*The Iowa 2025 Teacher of the Year is from Northwest Iowa.
Iowa officials on Monday announced that Melanie Bloom, an agriculture teacher at Sioux Central Community School District in Sioux Rapids, was selected as the top teacher.
That came in a ceremony at the school, for Bloom being recognized after 16 years as a teacher.
Bloom was selected from nine finalists who were named last month as Iowa’s first-ever Regional Teachers of Year representing all education regions of the state. Bloom was initially the Prairie Lakes Regional Teacher of the Year in the process.
She established the district’s first full-time agriculture program and serves as the FFA advisor.
“Getting to know students, each of them, who they are, where they’re coming from, what they’re bringing to the classroom, I think that is the most fun part of teaching,” Bloom said.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said learning from Bloom means something more than just reading from textbooks and preparing for tests, because she is preparing students for life.
*The NAIA volleyball championship tournament is back in Sioux City this year, and the number of teams left vying for the title is down to four.
The teams remaining include Bellevue of Nebraska, Corban College of Oregon, Southern Oregon, and Indiana Wesleyan, which is the NAIA team won the title last year.
The semifinal matches will be played at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday at the Tyson Events Center downtown, with the championship set for 7 p.m. Tuesday.
There were 24 teams when the tourney started on Wednesday. In an upset on Friday, 16th seed Montana Western defeated top-ranked Northwestern College of Orange City, Iowa.
*Additionally, a bust of Mahatma Gandhi has been unveiled at the Nebraska State Capitol.
The Consulate General of India gave the Gandhi bust as a gift to Nebraska on behalf of India. It is the consulate's first Gandhi bust in any U.S. state capitol.consulate unveiled a Gandhi bust at the base of the Space Needle in Seattle.
Prakesh Gupta, the Consul General of India, said he hopes the bust will serve to remind people of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence and truth.
Gupta first visited Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen in May, and said he requested the governor find a location to host a Gandhi bust. Nearly seven months later, the gift became a reality.
*In other news, three cases of bird flu have been found in Northwest Iowa commercial flocks since Friday.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture said a case of highly pathogenic avian influenza was discovered in a commercial turkey flock in Palo Alto county on Sunday, and there were two others also found in Sioux County, with one on Friday and now today.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has issued a disaster proclamation in effect through early January that enables the state to assist in tracking, containing and disinfecting sites.
The bird flu in Sioux County on Friday was in a flock with approximately 4.3 million commercial layer chickens.
There have now beem six cases of of H-5-N-1 in poultry this year, and these are the first since June.
Ag officials say poultry producers and people with backyard flocks should contact their veterinarian immediately if they suspect signs of H-5-N-1. They also encourage people with livestock to bolster biosecurity on their farms.
