Andy Hallman

The Lighted Holiday Parade in Washington will begin earlier than usual this year. The parade begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday, instead of at 7 p.m. as it has in the past. The parade starts at the high school and will go west on Washington Street before turning north onto Iowa Avenue and then proceeding around the square.    Members of the Kiwanis AM?ers will line up the parade entries at 5 p.m., which is when registration

The Washington Police Department bade farewell to a trustworthy companion this month. Rex, the department?s 14-year-old dog who was beloved by the community, was put to sleep in early November. The dog served on the force for 10 years from 2000 until his partial retirement earlier this year.    Rex was the department?s first dog. He was a Belgian Malanois and was born in the Netherlands, where he received his

The entire Perdock Auto building will be demolished. That was the decision of the Marion Avenue Baptist Church which owns the building. The church has a contract with Active Thermal Concepts, a demolition company that has already begun to prepare the building for demolition, which is likely to start Monday. Cory Albers, the company?s vice president, expects to be done with the project by Dec. 30.    The roof of the

The personnel at the Washington County Communications Center are really getting into the Christmas spirit. The dispatchers are collecting donations for a program known as ?Everyone?s an Elf.? They will raise money for gifts to families in need. They will do this through a bake sale and something known as ?blue jeans Fridays.?    Communications Supervisor Cara Sorrells said her employees follow a strict dress code

The history of the State Theatre is long and storied. The theatre opened in 1893, but was by no means the city?s first. The first public hall was Corette Hall, located on the northwest corner of the square. The building was the site of a circus production in 1866, which consisted solely of a minstrel show on the first day of the performance because the rest of the wagon outfit got stuck in the mud outside town.   

The Washington City Council discussed the high radon level in the dispatch center at its meeting Wednesday night. The dispatch center was tested for radon a few weeks ago, and the results of the test were made public Tuesday. The test revealed that the first floor of the dispatch center has a radon level of 9.3 pCi/L (picoCuries per liter).    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends taking corrective

The State Theatre caught fire Wednesday morning and it was promptly extinguished by the Washington Fire Department. The fire was confined to the projection booth on the second floor, although Fire Chief Tom Wide said there is significant smoke damage to the rest of the theatre. No one was injured in the fire, and the building was empty at the time the fire occurred.According to a press release from the Washington

The Riverside City Council voted to approve a $2,000 change order for a drainage project. The decision was made at the council?s meeting Monday night. The city is trying to provide better drainage on Railroad Street on the south side of town. DeLong Construction sent a change order to the council, asking it to pay for another intake and to raise the existing intakes near the intersection of Railroad and Washington

Washington County residents can expect a few more trails in the coming years. In the last year, there have been improvements to a few existing trails, such as the Kewash Nature Trail signage in Washington and along the highway. Other trails are under construction, and even more are planned for the next few years.    The Washington County Recreational Trails Committee is responsible for planning and facilitating the

The construction crew working on South Ninth Avenue took a great leap forward Thursday when it paved the last remaining section of the road. City Engineering Technician Keith Henkel said there are a few odds and ends that have to be tied up, such as pouring around the manholes and finishing the curb and gutter. He said that the street would likely be open to the public by Thanksgiving, which is Nov. 25.    Jasper

RIVERSIDE ? Washington County residents honored veterans in a number of ceremonies on Veterans Day Thursday. Riverside held an event in the afternoon at the Veterans Memorial Park. In Washington, a dinner was held at the Iowa Army National Guard Readiness Center.  Washington County Veteran Affairs commissioner Terry Philips guided the proceedings in Riverside, which began with the posting of the flags by the

The JOURNALWhile southeastern Iowa farmers may have poor soybean yields, the high cost of $14 per bushel is making up the difference.The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a report earlier this week detailing the yields for corn and soybeans. Total soybean production across the country is up slightly from last year, while the bushels per acre are down. The average yield for the U.S. is

One of the things that has interested me for a long time is the study of persuasion. How do you make a belief seem reasonable to someone else? A communications professor from Northwestern University named Daniel O?Keefe has devoted his life to this question. O?Keefe collected 107 studies on persuasion over a 50-year period, which together measured the behavior of over 20,000 participants.    O?Keefe found that when

Recent visitors to Marr Park have noticed something different about one of the trails. The trail at the northwest corner of the park has been rerouted and surfaced with rock. The trail begins farther north than before and crosses a newly formed dike at the edge of a newly formed pond. A bird-blind structure will be built at the southern end of the trail, and many bird-feeders will be installed just feet away. This

Iowa State Auditor David Vaudt released an audit in late October of the Iowa Film Office. The auditor uncovered that 80 percent of the film office?s tax credit program was granted improperly ? almost $26 million of the $32 million given out. The Film, Television and Video Project Program, as it was formally called, ran from 2007 until 2009, when Gov. Chet Culver suspended it after reports of impropriety. The Iowa