News Center newsletter

The Auxiliary of Veterans Memorial Hospital will be holding a Pillow Perk Monday, October 19, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Lower Level of Veterans Memorial Hospital. Kraft Pillow Service will be on site to make old pillows look like new.

Everyone is encouraged to bring in their feather pillows to the Pillow Perk to be cleaned, sanitized and given new ticking. Foam and Dacron pillows may also be renovated by this process. People can also bring in their feather beds and have them made into new pillows.

The pillows are cleaned and renovated the same day and ready for pick up by 3 p.m. 

For more information, feel free to call Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3411.

September is Newborn Screening Awareness and Baby Safety Month. Being sure to schedule  newborn well-child visits following the baby’s birth is very important, according to Nurse Midwife and Nurse Practitioner, Katy Maker, at Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Clinics.

“Well-child exams create an environment where the parents can develop a relationship with a primary care provider who will be there for them and their child throughout their child’s growth and development,” states Maker. “It’s important to feel that you can trust the medical advice that you get from your child’s healthcare provider because these days we get bombarded with a lot of information through the Internet and it is hard to filter.”

Well-baby check-ups are encouraged at the following visits: 1-month, 2-month, 4-month, 6-month, 9-month, 12-month, 15-month, 18-month, 2-year, 30-month and at three years. 

The next LifeServe Blood Center blood drive will be held Monday, October 5, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon. 

The local Grief Support Group will again be holding their monthly meeting at Veterans Memorial Hospital Thursday, October 1, from 5-6 p.m. in the Meditation Healing Center, located just inside the main entrance of the hospital. Nancy Haberichter will be facilitating the meeting.

This informal meeting is open to anyone suffering from any type of loss whether it be death, divorce, illness or some other grief.

Feel free to attend and bring a friend. This grief support will continue meeting the first Thursday of each month at Veterans Memorial Hospital.
 

If you were to die tonight, are you sure you would have eternal life? If you were to die tonight and stand before God and He asks you, “Why should I let you into My heaven?” what would you tell Him?
These are good questions for us to think about. What would you say? How would you answer?  We all want to be able to say we are certain of eternal life, but most have a harder time with the second question, “Why should I let you into My heaven?” People might answer by saying something like this:  “I’ve tried to live a good life. I’ve prayed. I’ve helped my neighbor. I think God would let me in.” Others say, “I know I am not perfect, but I’ve lived a better life compared to most” or “I’ve made mistakes, but I have also tried to give back. I hope God sees that.” 

To the Editor:

When Iowans get their ballots for the November 2026 election, there will be an amendment to consider.  Iowa Amendment 1 ”requires two-thirds supermajority vote in both the Iowa House and Senate to raise individual or corporate income tax rates or to create a new income tax.”

For the last 169 years, tax increases had to pass the Iowa House and Iowa Senate by a simple majority.  If this amendment passes, the Senate would need 34 votes, instead of 26 votes, and the House would need 67, instead of 51, to pass an increase in income taxes. Thus, making it harder for the legislature to increase taxes. A minority could block increasing income taxes.

In fiscal year 2025, Iowa had a $26 million deficit and covered the loss with the rainy-day fund. Income for 2025 was 8.5% lower than 2024, and 2026’s income projections are below 2025, due to lower farm income.  What is going to happen when the rainy-day fund runs out?

Deadlines/Dates
September 30: Deadline to Complete Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Mid-Contract Management on the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP); Deadline to remove livestock from Non-Emergency Grazing of Conservation Reserve Program; Deadline to apply for the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP)  Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 1 Quality Loss; Office Fiscal Year Rollover
October 1: Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) Mid-Contract Management on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Opens
December 31: Deadline to Apply for Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP)

The second half of the 2026 Iowa high school football regular season featured the second game on the Waukon football team’s Class 2A District 3 schedule and an opportunity to either gain or lose ground in the district standings for play-off qualification, as the Indian grid squad hosted North Fayette Valley (NFV) Friday, September 25. The two teams each entered the ballgame with 2-2 season records but had ended up in opposite directions in their district-openers a week earlier, with a fairly-balanced Waukon offensive attack helping to continue its successful district trend by scoring on seven of its nine possessions to help jump to a 22-0 headstart that further survived a mid-game TigerHawk uprising on the way to a 56-20 Indian victory.

For the second consecutive game, the Kee football team blasted the scoreboard with its second most points ever scored in an eight-man football game, putting up another 80 points that ranks second only to an 85-20 win at Cedar Valley Christian in 2012. Last week’s other second-best total was racked up in an 80-52 District 4 road win at Central Elkader, and that same winning number shined bright on the home scoreboard to make for the happiest of Homecomings Friday, September 25 with an 80-6 Hawk triumph over a Calamus-Wheatland (C-W) team still in search of its first win this season.

“That was our most complete game of the season,” Kee football head coach Chad Winters praised. “Offensively, we executed at a high level, special teams contributed in a big way with field position and scored on a punt return, and defensively that was the best we have done communicating, attacking, and finishing all season.”

Despite not playing in a weekend tournament, the Waukon volleyball team still had a very busy week on the court this past week, playing a total of four dual matches on three different nights over a period of just four nights total. That flurry of competition yielded a 3-1 match result, as the Lady Indians opened the week winning one match each over Starmont and MFL/MarMac in a triangular hosted by Starmont Monday, September 21 before battling Crestwood at home to another match victory in four sets Tuesday, September 22. The net Tribe wrapped up the week with another Upper Iowa Conference match, suffering its lone loss of the week in another four-set battle Thursday, September 24 at New Hampton, leading to a 9-4 season record at this point in the season, including a 2-2 mark in UIC play.