The Salvation Army’s relationship to Christmastime goes back more than a century. This holiday season, the charitable organization will be out in Hub City beginning on Nov. 14, where residents can see the familiar red kettle street campaign around the area.

Last year, the Salvation Army of Aberdeen raised nearly $129,000 during several hundred hours of volunteer work. Captain Joseph Hixenbaugh says the group has new goals for 2025 and is aiming to raise more than $121,000 and hopes for about 1,400 cumulative hours of volunteering.

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These funds help the Salvation Army continue to provide essential services to families and individuals in need across the local community during the season of giving, as well as beyond.

Some of the important items the Salvation Army provides with the money received include food boxes, backpacks, lodging, prescriptions, transportation, rent and utility assistance. This year, its leadership told the Aberdeen News the local Salvation Army seeks “food and volunteers to fill the many hours of time this Christmas.”

Hixenbaugh and his wife, Kendra, are new administrators for the Salvation Army of Aberdeen. They began here this autumn after previously working in Indiana.

Hixenbaugh says it is simple to become a volunteer. Interested parties can go to registertoring.com and type in the zip code 57401.

As a whole, the Salvation Army plans to bring hope and joy to those who may be struggling during the upcoming holiday season. The bell ringing around Hub City concludes on Christmas Eve.

Ohio State transfer Grace Egan hits .667 in return to Columbus

• Outside hitter Mimi Colyer led the Badgers with 17 kills and a .441 hitting percentage.
• Ohio State transfer Grace Egan had a strong homecoming with seven kills and two service aces.
• Wisconsin’s defense held Ohio State to a .078 hitting percentage, a significant improvement from their previous match.

Two days after getting dominated by the best team in the Big Ten, No. 11 Wisconsin volleyball was on the more enjoyable side of a rout against the worst team in the Big Ten.

The Badgers eased past Ohio State in three sets, 25-14, 25-12, 25-14, while hitting above .400 for the first time against a Big Ten foe this season on Sunday, Nov. 2 in Columbus, Ohio.

Wisconsin is now 9-3 in Big Ten play while Ohio State is 0-12. Here are three takeaways from the match:

Mimi Colyer has dominant start

UW coach Kelly Sheffield, with star outside hitter (and postseason award candidate) Mimi Colyer two seats away, said that Nebraska’s Bergen Reilly is “probably the best player in the conference” after the Huskers’ sweep over the Badgers.

Colyer responded two days later with a dominant performance in the Badgers’ next match.

Wisconsin’s first four points were on Colyer’s four kills. Her first eight attempted attacks all ended in kills, and her first attack error did not come until early in the second set. Her ninth kill prompted a “goodness gracious” from the Big Ten Network play-by-play commentator.

As usual, Colyer was a threat in both the front and back rows. She had other attacks that put Ohio State in challenging positions, such as when her attack led to an Ohio State overpass and a joust won by UW teammate Carter Booth in the second set.

Colyer finished the match with 17 kills while hitting .441. She has recorded 10-plus kills in all but one match this season and now is averaging 5.2 kills per set, which trails only Penn State’s Kennedy Martin in the Big Ten.

Grace Egan stands out in multiple ways in her homecoming

Ohio State transfer Grace Egan expressed excitement during a media availability last week to be playing at a “home away from home” for the Badgers’ Nov. 2 match at Ohio State.

She played like she was at a home away from home, too, recording seven kills at an exceptionally efficient .667 clip. She also had two service aces, which were tied for the team lead, and was second on the team with eight digs.

Colyer and Egan were two of the five Badgers who finished the match with a hitting percentage above .400. The others were Carter Booth at .500, Una Vajagic at .444 and Addy Horner at .667.

Badgers thrive again on defense

One match after allowing a season-high .349 hitting percentage against No. 1 Nebraska, Wisconsin’s defense looked the part in its win over Ohio State.

The Badgers held Ohio State to a .078 hitting percentage in the uneventful three-set sweep. The Buckeyes became UW’s seventh opponent to hit below .100, joining Marquette, Rutgers, Iowa, then-No. 23 UCLA, UW-Milwaukee and Chicago State.

Wisconsin “set the tone defensively,” Sheffield said in the postgame radio interview.

“Our backcourt was flying around without hesitation,” Sheffield said. “And it starts with that. I think sometimes when you’re overthinking, you can start hesitating. … I thought we were settled and reading the game and then pursuing aggressively.”

Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday he “can’t believe anything” that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says and suggested ICE officers were breaking the law.

Pritzker told the “Raging Moderates” podcast that he has encouraged prosecutors to investigate ICE activity in Chicago. 

He claimed one example that needed to be investigated was a recent report of an armed woman being shot by ICE officers during a protest in Chicago.

According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, the woman, a U.S. citizen identified as Marimar Martinez, was accused of ramming into a law enforcement vehicle, blocking officers from moving. Pritzker claimed that ICE officers antagonized her.

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“Well, it now comes out her attorney says there is bodycam footage that shows that actually she was rammed by an ICE agent in their vehicle and that ICE agent started yelling at her, calling her the b- word and other things,” Pritzker said. “And right after that, there was this shooting that ensued. They claimed in their release from ICE that she was the aggressor and that she was pointing a gun or pulling out an automatic weapon.”

He continued, “So you can’t believe anything ICE is doing, and I believe that we can go after ICE and those agents when they are committing felonies or any kind of breach of the law in the state of Illinois.”

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Gov. JB Pritzker said a recent report of ICE agents shooting an armed woman will likely be investigated. (Dominic Gwinn/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to Pritzker’s office for comment. 

The DHS pointed to its original statement on the incident when reached for comment.

DHS also reported that Martinez allegedly doxxed agents and posted online, “Hey to all my gang let’s f— those motherf—–s up, don’t let them take anyone” prior to the protest. McLaughlin said no law enforcement officers were seriously injured during the incident, adding that the woman involved drove herself to the hospital to receive care.

Pritzker has frequently criticized President Donald Trump for deploying ICE officers to his state and doubled down on his attacks after learning about plans to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to several states, including Illinois.

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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy 400 Texas National Guard troops to Illinois and Oregon. (Getty Images)

He sued to stop Trump from deploying the troops, calling it part of “Trump’s invasion” to “punish his political enemies.”

During the podcast, Pritzker reiterated he also believed that the “militarizing” of U.S. cities is likely a pretext to take over polling places and intimidate voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

“I do think though that that’s the intention, to have these kinds of troops or people that are dressed as troops like ICE and CBP, so that when the election comes, they can effectuate if they think they’re losing, or will lose, two things,” Pritzker said. “One is the intimidation of people going to the polls, and the other is, as Michael Flynn back in 2020 suggested, actually confiscating the ballot boxes claiming that there’s fraud and counting the ballots themselves.”