News

Prestage Foods of Iowa has received confirmation from Iowa Department of Public Health that 16 employees who work at its pork plant in Eagle Grove have tested positive for COVID-19. Tests were conducted Friday and Saturday after plant officials contacted local regulatory agencies requesting the testing.

The following is a statement from John Prestage, Sr. Vice President of Prestage Farms, Inc.:

                Like so many other public meetings during the time of coronavirus, the Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Board of Education meeting was held mostly using the Zoom meeting app on Monday night. The meeting had a full slate of topics, many of which dealt with how the district would handle the state-mandated school shutdown now in place until at least the end of April.

At the regular meeting of the Wright County Board of Supervisors on Monday, County Auditor Betty Ellis briefly discussed the upcoming primary election scheduled for June 2. The polling place for the entire county will be at the Red Shed Event Center in Clarion so as to have better control over the event considering COVID-19 concerns. Voters will still be separated into their usual precinct though all voting will take place in one building. Ellis noted that the Secretary of State’s office is also providing money to counties for protective measures and supplies such as hand sanitizer.

Originally published in the Telegraph Herald, Dubuque, Iowa on February 16, 2020.

When I was growing up in rural Iowa, I explored every country road within a bicycle ride of our family’s apple orchard. Riding across the entire state was unheard of then, yet it was something that always intrigued me.

Now, even in Alaska, where I live these days, everyone has heard of RAGBRAI.  But the annual event – joining thousands of people biking across the state in summer humidity – has never appealed to me.