The Daily Freeman-Journal

Day Okay Jazz Project Garden Party to be Saturday night. The Main Street park, located at 720 Second St. will be the site of the second performance of the Day Okay Jazz Project Saturday. This will begin at 7 p.m. The public is invited to bring food, snacks, beverages and lawn chairs or blankets for seating. Grama's Diner will also be open, selling cold water and other beverages, in addition to snack items.

Farmers from across the country are urging the federal government to expedite an investigation of the fertilizer industry as they struggle with "impossibly high input costs." A letter from grower associations follows a slew of recent federal actions taken to address the expense of fertilizers.

Local News July 17, 2026 1 min read Market Night last evening featured a refreshing night of suds and laughter, as the Kendall Young Library sponsored the special feature of the evening for kids. With temperatures near 90 degrees, it was an early favorite for both kids and adults.

National Sewer plant sold Dickey buys National Sewer Pipe Co. Walter S. Dickey of Kansas City, largest clay manufacturer in the world, has purchased the plant, equipment and ware on hand of The National Sewer Pipe company, of this city. The consideration has not been made public, but is said to have been something in excess of $200,000.

Local Sports July 17, 2026 1 min read The Webster City Rampage 11U baseball squad recently secured second place in the Silver division at the state tournament. Team members are (laying down): Brenden Ploeger. Kneeling (left to right): Liam Majewski and Kamden Fagerlind. Standing: Kai McBride, Reno Appelgate, Tach Burkhart, Carsyn Keane, Levi Williams, Huxley Durham, Kyler West and Kaysen Quinteros. Coaches (left to right) are Patrick Majewski, Garett Burkhart and Landen Ploeger.

The stories of the Holocaust are not easy stories to hear, but Brad Wilkening will be bringing a message about what he has learned to Webster City Saturday at the Mulberry Center Church. His program begins at 1 p.m. Saturday at the church which is located in the Wilson Brewer Park complex located at 220 Ohio St. "From the humanity side of it, the purpose of my program is not to teach about the Holocaust, but to bring it to life," said Wilkening.

Times change. Even so, there are a few constants in life. One is the pleasure provided by the county fairs that continue to be a highlight of summer in Iowa. For as far back as anyone who now lives in this part of Iowa can remember, these summer festivals have been much-anticipated and much-enjoyed features of summertime. The fairs, of course, have changed over the decades.

For 69 years, the Stanhope Lions have taken the lead on making sure Watermelon Days in Stanhope is a great celebration. But it's not just a project of the Lions Club, according to Grant Young, a member of the Lions. "Watermelon Day doesn't belong to any one organization or club, it belongs to Stanhope, to the people who live here," said Young. "The high, holy days are here." The Lions club, which has 20 members, takes the lead in making sure this event happens the third weekend in July each year.

There are times when a good idea can be made even better. That is the case with the expansion of the state's Streamside Buffer Pilot Project. It uses a comparatively small amount of money to help farmers plant vegetation along the sides of waterways, with the ultimate goal of cleaning up water downstream. And there is plenty of evidence showing that the all-natural processes of plants can make the nearby water cleaner.

A rollover on east Highway 20 early Thursday was reported to have occurred around 3 a.m. on the way to an early job site. The truck was a cement truck with a full load of product. According to Sheriff Alex Pruismann, there were two individuals in the truck at the time of the accident. "They were going to build turkey sheds before the heat was too high," said Pruismann Kamrar Fire and Rescue arrived on the scene to find a loaded cement truck flipped on its side.