Andy Hallman

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that the U.S. Congress passed more than a year ago has provided funding for a number of programs in Washington County and southeast Iowa. Mitch Finn, deputy director of the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) in Hiawatha, said that the amount of money his organization has received from the recovery act is in the millions of dollars.    ?We have received an

The Washington County Jail has been less than a third full in recent weeks. The jail has not had a contract inmate for the last two weeks. Washington County Sheriff Jerry Dunbar said the lack of contract inmates has hurt his revenue stream and may affect jail personnel.    The Board of Supervisors approved 17 full-time jailer positions, but because of the recent drop in revenue, Dunbar has only filled 14 of them. He

The Washington Chamber of Commerce has put together an art gallery walk which runs all this week. A number of businesses around the square are displaying artwork in their storefront windows that is from a local artist or photographer. Char Andersen is a former junior high school art teacher who is putting her painted clothing out for display at The Village on the west side of the square.    Andersen paints T-shirts,

The Washington Street Committee met Wednesday to talk about a few parking issues in the city. The issue that occupied much of the meeting was the parking just east of Washington Eye Care Center near the intersection of Second Avenue and Third Street. The committee members said that visibility is very bad for traffic on Third Street at that intersection. They said it is because large vehicles park on the west side of

Agricultural land in southeast Iowa is rented at a lower price than the state average. That was the finding of Iowa State University researchers William Edwards and Ann Johanns, who recently conducted a statewide survey of cash rental rates.     According to the survey, southeast Iowa?s average cash rent for corn and soybean acres in 2010 is $169 per acre, which is $15 below the state average of $184. The only area

The Washington City Council took a step toward replacing the sewer pump station in Sunset Park with a gravity flow sewer main at its Wednesday meeting in the former library. Members of the engineering firm Fox Engineering presented the plan to install a gravity main which would run from Sunset Park to the new wastewater treatment plant, which will be just west of the current wastewater treatment plant. The council

The Washington City Council was to vote on the third reading of an ordinance Wednesday night until it learned it will have to go through all the readings again. The ordinance before the council would have changed speed limit signs on Highway 92 on the east side of town, lowering the speed limit from 55 to 50 mph near Walmart but raising it from 30 to 35 mph east of Seventh Avenue.    Councilman Fred Stark said that

Gardeners have forever struggled to protect their produce against little critters with a taste for vegetables. Iowa Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Supervisor Don Pfeiffer said that fighting over plants in a garden is not the only place where the human and animal worlds collide, but it is the one most commonly cited as a problem by property owners.    ?The biggest pest that people report is rabbits in their

The week of May 17-21 is recognized nationally as ?Bike to Work Week.? In honor of the national event, a few people from the area are taking on the challenge of riding their bikes to their place of employment instead of driving their cars. For some, such as Rodney Stogdill, that means 45 minutes of pedaling from his house, which is 10 miles from his store in Washington.    ?I don?t want to brag. That?s not very

The Washington County Emergency Management Commission discussed a pending communications exercise at its regular meeting at the Sheriff?s Office Wednesday night. Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Larry Smith informed the commission that there will be a communications exercise with the dispatch center within the next 18 months. Smith said that he was still unsure of the details, but said that the

The cities of Washington and Wellman were notified last week that they will each receive federal grants of more than $200,000 to rehabilitate low-income housing. Washington and Wellman are receiving the money through a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).    The grant money will go toward rehabilitating the homes of six low-income families in each city. Each family can receive up to nearly $25,000 in the form

The Washington Evening Journal?s spring running of the city-wide garage sale Saturday drew list of 47 garage sales. Eight of those 47 began today to draw the early-bird shoppers.    Roberta Lenninger and her daughter Joanne Chalupa were out Friday morning perusing the aisles of garage sales in town. By 9:30 a.m., Lenninger and Chalupa said they had visited four garage sales in town and that they planned on visiting

A 26-year-old man was charged with carrying a weapon on school grounds in Columbus Junction Wednesday evening. Rung Ceu Bik, of Columbus Junction, was taken into custody after the Louisa County Sheriff?s Office received a 911 call stating there was a man with a rifle on the school grounds. Police later identified the weapon as a Crossman Storm air rifle. An air rifle fires a projectile by means of compressed air

The biodiesel industry has been reeling ever since a $1 per gallon federal subsidy for biodiesel fuel expired at the end of 2009. The U.S. Senate passed a jobs bill in March that would renew the subsidy and make it retroactive to the first of the year, so that biodiesel manufacturers who have sold the fuel since Jan. 1 would be reimbursed as if the subsidy had existed all along.    Iowa Renewable Energy, the name of

The Iowa Legislature made a number of changes to laws affecting veterans during the 2010 legislative session. The new laws run the gamut from helping veterans get an education to helping them with their medical bills. American Legion Post 29 Commander Wendel Guy said legislators are working closely with veterans groups and that they comprehend the problems veterans struggle with.      ?We?ve come a long way,? said