The Whittemore Public Library plans to re-open May 15. The West Bend Public Library will do the same on May 18.

City facilities are scheduled to open on May 18 in West Bend. “We will try to open on the 18th, but it will be on a limited basis,” said Lisa Sewell, city clerk for West Bend.

City employees have worked on a shift rotation in order to isolate employees during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Get details in the May 7 Kossuth County Advance.

Now that officials in the West Bend-Mallard School District know classes are finished for the school year because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, they have set the prom date for June 20 and graduation ceremonies for June 28.

For the first time since its inception, there will not be a Whittemore Fun Days because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The carnival was originally scheduled for Monday, May 25 and Tuesday, May 26.

The Algona Area Chamber of Commerce has addressed its plans with three events that were scheduled within the next seven weeks.
The Women’s Networking Together Event, originally scheduled for April 6, then rescheduled for May 11, has been rescheduled again, this time for Monday, Oct. 19.

Due to safety concerns affiliated with the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Algona Publishing Company is moving the dates of its 11th annual Area-Wide Garage Sale.
The new dates are Friday and Saturday, July 24-25.

Freshman Andrew Tran of Algona won a scholarship that will help him as he studies to become a pilot in the Iowa Lakes Community College (Estherville) Aviation and Airport Management program.
Tran won the Lockheed Martin Vocational Scholarship award of $6,600 for education-related expenses in pursuit of an associate degree in aviation.
Read more in the May 7 Advance.

Press Release, 4:20 p.m., Wednesday, April 29
The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Kossuth County Public Health have identified one additional case of COVID-19 in the county.

Kossuth Regional Health Center (KRHC) in Algona will receive funds from two different programs to help with operations during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Five hundred forty-four cup-sized cheesecakes, 40 hours in less than a week, more than $1,100 in donations adds up to $25 gift cards or $25 Amazon cards for 44 high school seniors.

On Monday, April 27, Governor Kim Reynolds issued a supplemental proclamation easing several restrictions in 77 of Iowa’s counties, including Kossuth County, effective May 1. Among those businesses that can operate are libraries:

Misinformation can easily circulate in communities during a crisis. So it is with the current COVID-19 pandemic. Rumors about positive cases and employees being sent home from work due to possible symptoms of the coronavirus have been topics of conversations in Kossuth County the last couple of weeks. There is no grain of truth to these rumors, according to the Kossuth County Public Health Department and Kossuth County Emergency Management.

All the communities in Kossuth County are now part of the countywide EMS system. Bancroft is the last to join.

Work continues to remove invasive shrubs in Ambrose A. Call State Park. “Part of a forest management plan calls for, or prescribes for the removal of, invasive shrubs -- buckthorn, honeysuckle and a number of other species,” said Michael Strauser, the park ranger assigned to Pilot Knob State Park, Rice Lake State Park and Ambrose A. Call State Park.

As Jeff Schutjer planted corn in his field last week near Titonka, he mentioned how nice the weather was. “This is probably the best planting season we’ve had for at least two years,” he said. “We didn’t have any ponding of water. We didn’t have to wait for that to go away. The snowstorm we received recently did kind of hold us up, and we’re still dealing with drifting in fence lines.”