News

How effective are Iowa recycling programs?

Iowa News August 12, 2026

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is working to develop a reporting and data collection system to better understand recycling in the state. In an online stakeholder meeting Tuesday about a study comparing other states’ data collection methods, DNR staff said regular data on recycling streams and collection will help with efforts to improve solid waste management in the state. The report and call with Iowa stakeholders was part of DNR’s ongoing Sustainable Materials Management vision initiative to improve solid waste management programs and policies. The initiative ...

G'day

Local News August 12, 2026

Blood Drive at VDMC Thursday The Van Diest Medical Center will be the site for the community blood drive held on Life Serve on Thursday. Donors can report to the Clinic Board room at the hospital located at 2350 Hospital Drive. Donations are urgently needed at this time. Appointments for giving blood can be made by calling 800-287-4903. Scheduled times for the blood drive are between 12:30 and 5:30 p.m. Those donating blood will receive a Scooters cookie and a 20% coupon for the hospital gift shop. SALT meeting Thursday in Stanhope The August Seniors and Law Enforcement ...

“There’s No Place Like Home” to unite Jewell residents

Local News August 12, 2026

JEWELL — Conservation Creations, a local nonprofit serving Jewell and Ellsworth, has been selected to participate in the National Endowment of the Arts — NEA, the Big Read. The organization’s project, There’s No Place Like Home, will bring community members together through books, art, and conversation centered on Sandra Cisneros’s acclaimed novel "The House on Mango Street." The book explores home, identity, belonging, and what it means to find one’s place in a community. Organizer Dede Henderson, who teaches at the South Hamilton Schools wants participants to be of ...

The day the world wept

Local News August 12, 2026

It’s been 25 years since the tragedy of 9/11, a day remembered as the day the United States was attacked on its mainland. Memories of that day are being sought for a special edition of the Daily Freeman Journal which will be published on September 11, 2026. Members of the greatest generation, the World War II veterans and their families, often compared it to the day Pearl Harbor was attacked in Hawaii. For some, it shifted them back to that day, Sunday, December 7, 1941. For those too young to remember the beginning of World War II, this was something new. It was also ...

Crop report: Iowa saw ‘all modes’ of severe weather last week

Iowa News August 12, 2026

Iowa row crops are in good conditions as of the latest crop progress and condition report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, though plant pathologists in the state are starting to see disease pressure creep up. Corn, soybean and oat acres were ahead of last year’s crop across most developmental stages, according to the report for the Aug. 3 through Aug. 9 reporting period. Just 3% of corn acres in the state have yet to reach the silking stage, according to the report, and 69% of the crop reached the dough stage, which is 3 percentage points ahead of the 2025 crop. Corn in ...

Meet the newest teachers to WCCS

Local News August 12, 2026

KRISTIN HAMMITT Pleasant View Elementary School - First Grade Teacher Kristin Hammitt is a graduate of Webster City High School. She has a masters degree from Morningside College with endorsements for reading specialist, English language arts, and social studies. She taught 1st grade in Webster City for 12 years before having her fourth child. She took a year off and long-term substitute taught music at Pleasant View Elementary while also subbing throughout the building. This year, she will be teaching 1st grade at Pleasant View Elementary School. As a lifelong Webster City ...