Iowa Girls’ High School State Tournament Day Two: Jasmine Luedtke Claims Gold

By Slaten Swords · Friday, February 3rd, 2023 at 11:41 pm CDT

Coralville, IA- The first sanctioned Iowa Girls’ High School wrestling tournament has drawn to a close with 14 new state champions, but first we had four local wrestlers make it to day two of the tournament and here is how their tournament concluded.

Gabi Robertson of Mid-Prairie in the 100-pound weight class, would win her first match of day two over Lily Webster in a 10-4 decision. She would then lose a nail-biter to Myah Rausch in a 3-2 decision. That loss would send Robertson to the 7th place match where she would lose by fall to the 5th seed, Ava McNeal.

In the 105-pound weight class, Ella McNamee of Mt. Pleasant finished 3-2 in the tournament as she fell to Lauren Whitt in her first match of day two. Whitt would go on to claim 6th place.

Jasmine Luedtke of Ottumwa dominated her way to the championship bout where she would meet the 4th seed Bree Swenson. Luedtke would best Swenson in a 4-1 decision to win the championship for the 110-pound weight class.

In the 155-pound weight class, Teegan Sulentich of Washington would lose her first match of day two by fall to the 4th seed, Josie Jecklin, who would later go on to claim 8th place.

Here is the full list of state champions by weight class:

100 pounds– Katie Biscoglia of Raccoon River-Northwest. She finished the year undefeated.

105 pounds– Jillian Worthen of Union, LaPorte City. She finished the year undefeated.

110 pounds– Jasmine Luedtke of Ottumwa. She finished the year undefeated.

115 pounds– Molly Allen of Riverside Oakland. She finished the year undefeated.

120 pounds– Abigail Meyrer of Pleasant Valley. She finished the year with a 48-1 record.

125 pounds– Mackenzie Childers of Cedar Rapids Prairie. She finished the year undefeated.

130 pounds– Lilly Luft of Charles City. She finished the year undefeated.

135 pounds– Maeley Elsbury of South Tama County. She finished the year with a 46-1 record.

140 pounds– Kiara Djoumessi of Waverly-Shell Rock. She finished the year undefeated.

145 pounds– Emma Peach of Iowa Valley Marengo. She finished the year undefeated.

155 pounds– Skylar Slade of Southeast Polk. She finished the year undefeated.

170 pounds– Naomi Simon of Decorah. She finished the year undefeated.

190 pounds– Mackenzie Arends of Nevada. She finished the year with a 38-2 record.

235 pounds– Olivia Huckfelt of Spencer. She finished the year undefeated.

Gov. Reynolds appoints Patrick McAvan as District Associate Judge 

By Theresa Rose · Friday, February 3rd, 2023 at 5:39 pm CDT

DES MOINES– Gov. Kim Reynolds today announced her appointment of Patrick McAvan as a district associate judge in Judicial Election District 8A.  McAvan, of Fairfield, Iowa, currently serves as an Assistant Jefferson County Attorney. He received his undergraduate degree from Loras College and his law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law. McAvan fills a vacancy created by the addition of four new district associate judge positions authorized by the legislature in last year’s session. Judicial Election District 8A includes Appanoose, Davis,Jefferson, Keokuk, Mahaska, Monroe, Poweshiek, Wapello, Washington, and Van Buren counties. 

Laverne Messer

By Theresa Rose · Friday, February 3rd, 2023 at 5:36 pm CDT

Laverne Messer, 79, of Wayland died Friday, February 3, 2023, at Parkview Manor in Wellman. Funeral services are pending at the Olson-Powell Memorial Chapel in Mount Pleasant.

 

Panthers’ Revenge: Claim Conference Championship Over Burlington

By Slaten Swords · Friday, February 3rd, 2023 at 3:58 pm CDT

Mt. Pleasant, Iowa- The Mt. Pleasant boys’ basketball team enacted revenge in the sweetest way last night against Burlington, as the Panthers take the conference crown for the first time since the 2017-2018 season in a 67-57 victory in front of the home crowd.

The Panthers got out to a quick start thanks to Carter Amos as he put up the first 7 points of the night for Mt. Pleasant as they rushed out a 21-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. Burlington would stay at arms reach for most of the game and at one point had the game to within three points, 53-50. However, Merquiche Lewis Jr.’s and JJ Martin’s combined 40 points would not be enough to bring down the Panthers thanks to clutch trips to the free throw line. The Panther would finish 23 of 28 from the line as they were able to fend off the Grayhound’s attack.

