The Denison Free Press

04/22/2025

04/22/2025

Join us this June for an amazing lineup of summer day camps! Kids can get hands on in the kitchen at Chef for a Day, explore the universe at Astro Camp, express their creativity at Art Explosion, and learn about agriculture at Ag Everday. Each day camp offers fun activities, new friendships, and unforgettable experiences. Sign up now and make this summer one to remember!

Registration Link: https://form.jotform.com/251043916719055

04/22/2025

The agenda includes a 5 p.m. public hearing on the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget.
The proposed property tax levy is $18.86910 per $1,000 assessed valuation.
Proposed taxes levied on property amount to $5,285,047.
Total of all expenditures is estimated at $20,195,510.
Total revenues and other sources are estimated at $18,799,561.
The current year’s property tax levy is $18.86269 per $1,000 assessed valuation.
The current year’s re-estimated property tax revenues are $5,209,991.
The current year’s re-estimate of all expenditures is $22,906,583.
The current year’s re-estimate of total revenues and other sources is $20,673,154.

04/22/2025

School year will end on schedule with five extra minutes per day
By Gordon Wolf
On Monday, members of the Denison Community School Board were presented with two options to make up for the instruction hours lost through inclement weather this winter. Weather conditions cancelled four full days of school and caused two hour late starts on eight mornings.
The result: high school students will be short by just four hours of instructional time. The minimum number of instructional hours per school year is 1,080.
The 2024-2025 school calendar, as adopted last March, had 1,118 total student hours scheduled, and 1,480 faculty hours contracted.
According to the current year’s school calendar, extra days and hours are added to the end of school. Under this scenario, students would have to return to school the day after Memorial Day – March 27 – and would have a three-hour early out, and teachers would also work the next day.
But school board members favored Option B presented by Superintendent Dr. Kim Buryanek: high school classes will start five minutes early each day through the scheduled end of the school year on Friday, May 23, starting with Tuesday, April 22. This will result in two additional hours of instruction to meet the 1,080-hour requirement at the high school.
Read more in this week’s Denison Free Press.

04/21/2025

Kids were busy Saturday dashing about Yellow Smoke Park and Washington Park in Easter Egg hunts. See more photos in this week's Denison Free Press.
Easter Egg hunts also took place on Saturday in Schleswig, Dow City, Manilla, Charter Oak, and Westside, while Easter Egg hunts were scheduled on the previous Saturday in Kiron and at Denison Care Center.

04/21/2025

Denison Community School Board agenda for this evening.
Includes public hearing on fiscal year 2025-2026 budget. The current year’s total property tax levy is $11.91814. The proposed total property tax levy for fiscal year 2025-2026 (July 1, 2025-June 30, 2026) is $11.87038. Total property tax revenue for the school district is $6,419,381 for the current year. In fiscal year 2026-2026 the school district anticipates property tax revenue of $6,504,696. The allowable cost per student is $7,826 in the current fiscal year; for FY 2025-2026 it will be $8,002.

04/21/2025

DMU Board agenda for this afternoon

03/31/2025

Al Weltz Wins second prize level in ‘Lucky for Life’
Word had already spread around Denison that a local man won a prize of $25,000 a year for life by the time he claimed his winnings today.
“I don’t know how it happened!” Al Weltz said with a grin as he claimed his prize Monday afternoon at the Iowa Lottery’s main office in Clive.
Weltz said he checked his ticket in the Lucky for Life game at home Monday morning and couldn’t believe his eyes. Sunday’s winning numbers were: 19-20-27-36-39 and Lucky Ball 6. Weltz matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball for a win at the game’s second prize level of $25,000 a year for life.
He decided to verify his win at the store where he bought the ticket a day earlier, Ampride Truck Plaza, 506 U.S. Highway 59 North in Denison. The clerk at the lottery terminal scanned the ticket and confirmed Weltz’s prize.
“My old school teacher was there and goes, ‘What did you win?’ And I said ‘$25,000 a year for life!’” Weltz recalled. “Then the radio station called an hour later and heck, I had my uncle called from Florida and he heard about it somehow on Facebook!”
Weltz, who is 63 and works as a farm equipment mechanic, said he is still deciding how to use his winnings.
“It’s kind of exciting, I’m going to be getting a check every year,” he said. “I know I’m going to have to buy everybody steaks at work because that’s what you do when somebody comes into something like that. We celebrate together.”
Weltz is Iowa’s fourth big winner in the last six months in Lucky for Life. Those winners include:
October 2024: Richard Hoversten of Des Moines won at the second prize level
November 2024: Shelby Willis of Des Moines won the top prize of $1,000 a day for life, and chose the cash option of a lump-sum payment of $5.75 million.
January 2025: Brandon Richey of Dallas Center won at the second prize level.
With Weltz’s win, Iowa has seen 24 winners at Lucky for Life’s top two prize levels since the game’s January 2016 debut in our state.
Lucky for Life is a $2 game with drawings each night. The game's top two prize levels are described as "lasting as long as you do," meaning that they are truly for life. The minimum guaranteed payout for those two prize levels is 20 years, and there is a lump-sum option for players who would prefer that rather than lifetime annuity payments.
Players can win the game's top prize of $1,000 a day for life by matching all six numbers selected in one of its drawings. The game's second prize - for matching the first five numbers but missing the Lucky Ball - is $25,000 a year for life. Other prize levels in the game range from $3 up to $5,000. For more information about this game, visit ialottery.com.

