Stories from Monday, February 18, 2019

On the morning of Thursday, February 14, at approximately 11:30 a.m. a Storm Lake Police Officer stopped a vehicle near the intersection of East 7th Street and Michigan Street for a traffic violation. Upon contacting the driver identified as Gabriela Rivera-Valdovinos, age 30 of Lakeside, IA police learned that she was wanted out of Buena Vista County reference a Conviction for OWI...

Parker Dale Mooney, age 89 of Sac City, passed away on Monday, February 11, at Park View Rehabilitation Center in Sac City. Dale was born near Nemaha, on August 30, 1929, to parents Marvin Mooney and Ruth (Parker) Mooney. He was baptized as an infant by Reverend Rasmussen at the Nemaha Methodist Church and was a loyal member of the Methodist Church to the end of his life. ...

Iowa state auditor Rob Sand said taxpayers could be on the hook if the Iowa Finance Authority pays $4.15 million to settle sexual harassment claims against former IFA Executive Director David Jamison as planned. Some of the complaints stemmed from Jamison’s behavior at an unnamed Arnolds Park hotel bar. ...

Storm Lake St. Mary’s will be conducting a Lenten Parish Mission “I am Beloved,” March 10-13, led by Fr. Michael Hinken, SOLT, JCL. Sessions will be provided at 6 p.m. each night in English and also at 7:15 p.m. in Spanish all at the church. Fr. Hinken is a priest of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, a Society of Apostolic Life (SOLT) serving the Church worldwide in areas of greatest need. ...

Buena Vista University is hosting the annual WISE High School Art Exhibition, through March 14 in the Social Sciences and Art Hall. The show is open to the public, free of charge, during university hours. The juried exhibit features the best of art work submitted through high schools around western Iowa, including works by area students from Storm Lake, Sioux Central and Alta-Aurelia. / Dana Larsen...

Trauma, childhood substance exposure and the relationship between culture and poverty were the main topics of an educational training conference conducted at the Clay County Fair and Events Center Thursday morning. The Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Summit offered child welfare and juvenile justice professionals an opportunity to receive continuing education on topics which often confront them on a daily basis...

AMES – Stronger regulation and efforts to prescribe fewer opioids have helped reduce overdose deaths in Iowa, but an Iowa State University researcher says another crisis is on the horizon. David Peters, an associate professor of rural sociology, expects in the next two to three years the state will see an uptick in overdose deaths from heroin and synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl. ...

For the first time on one stage - the fine arts meet the performing arts. Artrageous will be held Sunday, March 17 at Lauridsen Performing Arts Theatre in Okoboji starting at 1 p.m. with a performance at 3. Admission is $25, or $10 for students. Combining visual and performance art, this very alive family-based show appeals to all ages, with audience interaction, and lots of visual and musical scenes. In addition, the cast will hold an outreach (Art Reach) prior to the show. ...

The Clay County Fair announces the Country Gold Tour — starring Leroy Van Dyke, Jimmy Fortune of the Statler Brothers, T. Graham Brown, Steve and Rudy Gatlin, and Moe Bandy — as part of the SRG Concert Series in the Sleep Number Grandstand at the 2019 Clay County Fair at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9...

Even the most eccentric passions of working-class England — long a favored reservoir of feel-good underdog tales — have seldom featured as much spandex as “Fighting With My Family.” Patrick “Rowdy Ricky Knight” Bevis (Nick Frost) and Julia “Sweet Saraya” Bevis (Lena Headey) are your average parents, raising a couple of tykes in Norwich, England, to stand up for themselves, work together, and, you know, maintain a firm choke hold. ...

With a $97 million statewide flood resiliency grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, project consultants for the North Raccoon River Watershed Plan are looking to gather feedback from locals to make a plan that works for everyone...

One of the Beavers around BVU found itself snow covered after a recent system passed through.

By the time you read this, Supplemental State Aid and the transportation assistance bills will have been approved by the Governor. This nearly $90 million increase means that Iowa schools will spend $6,880 per student, a $144 increase from last year. ...

668 Bills have been filed in the Senate and the House. House and Senate Calendars are starting to fill up with bills eligible for floor debate. Floor debate began this week with approval of rules that have existed in the Senate for many years. The Senate rule which governs committees (Rule 39) was unchanged since the Democrats were last in control (86th General Assembly), until Senate Republicans implemented specific policies requiring that subcommittee meetings are public (Rule 39, Subrule 13) and requiring every piece of legislation to have a public subcommittee meeting (Rule 39, Subrule 3). ...