Payton Hagans led the way for the Panthers with 20 points, Amos and Aaiden Ashton each cashed in 13 points, Nate Stroud finished with 11 points, and Owen Vansickle made three three-pointers on the night to end with 10 points in the winning effort, as all five starters finished in double digits.

Head Coach, Eric Rawson, who was overjoyed following the win, had this to say after the game,

“I don’t know if the Mt. Pleasant Panthers are back, but they sure were tonight. What an outstanding performance by our guys… the community support was great and without that sixth man it would have been extremely difficult and it was, but to have that support and backing was great to see.”

Mt. Pleasant is now 16-3 on the season and riding an 11-game win streak into their next game against Ottumwa at home on February 6th at 7:30 pm.

Regional Games for the Iowa Girls’ High School Basketball Tournament: Class 1A and 2A

By Slaten Swords · Friday, February 3rd, 2023 at 3:43 pm CDT

Prep Girls’ Basketball: The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released the regional assignment brackets for Class 1A, 2A, and 3A. Here are the assignments for some of the local teams.

For Class 1A, Winfield-Mt. Union comes into region 8 as the number one seed earning a bye for the first round. Holy Trinity Catholic will be at home facing off against Wapello, WACO will host Keota, and New London will travel to face off against Burlington Notre Dame with all of these games taking place February 9th at 7 pm. The winner between Wapello and Holy Trinity Catholic will play Winfield-Mt. Union at the Wolves’ Den on February 14th at 7 pm. The winners between WACO/Keota and Burlington Notre Dame/New London will face off against one another at WACO.

For Class 2A, Danville and West Burlington will square off in Burlington and Mediapolis will host the winner between Louisa-Muscatine and Van Buren County with both of the games taking place February 14th at 7 pm.

Stay tuned to KILJ, as we will be covering postseason basketball.

The Dickey Dispatch

By Theresa Rose · Friday, February 3rd, 2023 at 2:14 pm CDT

The Dickey Dispatch by Senator Adrian Dickey

 

Hello Senate District 44,

After a chilly week, it’s nice to see a warm weekend ahead of us. This week has consisted of committee meetings, visiting with countless constituents, and voting on a handful of bills that hit the Senate floor. Over the next month, the push to get bills out of committees is going to increase due to funnel week approaching. As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, funnel week is the week leading up to the deadline when all bills that have not made it out of committee are discarded. I attended meetings in every single one of my committees this week, which created quite the time crunch!

 

 

Even with a tight schedule, I was fortunate enough to be able to visit with a few FFA chapters on Tuesday for FFA Day on The Hill. I loved the chance to speak with these GREAT students and find out about the issues and topics they are passionate about. Another important event this week was Governor Reynolds’ announcement of additional funding for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. The fund was originally made to aid Iowa veterans and their families with expenses related to medical care, unemployment services, education, and emergency medical services. However, due to the recent costs of inflation and irresponsible spending in DC, the fund proved to be insufficient to meet the needs of applicants. For this reason, Governor Reynolds announced $440,000 to cover the sheer amount of outstanding grants that were approved. The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee will continue this program while making sure the application process for the grants is financially sustainable.

 

 

Senate File 192 is moving through legislature as we speak. Funding for K-12 education is a priority of Republicans. Each year, roughly $3.8 billion in funding is allotted for K-12 funding. With local taxes combined and other sources, Iowa taxpayers will spend $8.4 billion on education this year alone. The money approved in SF 192 will dedicate an additional $107 million, with a state average of $17,068 per student. Since Republicans took majority in 2017, over half billion in increased funding has gone towards education. When deciding upon the amount of additional funding to be given to K-12 funding, Republicans focus on providing an amount sufficient enough to meet their needs, while also ensuring it is a sustainable part of the entire State’s budget.

Another important bill that passed by the Senate on Wednesday was SF 181. An error at the Dept. of Revenue had the possibility to lead to a tax increase of as much as $120 million for Iowa homeowners. SF 181 fixes this error and protects the property taxpayer. Local governments including cities, schools, and counties must hold public hearings and certify their budgets. Due to the error within the Dept. of Revenue, SF 181 extends deadlines for local governments to make changes to their budgets while still maintaining necessary transparency for taxpayers in the budgeting process. It is now advancing to the Iowa House for consideration.