03/31/2025

Broadway Elementary 4th grade musical this Thursday
The Broadway Elementary School fourth graders will present their musical, “Get in the Game” on Thursday, April 3, at 5 p.m. at the Denison High School Fine Arts Center.
Here’s a synopsis of the musical.
"It's the first day of gym class, and the kids are awaiting their new gym teacher. While learning about different sports, the songs also reinforce the value of participating in sporting activities and encouraging them to remember that it truly is not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.”
Before the musical begins, the fifth grade Musical Monarchs will sing four songs.

03/31/2025

FROM THE IOWA LOTTERY

Denison ticket wins prize of $25,000 a year for life In Lucky For Life game
For the fourth time in six months, someone who bought a Lucky for Life ticket in Iowa has won big in the multi-state game.
The latest big win hit during the weekend in Denison. Someone bought a ticket there that matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball in Sunday’s Lucky for Life drawing to win at the game’s second prize level of $25,000 a year for life.
The winning ticket was purchased at Ampride Truck Plaza, 506 Iowa Highway 59 North in Denison. Sunday’s winning Lucky for Life numbers were: 19-20-27-36-39 and Lucky Ball 6.
The Ampride Truck Plaza will receive a $500 bonus from the lottery for selling the winning ticket.
Iowa’s winning streak in Lucky for Life began in October, when a Des Moines man won at the game’s second prize level of $25,000 a year for life. Then in November, a Des Moines man won the game’s top prize of $1,000 a day for life. And in December, a Dallas Center man won a prize of $25,000 for life.
Lucky for Life prizes won in Iowa must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing. The Lucky for Life prize won in Denison has to be claimed at the lottery’s main office in Clive.
If the winner or winners have questions before coming forward to claim the prize, they are welcome to call the lottery at 515-725-7900 or email [email protected].
Lucky for Life is a $2 game with drawings each night. The game’s top two prize levels are described as “lasting as long as you do,” meaning that they are truly for life. The minimum guaranteed payout for those two prize levels is 20 years, and there is a lump-sum option for players who would prefer that rather than lifetime annuity payments.
Players can win the game’s top prize of $1,000 a day for life by matching all six numbers selected in one of its drawings. The game’s second prize – for matching the first five numbers but missing the Lucky Ball – is $25,000 a year for life. Other prize levels in the game range from $3 up to $5,000.

03/27/2025

The current issue of The Denison Free Press is available.

03/27/2025

As the sun rises, tractors enter the Denison High School parking lot on Thursday morning.

03/27/2025

Tractor Day at Denison High School. Tractors are waiting in line to enter the parking lot. A total of 35 tractors were driven to school on Thursday morning.

03/27/2025

From Denison Fire Chief Cory Snowgren:
Denison’s spring open burn period will run from sunrise on Saturday, April 5, to sunset on Sunday, April 13.
The following rules and precautions are in place.
Burning shall only take place after sunrise and before sunset. No burning shall be done on any public sidewalk, curb, or street. Please use caution while conducting the supervised burns and be considerate of your neighbors.
• Clear the burning site of all flammable materials.
• Do not use flammable liquids to initiate a burn (gasoline, kerosene, diesel, lighter fluid, etc.).
• Clear a 10-foot area around the burning site.
• Have water and hand tools ready in case fire escapes.
• Avoid burning on windy days.
• Stay with the fire until it is out.
• Yard waste in the form sticks, twigs, leaves, and weeds are permitted.
• The burning of garbage and treated wood is not allowed.
• Take all other responsible precautions.
Denison residents are reminded that the yard waste location on South Main Street can be used as a viable alternative to burning.

03/21/2025

Gov. Reynolds issues disaster proclamation for five counties, including Crawford
On Thursday, Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for five counties in response to severe winter weather that occurred on March 19. The Governor's proclamation allows state resources to be utilized to respond to and recover from the effects of this severe weather for the following counties: Crawford, Harrison, Monona, Shelby, and Woodbury.
The proclamation also temporarily suspends regulatory provisions of the Iowa Code that pertain to hours of service for disaster repair crews and drivers delivering goods and services while responding to disaster sites, and various requirements for the transportation of loads related to disaster repairs on highways within Iowa.
The proclamation is effective immediately and expires on April 3, 2025.

02/24/2025

Top stories in the latest issue of The Denison Free Press

02/24/2025