Sun Courier

14/02/2025

The VFW Tama garage sale this weekend is to be held at the VFW Hall, 509 Mansfield Rd, Tama.

13/02/2025

We are looking ahead...

12/02/2025

‼️Due to the upcoming WINTER STORM WARNING, the Wildlife Habitat Workshop has been CANCELLED‼️

11/02/2025

10/02/2025

Sean Dengler focuses on the price of eggs (HIGH!) in this week's Dengler Domain, emphasizing the role consolidation across the chicken and egg industry has played on the current pricepoint.

It is genuinely concerning when egg prices are this high. These prices are hitting levels never touched before, and this is for a critical food item a lot of people rely on. From restaurants to home cooking, eggs are used in many dishes. Their higher price means a higher cost for many people. Unfort...

10/02/2025

A new local column 'Heather's Highlights: County Government and You' by District 3 Supervisor Heather Knebel (R-Traer) debuts in the current editions of all Tama-Grundy Publishing papers.

I have one month on the books as a new Tama County Supervisor and wanted to share some highlights with everyone! I was sworn in on Dec. 30, 2024, along with the four other Supervisors, the Sheriff, and the Auditor. There is always work involved with newly elected officials, but the upside is many ne...

10/02/2025

"People are talking about Iowa’s alarming cancer rates, but they need to turn up the volume. ... Iowa had the second-highest and fastest-growing cancer rate in the nation in 2024. Iowa is notable for breast, prostate and lung cancer, and concentrations are acutely high in Northwest Iowa.."

People are talking about Iowa’s alarming cancer rates, but they need to turn up the volume. “We have to start getting loud with our elected officials about doing something about it,” Iowa Cancer Registry Director Mary Charlton recently told Iowa Capital Dispatch. Iowa had the second-highest an...

10/02/2025

Obituary for Cecil Wrage, 88, of Grundy Center, a Gladbrook High School Class of 1954 alum.

Cecil Wrage, 88, of Grundy Center, Iowa, passed away Thursday, January 30th. He was born September 24th, 1936, to Emil and Katie (Bern) Wrage in Marshalltown, Iowa. He was raised northwest of Lincoln, IA and graduated from Gladbrook High School in 1954. He served his country in the US Army from 1957...

10/02/2025

Caleb Egesdal of Reinbeck has been named to the Wartburg College Fall Term Dean’s List. Excellent work!

WAVERLY – Caleb Egesdal of Reinbeck was named to the Wartburg College Fall Term Dean’s List. The list honors students who earned a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above in at least four course credits during the term. Three of the four course credits have to be graded with a traditional letter grade. T...

10/02/2025

Congratulations to William Kiburis and Ainsley Slade!

FAYETTE — Upper Iowa University has announced the Dean’s List for the 2024 Fall Semester. To be honored, a student must have earned a minimum 3.50 grade point average and be enrolled as a full-time student. Area students receiving this honor include: William Kiburis and Ainsley Slade, both of Re...

10/02/2025

MANY local students recognized! Congrats!

WATERLOO – Hawkeye Community College announces the Dean’s List for the Fall 2024 semester. The Dean’s List is an official recognition of outstanding academic accomplishment by full-time students. To make the Dean’s List, an individual must be a full-time student and successfully complete 12 ...

10/02/2025

Congratulations to all the local students who made the lists!

CEDAR FALLS – The University of Northern Iowa is proud to recognize the academic accomplishments of students each semester by announcing the graduation and dean’s lists. These lists highlight the hard work and dedication of students who have excelled in their studies. The Fall 2024 graduates and...

10/02/2025

The Tama County Zoning Commission met on Jan. 29 for the first time since the Board of Supervisors enacted tandem wind and solar moratoriums. And while very little action was taken, incremental progress was made toward the commission’s goal of writing a new utility-scale solar ordinance.

Before adjourning, the commission set the next meeting for Feb. 12 beginning at 6 p.m. in Toledo while also expressing a desire for area farmers to attend and weigh in on the Land Use Plan.

TOLEDO – A crowded room greeted members of the Tama County Zoning Commission on Wednesday, Jan. 29, during their first meeting since the Board of Supervisors enacted tandem wind and solar moratoriums on Jan. 6. And while very little action was taken during the nearly 90-minute meeting, incremental...

10/02/2025

Front page of the current edition of the Sun Courier available on newsstands now. We appreciate every time you !

*To subscribe to any of our three weekly papers (Telegraph, Sun Courier, Tama-Toledo News Chronicle), call the Times-Republican office at 641-753-6611, or email [email protected].

10/02/2025

Our current feature story: An interview with GMG alumna Lilly Bru (Class of 2024) following her year as the 2024 Iowa Pork Queen. Learn more about what she experienced, what she enjoyed, & what she hopes for the future of Iowa agriculture in the Sun Courier on newsstands now.

Best of luck in ALL your future endeavors, Lilly. Your future looks so very bright!

GLADBROOK – For the first time in many years, Green Mountain-Garwin (GMG) alumna Lillian ‘Lilly’ Bru no longer wears a tiara and she’s ok with that. Over a year ago, Bru, who hails from a farm in rural Gladbrook and graduated from GMG last May, was crowned the 2024 Iowa Pork Queen during Iow...

07/02/2025

07/02/2025

Tama County Residents,
I want to be completely transparent as to our financial situation. Our new board came into office just a month ago to a dire financial crisis. The previous board had an ending fund balance two years ago of just over $14 million. Our projected fund balance as of 6/30/25 was planned to be at around negative $950k. That is a burn rate of overspending $7.5 million per year. It is unsustainable.
Going forward, we will have to tighten our budget. We have already identified some targeted budget cuts. Other areas will need to be addressed as well and we are looking to our department heads to look for ways to cut from budgets.
It will be all of our responsibilities to operate as lean as possible.
I was in meetings today with the regulators at the Iowa Department of Management. They minced no words. Our situation is unacceptable. They identified that our revenue has remained steady. It is their opinion that we have a spending problem.
As we move forward, I hope to have learned a valuable lesson. I look forward to working with you all to bring the best services to our community. I am committed to funding the services at a responsible level and the BOS is as well.
Our immediate plan to make it through the rest of this fiscal year (ending 6/30/2025) is to use the funds (almost $1 million) that the E911 board has returned to us to remain in the black.
Our utmost gratitude goes out to the E911 board for filling our huge hole in the disastrous budget that we inherited from the previous board.
Thank you all once again for your generosity and service to our community.

For the Board,
Mark Doland
Chairman, Tama County Supervisors

06/02/2025

Last Friday, former* GMG wrestler Brooklyn Mitchell became one of five South Tama wrestlers to qualify for the girls state wrestling tournament this year. CONGRATS, Brooklyn, and best of luck tomorrow in Coralville!

*We apologize for the earlier confusion regarding this story. Corrections have been made.

Sun Courier note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Brooklyn Mitchell as a GMG student who wrestled with South Tama. Mitchell is an STC student this season. The Sun Courier regrets the error. A correction will print in the Friday, Feb. 14 edition of the Sun Courier. TAMA — Wh...