The legislature has implemented many taxpayer-friendly policies with the end goal of lowering property taxes. A few local governments are displeased with the corrections made in SF 181 and claim it will require them to raise taxes. The interesting aspect of this, is that homeowners were faced with a possible HUGE tax increase prior to the passing of this bill. A few local governments are objecting to being forced to raise the levy rate if they could not gather the additional revenue generated by increased assessments. SF 181 hinders their ability to take higher property tax payments with the same levy rate and quickly rising assessments, a result from none other than failed Biden economic policies.

Obviously, the issues contained within SF 181 are complex. Later this session, Republicans in the Senate will reveal a plan to simplify the number of levies, improve transparency of how homeowners are being taxed on their property, and responsibly limit the cost of local government. Senate Republicans have a lot in store for the remainder of this session, and will continue to save Iowa taxpayers money.

I look forward to the next few weeks where things will really begin to speed up. It is a very exciting (and busy) time of year, where I believe a lot will be accomplished. If you happen to find yourself at the Capitol, please reach out and hopefully I can make time to speak with you. Hearing from constituents is very important to me and I value your opinion. If you intend to speak about an upcoming bill, I ask that you read the bill, then share with me your thoughts on how it could be improved or what you like with it. Thank you for your continued support!

 

Henry County Cattlemen Celebrate

By Theresa Rose · Friday, February 3rd, 2023 at 11:25 am CDT

The Henry County Cattlemen presented Keith Zihlman with the “Cattleperson of the Year” award at the annual banquet held Thursday evening. The membership also celebrated the organization’s 50th Anniversary with a ribeye meal prepared and served by the Knights of Columbus. The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association Southeast Iowa Member Services representative, Madyson Till, spoke to the group and  Comedy Magician Dewayne Hill entertained. The local Cattlemen presented $400 to each Family and Consumer Science Department in the county high schools.  These funds and the annual scholarships are supported by the many grill outs done by the cattlemen throughout the year.  Appreciation letters from scholarship winners, Lilly Clark and Lars Smith, were shared.  Both are WACO graduates.  Clark attends Muscatine Community College where she is studying Agriculture Education and Smith is an Agriculture Production student at Blackhawk Community College.  Certificates were presented for the County Raised Champion Steer and the Champion Breeding Heifer shown at the 2022 Henry County Fair.  The steer was shown by Kalayna Durr and raised by Kylie Loyd.  The heifer was shown and raised by Ethan Graber.

SCC to Host Free Financial Aid Workshop Feb 15

By Theresa Rose · Friday, February 3rd, 2023 at 9:56 am CDT
Southeastern Community College will offer complimentary assistance with completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at its FAFSA Ready Iowa event on Wednesday, February 15. The event will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. at both the West Burlington and Keokuk campuses. The West Burlington event will be held the Yohe Library and the Keokuk event will be located in Room 419.

“Filing for financial aid can be intimidating for students of any age and their families,” says Sheri Knipe, SCC Financial Aid Director. “We help people through the process so they know it is right the first time.”

Knipe encourages people who plan to attend college to file the forms as soon as they can.“The event is a great way to complete the FAFSA in a timely manner without interruptions,” she said, adding, “Submitting it now gives students a better chance to receive more state and institutional aid.”

This event is free and open to students of any age or income, regardless of which college they plan to attend. There is no need to pre-register; attendees will be assisted throughout the afternoon and evening on a first-come, first-served basis. Staff members from the SCC Financial Aid Office, the Educational Opportunity Center, and other college departments will be on-hand to guide students through the FAFSA and to answer questions about financial aid. Knipe recommends that students under age 24 attend with at least one parent or guardian.

“Most traditional college-age students are required to include parental information on their FAFSA, so it’s helpful if both the student and at least one parent can attend.”

To complete the 2023-2024 FAFSA, students and parents should each bring the following:

• Social Security number, driver’s license number and date of birth

• 2021 federal and state tax returns, complete with all schedules and worksheets

• W-2 forms or other records of income earned in 2021

• Current bank statements and investment records

• Records of untaxed income received last year

• A-Number if not a U.S. citizen

A list of frequently asked questions, including a link to a complete list of required information and documents, can be found at https://www.icansucceed.org/financial-aid/financial-aid-process/fafsa

Students and parents may register in advance for an FSA ID to electronically sign the FAFSA and make future changes. Visit https://studentaid.gov/help/create-fsa-id to create an FSA ID or retrieve a forgotten FSA ID.

Students who are unable to attend this event are encouraged to contact the Educational Opportunity Center located at SCC. Appointments are available year-round to assist with filing the FAFSA.

For more information, call 319-208-5026.