Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
September 1: Dairy Margin Coverage Premiums Due
October 31: Organic Certification Cost-Share and Transition/Education Certification Program
Using virtual reality technology, the scientists simulated a free-range environment in laying hen housing. They found that showing hens VR scenes of chickens in more “natural” environments reduced indicators of stress in the hens’ blood and gut microbiota. The VR scenes also induced biochemical changes related to increased resistance to E. coli bacteria, which poses health risks to poultry and to humans who eat contaminated eggs.
The annual fall field day at the Iowa State University Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm will run from 1-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 24.
Lisa Schulte Moore, Iowa State University professor of natural resource ecology and management, will begin the program by providing her insights on carbon markets in a presentation called “Carbon Science for Carbon Markets: Emerging Opportunities in Iowa.”
Erin Hodgson, professor in entomology and extension entomologist at Iowa State, and Ashley Dean, education extension specialist in entomology with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, will discuss corn rootworm and resistance management.
New Internet availability map issued, open to challenges ... The State of Iowa Office of the Chief Information Officer has released a new map showing reported availability of high-speed Internet throughout the state. The areas shaded in blue in the map image above are described as being likely eligible for upcoming grant funding programs due to lack of high-speed Internet connectivity. A detailed version of the map showing reported Internet speeds at individual residences and business is available at the Office of the Chief Information Officer website at https://ocio.iowa.gov/broadband-availability-map-version-5. The Office of the Chief Information Officer is accepting challenges to the map from Iowa residents and businesses in regard to Internet availability, reliability and reported speeds through the end of the month of August, and local residents are being encouraged to participate in that survey.
Communities of Waukon and Lansing encouraged to complete speed test and survey by August 31
August 2, the Iowa Office of the Chief Information Officer published a new version of the Statewide Broadband Availability Map, which is designed to facilitate decisions concerning future spending under federally-funded broadband programs. The Office utilizes maps and data sources made available by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), contractors and other third-party sources in compiling its own broadband availability map.
Senator Joni Ernst visits Lansing Works Office ... Senator Joni Ernst visited the Lansing Works Office on Main Street in Lansing Thursday morning, August 11 to tour and learn more about the facility and discuss issues of importance within the community. Pictured above during her visit, left to right, are Paul Baldwin; Chris Troendle, vice president at Lansing Housing Products, Inc.; Maryann Baldwin, owner, Lansing Office Works + Innovation Lab and Lansing Kitchen Works; Bruce Palmborg, board president of Main Street Lansing; U.S. Senator Joni Ernst; Sarah Updegraff, Kee High School/Middle School Principal; and Andy Kelleher, executive director of Main Street Lansing. Photo by Julie Berg-Raymond.
by Julie Berg-Raymond
Lansing Office Works was stop No. 77 on Senator Joni Ernst’s annual 99-county tour Thursday, August 11, as the senator met and spoke with about a dozen local citizens on the issues they see as being most important in their community.
“So great to be with folks in Lansing today,” Ernst tweeted on her social media account later that day. “Through the opening of the Lansing Office Works co-working space and Main Street Lansing business development programs, they’re making major steps in fostering entrepreneurship within the city.”
Among the attendees Thursday was Kee High School and Middle School Principal Sarah Updegraff, whose appraisal of the situation in Lansing was met with nods of agreement by everyone in the room. “If we don’t start serving our families with housing, with daycare and with amenities, we’re going to have a dying community,” she said.
The best Iowa produced butters and cheeses were chosen in the Iowa Quality Dairy Products competition, judged prior to the start of the 2022 Iowa State Fair and on display during the Fair at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. WW Homestead Dairy of Waukon dominated the competition by placing within the top three in all the divisions the family-owned dairy competed in, including sweeping the top three placewinnings in the Cheese Curd division, doing likewise with the top two spots in the Cow Cheese division and winning Best of Show honors with the dairy’s Ranch Peppercorn cheese curds (as depicted in the submitted photo above).
Judging is not on a head-to head competition basis, but is based on set quality criteria for each of first, second and third places. The Best of Show award is given to one product out of all the products submitted to the competition.
First Dollar Visit for U.S. Cellular at new location and under new ownership ... U.S. Cellular, now under new ownership and at a new location in Waukon, recently received a First Dollar Visit from the Waukon Chamber of Commerce. Pictured above, left to right, at that First Dollar presentation are Conrad Schmitt, Brooke Pritchard and Amber Kane of U.S. Cellular, Waukon Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Laurie Adrian, and Amber Love, Moriah Downing and Ellisha Seibert of U.S. Cellular. Photo courtesy of the Waukon Chamber of Commerce.
As of early July of this year, U.S. Cellular can now be found at a new location in Waukon and under new ownership. Just one block west and a half block north from its previous location, the new store can be found at 108 2nd Street NW in Waukon and is now under the ownership of Gary Fox, marking the tenth northeast/north central Iowa community where his third-generation family-owned business, Appliance Plus of Oelwein, Inc., now owns and operates a U.S. Cellular location.
“We’re happy for the opportunity with U.S. Cellular to be able to be in the Waukon community,” Fox said. “Being a local company in northeast Iowa, the opportunity to expand into the Waukon area is something we couldn’t say no to.”
As part of its Live & Learn: enriching lives through monthly learning series, Robey Memorial Library in Waukon is offering Climbing Mount Everest with Jen Loeb Thursday, August 25 at 5:30 p.m. in the lower level Community Room of the library. Loeb was born and raised in Jesup and attended Wartburg College, graduating with a Biology degree. She currently lives in Marengo and works in Cedar Rapids.
Nearly 100 people attended the Veterans Memorial Hospital Medical Clinic-Postville Open House held Thursday, August 11 from 5-7 p.m. All were able to visit with clinic providers, who are pictured below and include Michelle Crary, Nurse Practitioner (at left); Dr. Thomas McMullan, Family Practice Physician (at right); and Katy Maker (center), the new Nurse Midwife and Nurse Practitioner who recently joined both the hospital’s Postville and Waukon medical clinics.
Those who are feeling down or blue should know they are not alone, and that can be especially true now that there is a local group program to help lift their mood. Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Lansing recently received a grant from Gundersen Health System of La Crosse, WI to offer a new resource to help adults with low mood called Raising Our Spirits Together.
Raising Our Spirits Together is a technology-assisted, engaging, small group program that provides people who are feeling down with new tools and skills to feel better. The small groups meet in local churches and are led by pastors.
