Stories from Monday, November 25, 2019

The annual Adopt-A-Family for Christmas program begins today. The Pilot-Tribune and Upper Des Moines Opportunity co-sponsor the program each year, matching generous individuals, families, businesses, clubs, classrooms and church groups with needy local families to provide the Christmas experience they might otherwise not have...

The final Christmasy touches are being applied to Santa’s Castle, Storm Lake’s holiday showplace, to prepare for the Thanksgiving Day opening. “The theme for this year is ‘Writing a Letter to Santa,” says curator and head elf Ron Stevenson. “We’ve taken letters that children have sent to Santa here and hung them up all over the Castle for our visitors to read and enjoy. It really adds a new touch to the place.”...

Overcome with emotion, one student couldn’t go on reading. Another took the paper from her hands and picked up where the first had stopped. One after another, stories of violence, sexual abuse, bullying and mental illness were read by student volunteers in a unique Survivor’s Forum at Buena Vista University Tuesday night...

Area favorite Johnny Holm Band will be next up in the new Roof Garden Concert Series at the famous amusement park at Arnolds Park. The show is November 30, 8 p.m. Tickets are $17. An epitome of the mid-western summer festival band, the Minneapolis-based band plays covers of their audience’s favorite songs from almost every famous genre spanning numerous musical eras. ...

An evening of fun, wild game food and door prizes is planned at Bethel Baptist Church in Newell, Saturday, January 25. The event is 5-8 p.m., doors open at 4:30. Admission is a $10 donation. What’s cooking? Hog roast and venison with sides, plus samples of bighorn sheep, grizzly, moose, caribou, pheasant, fish, and wild turkey soup...

Veteran rockers KISS say goodbye after over 40 years of rock ’n’ roll hysteria with its “End of the Road” tour. A northwest Iowa concert was recently added to the tour. Tickets went on sale Friday for the Feb. 21 show at Tyson Events Center in Sioux City. Tickets are $161.50-$452.50...

It’s all set. The 20th anniversary edition of “KeeLive” - the former Cherokee Jazz & Blues Festival - is fast approaching. The venues, acts and schedules are solidified, bringing to Cherokee some of the regions top musical acts set for Friday and Saturday, Jan. 17 and 18...

The first of Iowa’s two shotgun deer seasons opens on Dec. 7, and while optimism for a successful hunt is the primary focus, hunters are encouraged to brush up on safe hunting practices. Basic firearm rules are pretty straight forward: treat every firearm as though it were loaded; always point the muzzle in a safe direction; be sure of your target and what’s beyond it; keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot...

For many Iowans, a Thanksgiving Day pheasant hunt is as much a part of the holiday tradition as football, battling over the last turkey leg and an afternoon nap, and this year’s outing may be one of the best. “North of Interstate 80, things are shaping up for the Thanksgiving holiday to have good pheasant hunting – our bird numbers are stable and the crop harvest was late - hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate,” said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife research biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. ...

Personnel from three different law enforcement agencies converged on downtown Spirit Lake Wednesday morning to execute a pair of search warrants and, ultimately, perform a pair of arrests. Authorities conducted the two searches simultaneously at approximately 9 a.m. ...