Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025
Vol. 6, No. 13
PCMExplorer Local People. Local Stories.
Election 2025
By Jamee A. Pierson PCM Explorer City elections in Monroe and Prairie City have both familiar and new faces set to take office. According to unofficial results for the Nov. 4 city and school board elections, current Prairie City City Council Member Phil Holland will now serve as mayor and current council member Beth
James retained her seat running unopposed. Doug Duinink will have another term as Monroe’s mayor, and incumbents Andrea Steenhoek and Jennifer St. Peter will be joined by newcomer Hayden Johnston on the Monroe City Council. Two public measures went before the citizens of Monroe: Continuing the Local Option Sales Tax and a bond referendum to build a new or remodel
City and school board election results in for Monroe and Prairie City
the current city hall building. With 75.11 percent approval, LOST passed 329 votes to 109 opposed. The bond referendum failed to pass with 77.28 percent of citizens voting against the measure. Funds from the bond would have been used to either build a new city hall building or remodeling the current building. A new building, which would be located at the same place as the current building, would be
5,620 square feet and cost an estimated $1.45 million. Renovating the current building would cost an estimated $1.3 million and give the city 5,100 square feet. City staff hoped to move forward with the project as soon as possible in order to avoid ever-rising construction costs. The PCM School Board will have a new member. Cole Van Ryswyk brought in 543 votes to incumbent Greg Ingle’s 286
votes for the District 2 seat. Current board members Lori Jungling and Ryan Van Der Kamp were reelected having run unopposed. “I’m looking forward to serving this school district and these communities,” Van Ryswyk said. “We have some challenges to address, but there are so many good things going on at PCM. I’m excited to be a small part in helping shape its future.”
Making room for wrestling PCM adding a new space for wrestling in the old car dealership building By Jamee A. Pierson PCM Explorer With participation numbers growing and a new program taking shape, wrestling at PCM is at an all-time high. To help accommodate the grapplers, PCM is converting the former car dealership building, turned storage space at the high school into a wrestling room. “I’ve had the idea of it for a long time but didn’t say anything until we had the scheduling conflicts,” PCM Facilities Director Rusty Vos said. “I knew we could do it.” For the first time, PCM will
have its own girls wrestling team for the 2025-26 season. Previously, girls had wrestled with Colfax-Mingo. The addition made scheduling practices even more of a challenge with limited mat space. “With adding girls wrestling we were tight on space,” Vos said. “The girls were going to go from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and boy from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m and the little kids after the girls. The little kids program would be done at 9 or 10 p.m. at night. That is a big program, 40 to 50 kids in each grade group.” Having little kids out that late is not ideal and Vos, who is
also the high school head wrestling coach, knew there had to be a solution. Moving mats to the middle school or elementary schools would be more work than what it is worth because rolling them out and back and also storing them made it more complicated for teachers during the school day. Also, the gym spaces throughout the district will start filling up with basketball practices. Vos was also feeling the squeeze in the high school wresting room. “We’re jam-packed. We’re at WRESTLING | 3
Rob Sand discusses rural healthcare issues, OBGYN challenges at roundtable
Jamee A. Pierson/PCM Explorer Work is underway to convert the former car dealership building into a wrestling room for the PCM School District.
Shaw Media sells Newton News properties to J. Louie Mullen of Eastern Iowa Publications Local newspaper maintains all jobs and services under new ownership By Christopher Braunschweig PCM Explorer
Christopher Braunschweig/PCM Explorer State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, speaks with participants in a roundtable on Nov. 5 at the E.J.H. Beard Administration Center in Newton.
Gubernatorial candidate met with providers affected by Newton pausing its labor and delivery services By Christopher Braunschweig PCM Explorer Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand learned something trouble from healthcare providers at a recent roundtable. He learned there is only one hospital delivering babies in the area between Waterloo and Pella and between Des Moines and Iowa City. Up until a year ago there were two. Newton Clinic and Mer-
A publication of est. 1851
cyOne Newton Medical Center paused all labor and delivery services in October 2024, leaving many Iowans in the Jasper County area and beyond to turn to UnityPoint Health Grinnell Regional Medical Center. Sand also learned there are only three doctors delivering babies in Grinnell. Dr. Abby Flannagan of Grinnell Regional Medical Center told Sand her hospital is feeling the effects
of the Newton’s loss of services. When Flannagan was first hired about three years ago, doctors had delivered more than 100 babies every year; now, they are expected to deliver more than 300 babies by the end of 2025. In Newton, staff were delivering upwards of 190 babies per year. By the time the services were paused, the hospital was delivering SAND | 3
The Newton News has been purchased by a Wyoming publisher who owns more than 40 weekly newspapers across the country, including a few in Iowa. Shaw Media, a publisher with news products in Iowa and Illinois, had owned Newton News since 1944. The sale was finalized on Nov. 4, and it includes the products made by Newton News, PCM Explorer, Jasper County Tribune and the Jasper County Advertiser. All staff members were able to maintain employment. J. Louie Mullen, owner of Blackbird, LLC and Eastern Iowa Publications, has been reported to have a “hands-off ” style to ownership, telling the Editor & Publisher in November 2022 that he is there more for support, does not micromanage staff and gives management an incredible amount of leeway. Mullen was introduced to the newspaper industry at a young age. His parents had him and
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Christopher Braunschweig/PCM Explorer The Newton News, PCM Explorer and Jasper County Tribune were sold to J. Louie Mullen of Blackbird, LLC and Eastern Iowa Publications. Shaw Media had previously owned the paper for more than 80 years.
his brothers work as paper boys for the Sioux City Journal. His experience with news extended further when his father became SALE | 3
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