like to visit with the loan officer, please call or stop in.

The Iowa Nutrient Research Center will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a new seminar series highlighting outcomes and impacts from a decade of research. The series starts this fall and continues through spring 2023.

Two presenters each month will discuss INRC-supported projects. The presentations will take place the second Wednesday of each month, from 3:10-4 p.m. The fall seminars begin Sept. 14. The hybrid seminar series will be presented online and in-person at 1306 Elings Hall, 605 Bissell Road, on the Iowa State University campus.

“The INRC began its work in 2013, and since that time, we’ve supported more than 115 research projects,” said INRC Director Matt Helmers. “This seminar series aims to provide a sense of the breadth and depth of this work. Although the focus is on the past, the value of these efforts is to help Iowa and the water quality research community prepare for the important work ahead.”

To the Editor:

This letter is for those of you who do not vote, who don’t really care about “politics” and pay no attention to any of it. Please read on.

What happens in Washington, or in Des Moines, matters to you. It affects your own lives, your health, your rights and your finances.

The more progressive party in Washington has recently voted in some pretty cool stuff. These are some highlights from the Inflation Reduction Act:

Now, corporations making over a billion dollars will have to pay taxes - 15%, not 0%, and when they buy back their own stock, a 1% excise tax. Contrary to the opposing party lies, the more progressive party did not add taxes to everyday Americans.

Senior citizens on Medicare will have a lower cap on out-of-pocket expenses and Medicare will be able to negotiate some drug prices with those billionaire pharmaceutical companies.

The 2022 Iowa high school football season is underway, and with it begins another year of The Standard’s Halfback Harry contest. The first week of the contest included nothing but Iowa high school football games on its schedule, as the NCAA and NFL schedules were yet to get into full swing.

Getting the season started on a victorious note was Jan Kreitzer of Cresco, as she missed just two of this week’s 18 games. West Central’s victory over Kee and Dubuque Wahlert’s win over West Delaware were the only two contests to trip Kreitzer up in this season’s opening round of the contest.

Game of the Week honors went to Mark Goeke for the opening round of the contest, as he was one of just three entries to choose West Central to defeat Kee in that ballgame. Jeremy Hogan of Waukon and Wayne Kreitzer of Cresco were the only other entries this week to predict that Blue Devil win over the Hawks, forcing a winning score tie-breaker to determine a winner.

The start to the 2022 Waukon football season began with a rather large first step, as the gridiron Tribe traveled to the home of Class 4A top-five rated Waverly-Shell Rock Friday, August 26. Having been dealt a 45-6 loss in last year’s season-opener, and with the host Go-Hawks returning much more of their offensive firepower from that game than what the Indians were, the football Tribe ended up on the short end of a 42-14 final result.

With last year’s game finding the Indians in as much as a 28-0 early hole, there is a reason why the same people who have Waverly-Shell Rock ranked so high also have the grid Tribe ranked within the top five of Class 2A’s elite. That reason saw the Indians bounce back from what started as a 14-0 early deficit Friday to remain within just a one-touchdown deficit for some of the first half before allowing 21 unanswered points over the game’s remainder.

The Kee football team battled its West Central host to an actual draw in total yardage in its season opener Friday, August 26. However, one could say that the host Blue Devils still had a bit more “Cushion” and an added advantage of already having played one game this season, a week earlier, prior to dealing the Hawks a 46-32 defeat.

“We must play much cleaner football to beat good teams,” Kee football coach Chad Winters said. “The penalties and turnovers really hampered us throughout the night, along with some missed tackles that led to big plays for them.”