PRECINCT #3 - Franklin, Post Townships AND City of Postville
Turner Hall, 119 E. Greene St. Postville
An update was received following the printing of the Wednesday, January 21 edition of the Standard. The correction above will be included in this information to be published again in the Wednesday, January 28 edition of the Standard.
In keeping with the front page headline of “Fallen... but never to be forgotten!” in the December 24, 2025 edition of The Standard, following the December 19 demolition of the main span of the Black Hawk Bridge and its removal from the waters it once spanned since that demolition date, The Standard has been gathering some of the articles or smaller news items that could be found in searching the archives of the former Allamakee Journal and Lansing Mirror newspapers that once served the Lansing area.
In an effort to continue to preserve the bridge’s memory - and perhaps refresh or create some new ones - some of those news items will be printed within the pages of The Standard as space and time allows.
The Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office produced a media release following the notable presence of numerous State of Iowa law enforcement vehicles in the Allamakee County area Monday, January 12, most notably in the Harpers Ferry area. Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick explained that the increased law enforcement presence followed protocol in a search warrant execution in a developing matter involving an individual with a past criminal history, with the briefing of authorities involved in the matter taking place in Harpers Ferry.
That Monday, January 12, at approximately 11:00 a.m., a search warrant was executed at a residence located at 1954 Old Mission Drive in rural Allamakee County, approximately 15 miles southwest of Harpers Ferry. The warrant was issued as the result of an investigation conducted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) into the illegal harvest of deer.
M3 Insurance recently announced eight new shareholders, including Jen Pino-Gallagher of the Madison, WI area, a 1991 graduate of Waukon High School. M3’s 67 shareholder partners are current employees who are actively involved in the business, and they must sell their shares prior to retirement. This ownership structure ensures engagement while aligning with M3’s commitment to remain privately held.
Jen Pino-Gallagher is the director of M3’s food and agribusiness practice, partnering with clients to identify the most effective and efficient ways to grow their business and remain competitive while reducing risk within their operations. She helps companies not only survive, but thrive, through advice and support around insurance and risk management solutions. She joined M3 in 2017.
The Waukon City Council met in regular session Monday, January 19 to address a short agenda of matters including the discussion and consideration of changes to the City Facade Improvement Grant Program, discussion on a sidewalk replacement program, among other routine matters. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Arvid Hatlan with council members present including Steve Wiedner, Nicholas Engrav, Cassie Handke, Tim Smedsrud and John Lydon.
There was no comment during the first Public Comment portion of the meeting. The council moved into Department Reports with Police Chief Paul Wagner providing an overview of 2025 totals relating to department activities and responses, crime statistics, among other data for the calendar year. In response to a question from Wiedner, Wagner noted that the number of reported telephone scams has continued to increase with in-person scams and fraud increasing as well.
A “grand” honoring for the 1,000th point scored in her varsity career ... Kee girls basketball junior Rylee Mudderman stands with her mother, Kelli Mudderman, as she is honored following the Hawks’ Friday, January 16 home win, 43-38, over MFL/MarMac for scoring the 1,000th point of her varsity basketball career at Kee High School, a feat she accomplished in the early half of the fourth quarter of the contest on a three-point basket. Mudderman becomes the sixth Kee girls basketball five-on-five player to achieve that scoring milestone during her career, joining fellow Lady Hawk players that include her older sister, Reagan, along with Chandran Duffy, Ashley Wagner, Ashley Schwartzhoff and Addison Winters. Mudderman’s older brother, Dalton, also reached the 1,000-point career scoring mark last season during his senior year with the Kee boys basketball program. Photo courtesy of Kee High School.
The Kee girls basketball team played to an undefeated week that saw the Lady Hawks complete a late-season sweep of four teams from the Large School division of the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) to complete a 5-1 mark against those larger schools in this season’s new UIC format. Those wins also furthered a current four-game win streak and included a 48-35 victory at South Winneshiek Tuesday, January 13 before Kee held off an MFL/MarMac charge at home for a 43-38 triumph Friday, January 16.
