The Top 10 Local News Stories of 2018: #4 and #3

#4: Decorah native Josey Jewell is drafted by the NFL's Denver Broncos (https://www.decorahnews.com/archived-stories/2018/04/19221.html).  There was a reason for the sudden emergence of orange football jerseys in Decorah in 2018--Josey Jewell, the Decorah native who played linebacker for the University of Iowa, was drafted by the Denver Broncos with the 106th pick in the fourth round of the NFL draft.  He had a pretty good season with the Broncos, as well, finishing fifth on the squad with 58 tackles--30 of which were solo tackles.  By the time the last game of the season rolled around, Josey was the starter at inside linebacker.

#3: The November 6th election in Iowa House District 55 between Republican Michael Bergan and Democrat Kayla Koether is still not resolved heading into January.  By the end of Election Night, the two candidates were separated by just eight votes out of nearly 14,000 votes cast.  (http://www.decorahnews.com/archived-stories/2018/11/20780.html)  That meant absentee ballots could decide the outcome of the election, but many of the mailed ballots were not postmarked.  Could the US Postal Service rely on "Informed Delivery" bar codes to determine when the ballots had been mailed? (http://www.decorahnews.com/archived-stories/2018/11/20896.html)  The issue headed to a Polk County courtroom, where a judge ruled the Post Office had to be contacted (It was, and 29 of the ballots were found to have been mailed in time), but then at a second hearing ruled the election results were something the Iowa Legislature needed to determine--not a court (http://www.decorahnews.com/news-stories/2018/12/21149.html)  Koether took the judge's advice and has filed a petition with the Iowa House.  Stay tuned!