News

VDMC to offer workshop "Better Choices, Better Health"

Local News August 12, 2026

Van Diest Medical Center (VDMC) will host Better Choices, Better Health, Iowa’s Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, this fall. The free, interactive, six-week workshop series will meet Thursdays from September 17 until October 22 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the VDMC Hospital Conference Room. Each session is led by two certified instructors. Designed to help participants gain confidence and take charge of their health, the program covers practical tools to manage ongoing health conditions while staying active. Topics include: · Communicating effectively with family, ...

Turning Back the Pages of Time

Local News August 12, 2026

1936/90 years ago ‘Hopper situation serious Hamilton County is infested with as many grasshoppers now as any western Iowa county last year. Unless something is done, according to County Agent H.M. Nichols, to destroy them immediately, farmers in this community may experience extensive damage in another year. About 200 farmers were reached at the four grasshopper control meetings held in the county Monday in charge of A.C. Hansbury, extension service entomologist, Iowa state college, Ames. Since that time, men from all parts of the county have visited the Farm Bureau offices ...

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 ...