Stories from Friday, April 22, 2016

Mildred M. Casey of Cherokee, 97, passed away Tuesday morning, April 19, 2016 at the Primrose Retirement Community in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 23rd at 11 a.m. at the Memorial Presbyterian Church in Cherokee, with Rev. ...

April 21 - Frances Rupp of Cherokee April 22 - Melvin Reinert of Cherokee

The burning of a grain elevator in Aurelia and the subsequent closing of a portion of Hwy. 7 through Aurelia has been rescheduled for this evening, April 22. The burning, done in connection with a drill by multiple fire departments, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m...

The new family life center - the Sawyer Center - at Grace United Methodist Church in Marcus, is hosting live performances of the musical Godspell. The play is based on the Gospel according to St. Matthew. It was conceived and originally directed by John Michael Tebelak, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz...

Cara Jacobson, Food Service Director for the Cherokee School District, announced at the April 18 school board meeting that the district plans to have a summer lunch program for a portion of the summer break. This will be free to students and parents can also eat for $3.50 per meal...

Following an exempt session at the April 18 meeting, the Cherokee School Board approved a master working agreement with the Cherokee Education Association for 2016-17. The agreement calls for a total package increase of 3 percent. In action prior to the exempt session, the board approved several individual personnel matters. The board approved a teaching contract for Alanna Fuller as High School Special Education Strategist II Instructor...

Sgt. Brett Gannon of the Cherokee Police Department has only been a K-9 handler about a year, but he and his drug detection dog Ike were able to take first place in the Vehicle Search category at the United States Police Canine Association Region 21 Trials held in Manchester, Iowa, April 12-13...

The 2016 prom court for this weekend's Junior-Senior Prom at Cherokee Washington High School includes Queen candidates Taylor VandeLune, Natalie Brewer, Skyla Harger, Rebecca Fajardo and Jasmine Ramirez and King candidates Glenn Zimmer, Charles Pickett, Brady Lundquist and Alex Winchell. Absent: Kirk Stowater.

Jennifer Miller of Cherokee has received the WITCC TRIO-Student Support Services Achiever of the Month Award for April. This award recognizes Western Iowa Tech TRIO students for demonstrating qualities of leadership and citizenship while achieving collegiate academic success. ...

ORANGE CITY - The Cherokee, South O'Brien and Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen Union boys all competed at the Knight Relays here on Monday, hosted by Unity Christian on the Northwestern College track. Competing in Class A, the Cherokee Braves finished 6th with 39 team points. ...

The Cherokee Braves boys' tennis team has gotten its 2016 season underway this month, braving cold, windy conditions at most of their matches. The Braves' first match was at Denison on April 8th, when the varsity team dropped 0-9 decision to Denison-Schleswig. ...

IDA GROVE - On a beautiful night Tuesday - definitely the best weather so far this season - three area boys' track teams took part in the OA/BCIG Relays here. Powerhouse Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central and host Odebolt-Arthur/Battle Creek-Ida Grove dominated the team scoring, with area squads Ridge View, Alta-Aurelia and River Valley finishing 3rd, 5th and 6th, respectively...

POCAHONTAS - The Pocahonts Area Girls' Relays were held here Tuesday in ideal weather conditions, and two area schools, Alta-Aurelia and Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen Union, were among the six teams competing. Poachontas Area/Laurens Marathon, the state champs last winter in basketball, showed they had transferred their athletic skills successfully from the court to the oval, winnng the team title with 167 team points. ...

KINGSLEY - The Alta-Aurelia girls posted another triumph here Tuesday when they topped Hinton and Kingsley-Pierson in a triangular golf meet. The Warriors toured the course in a total of 181 strokes to best Hinton's 198 and host K-P's 230. Alta-Aurelia boasted both the Meet Medalist, Erin Lockin, who shot a 42, and the Runner-Up Medalist, Annika Patton, who shot a 43...

Cherokee Washington's Chandler Hohbach is shown here putting in recent tournament action. Photo contributed.

UnitedHealthcare, the biggest health insurer in the United States, reported on Tuesday that it plans to exit most of the Affordable Care Act state exchanges by 2017. The decision came after the company posted losses of $475 million last year and projected more losses for the current year...

Rachel Maddow presented a special report on her March 18 MSNBC show as a cautionary tale about the potential for violence during the 2016 Republican presidential nomination process. She said, "The Ron Paul campaign in 2012, they ran a whole shadow campaign to get delegates for Ron Paul after the vote in multiple states, but before the convention, and that is the same thing that is going on right now in Republican politics... ...