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Beginning Thursday, November 9, from 5-6 p.m., Meehan Memorial Lansing Public Library will be hosting monthly learning and informational sessions with the lead engineering staff working on the Black Hawk Bridge replacement project. Everyone is invited to bring questions and curiosity. The engineers plan to have hands-on activities and this is a unique opportunity for the local community to learn a lot about the bridge building process.

Sessions will be held monthly the second Thursday each month and are for all ages. Questions about this program can be sent to libary@lansing.lib.ia.us.

The City of Lansing has partnered with Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission (UERPC) to create a community vision for the future of Main Street. The overall goal of the planning and visioning process is to identify needs, desires and concerns that residents, business owners and visitors have for the Main Street/Highway 9 corridor through Lansing. The end product will be a community-derived vision that considers things like traffic safety, environmental impacts, historic preservation, lighting, streetscape amenities, and more.

The project kicked off at the beginning of this year and has included two Lansing City Council work sessions, a focus group with Main Street business owners, an in-person community input meeting, and options for providing feedback online. There are still opportunities for community members to participate in the planning process.

Riding the high of a sixth consecutive Class 2A district championship following a dramatic overtime victory one week earlier, the Waukon football team had that ride brought to a sudden halt in opening its seventh straight Class 2A State Play-Off berth - its 10th in the past 12 seasons - at home against a Union team from District 6 Friday, October 20. Trading an early touchdown tally each to start the contest, the Indians were then bitten hard by both the turnover and injury bug to have their season brought to a close with a 21-7 loss to a Knight squad that held a 2-6 overall record coming into the contest but had both of those wins come in its two previous games to build some late-season momentum.

The 2023 season came to a close for the Kee football team Friday, October 20 but not without a strong effort by the grid Hawks that made one of the highest-regarded teams in the Eight-Player class stand up and take notice in the opening round of the State Play-Offs. Traveling to the home of an eighth-rated Central City squad that boasted only a single loss on the season, Kee’s gridders battled to a halftime lead and a 28-28 scoreboard knot midway through the third quarter before the final three of seven Hawk turnovers in the ballgame helped turn the tide in the host Wildcats’ favor on the way to a 52-28 season-ending Kee defeat.

Competing “four” so much more!

That’s what the Waukon boys cross country team will be doing after qualifying for the Class 2A State Cross Country Meet for the fourth consecutive season at its State Qualifying Meet held at Monticello Thursday, October 19. That fourth consecutive qualification for the season grand finale came in championship style as the distance Tribe placed all seven of its runners within the top 21 individuals in the 97-runner field, including its five scored runners within the top 19 runners to score 49 team points and win this season’s State Qualifying Meet Championship.

The 2023 season for The Standard’s Halfback Harry contest has now drawn to a close, and the final week saw a battle between several entries that required some tie-breaking to figure out. A total of four entries emerged at the top of this week’s collection of contestants with five incorrect guesses each.

Jeremy Hogan, Verland Lenth and Bryan Ward of Waukon and Jan Pfiffner of Harpers Ferry were all locked atop this week’s entry pile with those five missed guesses, forcing the total winning points tie-breaker to be utilized to determine this week’s contest winner. With this week’s 15 winning teams compiling a total of 458 points, it was Ward’s guess of 421 team points that came closest to that total and gave him the final Halfback Harry victory of this season, edging out Hogan’s selection of 416 team points. Lenth’s choice of 505 points was just a bit further off, with Pfiffner guessing 622 points.

The COVID vaccine is now being offered in conjunction with flu shots at Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Community and Home Care/Allamakee Public Health. Flu shots are recommended for all those who have not yet received the vaccine, and they will be effective throughout the rest of the flu season.

According to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, flu vaccines are proven to help prevent millions of illnesses and have been shown to reduce the risk of having to go to the doctor by 40-60%. COVID-19 vaccines help protect by creating an antibody response without having to experience potentially severe illness or post-COVID conditions.  Although it is still possible to get sick after being vaccinated, flu and COVID immunizations are proven to help prevent severe illness, which can be lifesaving.

The Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation Christmas Fantasy returns this year in its entirety. Reservations are being taken now for the Foundation’s 32nd annual Christmas Fantasy which will be held Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, November 10, 11, 12, and 13, at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion. The theme is “Wishing You a Merry Grinchmas!”

Reservations are now being taken for the popular Saturday and Monday Noon luncheons and the Saturday evening Wine, Cheese and Dessert Event.

The luncheons are sponsored by the Allamakee County Cattlemen’s Association, and will be held Saturday, November 11, at Noon, and again Monday, November 13 at Noon. A full meal will be served plus entertainment will be provided at both events. All guests will have ample time to view all of the displays. Reservations can be made by calling 563-568-6262.

The Rehabilitation staff at Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) works with people of all ages, helping them to reduce pain and regain strength, independence and health. The Healthy Lifestyles Rehabilitation Center at VMH is fully equipped for all rehabilitation patients with 17 weight machine stations, tread mills, exercise bikes, NuStep and eliptical machines. The six treatment rooms allow one-on-one evaluation and treatment with the therapist.

Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) administration staff is currently visiting each Allamakee County community to offer a public forum to update the communities about the hospital’s progress and offer a chance for public input.  

Last fall, residents of Allamakee County overwhelmingly voted to convert the hospital to a county facility.  As the hospital was preparing for that county-wide vote, similar public forums were held. At those meetings, it was stated the hospital would do this every year in an effort to offer personal contact with the communities and an opportunity for feedback.

Michael Coyle, VMH CEO will be leading these discussions and states, “I’m excited to be back out in the area communities of Allamakee County to talk about VMH, our current services, and new services that will help our patients and their families stay close to home for their healthcare needs.”