Stories from Monday, January 13, 2020

SIOUX RAPIDS - The Sioux Central girls were able to defend their home court in a Twin Lakes Conference contest on Friday night against West Bend-Mallard, taking a 41-23 decision for their seventh win of the year. The Rebels had an eight point lead after the first quarter and saw it reach 13 points at halftime, 21-8. WB-M cut that lead to 10 going to the fourth quarter, but the Rebel defense held them scoreless through the final eight minutes to come away with the 18 point victory...

SIOUX CITY - It was a special game on Friday for the Newell-Fonda Mustang girls as they played at the Tyson Events Center against South Sioux City. The Mustangs were able to use a strong third quarter to pull away for good against the Nebraska school, taking a 76-46 contest to move to 11-0 on the season...

STORM LAKE - The St. Mary’s Panthers entered Friday night’s game against South Central Calhoun with a little bit of momentum but they were halted by a tough zone defense. The Titans were able to slow down the Panthers, keeping them out of the paint for most of the night, as SM fell in a 60-36 decision...

SIOUX RAPIDS - Despite getting to what Coach Stephen Tjaden called a slow start, the Sioux Central Rebels played lockdown defense against West Bend-Mallard on Friday night. The Rebels took a 59-23 decision for their fifth win of the year. The Rebels led 26-7 at halftime and outscored the Wolverines 33-16 in the second half...

HOLSTEIN - The Ridge View Raptors were able to get back on the winning track Friday night as they were able to down the Westwood Rebels, 53-45. Ridge View held a three point lead after the first quarter and was up by five going to intermission, 25-20. The Raptors continued to see their lead grow in the third and took a 35-27 score to the fourth. Both teams scored 18 points in the final eight minutes of the game...

NEWELL - The Newell-Fonda boys basketball team have been lighting up the scoreboard since coming out of winter break and Thursday night was no exception. Newell-Fonda hung 86 points on Pocahontas Area in an 86-72 win. PAC led by one after the first frame, but the Mustangs battled back to take a four point advantage at halftime, 41-37. ...

ALTA - It was back to the Twin Lakes Conference slate on Friday night for Alta-Aurelia as they took on Southeast Valley. The Jaguars, coming in on a hot streak, continued that at the expense of the Warriors, A-A falling in an 80-54 decision. The Warriors trailed by just three points after the first quarter, but SEV began to pull away in the second, taking a 34-23 score at intermission. Alta-Aurelia found zero answers against the Jaguars, trailing 63-38 after three quarters...

SIOUX CITY - It was a busy Saturday for the Storm Lake wrestlers as they competed in five duals at the Sioux City East Dual Invitational. The Tornadoes were able to best Bishop Heelan, Boyden-Hull/ Rock Valley and Western Christian, but fell to Sioux City East and Norfolk, Neb...

HULL - The Storm Lake boys basketball team got off to a slow start on Friday night in a Lakes Conference road game against Western Christian. That’s all the Wolfpack needed as they jumped on the Tornadoes from the outset, Storm Lake finding it hard to recover, as they dropped a 93-58 decision to fall to 4-4 on the season...

Frozen Family Fun Day is set for Sunday, January 19, 2-5 p.m., sponsored by Ida County Conservation Board and Northwest Iowa Nature Network. Enjoy free sledding, ice fishing, snowshoe hikes, s’mores, soup, and cocoa, followed by an owl prowl at 5 p.m. ...

Next up for KeeLive Entertainers next up for the KeeLive Festival in Cherokee Jan. 17-18 are blue’s musician Kevin Burt , and local rock band favorites Jimmy Davis and Friends. Burt will be performing at the Brightside Lounge on Saturday, January 18, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Jimmy Davis and Friends will be performing at the Gathering Place on Saturday, January 18, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m...

Clay County Heritage announced two new exhibits opening at the Heritage Center starting in January 2020. A new interactive exhibit about the Spencer Fire of 1931 is available in the Dvergsten Gallery at the Heritage Center. This interactive exhibit utilizes a touchscreen to navigate the user through a map of downtown Spencer in 1931, chronicling the story of the fateful fire on June 27, 1931. ...

Rachael Kilgour will be in concert Sunday, January 19 at Byron’s in Pomeroy. Rachael is a Minnesotan songwriter and performing artist whose sincere, lyric-driven work has been called both brave and humane. The 2015 grand prize winner of the esteemed international NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition and winner of the 2017 Kerrville New Folk Contest, Kilgour has been featured at NYC’s Lincoln Center, at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and at the Sundance Film Festival. ...

It’s been a good time for World War I buffs — especially if they’re also movie buffs. A year ago director Peter Jackson applied state-of-the-art technology to century-old war footage to bring the Great War alive with sudden, stunning immediacy in his documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old.”...

The Storm Lake Public Library is planning towards its annual Winter Puzzle Contest, scheduled for February 22. The library plans to expand the competition from four teams to five for 2020. In the past, competitors have come from as far as Ankeny and Estherville to take part, as the competition is the only one of its kind in this part of the state...

