Stories from Monday, April 9, 2018

The Storm Lake Community School District Board of Education on Friday selected Dr. Stacey Cole, current director of education services at Fort Dodge and a Storm Lake resident, from three finalists as the next superintendent of schools. The announcement ends a search that began after Dr. Carl Turner announced that he would step down in June after nearly seven years as superintendent. Cole will begin July 1...

April 6, 2018

The teen sex comedy, a dude-fest if there ever was one, gets a very overdue and very funny update in Kay Cannon’s “Blockers,” a gleeful, gross-out farce about the absurdities of gender bias. Like “Porky’s” and “American Pie” before it, Cannon’s film begins with a sex pact. ...

• April Art Wall: Karen Kinder April West Gallery Exhibit: Can You Dig It? Archaeology vs. Paleontology • April 11: Public Planetarium Show (theme: Oasis in Space), 4 p.m. • April 14: SMA Program: Baseball: A Significant Component of Northwestern Iowa History with Joan Wendl Thomas, 7:30 p.m...

Spencer Community Theatre welcomes audiences to the fourth show of its 58th Anniversary season, “The Bridges of Madison County.” Tickets are on sale for all six performances of this thought provoking musical. Based on the best-selling novel, and developed by the Pulitzer-and Tony Award creative team of Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman, The Bridges of Madison County captures the lyrical expanse of the America’s heartland along with the yearning entangled in the eternal question “what if?” Winner of the 2014 Tony Award for Best Score and Orchestrations, this sweeping romance about the roads we travel, the doors we open and the bridges we dare to cross will leave audiences breathless.. ...

Buena Vista University lntro to Gender & Women’s Studies Class, along with Centers Against Abuse & Sexual Assault (CAASA), are hosting a Hippie Hustle Sexual Assault Awareness 5k on Sunday, April 29, at 1 p.m. Day of registration and packet pickup will be from 11:45 a.m.- 12:45 p.m. at the BVU Field House, 610 W. 4th Street, Storm Lake...

The Buena Vista Regional Medical Center Auxiliary will hold its Masquerade Jewelry Fair on Tuesday, April 10. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Kallmer Education Center. Please use the BVRMC Main Entrance. Valet parking is available...

Governor Kim Reynolds recently signed a bill that will allow the Iowa Farm Bureau to offer new individual health benefit plans administered by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. This new law will enable insurance agents to offer a lower-cost alternative to individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in Storm Lake...

According to a new survey by the American Red Cross, many people overestimate their ability to react to a home fire and miss critical steps to keep their loved ones safe. Forty percent of people believe they are more likely to win the lottery or get struck by lightning than experience a home fire. Yet, home fires are the most common disaster in this country – the majority of the nearly 64,000 disasters the Red Cross responds to every year across the country...

Buena Vista (“Beautiful View”) County is, as its name implies, a lush land of fertile farms, quaint towns, and comfortable living. The entire environment is of history, culture, and idyllic ambiance. But, it wasn’t always so. Not so long ago it was, for the most part, a wasteland of uninhabited prairie pockmarked with wetlands (swamps, bogs, etc.), no significant greenery, and not a tree in sight. From horizon to horizon, as far as the eye could see, nary a tree...

Don’t panic - the Little Sioux River is not involved in this rampage, but Vacation Bible School participants in Rembrandt will experience “the ride of a lifetime with God.” Dates are Tuesday through Sunday, May 29 to June 3. Rolling River Rampage VBS adventures are offered to area children ages 4 through those completing sixth grade. ...

Customers of MidAmerican Energy will benefit from the new tax law passed late last year through lower energy rates both now and in the future. Changes to the federal corporate income tax code lower the tax rate that MidAmerican Energy pays from 35 to 21 percent, which means customers will pay lower energy bills. ...

ACCIDENTS On April 2, at approximately 3:22 p.m., at 1831 N. Lake Ave. in Storm Lake, a vehicle owned by Mary Dellwo of Early, was struck by a vehicle driven by Dorothy Smith of Storm Lake. Total damages were estimated at $1750.

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard, issued the following statement on the Trump administration’s decision to send National Guard troops to the United States’ southern border. “As a former National Guardsman and Chairman of the Emerging Threats Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee with jurisdiction over our nation’s homeland defense efforts, I support the President’s decision to send National Guard troops to the United States’ southern border, just as former presidents have done. ...

In light of recent avian influenza events outside of Iowa, and to safeguard against the threat of Avian Influenza and other poultry diseases, Iowa Poultry Association, in cooperation with NPIP (National Poultry Improvement Plan) has completed 90% of the important process of auditing layer and pullet flocks in the state of Iowa, well ahead of the timeline prescribed nationally. All broilers in the state have been audited, and turkey audits are underway. ...

We are currently in the “hurry up and wait” stage of the 2018 session. The number of policy bills has dwindled and the focus is now on the budget. The “hurry up and wait” is a result of negotiations among the House, Senate and the Governor. House and Senate appropriations chairs, along with leadership, are meeting multiple times per day to negotiate not only the budget, but also a tax reform package. Each negotiation session results in change, and each change results in the need for a new computer analysis in order to evaluate the consequences. . ...

The Cherokee County Pheasants Forever recently announced a generous donation of $25,000 toward the Cherokee Trail Expansion Project. This announcement was made at the annual Pheasants Forever banquet held at Cherokee’s WITCC on March 17. In receiving the check on behalf of the Trails Committee, Jason Cook said that this donation kicks off the fundraising campaign for the trail expansion project and provides a huge boost right out of the gate...

The US 20 Corridor Association will meet on Friday, April 13, at 10 a.m. in Holstein at the Lohff Schuman Memorial Community Center. Agenda items include a construction update from Iowa DOT staff as well as putting together working groups for planning of the celebration of the completion of statewide four-lane US 20 this fall...

It’s one thing to tell people about computer hackers’ nasty tricks. It’s another to duplicate them. During the planning for Wednesday’s Buena Vista University ACES scholarly presentation, “Gone Phishin’,” campus computer fanatics played a little trick of their own...

The city has approved requests for an inauguration celebration for Joshua Merchant, the 18th president of Buena Vista University, to be held Friday and Saturday, May 4 and 5. Merchant had taken office last summer, when BVU was not in session. A noise ordinance was approved for a block party along the 400 block of Grand Avenue for outdoor entertainment from late morning until midnight on May 5th. Grand Avenue will be closed for much of the day Friday and Saturday...

Storm Lake’s popular event Fiesta Latina is scheduled for Saturday, April 14 at Chautauqua Park. The event — which is free and open to the public will feature games, food, music and activities for all ages. It is coordinated by RAICES, a student organization at Buena Vista University that celebrates diversity and multicultural understanding...

Tyson Foods, Inc., parent company of Storm Lake’s largest employer, has committed to support improved environmental practices on two million acres of corn by the end of 2020. It is the largest-ever land stewardship commitment by a U.S. protein company and supports Tyson Foods’ recently announced goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 30 percent by 2030.  ...

Buena Vista University is set to host a one-day food insecurity summit that will feature appearances by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig and Michelle Book, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Iowa. The summit begins at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, April 10, and will be held in Hansen 8 in the Harold Walter Siebens School of Business/Siebens Forum on the BVU campus...

Buena Vista University (BVU) is set to host the 130th Iowa Academy of Science (IAS) Annual Meeting and the 86th Iowa Junior Academy of Science (IJAS) Science Symposium on April 20-21. To date, more than 100 poster and oral presentations by undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers from across the state of Iowa will be presented at the conference...

August 6, 1955 - April 6, 2018

April 6, 2018 - April 29, 1926

April 8, 2018