By Molly Montag, News Correspondent

Officials are expected to begin writing a county-wide animal ordinance. It’s anticipated the regulations apply to loose dogs and livestock.

Officials discussed the potential ordinance at the Tuesday, Jan. 21 meeting of the Kossuth County Board of Supervisors. Any new regulations would be the only county-level ordinance regulating pets and livestock. Currently, animal owners outside city limits are bound only by state laws.

By Molly Montag, News Correspondent

The motivation behind crafting an ordinance regulating commercial solar energy and whether county officials had a good reason to craft rules about the industry were among the issues raised during a recent Kossuth County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Currently, there is a county-wide ban on commercial solar development to allow officials time to craft a county ordinance regulating solar farms in the county.

Two Bishop Garrigan High School students were selected to participate in the NCIBA High School Honor Band held on Jan. 11 at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge. These students were sophomore Corbin Darling on euphonium and senior Spencer Doerning on trumpet.

The Algona Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting for Crown Juhl at the Feed Mill upstairs event center on Friday, Jan. 17. Derek Juhl is the owner of the certified and insured travel consultant agency located in Britt. He can help people with airfare, cruises, all-inclusive resorts, amusement parks, show tickets, sports tickets, corporate groups, church groups, weddings and more. The next chamber coffee will be held on Friday, Jan. 24 at Innovations Salon and Spa at 9:30 a.m.

Since 2011, over 3,000 Iowa veterans have been honored for their service with a special trip to Washington, D.C., courtesy of Sullivan-Hartogh-Davis Cedar Valley Honor Flight. In 2010, what began as a simple conversation between local media mogul Jim Coloff and Black Hawk County Supervisor Craig White soon became an effort to establish Waterloo, Iowa as an Honor Flight hub. Less than a year later, the first group of eastern Iowa veterans arrived in Washington, D.C.

Mrs. Schiltz’ third grade class from North Union-Swea City Elementary made fleece blankets and donated them to the Kossuth Regional Health Center for new babies. Submitted photos.

Fourth graders at North Union Elementary finally got to meet their Pen Pals face-to-face after weeks of corresponding. Submitted photo.

Students at North Union Elementary got to party in style as they welcomed in the new year and celebrated 2024 accomplishments. Mrs. Bierstedt and the staff put in many hours of hard work to make this a special day for the kids. Members of the Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office, Santa and entertainer Glenn Henriksen were special guests. Submitted photo.

STEM kids got to learn all about igloos while making one of their own at the Fenton Public Library. Submitted photo.

By Kaden Bormann, AHS Journalism

By Hayden Lara, AHS Journalism

On Jan. 6, the school brought back some of the 2024 graduates to Algona High School for a panel in the PAC during TAS. Abby Brooks, Ashley Cantu, Morgan Kelly, Riker Brindley, Sydney Seebecker, Maggie Wartick and Faith Zeller came to talk. The graduates talked about budgeting money, balancing time with school and work, note taking, friends, campus life, and roommates and boundaries.

The Euchre results for Tuesday, Jan. 14 at Pep’s are:

First place - Joe and Kay Courtney with 74.

Second place - Eddie Rahe and Mary Alice Berte with 67.

Third place was a tie between - Mark Wolf/Theresa DeLange  and Dan/Kathy Foertsch with 59.

Most loners - Joe Courtney with seven.

The door prize went to Kathy Foertsch.

Everyone is welcome to participate on Tuesday nights. For more information call 515-320-3719.

By Benjamin Herrold, Iowa Farmer Today

Barns dot the rural landscape, reminders of farm history and heritage. Beverly Thomas grew up working on a farm and fell in love with barns from a young age.

She works as deputy director of the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance, and she has been working on barn preservation in her nearly two decades with the organization.

“I just love barns,” she says, “and I love the connection that people have to their barns.”

William Harris, former sonographer, MercyOne, Kossuth Regional Health Center and staffing company Soliant Health are being sued after a Kossuth County woman says Harris groped her during an examination in Feb. 2023. Her lawsuit accuses MercyOne and Soliant of negligence because of Harris’s past convictions of sexual misconduct. Harris was convicted in December 2024 in Kossuth County court of sexually assaulting two other female patients.

We have gotten a few responses from it. It appears there will be a Rugby team in Algona this spring. Tentatively there are three games booked. One in Algona, one in Fort Dodge and then the All Iowa. A meeting is planned for Feb. 15 to elect a board. Feb. 1 is the Iowa Rugby meeting and Algona will be represented to see if they can add some more games.  It sounds promising that there could be high school rugby this spring also. Combined Algona/Garrigan.