September 2026

By APRIL KELLEY
The Dakota City Council heard from Scott Curran with Abens, Marty & Curran Agency to go over the insurance renewal rates.

As with most insurance rates, the costs have increased by approximately $5,000 from a total of $54,486 last year to $59,727 this year.

The biggest change has been in Commercial property/inland marine insurance which increased from $29,423 to $32,342, Auto increased from $5,762 to $7,408 and General liability from $11,171 to $12,002.

The only insurance rate to go down was workers compensation, from $5,230 to $4,993 because of the lack of claims over the last five years.

The council approved renewing the insurance quote for the upcoming year.

The council members also approved the second and third readings of the Amendment of Chapter 145 of Ordinance #302, outlining the definition of an abandoned building.

Humboldt’s top-ranked and unbeaten Wildcat volleyball team moved to 15-0 overall, 5-0 in the North Central Conference, after sweeping the Clear Lake Lions in three sets in the Humboldt gym on Tuesday night, Sept. 15. Humboldt won by scores of 25-5, 25-17 and 25-10.

Humboldt plays in the Dike-New Hartford tournament on Saturday, Sept. 19.

The victory over Clear Lake gives Humboldt head coach Kara Waldorf an overall career won-loss record of 96-27. She is 25-1 in the North Central Conference in her four years as head coach of the Wildcats.

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By KYLIE PORTZ
The Humboldt County Memorial Hospital (HCMH) board of trustees broke ground Sept. 14 on the projected $7.6 million, approximately total 6,600 sq ft., Radiology and Surgery expansion project.

Contractors for the project include; Graham Construction out of Des Moines, Sande Construction out of Humboldt, Baker Electric out of Fort Dodge and Midwest Mechanical out of Spencer.

HCMH Board of Trustees Chair, Kevin Bornhoft said, “It’s a nice expansion for the hospital. Provides more services, we relied on the truck coming around occasionally. (Now) we’ll have our own MRI machine so we can serve our community and patients.”

Bornhoft expects to see an increase in patients the hospital will be able to serve with the new project.

He said, “We expect to see an increase for our MRI patients. There will also be more MRI services provided with this machine. So, it’ll be a benefit to the community.”

A celebration of life will be held from 2-5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, at the Rutland Town Hall in Rutland.
Linda Lee “LaLa” Bleich Johnson was born March 19, 1958, in Orange City, the daughter of Robert and Beverly (Miles) Goettsch. Her family later moved to the Humboldt area, where Linda graduated from Humboldt High School in 1977. Following high school, she attended Iowa Central Community College to pursue nursing.
In 1978, Linda was united in marriage to Ronald “Ronny” Bleich. They were blessed with a son, Jeramy. The couple later divorced.
Linda met Larry “Grease” Johnson, and the two shared more than 40 years together. They were married in 2021 and made their home in Dakota City. Larry owned and operated JIT Machining in Humboldt, where Linda worked. Throughout her life, Linda enjoyed a variety of occupations, including working as a nurse, at the Rutland Post Office and for floral shops. She later retired from Hydrobikes.