The City of New London has adopted a Snow Emergency Route and if your vehicle is parked on certain streets during snow, freezing rain or sleet your vehicle will be towed at your expense.
A full copy of the ordinance is shown in the photos or can be found at https://www.newlondoniowa.org/code-of-ordinances
High School Basketball
WACO swept Van Buren County last night with the girls’ team winning a low-scoring affair 44-38 and the boys’ sprinting past Van Buren County 76-58. Brenna Graber and Ella Huisenga each collected 14 points in the winning effort, while Sophia Jirak netted 12 points for Van Buren County. The boys’ team had four players finish in double figures with Isaac Rich leading the way with 16 points. Izaak Loeffler put up 21 points in the losing effort.
The Wapello boys’ team will host WACO tonight at 7:30 pm.
The Holy Trinity Catholic boys’ team clobbered Clark County last night 61-39 as Luke Hellige went off for a season high 42 points, while the girls’ team fell 45-29.
The Central Lee boys’ team could not stop scoring last night in an 80-30 thrashing of Cardinal. The girls’ team did enough to exit with the home victory over the Comets, winning 56-47. The Hawks boys’ team will compete against Davis County on Thursday, February 13th, at 7:30 pm at home.
Mt. Pleasant was swept by Ottumwa last night with the girls falling 49-14 and the boys losing 58-42.
West Burlington will host Mt. Pleasant tonight at 6 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 5:45 pm.
The Fairfield girls’ team will face off against Knoxville, while the boys’ teams will travel to Mid-Prairie with both games scheduled for 7:30 pm tonight.
The Columbus boys’ team will take on Louisa-Muscatine tonight at 7:30 pm on the road.
The Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will host Pekin tonight at 7:30 pm.
The New London boys’ team will hit the road to compete against Davis County tonight with tip-off at 7:30 pm.
The Mediapolis boys’ team will travel to Tipton on Thursday at 7:30 pm.
High School Girls’ Postseason Basketball
Girls’ regional basketball tips-off on Thursday, February 13th, for Class 1A and on Saturday, February 15th, for Classes 2A and 3A with all games starting at 7 pm. Here’s a look at our local matchups.
In Class 1A Region 7 on the top half of the bracket, Winfield-Mt. Union will travel to Keota, Wapello will make the trip to Highland, and New London will take on Hillcrest Academy on the road.
In the bottom half of the bracket, WACO will face off against Burlington Notre Dame in a cross-divisional conference matchup at home. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. Holy Trinity Catholic will host Moulton-Udell.
In Class 2A Region 1, Van Buren County will compete against Pleasantville on February 18th on the road. In Region 2, West Burlington will play West Branch on Saturday at home with the winner advancing to tangle with Columbus; Danville will take on Louisa-Muscatine on February 18th at home.
In Class 3A Region 1, #14 Mediapolis will face off against Washington at home. In Region 4, Fairfield will travel to Williamsburg and Central Lee will make the trip to Mid-Prairie.
High School Boys’ Basketball Rankings
The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) released the sixth edition of their rankings and two local teams rounded out the top 10 for two classes.
In Class 2A, West Burlington kept their #10 spot after handing business at the Southeast Iowa Super Conference shootout with a 76-42 thrashing of Hillcrest Academy, winning the conference crown for the third straight season. The Falcons tout one of the best offenses in the state with four players averaging double figures and they are giving up the ball less than 10 times per game.
In Class 1A, two teams were knocked out of the top 10 and one of the teams grabbing the open spot? Burlington Notre Dame at #10. The Nikes were ranked #9 two weeks ago, but a rough schedule: Class 2A’s #9 Regina Catholic and #10 West Burlington, knocked the squad out of the top 10 after competitive losses.
But a 65-52 win over WACO in the #2-seed contest at the SEISC shootout propelled the Nikes back into the conversation with a 16-4 record, every loss coming against a team that has seen time in the rankings. This team runs through junior Shay Stephens and senior Jack Drew. Stephens averages 21.4 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists per night, while Drew nets 17.3 points per game.
High School Wrestling
The boys’ district meet is scheduled for Saturday, February 15th, with Van Buren County, WACO, and Wapello traveling to Pleasantville and New London will head to Wilton in Class 1A. For Class 2A, Burlington Notre Dame, Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, and Fairfield will compete in Centerville and Mt. Pleasant and Mediapolis will venture to Williamsburg.
High School Bowling
Fairfield hosted the Southeast Conference (SEC) tournament last night and the Keokuk girls’ team has claimed another conference crown by over 600 pins as Mt. Pleasant claimed second place with 2,135 total pins. Jaelynn Ketterer for the Chiefs was the top bowler with 406 pins. Fairfield finished in third place followed by Burlington and Washington.