December 17 is a special day for Carrie Schmidt, it’s her dad’s birthday. Carrie’s dad, Ed Demers, died at the age of 42 from leukemia. Years after his passing she became a Thirty-One bag consultant and found a way to pay tribute to Ed’s memory every year and help patients fighting cancer at Buena Vista Regional Medical Center. This marks the fourth year Carrie has donated the bags...

Second in a Pilot-Tribune Series Both Storm Lake and Iowa officials have launched their efforts in recent days toward a complete count in the upcoming 2020 Census. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the Census. A census is an official, complete count of a population. ...

Despite more than doubling releases from its reservoir system, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers still doesn’t expect to eliminate all the leftover water from last year’s near record runoff that led to massive Missouri River flooding. The Corps had been discharging about twice the normal winter amount from Gavins Point Dam — the southernmost in the six-dam system. ...

Donna Johnson, age 87, of Storm Lake, formerly of Alta, died on Thursday, January 9, at Otsego Place in Storm Lake. Funeral services will be held on Monday, January 13, at 11 a.m. at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake. Burial will be in the Buena Vista Memorial Park Cemetery in Storm Lake. Visitation will take place prior to the service from 9 - 11 a.m. at the funeral home in Storm Lake. The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake is in charge of the arrangements...

On Thursday January 9th, the Storm Lake Police Department and the Buena Vista County Sheriff’s Department teamed up with Iowa Concerns of Police Survivors also known as Iowa C.O.P.S and LifeServe Blood Center to host a “Blue Blood Drive” at Kings Pointe in Storm Lake.  The Blue Blood Drive was held on National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day and honors all law enforcement officers, while providing blood donations to community blood banks and local hospitals.  LifeServe collected 50 whole blood units and 18 double red cell units at the Storm Lake drive.. ...

Storm Lake St. Mary’s High School will be inducting three new members into the Athletic Hall of Fame at the 2020 Homecoming games vs. Manson Northwest-Webster High School on Friday, January 24. The induction ceremony will be between the varsity girls’ and boys’ games...

The Buena Vista Regional Medial Center held an Indoor Triathlon during the month of December. A total of 55 people participated, with 32 finishing the challenge. Sue Jimmerson won a Fitbit as part of the challenge, with included 26.2 miles of running or walking (a full marathon distance), 112 miles of biking, and 24 miles of rowing...

Blood donors who roll up their sleeve to make a lifesaving gift with LifeServe Blood Center can give someone one more year! One blood donation can save up to three local hospital patients. It’s not just trauma victims who need blood; premature babies, cancer patients, transplant recipients, and new mothers can all use blood as part of lifesaving treatment...

Applications are now being accepted for the Bennie B. and Ernestine F. Shine Scholarship, Adam J. Anderson Scholarship, as well as the Cornwall Loan Program. All programs are designed to help area students pursue healthcare careers. The Shine scholarship fund, administered by Spencer Hospital, annually awards funds to persons who have completed at least one semester of a nursing or allied health program, such as radiology, therapy programs (respiratory care, speech, physical or occupational), medical technology, laboratory tech, paramedic training, pharmacy, etc. ...

The Spencer Hospital Board of Trustees conducted a brief special session Friday to tackle a single item, a request to approve awarding a construction contract for the Abben Cancer Center Linear Accelerator Replacement Project. “This project has multiple stages,” said Steve Deutsch, vice president of operations at Spencer Hospital. “So the first stage is, we have to get the building ready for the new accelerator, that project is a construction project.”...

The Buena Vista Regional Medical Center Nursing Scholarship Committee will again be accepting scholarship applications until March 31 for the 2020 – 2021 academic Year. The annual scholarship is $1000. Since its inception in 2003, 115 scholarships have been awarded to area nursing students provided entirely by donations to the scholarship program...

Iowa environmentalists charge that the state government is directly threatening the health of swimmers and other recreationalists by failing to adequately inform the public of risks and by falling behind on a federally required warning system.  The Iowa Department of Natural Resources “is not meeting its legal obligation to submit the (impaired waters) list by the statutory deadline, leaving Iowans in the dark about the status of their waters and putting them at risk,” Michael Schmidt, attorney for the nonprofit Iowa Environmental Council, wrote in formal comments of a proposed list of “impaired waterways.”. ...

“And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.” - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince A group of 11 students from Buena Vista University is exploring the world inside the Harry Potter stories they grew up with, touring in England and Scotland during interim break...

Buena Vista County Democrats are preparing for a busy caucus night February 3, with several viable candidates for president to choose from. “It is important to participate for several reasons. This is the people’s voice for who should be president - the presidential race is not on the primary ballot. ...

For Buena Vista County Republicans, a traditional caucus night is on tap for Monday, February 3. Leaders are confident in President Trump’s re-election chances, but also feel the need to keep the party energized without a race at the top of the card to spur voters to the polls...