Tensions ran high at Hampton City Council’s May 9 meeting, which was led by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Davies. 
 
Davies sat in for Mayor Steve Birdsall, who recently suffered a stroke. 
 

After being out of commission for several years, the “Friends of Beeds Lake” group is back and better than ever. 
 
The group’s president, Robyn Hill-Kofoot, said that the original group ran for years, until interest in it fizzled out in 2017. 
 

First Bank Hampton donated $2,500 to the Hampton Tree Board on Tuesday, April 7. 
First Bank Hampton CEO Tyler Heeren said the bank has donated a total of $15,500 to the tree board over the last nine years.

Residents were unharmed in a Hansell house fire Thursday morning, April 9. 
 
According to a report from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Joshua Einspahr and Chief Deputy Stephen Bardole arrived at the house, which was fully engulfed in flames, shortly after 10 a.m. The homeowner was called and the homeowner reported that nobody was in the house at that time, except for two cats. 
 

The second session of the Hampton Police Department Citizens Academy was led by Franklin General Hospital EMS Manager Nancy Retz, who showed students how to handle emergency medical situations.
 
Retz, who’s been teaching “Stop the Bleed” courses for the last five years, said she was contacted by Hampton Police Captain Michael Halsne, who asked her to speak at the Citizens Åcademy. 
 

Charlee Morton, who won first place in the shot put and discus throw at the Drake Relays once again, made a special appearance at South Side Elementary School on Monday, April 29, after her brother, Rocco, had to miss her big competition the previous Friday.

Hampton-Dumont High School’s Bulldog Cafe hosted its last cafe for the semester, featuring Indian cuisine.
 
Throughout the school year, the Bulldog Cafe holds numerous cafes for community members. This year, the students focused on a different country for each cafe. 
 
According to Bulldog Cafe and ProStart instructor Leslie Pralle Osborn, a total of 22 students were involved with the cafe this semester. 
 

Franklin County Historical Society Board member Kendra Johnson wants to try something new with the Old Stone House — Franklin County's oldest house. 

Hampton got a treat Saturday night with the opening of a two show run of the Leslie Kimbell play Four Old Broads. The play was a joint production between the Franklin County Arts Council and the Iowa Falls Community Theatre. The cast was drawn from both groups to bring the surprisingly spicy world of Magnolia Place Assisted living and its cadre of residents and staff to life. 
 

Hampton City Councilor Jerre Grefe was awarded with a certificate from Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Director Bill Hittle, who nominated her for Main Street Iowa's annual leadership award, during the April 22 city council workshop. 

Hampton-Dumont’s PTO members held their first mother-son outing at the Franklin Wellness Center on Saturday evening, April 27. 
 
The night kicked off at 6 p.m. and ran for several hours. It didn’t take long for mothers and their boys to fill the wellness center, where youngsters could be seen swimming and playing dodgeball, basketball, racquetball and table games, like Bingo. 
 

Seven-year-old Hannah Swieter served as the honorary “kid captain” on Thursday, April 18 for HD-CAL’s girls varsity soccer team, who went up against Clear Lake in Hampton. 
Hannah was selected for the role by head coach Ben Schlachter, according to her mom, Stephanie Swieter. 

A panel of local pastors took questions from an audience at the Windsor Theatre Tuesday night, April 16. The theme of the discussion: Why God and why church?  
 

Iowa Falls native Ashley Emerson, BSN, RN, and her family celebrated the one-year anniversary of Ashley's "Beauty and Quench Lounge" with a ribbon-cutting ceremony as a new member of the Greater Franklin Chamber of Commerce Saturday morning, April 6. 
 

Hampton native Maria Wagoner, 26, is thriving as the owner of “The Boho Vase” — a floral and gift shop in Ankeny.