Stories from Monday, April 8, 2019

On the morning of Thursday, April 4, at approximately 11:25 a.m. Storm Lake Police arrested a wanted person. Police observed a wanted person at the Royal Laundromat located at 223 West Milwaukee Avenue. Police made contact with and arrested Terrence Bobbitt, age 24 of Storm Lake who was wanted out of Buena Vista County on a warrant charging him with Failure to Appear in Court reference Interference With Official Acts and Criminal Mischief 5th Degree...

On the evening of Thursday, April 4, at approximately 10:16 p.m. the Storm Lake Police Department responded to 531 Russell Street Apartment #2 in reference to a welfare check related to a possible domestic assault. Upon arrival of police they met with an adult female who alleged that her boyfriend had physically assaulted her, threatened to choke her until she stopped breathing then intimidated and threatened her in such a fashion that she was afraid to leave the apartment or call for help...

Gov. Kim Reynolds in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Transportation, has announced an initiative new to Iowa designed to help teen drivers and their parents more safely navigate the early years of driving. The Parent’s Supervised Driving Program gives parents and guardians a simple, easy-to-follow plan designed to encourage safe driving habits. ...

Although statewide precipitation was slightly below average in March, a combination of high precipitation in Nebraska, snowmelt and rapid runoff led to historic flooding along the Missouri River, according to the latest Water Summary Update. “March precipitation in Iowa was just slightly below normal, but the storm in the middle of the month brought significant rain to Iowa and Nebraska, which resulted in the extensive flooding that occurred in western Iowa,” said Tim Hall, DNR’s coordinator of hydrology resources.. ...

Historical finds are called just that for a reason. If the item or items were out in plain sight, they wouldn’t really be much of a find. Nancy and Norm Hill found themselves with a new project about a year and a half ago when members of Sutherland’s American Legion post discovered a bit of local World War II history stashed in a closet...

UCHC staff met with their Partners In Excellence students in March. March is sleep awareness month and staff took the opportunity to discuss the importance of sleep with the students from Mrs.Leow’s class.

Northwest Iowa Autism Network is hosting its first event, the In It Together Autism Walk from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 27, on the Clay County Fairgrounds. Last year’s first In It Together Autism Walk gathered more than 600 people from all across northwest Iowa, with more than 100 attendees from as far as the Twin Cities, Iowa City, Des Moines, Sioux Falls and Sioux City...

United Community Health Center offered a booth at last week’s Storm Lake Elementary Family Fun Night, with graphic representations of the amount of sugar in popular beverages such as soda, bottled coffee, sports and energy drinks. At right, Buena Vista County Public Health also offered a booth, and gave children attending personal grooming kits...

Despite being a sophomore, Mason McGrew has already produced and directed a TV series showing at 5 p.m. Saturdays on KCAU Channel 9 in Sioux City. “Buena Vista University Quiz Bowl,” an Iowa Quiz Bowl League academic competition in a game-show style setting, features teams from 20 Iowa high schools and one from South Sioux City High School in Nebraska. ...

IV Play will appear in an outdoor concert at King’s Pointe in Storm Lake, Saturday, June 6. Showtime is 9 p.m. The Mankato-based band gets everyone out of their seats with a mixture of pop rock covers from the likes of Motley Crue, Bruno Mars, Styx, Lady Gaga and Keith Urban...

Matthew McConaughey is at his dirt bag finest as a good-time Charlie stoner-poet named Moondog in Harmony Korine’s “The Beach Bum,” a bizarre and transfixing carnival of vulgarity and vice. In some ways it’s the part he was born to play. Whether or not that’s a good thing for him, or unsuspecting audiences, is unclear, but McConaughey gives and bares (nearly) all for this film. ...

The City of Storm Lake continues to stress its code enforcement efforts as a way to clean up the community. During the last two weeks of March, the Police Department initiated 65 contacts on violations. With most situations handled voluntarily by property owners or occupants, no citations were filed...

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Buena Vista Regional Medical Center participates in the Period of PURPLE Crying® program. BVRMC provides new parents with evidence-based education and resources to prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome through the Period of PURPLE Crying® program...

Charles Barkley. Dick Vitale. Dan Patrick.  Those names figure prominently in Cody Voga’s work this week as the Auburn Tigers prepare for their first Final Four appearance in the NCAA Division I Men’s National Basketball Championship. Voga, a 2013 BVU graduate, serves as assistant director of athletic communications at Auburn University. His primary sport: men’s basketball...

We are at that time in the session when the Legislature slowly makes the turn away from policy bills and begins to concentrate on the budget. The second funnel is this Friday. Policy bills need to have passed in one chamber and been approved in committee in the opposite chamber, in order to remain alive. ...

The second funnel week is over, so the list of bills eligible for debate continues to shrink. More importantly, by next Monday, we will be past day 85 of a 110 day session, so time is growing short. The good news is that some legislation is being thrown overboard and will not be debated this session. ...

Storm Lake Mayor Mike Porsch hopes to see Storm Lake pride blooming this spring. At last week’s city council meeting, Porsch declared the first Storm Lake Proud Beautification Week, April 29-May 5, which he envisions as a chance for the public to step up and help improve their community - a beginning for what he hopes will be an ongoing movement...

“You are important to me. You count,” said Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke to a crammed Better Day Cafe, recounting his philosophy as he made his last campaign through Texas, no matter “how red, or how rural, or how blue or how urban.” It was that message that resonated with all types in the crowd jockeying for standing room to see the man to who lost his campaign to Sen. ...

Online campaign has instant impact, seeking to give a young area woman the chance at life that her twin sister never had “Time is not on my side, but I have hope. I have one life. I want to fight for it with everything I’ve got.” So says Jaci Hermstad, a Storm Lake native who is battling the sudden onset of a rare form of ALS - the same disease that claimed the life of her identical twin sister Alexandra. Jaci was diagnosed on Valentine’s Day, eight years to the day from her sister’s death...

FORT DODGE - The Storm Lake girls tennis team got their season underway on Friday night against the St. Edmond Gaels. The green and white picked up a meet win with a 6-3 score over the Gaels. “It was a perfect night for tennis,” SL Coach Staci Maloy said. “The girls were very nervous, but overcame that to go home with a win!”...

CHEROKEE - Four area girls track teams went to the Tomahawk girls relays as three of them were in the 1A class, and one in the 2A. In the 1A class, Alta-Aurelia took fifth, Newell-Fonda sixth and Sioux Central 11th. In 2A, Ridge View claimed sixth. In all, there were 20 teams competing across the two classes...

NEWELL - Despite the windy, wet and cool conditions on Thursday night. the St. Mary’s and Newell-Fonda golf teams decided to go ahead and get nine holes in. The Mustang boys and girls both walked away with their second win of the week, the N-F boys winning 178-227, and the girls winning 216 to no team score...

HUMBOLDT/FORT DODGE - The Storm Lake boys soccer team, ranked fourth in the 2A Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association, overcame a slow start on Thursday night against the Humboldt Wildcats to take an 8-2 victory. “We were a bit disorganized to start the game and they were able to get a quick goal on us,” SL Coach Ben Schekirke said...

STORM LAKE - The Storm Lake girls took on the Humboldt Wildcats on Friday night and walked away with a gut wrenching 1-0 loss albeit with some controversy. “It’s tough to have a game be ‘taken’ from you on a call - myself, (assistant coach) Erin Nelson, and the kicker, Cynthia Rodriguez, all verified it was a direct kick prior to taking it,” SL Coach Alison Myrute said. ...

An hour in Nurse Twyla's shadow shows skeptics school nursing is more than pushing pills.