The Kossuth County Farmers Market in Algona will open Saturday, May 23, 9-11 a.m., on the Carnegie Lawn with new guidelines in place related to the COVID-19 coronavirus. Iowa farmers markets were granted permission to open by Gov. Kim Reynolds, if they comply with recommended public health practices.

A group of experts, including Ernie Goss, on Wednesday released a summary statement of the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus and the response by the state of Iowa. You can read the summary report by clicking on this link: https://www.tefiowa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Ecomomic-Policy-Repo…
 

DES MOINES Today, Governor Reynolds issued a new proclamation opening campgrounds in the state of Iowa, effective Friday, May 8, 2020. 
The Iowa DNR will open state campgrounds at 8:00am on Friday, May 8 to campers with self-contained restrooms only. Self-contained is defined as a tent or pop-up camper with a portable toilet or an RV with a functioning, self-contained bathroom. Walk-in campers may begin registering at 8 am.

Check out Section C of the May 7 edition of the Kossuth County Advance for 16 pages featuring members of the graduating classes from Algona, Bishop Garrigan, North Union and West Bend-Mallard high schools.

The livestock industry is changing all of the time. May is Beef Month, and you can meet some of the local people involved in it in our annual salute to beef producers and the work they do.

Educating students in Kossuth County during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been different for students, enlightening for parents and challenging for teachers.

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some businesses have remained open throughout the last month, others have closed and then reopened, and still others haven’t reopened yet.

Kossuth County libraries will decide when they will re-open and how they will re-open after Gov. Kim Reynold’s proclamation that libraries may re-open if they follow certain guidelines.
“Our doors will not re-open to the public until the state’s new COVID-19 cases decline consistently for an extended length of time,” said Michele Espe, library director at the Fenton Public Library. “We hope and are planning for such good news by June.”

Agricultural behavioral health experts are concerned about suicide in the farming community.

Businesses in Kossuth and adjoining counties have been bolstered by grants from the Iowa Small Business Relief Program that was created in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the program in March, and grants were announced April 7-10, April 23-28, and April 29-May 4.
Get the details in the May 7 Kossuth County Advance.

The Kossuth County COVID-19 Disaster Response Fund, a fund of the Kossuth County Community Foundation, has awarded three grants totaling $7,000 to organizations providing basic needs services and/or working with individuals and families who have been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Hoenk Foundation scholarship may have started small, but now it is a large financial benefit for students who graduate from the Algona Community School District and Bishop Garrigan.

Tired of hearing too long from politicians who say they will fix the nation’s problems, Bret Richards is challenging incumbent Rep. Steve King in the June 2 primary.
“I’m running because I’m tired of career politicians,” he said. “Like so many Iowans, when we sit down and talk about the issues, we can probably solve them in 20 minutes. We get frustrated when a politician takes 20 years to move the needle.”
Read more in the May 7 Kossuth County Advance.

In recent years, I’ve taken to writing notes to myself and making lists to help me remember what I need to accomplish. Why? Because I forget things. We all do. We need reminders … all of us.

At the Kossuth County Advance and Algona Publishing Company (APC), part of our business is checking out rumors. I can thoroughly answer this rumor.

Someone is spreading a rumor that a member of the APC staff has tested positive for COVID-19, and that the person is going around town and spreading the virus.

FALSE.

NO ONE at APC and no family members of anyone at APC, have tested positive for the virus.