For more complete coverage, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition or print edition by clicking here.
Prize winners in Robey Memorial Library’s 2025 Adult Reading Challenge ... Robey Memorial Library in Waukon has announced the conclusion of its “Level Up @ Your Library” Adult Reading Challenge, a yearlong literary adventure that took place from January 1 to December 31, 2025. This program invited readers to explore diverse genres and themes, encouraging them to discover something new by tackling books from 12 selected categories. These categories included Adventure; Book or Character that Inspires You; Celebrity Book Club Selection; Fantasy; Fiction; Friendship-themed; Graphic Novel or Picture Book; Non-fiction; Puzzle-themed; Set in Another Country (not the United States); Sport-themed; and Technology-themed.
Robey Memorial Library congratulates the participants in the Reading Challenge who were recipients of the random drawing for the prizes awarded in the Challenge and are pictured in the submitted photos above. Carmel Schulte (pictured at left above) is the winner of the eReader tablet. Winners of the drawing for Waukon Bucks and gift certificates were Nic Hay and Traci Byrnes (pictured in the center and right photos above, respectively).
This year’s challenge saw 41 participants collectively reading 318 books. Among these readers, 15 completed the full challenge by exploring all 12 categories, demonstrating their outstanding commitment to literary discovery.
The success of this program is made possible through the generous support of the Adult Reading Challenge sponsors, which include Bill and Beth Shafer; Hacker Nelson & Co; Holthaus Tax & Accounting; Howards Home Furnishings; Kerndt Brothers Savings Bank; Palmer Abstract; Premier Kubota of Waukon; Reel Core; Upper Iowa Insurance Services Corp.; Waukon State Bank; and Yen Hing Dragon. For questions or more information about the Challenge or the library and all it has to offer, contact Robey Memorial Library at 563-568-4424, www.waukon.lib.ia.us, or robeymemorial@waukon.lib.ia.us.
Robey Memorial Library in Waukon invites area adults to embark on a literary adventure with the 2026 Adult Reading Challenge, “Plant a Seed, Read”. Underway as of January 1, and running through December 31, this year-long challenge encourages adults to explore new genres, themes, and authors while earning chances to win prizes.
Participants are encouraged to challenge themselves to read one book from each of the 12 categories for this year’s Challenge, which include the following:
• Agriculture-themed;
• Book from your Childhood;
• Cross-Cultural;
• Family-themed;
• Foodie/Cookbook;
• Garden-themed;
• Health-themed;
• History;
• Humorous;
• Midwestern Author or Theme;
• Recommended;
• Set in Summer.
Participants receive a prize drawing entry for every category completed. Finish all 12 categories and earn a bonus entry.
Deadlines/Dates
February 2: Deadline to submit Wool/Pelt LDP for 2025
February 2: Last day to return or postmark completed ballots to the USDA Service Center
February 16: Closed in Observance of President’s Day
April 30: Deadline to apply for SDRP Stage 1 & 2
Winter is Planning Season: Steps to a More Resilient and Profitable Farm in 2026
While the fields across Allamakee County are resting under a blanket frost and some snow, now is the perfect time for landowners and producers to plan for a successful and sustainable 2026 growing season. The decisions made in the warmth of your office or kitchen today, backed by decades of agricultural research, can have a significant impact on your soil health, water quality, and bottom line this spring and for years to come.
Research on GPS-enabled electronic collars ... Submitted photo.
Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) is pioneering the use of GPS-enabled electronic collars for cattle to address regional soil health challenges through a multiyear research project in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Community College Alliance for Agricultural Advancement (C2A3). Deployed at Iowa’s Dairy Center, 1 mile south of the Calmar campus, this virtual fencing technology allows producers to control herd movement via smartphone, eliminating the need for physical fences and reducing the labor barriers to sustainable land management.
