ROCKWELL CITY — Even before he earned his doctor of chiropractic degree, Jeff Redenius knew he wanted to run his own business, just like his father, Gary, a self-employed carpenter. After Redenius graduated in 2016 from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, the next big question ...

WEBSTER CITY — Every kernel of corn, every bean in every pod of soybeans, has to end up somewhere. And there’s a lot of corn and soybeans in this state. Traditionally, most of it ended up as dinner for a cow, a pig, or a chicken. Over time, more and more seemingly endless uses were ...

ALBERT LEA, Minn. — Sometimes it takes more than just the family to carry on the family tradition. At Albert Lea Seed, a new generation of employee ownership is striving to carry on the family tradition of company founder Lou Ehrhardt. Established in 1923, Albert Lea Seed had remained ...

Not only is the farmer-member-owned Landus Cooperative a leader in innovation with the use of growers’ soybeans that are processed into a line of specialized, high-quality soybean meal-based dairy cow feed distributed worldwide, but the cooperative has begun using a technological tool that ...

CJ Bio America announced plans last year to invest about $20 million in its Webster County plant so that it can make more of an amino acid that’s added to some types of livestock feed. Construction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of this year. Production is expected to ...

Koch Fertilizer is investing about $140 million to increase production at its ammonia plant east of Fort Dodge, company officials announced. The upgrades will boost yearly production by 85,000 tons, the company reported. Work is expected to be completed by this fall. And since the $140 ...

Calcium Products in Fort Dodge spent much of 2021 working toward growing its facility. The Calcium Products facility is currently located on Webster County Road P59 on the southeast edge of Fort Dodge. Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance CEO Dennis Plautz said in August, “What’s proposed ...

Rick Jones was the warehouse manager when the old Sears store closed at Crossroads Mall in 2015. Jones, a Fort Dodge native, started with the company in 2004. “It was an extremely knowledgeable, hard-working crew at the old store,” Jones said. “Everyone would pitch in and help if ...

The past year was a record-setting one for the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way. During the year, the organization made $1.9 million worth of grants to more than 70 organizations, agencies and causes in Fort Dodge and Webster County. “That’s an all-time high for us,” ...

The residents at the Beacon of Hope men’s shelter have been able to rest easier since August 2021. That’s because when they lay their heads down at night, it is on new pillows and mattresses. The Beacon purchased 54 new mattresses from American Bedding. The need came into focus after ...

The Webster County Extension and Outreach program found a new home in 2021. The Extension office started the year in the former Crossroads Mall, where it had been housed for several years. In May, the office moved across town to a new site in the Wells Fargo building on Central Avenue. The ...

The Floyd of Rosedale has quickly become one of Fort Dodge’s most recognizable pieces of public art. The steel pig sculpture, installed in November 2021, stands 14 feet tall near the Rosedale Rapids Aquatic Center. But the sculpture itself isn’t the only thing that makes it an attractive ...

LAKE CITY — After the COVID-19 pandemic played havoc with the learning processes of the students in the South Central Calhoun Community School District, things are now rebounding. The district had in-person classes for most of the last academic year, and the results are showing, according to ...

ALGONA — Big changes to the Algona Community School District are likely to come in the upcoming year. In response to declining rural school enrollment and the challenges it poses, the Algona district is looking to merge with the Lu Verne Community School District. In spring 2020, both ...

POCAHONTAS — Pocahontas Area Community Schools had an exciting year returning to in-person instruction as much as possible. Joseph Kramer, Pocahontas Area superintendent, said there were many high points during the year, the first of which was being back in the classroom. “PAC had ...

WEBSTER CITY — Few could deny the past two years have been challenging for Iowa school districts. The pandemic has forced districts to be nimble, flexible and resilient as they have strived to serve the students and families in their communities. Dr. Mandy Ross, superintendent of Webster ...

2021 saw numerous surges in COVID-19 infections. The number of positive cases continued to climb as the year ended. A combination of influenza and COVID illnesses put pressure on Webster County Public Health and local hospitals and clinics to provide testing and care. Since the pandemic ...

Several Webster County residents broke the chains of addiction and turned their lives around in 2021 thanks to the Webster County Drug Court program. The program, started in 2015, aims to help those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction and facing criminal charges get sober and get their ...

Wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) impacts approximately 1.1 million people in the United States and is a leading cause of blindness in people aged 60 and older. Until now, patients suffering from wet AMD might require eye injections as frequently as every four weeks. In a press ...

When a scary new disease called COVID-19 made its way from China to the United States, and eventually to Iowa, the Webster County Health Department found itself in the forefront of the local effort to fight it. Staff members worked seven days a week, providing information and conducting ...

When people think of Webster County, they may first think of the county seat — Fort Dodge. However, Webster County is made up of several equally important smaller communities that each had their own exciting developments in 2021. Dayton Dayton saw the return of the ever-popular Dayton ...

A handful of off-highway vehicle enthusiasts from around Fort Dodge used to look at former quarry land south of the city and see lots of opportunities for some great riding. Their vision, hard work and perseverance paid off. Now, they and every other OHV rider from Iowa and the Midwest can ...

CLARION — Despite nationwide slow-downs from COVID, Wright County has continued to grow and move forward. With new and expanding businesses, Wright County Economic Development is constantly working with city leaders to attract new business to the area. “The Wright County Board of ...

HUMBOLDT COUNTY — Humboldt County welcomed several new faces during the last year. In January 2021, a new police chief joined the Humboldt Police Department. It had been more than a decade since the department had its own police chief — the duties of police chief were contracted out to ...