Stories from Friday, March 23, 2018

IOWA CITY, (AP) — The campaign for tighter gun laws that inspired unprecedented student walkouts across the country faces an uphill climb in a majority of states, an Associated Press review of gun legislation found. The AP survey of bill activity in state legislatures before and after the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, provides a reality check on the ambitions of the “Enough is Enough” movement. ...

Eleven Storm Lake High School scholars presented their research at regional competition on Thursday, March 15, 2018, at Buena Vista University. Ten students will advance with five entries to state competition on April 30, at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. The theme this year was Conflict and Compromise in History...

TRESSPASS On the afternoon of Sunday, March 18, at approximately 5 p.m. the Storm Lake Police Department was dispatched to 204 Roberts Street in reference to an attempted trespass. Upon arrival police were advised by the reporting party that a person identified as Manuel Negrete Vaca, age 22 of Storm Lake had allegedly attempted to enter the reporting party’s residence but had fled prior to the arrival of police.

T. P. Anderson & Co., P.C. reported that the Commission’s operating revenue totaled $1,925,480 for the year ended June 30, 2017. The operating revenue included $1,036,216 from solid waste fees, $701,435 from member assessments, and $184,027 from recycling...

The Storm Lake School District Foundation donated over $300 worth of personal hygiene items to Tornado Alley. Funds to purchase the supplies were raised at the Foundation’s Trivia Night. Tornado Alley is a food pantry at the high school. It was started last year by the senior AVID class as their community service project...

Already donations have started to arrive for the annual book sale at the Buena Vista County Historical Museum. Each spring we invite everyone, from beginners to elders, of all reading “Likes” to shop. Selling starts with the $2 preview night on Thursday, April 19 from 5-7 p.m. Doors open Friday morning at 9 until 7 that evening...

Cornerstone For Life Pregnancy Resource Center is pleased to announce that they are once again the recipient of the Monsanto Grant America’s Farmers Grow Communities. Local farmers, the Brent and Carol Ehlers family, were winners of the $2500 grant and chose Cornerstone For Life as the non-profit to receive the grant...

Each year, the Iowa 4-H Camera Corps captures the beauty in communities around Iowa. Over the next few months, a collection of 60 Iowa 4-H Camera Corps members’ work will be on display at the Ladd Gallery in Cedar Rapids. Through the Iowa 4-H Camera Corps program, 4-H’ers work together to creatively explore the world around them using photography and social media. ...

One thing you might not expect to find at one of the most chic home design stores in western Iowa is impetuous sketchbook art, but through an unexpected set of circumstances, Gary Wilson’s work has arrived in Storm Lake. Sixty-five year-old “going on 25” Wilson plies his trade in and around quirky Zanzibar Coffee Adventures in urban Des Moines, where he collects the charm of passers-by in a quick charcoal sketch or his memory bank for later work, or to grace the wall of the artist-friendly establishment.. ...

The St. Mary’s Senior Class and the Knights of Columbus are co-sponsoring an omelet breakfast this Sunday, March 25. Omelets and french toast will be served – all you can eat. The cost is $7 per person, with children 6 and under free. The breakfast will be at the Columbus Hall (the former “KC Hall”). This is a fundraiser for the St. Mary’s Afterprom and the Knights of Columbus...

On the afternoon of Tuesday, March 20, at approximately 3:30 p.m. the Storm Lake Police Department stopped a vehicle in the 200 block of Superior Street. Police made contact with the driver and identified him as Joel Rodriguez, age 27 of Sioux City. ...

Diamonds, dust, electronics and a new record. That’s the kind of night Storm Lake St. Mary’s supporters had at the 2018 ball and charity auction. Organizers reported an estimated net record $183,203 raised for the local preK-12 Catholic School at their annual large-scale gala...

Just as history enshrines its heroes, it aggrandizes its villains. The most fearsome perpetrators of evil can become calcified in the horror of their atrocities. It becomes easy to imagine them as stern, foreboding figures who could have only earned their impunity through obsessive, bloodthirsty rigor...

Paul Nelson is recongnized as one of today’s most talented guitarists and live performers. Nelson not only has the distinction of being the hand-picked guitar protégé, bandmate and producer to legendary rock/blues icon Johnny Winter but he has toured the world over performing and or recording alongside an endless who’s who list of top artists including Eric Clapton, Slash, Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper, Robben Ford, Vince Gill, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, James Cotton, Joe Perry, Susan Tedeschi, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, John Popper, Dr. ...

Randy Burk from the band “Randy Burk & the Prisoners” will be playing his own original music at Smokin’ Hereford, Friday, April 27, 6:30-9:30 p.m. In the rich tradition of artists like Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, and Dave Alvin, artist Randy Burk from Des Moines creates music that is at once exciting and familiar, honest and soulful, fearless and introspective...

