“I should have come here earlier,” Chef D.C. Bland II says of the reception he’s received since he announced his intention to open JAZZEDY, a bistro and catering business with cooking classes, in the former Homestead Bakery building. A Des Moines native, Bland is a classically trained French chef, but loves his barbecue, too. ANDREW McGINN | JEFFERSON HERALD

Kicking it up a notch

By ANDREW MCGINN a.mcginn@beeherald.com Even before his graduation from Le Cordon Bleu gave him carte blanche to make lobster bisque virtually anywhere in the world, Chef D.C. Bland II worked in the greatest, most exclusive, five-star restaurant you’ve never heard of.

Waunita Collogan, a resident of Long Term Care, reads a recent letter from her pen pal of 75 years in California. ANDREW McGINN | JEFFERSON HERALD

Pen pals still at it after 75 years

By ANDREW MCGINN a.mcginn@beeherald.com Typically, if you want to establish how long someone has been at something, you can date them using presidents. For example, “Chuck Grassley has been an elected official since the Eisenhower administration.”

“American Idol” winner Maddie Poppe, the first Iowa native to win the reality singing competition, performs Friday night at Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson. NICESWANGER PHOTOGRAPHY

Iowa’s ‘Idol’ delights crowd

By ANNIE MEHL For The Jefferson Herald

Walk across Iowa

In the age of Fitbit, we now measure our days in steps. So how many steps is a 30-day walk across the state of Iowa? Exactly 1,000,410, according to Tim Donovan, the Jefferson native whose walk across Iowa along the Lincoln Highway with old schoolmate Rich Stream ended successfully Sunday in Council Bluffs.

Jefferson natives Rich Stream (left) and Tim Donovan are walking across Iowa along the historic Lincoln Highway, an expedition of nearly 400 miles. They passed through their hometown last week and posed next to one of the surviving concrete markers placed along the entire Lincoln Highway by Boy Scout troops nationwide in 1928. ANDREW McGINN | JEFFERSON HERALD

The further adventures of Tim and Rich

By ANDREW MCGINN a.mcginn@beeherald.com When they finally walk into Council Bluffs this weekend, their legs will have carried them nearly 400 miles over bluffs, through hills and past unending seas of corn and beans that have yellowed before their eyes.

Dan Kinney, president of Iowa Central Community College, talks about the college’s plans in Jefferson. JEFF STORJOHANN | JEFFERSON HERALD

Iowa Central touts plans for Jefferson

By DOUGLAS BURNS d.burns@carrollspaper.com The president of Fort Dodge-based Iowa Central Community College said a planned career academy in Jefferson will be expanded beyond its originally planned scope.