Area News

The Okawville Community  Fire Protection District has purchased a 5 acre site near the interstate for possibly building a new fire house, said Chief James Rossel. The tract purchased for $87,000 from Bridgeport Properties owners Lyle Hackstadt and Arnold Schmale lies on the south side of Route 177. Rossel said that a larger fire house…

Becky Paul’s home in Homer, Alaska is a safe 220 miles away from the 7.1 earthquake that struck Anchorage Friday. By chance, however, the former Washington County resident had just arrived in Anchorage for a conference when  the 1 1/2 minute earthquake struck. Read the full terrifying tale in this week’s issue.

For three days, Deb Hale did not know if her brother and half-sister were among those killed in the wildfire that raged their town of Paradise, California. Finally, she learned that they survived. The Nashville woman could not reach her brother, Jeff Davies by phone, and he could not contact her. Finally, he called from…

Green energy is coming to Okawville, and it will not be too long before the village starts seeing the savings. At the October meeting, village board members approved a proposal from EFS Energy to install solar panels at the village water treatment lagoon early next year. “When we started looking at the numbers, the question…