Dr. Whitney Miller kicked off the opening of her new chiropractic office in downtown Cherokee with a ribbon cutting that gave the public an opportunity to see her new office and to get to know her. Originally from Oklahoma, Miller has a vast education in her field with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Health and Wellness, and Anatomy at East Central University in Ada Oklahoma, and she received her doctrine in Chiropractic Medicine at Park University in Dallas...

Last week Rep. Gary Worthan (R-Storm Lake) welcomed Kari Stuckel and Doug Thompson, of Thompson & Associates, to the Iowa House of Representatives. Stuckel and Thompson were visiting the Capitol to talk with legislators about issues before the Legislature...

Cryptocurrencies are a virtual currency utilizing digital cryptography to securely conduct and verify transactions, which also creates additional units of the currency. The first widely used cryptocurrency format was created nearly a decade ago, and two local early adopters of the high-tech medium said they’ve witnessed the popularity surrounding cryptocurrencies continue to grow, regionally and beyond...

Alta-Aurelia families are invited to participate in Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach’s “Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14.” The six session program is free for all parents and youth ages 10 to 14. Childcare for younger siblings and an evening meal at each session are also provided at no cost...

Guest speaker Tuesday morning was Alta-Aurelia Boy’s Track Coach Wendell Larsen. This year 22 boys are participating in various track and field events. This includes five seniors, four juniors, seven sophomores, and six freshmen. Outdoor practice has been somewhat hampered by the weather. Last Friday and Saturday the team took part in an indoor meet held at BVU...

Cleanliness may be next to godliness. But at The Lord’s Cupboard, a full belly comes first. An anchor of the community, The Lord’s Cupboard is run by Alta United Methodist Church in cooperation with seven other churches in Alta. Every month, a different church supplies volunteers to help run the organization. ...

A year ago, the Storm Lake Board of Education acted to contract for a behavioral strategist to be added full-time in the schools, suspecting that many students might have mental health issues. They had no idea how right they would prove to be. According to Shannon Williams, who is in her second semester in the role, under contract between the schools and Plains Area Mental Health, a total of 715 students have been served for mental health issues already this school year. ...

The Storm Lake City Council has issued approvals to allow for several annual events to take place in the coming season. Fiesta Latina, the multicultural event organized by Buena Vista University students, is set for April 14 in Chautauqua Park. A noise variance, food service permits, inflatable playgrounds and closing of Chautauqua Park Drive were approved...

The Storm Lake School Board has approved the recommended hiring of Barb Lange as the next elementary principal. Current principal Juli Kwikkel will step down at the end of the school year. Lange has worked in the district for 25 years, serving as an elementary teacher, coach and most recently the Instructional Strategist at the Middle School. She will assume her new position August 1. Salary was set at $104,230 plus administrative insurance benefit...

A fundraiser has been arranged for Stacy Melohn of Newell, who is battling cancer. The free-will donation event will be held Sunday, April 15, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Allee Building in Newell. A menu of pulled meat sandwiches, cheesy potatoes, bars and other deserts and coffee or punch will be served. A silent auction will also be held with many donated items including a signed Iowa Hawkeye football, baskets of goods, services and gift cards to area businesses...

Faced with the possibility of ending the Building Trades class at Storm Lake High School, the school board wants to investigate folding the program into the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The program’s reacher recently announced plans to retire at the end of the school year, and it currently has only eight students enrolled in a Building I class and one in Building II. ...

Three local celebrities raced around the Storm Lake Fareway Thursday morning, filling their carts with record-breaking amounts of food to go to local food pantries in service of Food Awareness Month. The event is sponsored by the Buena Vista County Farm Bureau, in partnership with dozens of other local businesses...

An environmental policy group known as Mighty Earth is targeting Tyson Foods in an aggressive campaign attempting to force the meatpacking giant - and Storm Lake’s largest employer - into changing its livestock feed policies. Campaign Organizer Michael Greenberg told the Pilot-Tribune that months of preparation and research went into the campaign, which has a presence in Iowa with two stationed activists, plus one each in eastern-shore Virginia where Tyson is expanding, and Arkansas where the company is headquartered.. ...

The Turn Around Dance and Gymnastics competitive dance team the TTA Lightning continued their competitive dance season competing in two more dance competitions. First they traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota to compete in Talent on Parade on March 10th and then onto Council Bluffs, Iowa to compete in Thunderstruck Dance Productions on March 17. ...

The Storm Lake Tornadoes named a new boys tennis coach in Samuel Lipps to take charge of the program following the departure of Val Rosenthal. Lipps, a native of Algona, has been around athletics for the majority of his life. He played three sports for the Algona Bulldogs: basketball, baseball and golf. Basketball, though, was his main sport...

Students in Alta are enjoying a less conventional form of therapy implemented at Alta Elementary School. The “sensory room” gives children up to fourth grade the chance to get their energy out in a positive, mutually beneficial way, just a few minutes at a time...