The high school wrestlers are in Des Moines this week, and the state basketball tournaments will follow in the coming weeks. Best wishes to all of our high school students who participate in all sorts of extra-curricular activities. You all work hard to represent your schools, and we are proud of all of you...

Police located a wanted suspect in a delivery of methamphetamine case Friday - driving under the influence of the drug. A Storm Lake officer pulled over a vehicle around 3:45 a.m. in the West Milwaukee area after spotting a driver believed to be wanted...

2019 Fourth of July Commodores Rob and Michelle Smith have announced the theme for the July 3 and 4 festivities – “Coming Home.” “We chose ‘Coming Home’ because we want to encourage friends and family to come home and hold class reunions around the Fourth, but we also want people to consider coming home to Storm Lake to live,” Michelle said, noting they both came back home to live after living in the Pacific Northwest. ...

As temperatures plummet outside, Buena Vista University has been searching for fun fitness options indoors. Students Jacob Hollister and Emma Bloom tried out a log-rolling event in the BVU pool Wednesday, with a hand from Tyler Prescott. The event made popular by lumberjacks is being offered regularly for the students, and an in-pool human version of the game Battleship is also being planned...

The Storm Lake Fire Department logged 21 structure fires in 2018, up two from the previous year and the highest total since 2015. The department also responded to 30 smoke scares or assistance calls, 29 inspection requests, nine carbon monoxide cases, six electrical malfunctions, six hazardous materials spills, four vehicle fires, four grass or trash fires, four rescues, one gas odor call, and 88 false alarms, according to the newly released City public safety annual report...

In the first of a new series of monthly “Pay It Forward” themed events at Our Place Multicultural Center in Storm Lake, two local immigrants told a small crowd Thursday night about their tasks of working with migrant families arriving in the community...

SIOUX RAPIDS - Sometimes a little bit of bad luck can change the momentum in the game. Ridge View was up early against River Valley on Friday night before senior Jake Tokheim came down awkwardly on an ankle. The momentum swung towards River Valley as the Raptors were unable to regroup in a 52-38 loss to end their year...

IDA GROVE - Earlier in the season the Alta-Aurelia Warriors boys took on East Sac County on the road and dropped a 12 point decision. They made up for it on Friday night, holding off the Raiders in a thrilling 52-51 victory to move to the 2A-District 15 final on Tuesday night...

NEWELL - The Newell-Fonda Mustangs were ready on Friday night in 1A-District 16 play. Despite it being a week since their last game, the Mustangs came out with defensive intensity against Paton-Churdan, holding them to just 14 first half points enroute to an 80-34 victory to advance in District play...

NEWELL - The Newell-Fonda girls’ defense was once again causing havoc against an opposing team. They were able to slow down Ar-We-Va on Friday night, taking a 73-42 victory to advance to the 1A-Region 8 final. “This was a game that didn’t have great flow. I felt at times both teams were playing a little out of control,” N-F Coach Dick Jungers said. “I was very pleased with our defensive intensity and we made things tough on Emily Danner who is a tremendous player.”...

ROCKWELL CITY - Sometimes when playoff ball hits, a team can get hot and begin to upset the favored teams. Earlier last week, Ridge View managed to upend Sioux Central on the road, and on Friday night they sprung their second straight upset in 2A-Region 2 play. The Raptors upended the no. 14 South Central Calhoun Titans on the road, 63-53...

SIOUX RAPIDS - Following the win on Wednesday night, St. Mary’s had some confidence going into their second meeting of the year against Sioux Central on Friday evening in 1A-District 16 play. However, a stifling Rebel defense mixed with hot night from senior Preston Samson gave Sioux Central a 71-37 win over St. Mary’s to remain unbeaten against 1A teams this year...

DES MOINES - Another year of the State wrestling tournament has come and gone for the multitude of grapplers who all had the hopes of making it to Wells Fargo Arena. Two area wrestlers were both able to reach the podium when it was all said and done on Saturday. In 3A, Storm Lake senior Aaron Ungs managed to finish eighth at 195, and Alta-Aurelia senior Nick Gaes was the 1A runner-up at 220...

Governor Reynolds calls new legislation to increase education funding by 2 percent “historic” for preK-12 funding. Some school district superintendents beg to differ. The legislation, which advanced through the Iowa Legislature last week with Reynold’s blessing, would increase funding to public schools by nearly $90 million, including $19 million for the transportation equity fund and $2.9 million for per-student equity issues...