Three Mt. Pleasant bowlers finished with the All-Conference tag. Bethany Drury led the Panthers with 320 total pins, which ranked 8th amongst the field. Shyann Smith with 300 total pins and Joanna Fortin with 286 points grabbed 11th and 12th, respectively, and All-Conference.
Fairfield’s Emma Cass finished in 6th place individually with 345 pins and Grace Forrest tabbed 320 total pins as both Trojans finished with All-Conference honors.
On the boys’ side, Burlington yanked the conference championship away with 2,807 pins as Keaton Lair finished as the top bowler with 479 total pins. Fairfield grabbed second place as a team and Mt. Pleasant collected 4th place with 2,457 pins.
Fairfield had three All-Conference bowlers in Ethan Cass (400 pins), Ian Aplara (370 pins), and Blake Ballew (351 pins). Henry Pforts had a terrific night, tabbing 397 pins–fourth best score–and an All-Conference nod for Mt. Pleasant.
The girls’ state qualifying meets are scheduled for Monday, February 17th, and Fairfield and West Burlington will compete at Davis County, while Mt. Pleasant will travel to Keokuk.
The boys’ state qualifying meets will take place on Tuesday, February 18th, and Mt. Pleasant will make the trip to Keokuk to compete.
Southeastern Community College
The men’s basketball team will host Illinois Central College tomorrow, February 12th, at 7 pm.
College Basketball
The #10 Iowa State men’s team will travel to UCF tonight at 6 pm.
The Iowa men’s team will look to snap their three game losing streak tomorrow, February 12th, on the road against Rutgers at 5:30 pm.
The Iowa women’s team downed Nebraska last night 81-66 to pick up their fifth consecutive victory. Lucy Olsen led the effort with 32 points. The Hawkeyes will host Rutgers on Thursday, February 13th, at 6:30 pm.
The Iowa State women’s team will face off against Kansas on the road on Saturday, February 15th, at 4 pm.
This Day in Sports History
1965 – Braves propose to pay 5 cents from each ticket to bring a new team to Milwaukee.
1974 – First Major League Baseball arbitration case; Minnesota Twins pitcher Dick Woodson seeking $29,000 wins; Twins offered $23,000.
1990 – In a huge upset, James “Buster” Douglas KOs Mike Tyson in the 10th round in Tokyo, Japan to win the world heavyweight boxing title.
The Mount Pleasant Community School District held their bi-weekly board meeting. The meeting started with their student spotlight portion.
Elliot Adams from the middle school performed their Marimba solo for the board members. Elliot will be performing in several percussion solo contests this weekend.
The board meeting covered the progress on budget planning for 2026 and project reviews for central campus, state funding adjustments, & a proposed technology lease renewal with cost-saving benefits.
A new school calendar was presented for the 25-26 School year. The calendar meets all legal and instructional requirements, and the start date is set for August 25th.
School board members also discussed their time at the capitol building talking about a range of legislative issues affecting school operations.
The entire meeting agenda and its supporting documents can be seen at www.mtpcsd.org.
Henry county conservation department is hosting a seed swap and DIY greenhouse event this Saturday.
From 1-3pm you can swap your garden seeds with other enthusiasts. You will also be able to build your own greenhouse using a milk jug.
Preregistration is appreciated. visit www.mycountyparks.com/County/Henry for more information.
SCC is hosting 2 FAFSA workshops this week. These events are free to anyone looking to gain some knowledge about filling out their financial aid forms.
A workshop will be held Today (Feb 11th) from 3-6 pm at the SCC Keokuk campus and a free workshop will be held Wednesday the 12th from 3-6pm and the west Burlington campus.
No appointment necessary.
Hope Jennett, 74, of Morning Sun passed away on Sunday, February 9, 2025 at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. Graveside services will be held at a later date in Elmwood Cemetery, Morning Sun. Snyder & Hollenbaugh Funeral & Cremation Services of Morning Sun is assisting the family with arrangements. Sympathy notes may be left for the family at www.sandhfuneralservice.com.
Hope Jennett was born on March 18, 1950 in Fairfield, Iowa, the daughter of Don L. and Mariam (Harrison) Ferguson. Hope attended Mediapolis High School. On May 10, 1985, she was united in marriage to Dale Jennett in Morning, Sun. Hope worked for Prairie Ridge Care Center in Mediapolis and later for Heatilator, now known as Hearth and Home. She enjoyed tending to her flowers and mowing her lawn.
