The Jefferson Herald

Local man facing attempted murder charge

Staff report A 23-year-old Jefferson man was booked Wednesday into the Greene County Jail on a charge of attempted murder. Niko Lee Rice is accused of assaulting his 31-year-old girlfriend so badly July 13 that she was taken to a Des Moines hospital, according to police.

REG’s biodiesel plant in Ralston, photographed on June 22, is growing from a 12 million gallon to 30 million gallon per year biorefinery. The plant is scheduled to be operational by Dec. 8.

Biorefinery eyes completion of $28M expansion

By DOUGLAS BURNSd.burns@carrollspaper.com RALSTON — Renewable Energy Group, North America’s largest biodiesel producer and a publicly traded company, expects to have a $28 million Ralston expansion operational by December, according to company officials.

Jim Daubendiek, general manager of Jefferson Telecom, is overseeing renovation of the company’s 60-year-old telephone museum, taking it from an inconsistently labeled collection of old phones to a first-rate exploration of a technology we can’t live without. ANDREW McGINN | HERALD PHOTO

What would we do without our phones?

By ANDREW MCGINNa.mcginn@beeherald.com The history of the telephone is one of perpetual innovation — and we’re not just talking about how Sports Illustrated managed to put a phone inside a sneaker back in 1990. (Mind. Still. Blown.)

American girl: Greene County High School senior Haley Hall is one of just two Iowa girls selected for Girls Nation, a revered civics education program sponsored by the American Legion. ANDREW McGINN | JEFFERSON HERALD

Jefferson student to represent Iowa at Girls Nation

By ANDREW MCGINNa.mcginn@beeherald.com Haley Hall has applied to West Point, but admits she’d rather join the Air Force at some point. What’s certain is that at 17 and just about to start her senior year of high school, Hall is already among the few and the proud.

LeAnn Monaghan (from left), Lori DeBok, Wendy Pittman and Roger Olhausen are celebrating the 150th anniversary of First Presbyterian Church in Jefferson while looking to a future that includes closer collaboration with Greene County’s other two Presbyterian churches. ANDREW McGINN | JEFFERSON HERALD

Greene County Presbyterians look to the future

By ANDREW MCGINNa.mcginn@beeherald.com From eight members grew a church community that has thrived for 150 years. What First Presbyterian Church in Jefferson looks like 150 years from now, no one can say.

The late Doug Hamann (right), of Jefferson, was featured on the hood of Joey Gase’s No. 52 car during the American Ethanol 250, a NASCAR Xfinity Series race, Saturday in Newton. Hamann, a member of the Jefferson-Scranton Class of ‘97, was an avid racing fan and also an organ donor.

Hamann’s memory shines at Iowa Speedway

By BRANDON HURLEYb.hurley@beeherald.com The late Doug Hamann’s dreams came to life Saturday on the hood of the crisp white and baby blue No. 52 Chevy. A heart transplant sparked a dedication to saving lives well beyond the 1997 Jefferson-Scranton graduate’s 37 years of life.