News

School District proposes $43.4 million rebuild of Webster City High School with decrease in property taxes

Local News July 30, 2026

About 35 people attended a meeting Tuesday evening to hear how $43.4 million would be spent to both remodel and rebuild Webster City High School in the three-year period 2027-2030, at no increase in property taxes. In fact, the school district projects it can be completed, significantly upgrading the existing high school, while taxes are reduced. Matthew Gillaspie, of Piper-Sandler, an investment banking firm hired by the District to oversee financial aspects of the high school facilities project, explained 60 school districts in Iowa, including WCCSD, have prepaid general ...

Ag secretary candidate Chris Jones wants 50% of school meals to be sourced locally

Iowa News July 30, 2026

As part of his bid to be Iowa’s next secretary of agriculture, Democratic candidate Chris Jones unveiled policy framework with a 10-year goal of requiring schools to source half of their food from local farms. Jones, whose platform focuses largely on improving water quality in Iowa, said building the infrastructure to support locally grown food in Iowa will in turn, lead to “healthier people, cleaner water, more perennial vegetation, and more pasture-based systems on the land.” The Food, Agriculture, Infrastructure, and Resilience, or F.A.I.R. Farm Deal, as the campaign ...

G'day

Local News July 30, 2026

Century celebration of Bell’s Mill park is Saturday The Hamilton County Conservation board celebrates the 100th year since land was donated to create the Bell’s Mill park. The park will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Activities will be going on throughout the day along with a corn hole tournament and music. The park has camping facilities canoeing and kayaking on the Boone River, and an open air shelter available. At 2 p.m. a history of the park will be presented. The park is located at 3100 Bell’s Mill Road, located approximately six miles north and east of ...

Urology services now available at VDMC

Business Briefs July 30, 2026

The Van Diest Medical Center has announced that Fawad Zafar, M.D., will be joining the team in VDMC’s Surgery and Specialty Clinic Department, beginning in August. Dr. Fawad Zafar is a urologist with 30 years of experience in both Urology and General Surgery. He completed his Doctor of ...

Turning back the pages of time

Local News July 30, 2026

1956 Old Settlers Picnic Will Be Continued Continuation of the Hamilton and Webster counties' Old Settlers Picnic at Bells Mill park was assured yesterday when between 200 and 300 people turned out to attend the 1956 event. In perfect picnic weather, those attending the event enjoyed a basket lunch, inspected a display of antiques in the Bells Mill school hall and listened to a program of music and speeches. Rev. Share Is Speaker The main speaker at the picnic was the Rev. Joseph J. Share of Webster City who described "courage, money, Christianity and the church, country ...

Market Nights can be your Staycation destination

Iowa News July 30, 2026

Market Nights in downtown Webster City won’t go on forever. This season is halfway over, with the final Market Night scheduled for August 27. Don’t wait too long to discover the fun of the community getting together to support small local businesses in Webster City and surrounding areas. According to Robin Streigel, coordinator of Webster City Market Nights, there have been close to 100 vendors this year, up from last year. “We’ve had a lot of people who are running businesses out of their house coming down this year,” said Streigel, “We’ve had good attendance, ...