The July meeting for the Dakota Dunes Community Improvement District (CID) was held on the 20th of the month, at 6:00 pm, at 335 Sioux Point Road. Members present included Ken Beau‑lieu, William Shorma, Dal‑ton Hanson, Janet Finzen and Brian Goeden. Also on-hand were: Larry Wi‑ese, Boyd Allison, Wayne Bradsha, manager An‑drew Tramp, legal counsel Darrell Jesse and CID em‑ployee Katelyn Irby. It was noted that Goeden left the meeting at 7:48 pm.

The Panthers represent‑ed well at the Best Buddies leadership conference, on the campus of Indiana Uni‑versity, on July 17-19, 2026. Dakota Valley (DV) teacher and Best Buddies advisor Madison Kenney accompa‑nied six students from DV as they attended education‑al sessions and met peers from across the country. Students at the conference included: India Orr, Emily Olhausen, Payten Kono‑pasek, Tyce Emrich, Ian Weber and Logan Brandon.

Union County’s relocation of several courthouse offices to the Turner Building began this week as commissioners advanced a re‑zoning request, closed out a high‑way project and approved personnel changes during their Aug. 4 meet‑ing at Elk Point City Hall.

Beautiful weather and large crowds were present at the Adams Homestead Celebration on Saturday, August 8, 2026. This annual event is held to honor the anniversary of Ad‑ams becoming a state park which happened back in 1997. The event was free to the public and many from across the tri-state area at‑tended.

A well-known face recently embraced a new leadership role within the Dakota Valley (DV) school system. With ease and excitement, Jeff Hamm became DV’s high school principal for the 2026/27 school year. As is to be expected, he is settling in well thanks to his familiarity with the school and local community. In February, the DV school board voted to offer the position to Hamm who already had an established history within the district. His first official day as the Panther’s high school principal was on July 1, 2026.

Union County residents now have a direct line to official county information and alerts following the launch of TextMyGov, a mobile text messaging service implemented Aug. 1 by county officials.

South Dakota earned the No. 2 overall spot in the latest U.S.

Reconstruction on Northshore Drive reached a major milestone this week as crews poured permanent concrete, bringing the vital flood-recovery project to roughly 50% completion. Ross Kuchta of Stockwell Engineers delivered the monthly engineer’s update during the July 20 City Commission meeting, reporting that significant progress continues along the lakefront corridor.