Andy Hallman

Four candidates for municipal government made their pitch to voters at a forum in the Washington Free Public Library Monday night. City councilor Bob Shepherd and park board candidate Larry Bartlett are both running unopposed. The only contested race in the city is for the at-large council seat held by Karen Wilson-Johnson, and her opponent is Mark Kendall. Ed Raber, director of the Washington Economic Development...

The temperature was in the 70s over the weekend, and the forecast calls for it to stay there through Tuesday. And yet, before long the winter will set in and motorists will begin to take more precautions when they venture out onto the highway.Washington County Engineer David Patterson said that the recent warm weather has kept the county in ?construction mode? as opposed to ?winter weather mode.? He said the ...

Candidates for Riverside?s municipal offices assembled in St. Mary?s Hall Thursday night for a forum. Three council seats and the mayor?s position are up for election Nov. 8. The three council seats up for election, all at-large, are currently held by Christine Kirkwood, Rodney Waldschmidt and Todd Yahnke. Yahnke announced that he is not running for re-election and Waldschmidt was unable to attend because of a ...

Construction on the new sewer plant that is just west of the existing plant is well under way. City engineering technician Keith Henkel said Thursday that the foundation for the building that houses the main tanks is complete and that he expects all the interior walls for those tanks to be poured within the next few weeks. He expects the new sewer plant to be functional by spring 2013. Gridor Construction of ...

Washington area soccer teams will finally have a place to call home after the city council endorsed a plan Wednesday to convert 9.5 acres of farmland into temporary soccer fields. The fields will be on the northwest edge of the city?s 90-acre plot of land, just off 18th Street, that it purchased from the Washington School District in 2010. The council voted 5-0 to support the plan. Councilors Fred Stark, Bob ...

Washington County Engineer David Patterson recommended making a rural intersection a four-way stop at the Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. Patterson said the intersection of Hickory Avenue and 130th Street a little more than a mile east of Wellman is dangerous.?Right now the east-west traffic (on 130th Street) does not stop,? Patterson said. ?The southbound traffic has to come up a ...

RIVERSIDE ? Councilor Christine Kirkwood announced at Monday?s council meeting that there would be no Veterans Day ceremony in Riverside this year. She said she was unable to find a speaker for the event and enough volunteers. She was asked if she had approached a local pastor about speaking, and Kirkwood said that it is now too late to organize a ceremony for 2011 and that she is focused on organizing a ceremony ...

The burn ban for Washington County that was instituted Oct. 6 will remain in effect as long as drought conditions persist. That was the conclusion of Washington Fire Chief Tom Wide, who spoke about the ban Friday morning.?The ban will continue until we get a measurable amount of rainfall,? Wide said. ?We got a little bit of rain in the past few days, but it was only about two-tenths of an inch. The area north ...

A resident of Kalona was arrested Friday afternoon and charged with possession of drugs, drug paraphernalia and controlled substances. Aaron Neuzil, 24, was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals from his residence in the 900 block of Eighth Street at approximately 1 p.m. Friday. A criminal charge is merely an allegation. All suspects are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. Washington ...

The collapsed buildings on South Marion Avenue in Washington are one step closure to demolition. Environmental Management Services of Iowa (EMSI) Inc. began removing asbestos from the three buildings ? 207, 209 and 211 S. Marion Ave. ? Tuesday and finished Thursday evening. The city council will hold a public hearing on the demolition of the buildings during its meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the former library. ...

Washington?s new city administrator Brent Hinson will officially assume his position Monday, and he has spent the past few months preparing for the day. Once Hinson finished his duties with his former employer, the city of Garner, on Tuesday, he came to Washington and has been meeting with city staff the rest of the week.Hinson said that he has had pleasant experiences with city officials starting with his ...

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has named Washington as one of 27 counties to receive a disaster designation for losses suffered during the 2011 crop year. USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack addressed a letter to Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad Wednesday in which Vilsack wrote that the USDA had reviewed the Loss Assessment reports and determined that there were sufficient production losses to warrant a ...

Lincoln Elementary School teacher Amy Allen (left) was among the select few individuals who received a ride in the ladder truck with Washington firefighter Mark Chenoweth Tuesday morning. The Washington Fire Department was at Lincoln to educate the students about fire prevention. The firefighters will visit St. James Elementary later today and then visit Stewart Elementary Wednesday.

?If you want something done right, you?ve got to do it yourself.? That was the attitude Washington resident Gabriela Canchola was left with after ordering hair decorations for her daughter. Canchola?s daughter, Isabel, loves to wear bows, ribbons and flowers in her hair.?She?s a princess,? Canchola said. ?She?s definitely a girly girl.?Canchola placed an order for those decorations to a vendor over the ...

A motorcycle driver was transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Tuesday by Washington County Ambulance after he lost control of his motorcycle on Highway 92 near the intersection with Spruce Avenue. The driver was identified as Cory Jarrett Brackin of Ainsworth in a press release from the Washington County Sheriff's Office. The press release stated that the motorcycle was traveling west bound ...