Stories from Monday, December 9, 2013

The Advent season reminds Christians of the coming of Jesus Christ. An Advent Tryst is an appointment to meet at a certain time and place in preparation for Christmas. This year there will only be one Advent Tryst service on Wednesday, Dec. 18, at 9:30 a.m. at Memorial Presbyterian Church...

Iowa Department of Transportation officials met with the City of Cherokee and the Cherokee Chamber of Commerce business community in November to present refined plans for the resurfacing of U.S. Highway 59 from the Ida County line to Linden Street on Chrokee's south end...

HOLSTEIN - The Ridge View wrestling team improved to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in the conference with a pair of hard- fought Western Valley Conference wins here Thursday, defeating Maple Valley/Anton-Oto, 48-30, in the first dual and then defeating Odebolt-Arthur/Battle Creek-Ida Grove by the score of 51-20 in the second dual...

SERGEANT BLUFF - The talented Sergeant Bluff-Luton boys broke away to a resounding 21-point halftime lead over the inexperienced Cherokee Braves, on the way to an 83-46 non-conference victory here last week. The Warriors led 21-13 after one quarter, 49-28 at halftime after a 28-15 scoring tear, and then doubled up 24-12 on the Braves in the third period to chalk up the win...

1. Newell-Fonda; 2. Burlington-Notre Dame; 3. Colo-Nesco; 4. Lynnville-Sully; 5. Janesville; 6. Ar-We-Va; 7. Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton; 8. Central Lyon; 9. Murray; 10. Stanton 1. Hull Western Christian; 2. Iowa City Regina; 3. Manson-NW Webster;...

On past Christmas holidays, concerns over lead paint and other quality control issues resulted in a sleigh full of product recalls, and also prompted Congress to take action. A new law requires that manufacturers now perform more stringent testing procedures and reduce the levels of toxic chemicals in their toys...

In this Christmas season of 2013, I have found myself looking at Christmases past, not unlike Charles Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge. Luckily for me, though, unlike Scrooge, I haven't seen any "ghosts," per se. Christmas get-togethers in my family of origin have been very rare in recent years, since my "kids", grandkids and siblings all live quite a distance away, and my parents left this world many years ago...