Top Stories

by Julie Berg-Raymond

Even with the town blanketed in the first heavy snowfall of the season, the third monthly session of “Let’s Talk Bridges!” drew about 30 attendees to the Meehan Memorial Lansing Public Library Thursday evening, January 11.

ABOUT THE TALKS: WHO, WHAT, WHEN
The library’s executive director Derva Burke, along with the new Lansing bridge project’s overseeing engineer Clayton Burke and members of his team, are presenting the family-friendly monthly series - which is focused on learning about and celebrating the new bridge project at Lansing. Three of the regular four “bridge talks” team members conducted the talk last Thursday: Clayton Burke was joined by Paul Lindsey, senior field inspector on the project and Travis Konda, a structural engineer and project manager with the U.S.-based design firm, HNTB Corporation. Absent that evening was “everything engineer,” Anden Lovig.

Veterans Memorial Hospital physicians and staff announce that the First Baby of the Year born at the hospital for 2024 is Ivan Henry Christen, son of Seth and Allison Christen of rural Decorah. Ivan was born Tuesday, January 9 at 4:08 a.m. He weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces and was 20.75 inches long.

Grandparents are Bill and Linda Dotseth and Laurie and Bernie Christen, all of Decorah.

Thursday, January 4, the Perry School District in south central Iowa experienced a shooting incident at its Perry High School/Middle School in which one sixth grade student lost his life and four other students and one school district administrator were injured. In response to that incident, the Superintendents of both the Allamakee Community School District and Eastern Allamakee Community School District released statements to their respective school district communities. Those statements are being reprinted here with permission from each Superintendent.

Dear Allamakee Community School District Families,

ALLAMAKEE COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY CAUCUS LOCATIONS
Monday, January 15 at 7 p.m.

Doors open at 6 p.m. for registration
For more information contact Allamakee County Republican Chairperson Dan Emerson at 563-568-7361.

Mail-in ballots are replacing realignment and complicated math from previous caucuses

submitted by the Allamakee County Democrats

The Iowa Democratic Party has made a significant change to its caucus process this year. Democrats will vote for a presidential candidate using a mail-in ballot instead of the realignment and calculating processes of past caucuses.

Why is a mail-in ballot being utilized this year in place of the previous caucus process? Iowa Democratic Party Chairperson Rita Hart said in a news release the party is committed to making this the most inclusive caucus in history. “Iowans who work a third shift, families that may not have access to childcare, or seniors who are homebound can now make their voices heard in our presidential process,” she said.

To read the the full article, Year in Review - Part 2: Top local news stories from July-December 2023, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition by clicking here.

The items below summarize the top news stories that appeared in The Standard during the last six months of 2023, July-December.

JULY
Veterans Memorial Hospital’s Housekeeping Department has earned the hospital the #1 ranking in the country for cleanliness, according to the Iowa Hospital Association.

You probably know your local newspaper by the name on the front of it. Behind that name is News Publishing Company, Inc., the ownership company which has existed since January 3, 1978 when Curtis Witte bought a group of publications in western Dane County and Green County from Bill and Dolores Griffith.

The company has been a family-owned corporation from its inception and has been managed by publishers Dan and Mark Witte over the past 45 years. During that time, News Publishing has purchased and sold a number of publications and is now comprised of 14 weekly community newspapers and multiple shoppers that still serve the original communities in addition to the counties of Jackson, Trempealeau, Clark, Sauk, Marquette, Outagamie, Calumet and Brown in Wisconsin, and in Allamakee County in Iowa (The Standard Newspaper and Northeast Iowa Extra shopper).

To read the the full article, Year in Review - Part 1: Top local news stories from January-June 2023, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition by clicking here.

The items below summarize the top news stories that appeared in The Standard during the first six months of 2023, January-June.

JANUARY
The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) for 2022 ended its annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state in Lansing in late July this past summer. RAGBRAI is the oldest, largest and longest multi-day recreational bicycle touring event in the world.

Friday, December 15 at 12:03 a.m., the Allamakee County Sheriff’s E-911 Dispatch Center received a report of a UTV accident at the intersection of Houlihan Drive and Mohawk Road in rural Allamakee County, northwest of Harpers Ferry.

According to a report from the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office, a UTV driven by Mackay David Mathis, age 32, of Harpers Ferry was traveling eastbound on Houlihan Drive and failed to negotiate a righthand curve in the road. The UTV entered the ditch and rolled over.

The report says that Mathis was pronounced deceased at the scene. A passenger in the vehicle, 35-year-old Mitch Andrew Iverson of rural Lansing, was transported by Gundersen Air Ambulance to a La Crosse, WI hospital for medical treatment. Assisting at the scene of the accident was the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office, Harpers Ferry Fire and Rescue, Waterville Ambulance and Veterans Memorial Hospital Ambulance.

All area Emergency Medical Services in need of additional EMTs to meet growing demand

The number of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) in this area has dwindled over the years as licensed EMTs have retired. Allamakee and northern Clayton Counties are fortunate to have many emergency response services, but all of them are in need of more EMTs on their service to share the call time, ensuring local emergency services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) will be offering a face-to-face EMT Class in Waukon beginning in January. Enthusiastic, willing volunteers wanting to truly help people are needed to fill this class.   The class will meet two nights per week, Mondays and Wednesdays, from 6-10 p.m., and clinicals will be held in person.