Top Stories

by Joe Moses

A public informational meeting was held Wednesday, March 19 at the Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center in Lansing relating to a proposed battery energy storage system to be located at the site of Alliant Energy’s decommissioned Lansing Generating Station, just south of Lansing, with more than two dozen area residents and officials attending the meeting. At the request of Alliant Energy’s Iowa utility Interstate Power and Light (IPL) Company, the meeting was coordinated by the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) with representatives present from that organization including attorneys Cheyenne Whisner and Hunter Fors.

The 2025 Allamakee County Dairy Banquet is scheduled to be held this Saturday, March 22 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon. Food service will start at 7 p.m. and the program will begin at 8 p.m. Banquet tickets can be purchased at the door.

The annual celebration recognizes the importance of the dairy industry in Allamakee County and the contributions dairy families make to this important industry. Every year, top producers from the county are recognized at the banquet. In addition, several other awards are presented that evening, some of which include the following:
• Outstanding Young Dairy Family Award
• Pioneer Dairyman
• Distinguished Dairy Family Award
• Service to Dairy Industry Award
• Golden Butter Knife Award.

The sign says it all on the Sweeney’s Irish Express entry pictured above, as not even the bright, sunny skies could outshine the Irish spirit that lined the streets of Waukon for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade held Sunday, March 16 in Waukon. The nearly 150 parade entries that made their way along this year’s parade route took approximately 45 minutes to complete their circuit of Irish celebration. Additional photos taken by Standard Assistant Editor Joe Moses from this year’s parade can be found on Page 28 within the Wednesday, March 19 edition of The Standard. All of the parade photos found in this issue, along with many more from Sunday’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, are available for viewing by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on The Standard’s website. A video of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade can also be found on The Standard Newspaper’s Facebook page.

The Allamakee County Emergency Management Agency wants to take this opportunity to notify the public of the plan to conduct a county-wide Tornado Drill and test of the city outdoor warning sirens within Allamakee County next Wednesday, March 26 at 10 a.m.  This will allow Allamakee County to participate in the State of Iowa Tornado Drill as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week, which is being observed March 24-28.

At approximately 10 a.m. warning sirens in all six cities in the county will be activated and a test alert message should be sent out on the Allamakee County Alert Iowa system for those who have signed up for the Tornado Warning notification feature.

Jason Gearhart of District 64 of the Iowa House of Representatives was the lone legislator at a forum event held at City Hall in Harpers Ferry Friday morning, March 14. A variety of matters were discussed by Rep. Gearhart and the more than three dozen individuals in attendance, including education, conservation and environmental items, concerns with the State level of government, and several pieces of recent or ongoing legislation that those in attendance either wanted to voice their own opinion on or see where Rep. Gearhart stood on the matter.

The Allamakee County Fair Board has announced this year’s grandstand musical entertainment for the 2025 Allamakee County Fair scheduled for July 16-20. A pair of up-and-coming young country music artists will be taking to the stage Friday, July 18, as Tennessee “blue collar” story-teller Shane Profitt will headline the night’s musical entertainment following the opening act of three-time Arkansas Country Music Association (CMA) Female Vocalist of the Year Mae Estes.

by Joshua Sharpe

Human trafficking awareness has become an urgent concern in states such as Iowa, which ranks third nationally for trafficking cases per capita. An educational event led by anti-trafficking advocate Stacy Besch, a key member of Team Iowa, a priority initiative on combating human trafficking, was held Thursday, March 6 at Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) Waukon Center  and featured expert presentations, survivor testimonies, and legislative updates aimed at dispelling misconceptions about human trafficking and providing tangible strategies for community intervention and prevention.

The 2025 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Waukon will be held this Sunday, March 16, beginning at 1 p.m. All are invited to participate in this year’s parade with an Irish-themed entry at no cost.

Any businesses, organizations, families or individuals wishing to have an entry are asked to be lined up by 12 noon Sunday, with float entries lining up in the parking lot of WW Homestead Dairy and the former Northern Engraving plant, tractors unloading and lining up at the Sweeney Auction Service parking lot and horse units gathering at the Croell Redi-Mix plant on the southeast edge of Waukon.

Interstate Power and Light Company, Alliant Energy’s Iowa energy company, is proposing to construct a battery energy storage system at the site of the company’s decommissioned Lansing Generating Station in Lansing. The project will be built on land that continues to be owned by Alliant Energy; therefore, no eminent domain will be used for this project.

A public informational meeting regarding the project will be held with the Iowa Utilities Commission Wednesday, March 19 at 12:30 p.m. at the Driftless Area Education and Visitors Center, located at 1944 Columbus Road, Lansing. At the meeting, Interstate Power and Light Company will provide project details, and time will be allotted for answering questions from those attending.

More than 100 people gathered at Effigy Mounds National Monument the morning of Saturday, March 1 to speak out in favor of federal employees and the lands they protect as part of a planned nationwide show of support for all 433 National Park sites across the United States. Due to recent actions through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), about five percent of National Park Service staff has been terminated nationwide, totaling approximately 1,000 employees thus far. In addition to mass firings at federal agencies across the country, the National Park Service is also facing budget cuts based on DOGE actions.

“Without adequate resources for protection, parks face impacts that can never be reversed. We need to preserve our national treasures for all generations to come,” said Pam Havlicek, whose daughter lost her seasonal ranger job at Yellowstone National Park.