Hope will be deeply missed by her husband, Dale of Morning Sun; children, Gina (Tod) Riherd of Oakville, Mike (Shannon) Kilbride of Middletown, Iowa and Carol (Aaron) Oetken of Mediapolis; grandchildren, Anthony Riherd, Patrick (Keysha) Riherd, Chadley (Katherine) Kilbride, Riley Kilbride, Jacob Lofthus and Cal Lofthus; five great-grandchildren and siblings, Eileen Doneson of Tucson, Arizona, Sheila (Jay) Gorsuch of Benson, Arizona and Wayde Ferguson of Mediapolis.
Prep Boys’ Basketball- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) has released the brackets for District play for Classes 1A and 2A as the preliminary round tips-off on Friday, February 14th, for Class 1A and all first-round action gets underway on Monday, February 17th, with all gametimes at 7 pm. Here’s a look at our local matchups.
Class 1A
Travel will be light for our local teams in Substate 4 District 8 as #10 Burlington Notre Dame locked down the top seed for the district, but Southeast Iowa Super Conference (SEISC) rivalries will rule the bracket.
To start off play on Friday, New London will make the trip to Wapello with the winner advancing to take on #10 Burlington Notre Dame. The Tigers just fell to Wapello in the SEISC shootout by a considerable margin, 64-36.
It was their first matchup in nearly five years with New London having won the last three contests. London Franklin’s 20 points were dwarfed by Justyn Faulkner’s 31 points as he went 15 for 26 on the game, while tabbing four steals.
New London was limited to 21 less shots and outrebounded 35 to 11 in the loss. They will have to fix that if they want to win, while Wapello has a clear blueprint for victory.
New London Player to Watch: London Franklin (14.4 points per game)
Wapello Player to Watch: Justyn Faulkner (17.1 points and 4.9 assists per game)
For first-round action, the closest matchup will be between the #4 and #5 seeds and in this case, it was between two teams that battled for the #3 seed in the SEISC-North Division and despite Pekin coming out on top it will be Winfield-Mt. Union hosting the matchup.
The semantics behind the decision are a bit convoluted but essentially, the Wolves hold the head-to-head advantage having won their matchup back in early January 47-45 and their rematch will take place tomorrow, February 11th. Nevertheless, Pekin does hold the better conference record (12-3 vs 11-4).
With that out of the way, the last matchup nearly featured a 14-point comeback after the Panthers scored 19 fourth quarter points; however, Winfield-Mt. Union proved to be too much, holding on to win.
Cooper Buffington finished with a double-double for the Wolves, collecting 21 points and 10 rebounds. Both squads’ biggest scorers struggled in their last matchup, but turnovers certainly helped paint the picture with 23 turnovers for Pekin, while the Wolves coughed it up just 13 times.
Winfield-Mt. Union Player to Watch: Jake Edwards (19.2 points, 5.2 assists, and 5 steals per game)
Pekin Player to Watch: Nolan Glick (13.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game on 56.8% shooting)
In the #2-seed vs #7-seed matchup Holy Trinity Catholic will tangle with Columbus down in Fort Madison. The Crusaders were a win away from attending the state tournament last year and in Luke Hellige’s senior season they are hoping to make it a reality.
For the season, the Crusaders have handled other North competitors, defeating Waepllo 73-56 and just recently Pekin in the shootout 76-45. Those two games marked the sixth and seventh time this season they had scored over 70 points.
Columbus has gone 1-1 against the South this year with a 10-point win over New London, but a damaging loss to Van Buren County in the shootout 80-54. The Wildcats are currently trying to dig out of a six-game hole. The biggest issue for them is defense, in their 20 games this season they have held only one opponent under 50 points.
Holy Trinity Catholic Player to Watch: Luke Hellige (25.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game)
Columbus Player to Watch: Ellis Hills-Carrier (16.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game)
The final game of district 8 will take place at WACO with the #3-seed Warriors facing off against #6-seed Danville. This cross-divisional rivalry will see its renewal since they last took on one another in the 2021-22 season, the last season WACO was in the South Division.
It was that same year that Danville scraped by WACO 46-39 in the substate championship to punch their ticket to the state tournament for the first time for the coaching duo of Michael and Steven Soukup.
This year, WACO is a win against Wapello tomorrow night away from sharing the North crown with Hillcrest Academy, while Danville has managed just three wins against the South division but cleaned house against Lone Tree 61-41 in the shootout.
WACO Player to Watch: Christian Stacy (19.6 points and 2.8 steals per game)
Danville Player to Watch: Jaden Bauer (14.2 points and 8.1 rebounds per game)
Here’s a list of the Substate 4 District 7 opponents as one of these teams will play the winner of District 8 to decide who will be attending the state tournament.
