VFW Auxiliary Gustave F. Kerndt #5981 announces the kick-off of the VFW Auxiliary’s National Anthem Singing Contest, “Get Excited for the Red, White and Blue!” Contestants must submit a video of their solo vocal performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” recorded between July 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022.
Contest entries must be submitted to VFW Auxiliary Gustave F. Kerndt #5981 by March 31, 2022 via DVD or flash drive, or an online video platform. Interested youth, parents/guardians and teachers should email vfwauxiliarylansing@gmail.com for information.
New Albin Elementary School has been blessed by the generosity of the family of Sara Thomas, a former teacher in the Eastern Allamakee Community School District for many years who passed away this past October. Her family knew that she would have wanted memorials in her honor to go to a place where she gave so much of herself. The family donated $1,960 to be used on books and other necessities, some of which are pictured above. New Albin Elementary School appreciates the generosity of the family of Sara Thomas. Submitted image.
Graham crackers, frosting and Clover Kids made the perfect combination to make gingerbread houses at the December Clover Kids session. Youth were able to use their imagination to design their own creation (such as those pictured in the photos above). They learned it took patience, lots of frosting and some re-designing to make the houses stand by themselves. Candy was supplied to decorate with, which added another challenge if the candy was too heavy for their structure. Clover Kids also had the opportunity to make clay gingerbread men for their house. After completion, most gingerbread houses ended up as a snack. For more information about 4-H and upcoming activities, contact the Allamakee County Extension and Outreach Office at 563-568-6345 or http://www.extension.iastate.edu/allamakee/. Submitted photos.
Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) has received a new source of funding that will allow students to train for in-demand healthcare careers with no tuition cost.
The new funding through the State of Iowa Governors Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER II) is creating no-cost tuition training opportunities for students and helping the College and its partners to develop a healthcare employee pipeline in the community. Funding through Opportunity Dubuque is also available to support the training.
The GEER II funding, among other funding sources, will provide financial assistance to students who enroll in one of three short-term certificate programs at NICC; Phlebotomy Technician, Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) and Pharmacy Technician. Graduates of the programs will help backfill a wave of retirements in the healthcare sector.
The Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) Board of Trustees approved the President Search Committee’s recommendation of four finalist candidates for the position of college president at its meeting December 20. Finalists selected include the following:
Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
Dec. 31: Office closed in observance of New Year’s Day holiday
Jan. 7: Organic and Transition Education Certification Program (FY20, FY21)
Feb. 18: Dairy Margin Coverage Program
Feb. 25: Spot Market Hog Pandemic Program
Mar. 15: ARCPLC Program deadline
Some Waterhemp has Developed Dicamba Resistance
by LuAnn Rolling, NRCS District Conservationist
According to a recent article in Successful Farming University of Illinois (U of I) weed scientists have confirmed resistance to the herbicide dicamba in a Champaign County (east-central Illinois) waterhemp population.
The population had never been sprayed with dicamba or its relative 2,4-D (both Group 4 synthetic auxin herbicides), to which it is also resistant. According to the researchers waterhemp in the study population resists herbicides in five other site of action groups.
Verbio Nevada Biorefinery begins making renewable natural gas from corn residue
One of the state’s most abundant resources – corn “stover” – is being used to create renewable natural gas that heats Iowa homes and businesses.
As of December 7, the Verbio North America plant in Nevada, Iowa, has been converting chopped cornstalks into natural gas that enters an Alliant Energy pipeline that traverses central Iowa.
Using anaerobic digestion, eight large digesters combine the corn stover with the bacteria of livestock manure, which results in the conversion of corn residue into biomethane gas that is equivalent to the natural gas found in fossil fuels.
12 local food experts make suggestions on how to improve sales to institutional buyers
A diverse group of local food experts from across the state submitted a set of recommendations to the Iowa Legislature that are intended to improve the farm to table supply chain.
The Farm to Table Task Force commissioned during the 2021 state legislative session and led by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach met over the last several months.
The charge was to identify strategies to improve the farm to table supply chain in Iowa, with a special focus on increasing sales to institutional purchasers, including schools. The task force consisted of 12 local food experts representing farmers, distributors, food pantries, small scale processors and customers.
Our earth has been warmer than it is now, so why worry? Past warming was caused by either well-understood variations in earth’s orbit around the sun and/or wobbles in earth’s tilt, or by emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, usually from widespread volcanism.
Today’s temperature rise comes at a time when the cycles in earth’s orbit and tilt should not be warming earth, and there is no widespread volcanism. Scientists of all sorts have considered all these possibilities and agree that man’s activities, since the industrial revolution, are causing the warming. They are more certain of this than they were that cigarettes can cause lung cancer.
There are a lot of myths surrounding depression, the two most common being that depression is triggered by a negative life event, and that people who are depressed should find something that makes them happy so they can “snap out of it.” Neither misconception accurately portrays the condition, and both feed into its stigmatization.
Depression is a serious medical condition that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, affects approximately eight percent of the U.S. population over age 12. Although there is effective treatment available, less than 35 percent of those living with depression seek professional help.
Individuals may be reluctant to get help for a variety of reasons - maybe they think they can overcome depression on their own, or they believe that no one will understand how they feel.
