NaturalShrimp Inc. has taken over the assets of Alder Aqua (formerly Vero Blue Farms). This is a positive development for Webster City and will bring many good-paying jobs to the community. It also repurposes existing industrial properties so that they are back on the tax rolls. The ...
Iowa continues to get some good news on the jobs front as the state’s economy gradually rebounds from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2020, the state’s unemployment rate stood at 3.1 percent. That marks a healthy decline from the November 2020 unemployment rate of 3.8 ...
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, being observed today, is an appropriate time to recall an exceptional person. But more importantly, it’s a time to recommit the nation to the cause for which King died and the legacy he left for all of us. The famed civil rights leader, assassinated April 4, 1968, ...
With the whole world seemingly focused on how fast the COVID-19 vaccine can be administered, we must not forget the importance of an older vaccine: the flu shot. Just about everyone has called in sick at some point, saying they had the flu when they were sniffling, sneezing, maybe running a ...
For months, Americans’ pleas for Congress to give us more financial help in coping with COVID-19 have fallen on political ears — much worse than merely deaf ones — in Washington. Exactly why lawmakers were unable to agree on a second CARES Act is open to debate. Republican loyalists ...
The COVID-19 crisis continues to be the major news story daily. If we want it not to be, we need to start taking it seriously. COVID-19 is not the flu. It is both more contagious and more deadly. Its virulence, or how easy it is to pass on to others, is exacerbated by the fact that without ...
The decision by many to shelter in place during this pandemic has been wise, but it’s been hard on many. Our local small businesses, who depend on our money to stay open, have been especially hard hit. Some restaurants have attempted to adapt by switching to carryout and delivery only, but ...
The Webster City City Council approved a small business loan program Monday night in response to the Covid-19 crisis. The council set aside $250,000 for the loans, to be issued in increments of $2500 and $5000. Businesses with gross annual revenues of less than $500,000 with 20 employees or ...
Dear reader: The last few weeks have been full of uncertainty for many of you here in Hamilton County when it comes to the COVID-19 coronavirus, and we wanted today to provide you with an update on how we’ve been covering the crisis here at The Daily Freeman-Journal and the resources we ...
The important new U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement negotiated by the Trump administration is one key step closer to becoming a reality. Japan’s parliament has approved the pact. That means that it will go into effect once our Congress concurs. This trade arrangement is enormously significant for ...
Make plans to spend some time at the 18th annual Farm News Ag Show. It kicks off Wednesday on the East Campus of Iowa Central Community College, 2031 Quail Ave. in Fort Dodge. On its first day, the show is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It resumes at 7:30 a.m. Thursday and runs until 3 p.m. The ...
The Christmas season is officially here. Shoppers will be on the hunt for the perfect gift for everyone on their shopping list. Some will decide that it’s easier to forgo merchants in the community to click order gifts from online sources. They are mistaken. There are many good reasons ...
Since the earliest days in our state’s history, Iowans have understood that schools are important to the proper development of youngsters to help ready them to assist in building a bright future for their communities and state. Not long after farmsteads began to fill Iowa’s landscape, they ...
Thanksgiving is upon us, and soon the Christmas season will be here. The time spent together with family over food and gift giving is something that we all associate with this time of year. But there are those for whom these holidays are just another day, but with an added sense of loneliness ...
There are various types of businesses that operate as cooperatives, but according to the National Cooperative Business Association they all are owned and democratically controlled by their members and are designed to serve those members. The members typically are the people who “use the ...
Webster City suffered an unimaginable loss Saturday with the passing of Webster City Assistant City Manager and Recreation & Public Grounds Director Kent Harfst in a bicycling accident. The staff of the Freeman Journal wish to extend their deepest sympathies to both the Harfst family and ...
Well, they’re at it again, trying to pit Americans against each other and thus, disrupting the upcoming presidential eletion. The Russians? We don’t know, although it is certain that the Kremlin’s online campaign of inciting dissention among us never stopped. Someone decided ...
The key part Iowa’s caucuses play in the process through which our major political parties select their nominees for president will put Iowa at the heart of the 2020 campaign for the next few months. Our caucuses get enormous attention from the national news media because they come at the ...
There are some wonderful outdoor surprises awaiting anyone who thinks Iowa is just acre after acre of corn and soybean fields. Right here in the Fort Dodge region there are two scenic rivers. The Des Moines River flows through Webster County while the Boone River flows through Hamilton ...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm to School Program makes grants available to school districts and other organizations to support projects that connect American young people with farmers, ranchers and agricultural producers in their communities. According to the USDA, this grant ...