Closing out December was the 2025 Homestead Holidays at Adams Home‑stead and Nature Preserve in North Sioux City, South Dakota. Staff, volunteers and Park Manager Jody Moats worked hard to light up the natural beauty of the state park in festive flair for all to enjoy.

The North Sioux City Com‑mission on Monday delayed action on a resolution tied to property acquisition for the Northshore By‑Pass project af‑ter too few members were pres‑ent to meet the required voting threshold. Mayor Pro Tem Ju‑lie Burhoop called the special meeting to order at 4 p.m., with Commissioners Lynn Hoffman and Jessica Strain in at‑tendance. Mayor Chris Bogenrief and Commis‑sioner Vincent Tucker were absent. City Ad‑ministrator Jeff Dooley, Finance Officer Amy Lilly and City Attorney Sarah Kle‑ber also attended.

Dakota State University student Sydney Bousquet is student teaching fifth grade for the spring semester in the Elk Point Jefferson School District. Bousquet is an elementary education and major from Elk Point, South Dakota.

The year 2025 was closed out by the Board of Supervisors for the Dako‑ta Dunes Community Im‑provement District (CID) with regular meetings held in mid-November and mid-December. Those present for the November 17, 2025 meeting were: Scott Wetz, Ken Beaulieu, Janet Finzen. William Shorma was absent and Julie Shanafelt attended virtually. Larry Wiese and Dalton Hanson, both Dakota Dunes residents, were on hand along with CID attorney Darrell Jesse, CID Manager An‑drew Tramp and Finance Officer Katelyn Irby. Kim Leif, Dakota Dunes Com‑munity Association Man‑ager, was also present at the November meeting.

Customers at Jones’ Food Center raised nearly $1,900 for the Elk Point Food Pantry in November by round‑ing up their purchases at the register. The store matched the total with $1,000, and First Dakota Bank contrib‑uted another $1,000, bringing the combined donation to $3,892.

.

The North Sioux City Commission ad‑vanced major infrastructure work, approved several development agreements and set publication dates for a commission vacancy notice during a wide‑ranging Dec. 15 meet‑ing that closed out the city’s regular busi‑ness for 2025.

The Dakota Valley Youth Internship Showcase was held in the high school theater on Friday, December 19, 2025, The event took place in the late morning, prior to the school’s early dismissal for winter break. Panther juniors and seniors took over the space with posters and displays for all to see. The students answered questions about their first semester internships, while showcasing all that they learned throughout the process.

The Elk Point City Council approved a supplemental appro‑priations ordinance, advanced a series of major fund transfers and authorized 2026 employee raises during its Dec. 15 meeting, which also included action on a survey plat and several year‑end financial adjustments.

Robert Lawrence remembers the war not only for the battles he survived, but for the stories he wasn’t allowed to tell. Now living in McCook Lake, the former Army broadcaster has published Good Night, Vietnam, a memoir that confronts censorship, deception and the personal toll of America’s most divisive war.