#1 North Linn, #2 Hillcrest Academy, #3 Keota, #4 Springville, #5 Cedar Valley Christian, #6 Lone Tree, #7 Central City, #8 Rivermont Collegiate, and #9 Highland.
Class 2A
Substate 5 will house all of our local teams with most of the matchups contained in District 9 but one outlier in District 10.
Starting in District 9, #10 West Burlington is the team to beat, earning a bye to the second round scheduled to be played on Thursday, February 20th. The #2-seed Mid-Prairie also earned a bye.
In the first round, the #4-seed Central Lee will compete against the #5-seed Louisa-Muscatine with the winner advancing to play #10 West Burlington. The Hawks just recently handled business against the Falcons 75-39 last Friday night in the shootout, scoring 50 points in the first half alone.
The most impressive game that Central Lee has produced this year was a 55-52 win over Holy Trinity Catholic back when the Crusaders were ranked in Class 1A. The Hawks buried nine threes by the night’s end and held a potent offense to just 39% shooting from the field.
Central Lee Player to Watch: Brayden Wyrick (12.6 points and 1.3 blocks per game)
Louisa-Muscatine Player to Watch: Finnegan Cline (22.8 points and 12.2 rebounds per game)
Mediapolis will enjoy a home contest as the #3-seed as the #6-seed Cardinal is set to hurtle into town. In their lone matchup, the Bulldogs exited with a 55-48 win over the Comets in the SEISC shootout back in the 2019 season, despite turning the ball over 29 times.
Cardinal would hang out in the SEISC for a couple more seasons before joining the South Central conference for the 2022-2023 season. Since joining, the Comets are a mere 3-39 in South Central play.
The Bulldogs are hoping to make it six consecutive years of winning at least one postseason contest. It has been a bit of mixed bag for the Bulldogs this season with a loss to Louisa-Muscatine but a big win over Holy Trinity Catholic and multiple games of 70-plus points but just recently being held to 36 points by Winfield-Mt. Union.
The winner of this game will travel to Mid-Prairie for the second-round matchup.
Mediapolis Player to Watch: Will Luttenegger (14.8 points, 4 assists, and 2.5 steals per game)
Cardinal Player to Watch: Chase Hengstenberg (13.4 points per game)
Over in District 10, Van Buren County nabbed the #5-seed and will hit the road to take on the #4-seed PCM.
The Warriors squashed Columbus at the shootout with a final score of 80-54. It was the first time this season that Van Buren County had hit the 80-point plateau, but they are no strangers to a litany of points.
The Warriors have scored 60-plus points in 10 of their 20 games this season, including four straight games of at least 61 points scored. The problem is winning those games as of late. They hold a 6-4 record after starting the year 4-0 in such games.
They will have to buckle down on defense to stop a PCM squad that is putting up 55 points per game.
The winner of the game will have the #1-seed of District 10 waiting for them in Grand View Christian.
Van Buren County Player to Watch: Izaak Loeffler (20.4 points and 1.9 steals per game)
PCM Player to Watch: Gavin VanGorp (13.4 points per game)
Other teams in District 10 include: #2 Davis County, #3 Pella Christian, and #6 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.
More
District brackets for Classes 3A and 4A will be released on Monday, February 17th.
Larry “Zeke” Smith, 86, of Fairfield, passed away Saturday, February 8, 2025 at Jefferson County Health Center in Fairfield.
Per his wishes, there will be no services held at this time. In lieu of flowers or memorials Zeke and his family would appreciate you showing others acts of kindness. Behner Funeral Home in Fairfield is assisting the family.
Zeke was born May 10, 1938 in Cantril, the son of Craig and Iris (Kisling) Smith. He served his country in the United States Army. Zeke married Sharon Shipley, June 25, 1966 in Cantril.
Zeke and Sharon owned and operated Zeke’s Spray in Feed in Cantril for 35 years. He worked at Hy-Vee in Fairfield for 20 years. Zeke enjoyed attending Ertl toy shows in Dyersville. He was an avid sports fan and enjoyed watching the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Those left to honor his memory include his wife, Sharon; daughter, Angie (Rod Brandau) Smith of Overland Park, Kansas; granddaughters, Addison and Lila Brandau; brother, Allen (Shelly) Smith of Jefferson City, Missouri; and a special niece, Susan Smith of Cantril.
He was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Billy Smith.
Online condolences may be made to Zeke’s family by viewing his obituary at www.behnerfh.com.
