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The position of the longtime director of Santa’s Castle has been terminated, and it is questionable whether Storm Lake’s holiday showplace will be able to open at all this year, after COVID-19 concerns have dried up revenue for Castle operations and raised safety concerns...

Storm Lake Mayor Mike Porsch is urging the community to keep its guard up against COVID-19 virus. In a brief statement during this week’s city council meeting, Porsch noted that the risk of a spike in cases rises as the school year is underway, and said residents should be diligent in its use of protections “to prevent an upswing in the fall.”...

The Coronavirus pandemic has put movie theaters across the country at risk of going dark for good, raising concerns from Hollywood to main street Storm Lake. “From small independent screens to nationwide exhibitors, local theaters employ over 150,000 people and have formed a cornerstone of the American experience for generations,” Storm Lake United said in a recent email...

Many of the soldiers from the Iowa National Guard Unit in Storm Lake are about to deploy to year-long assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the Storm Lake unit is not considered deployed, the departing local soldiers will be attached to a Fort Dodge group that is part of a call-up including about 330 Iowa soldiers from 1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and 34th Infantry Division. ...

SIOUX CITY - On a damp and chilly Friday night, Storm Lake clattered into the locker room trailing Bishop Heelan 10-7, but they came out on fire, tacking four straight touchdowns on the board to salt away their first win of the season, 34-24 in the district debut, and also marks their first road win against the Crusaders...

The Storm Lake Police Department has created a new community outreach vehicle, with help from a Tyson Foods community grant. The funds were used to repurpose a military surplus Humvee. The distinctive vehicle was painted black and white and equipped with an on-board ice cream freezer in the back hatch, so that officers can patrol Storm Lake neighborhoods and hand out free treats...

Whether COVID-19, derecho, drought, none are expected to prevent a more typical harvest from kicking off in the area for 2020. Some farmers have been seen out in the fields already for silage harvest, but Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Agronomist Paul Kassel explained there are still a “couple weeks” left before harvest can start in earnest...

Uptick in local cases as school and college begins to be expected: local health leaders. “COVID spreads even faster than the flu, in my observation. We’ve been talking since the very beginning about how contagious this is. It spreads exponentially - if someone is exposed and brings it to school or work, they aren’t giving it to one person, they might spread it to nine or ten, and each of those nine or ten might spread it to nine or ten.”

What’s worse than living in poverty? Living in poverty under the shadow of coronavirus. The year started out relatively healthy for poverty numbers in the region. “And then came February,” Jamie Whitney, director of Upper Des Moines Opportunity, the charitable agency serving the region, reports with an audible sigh. “Still, we were close to status quo until mid-summer. That’s when we really started to feel the spike here.”...

ONAWA - The Ridge View football team used a powerful rushing attack on Friday night against West Monona, and took advantage of some turnovers, to take a 30-6 decision for their second win of the season. “It misted most of the night but the temperature was decent and it was a nice night for football,” Raptor coach Dale Tokheim said. “West Monona had a nice little ceremony to remember 9-11.”...