Stories from Monday, March 2, 2020

WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) urged support for preserving Minor League Baseball clubs across the country, including those in Davenport, Burlington and Clinton, in response to Major League Baseball’s (MLB) proposal to eliminate 42 teams nationwide...

DECATUR, Ill. - The Buena Vista softball team was held to just two total runs on Saturday as the Beavers fell twice to Calvin College by scores of 10-1 (5 inn.) and 6-1. The Knights scored six runs in the first inning of the opener to take control before adding two runs in each of the next two innings. The first two runs to cross came on bases loaded walks as Beaver pitching allowed eight free passes in the contest...

TOPEKA, Kan. - The Buena Vista baseball team remained perfect on the year with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday afternoon against Grinnell College at the Bettis Sports Complex. The Beavers scored in each of the first four innings of the opener before breaking the game open with four runs in the seventh inning to win 15-7. Game two was a pitcher’s duel until the sixth inning where BVU plated seven runs en route to a 9-3 victory...

CEDAR RAPIDS – Six GK Storm gymnasts competed in the Winter Wonderland meet last weekend (Feb. 21-23). The individual competitors came home with several medals, and Bronze gymnast Alexis Cole was an all-around champion. Alexis Cole placed first all around in her age group with an all-around score of 37.025. She was first on floor (9.550) and beam (9.475), tied for fifth on bars (9.050), and placed sixth on vault (9.000) to become the all-around champion...

With the final Twin Lakes Conference boys team falling on Saturday night, the conference released their All-Conference teams along with Coach of the Year. To recap the conference; South Central Calhoun took home the championship after a 10-1 record. Newell-Fonda was second with a 9-2 record, Sioux Central tied for fifth with a 7-4 mark, Alta-Aurelia eighth after going 4-7 and St. Mary’s tied for 11th after going 1-11...

Since the end of the 2016-17 season where the Newell-Fonda girls basketball team lost by a point in a regional final, they have lost just one game. That lone loss in the past three seasons was the 2018 1A title game against Springville. Since that time, the Mustangs have yet to suffer a loss and are three wins away from their second straight 1A State Championship...

Local band Fond of Flyers will be visiting at Screwie Louie’s is Newell, Saturday, March 14. The show starts at 9 p.m. The trio of Mike on vocals and guitar, Josh on vocals and bass and Ponyboy on drums recently played at Lake Avenue Lounge, and are booking other shows around the area. The party-minded band offers both originals and covers...

Rock’n, Bac’n, Brew’n festival returns to the Clay County Fair events center in Spencer, Saturday, March 28, 3-10 p.m. Samples of craft beer and bacon specialties plus a rock’n good time with one of the midwest’s most popular bands, The Dweebs. Sampling for the event will be from 3-6 p.m...

A Peter Pan story told from Wendy’s perspective sounds either too precious to be true or ripe for a skewering. But in the hands of the filmmakers behind “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” “Wendy” resides — ever so delicately — in the space between. It is an achingly earnest, feral, transporting and (very) loose reimagining of the classic J.M. Barrie tale about not wanting to grow up...

Nerdy Nights at the Witter Gallery is a chance to produce an art or crafts project based on pop culture fandom. This month’s event produced creatures based on Japanese folklore-inspired animation. Contact the gallery for more information about upcoming Nerdy Nights. / Pilot photos by Dana Larsen...

The Siouxland community has the opportunity to attend a free skin cancer screening at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center on Tuesday, March 24 from 5-7:30 pm. To register, please call (712) 252-9302. Walk-ins will be welcome, but scheduling an appointment is strongly encouraged to reduce your wait time...

Caring for a child with a chronic health condition or special behavioral needs can be an emotional journey. The daily unpredictability can add to family stress. But caregivers can find help with Powerful Tools for Caregivers, says Malisa Rader, a human sciences specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach...

Following the wet and late harvest of 2019, several Midwest states are on the edge of a dangerous cliff when it comes to emptying their grain bins. Conditions are aligning to create the potential for tragic accidents and grain suffocation deaths to occur when grain bins start to be emptied...

Iowa’s health professionals are prepared for the coronavirus, or CoVid 19, as cases continues to rise across the globe, according to Governor Kim Reynolds. Reynolds told ABC affiliate Local 5 that Iowa’s leaders are meeting daily to talk about the potential impact of the illness in the state...

After being challenged for both recanvassing and later recounting by the Bernie Sanders campaign, no changes resulted in the Storm Lake Precinct 1 Democrat caucus site results. Sanders won the precinct of 42 participants, but the resulting local delegate total remains two each for Sanders, Buttegieg and Warren, one for Yang...

The City of Storm Lake would like to invite the community to come and meet Mayor Porsch. The Mayor will be joined by members of the Census 2020 Complete Count Committee and will share information on the 2020 Census. Meet the Mayor is scheduled for March 4, from 11 am -1 p.m. and 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at Chautauqua Park Shelter House...

We are in week seven of the session, and the House is making the turn from committee work to floor debate. Bills that survived last week’s funnel must be approved by the full House, move over to the Senate and win approval in a policy committee there to remain alive for the session. This is not to say those bills are dead, but they are on life support. Bills that have not made it through the funnel have a strange ability to be resurrected as amendments to bills that are still viable...

This was the first week after the funnel, so the House of Representatives debated and passed around 35 bills. Most of these were non-controversial and received unanimous support. A couple of bills carried a little more controversary and passed pretty much along party lines. ...

Funeral services for Lois R. Smith, 89, of Aurelia, will be Monday, March 2, at 10:30 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Aurelia with Pastor Kim Dewey and Pastor Henrietta Klarenbeek officiating. Visitation was Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Aurelia. Burial will be at Afton Township Cemetery, rural Cherokee. The Redig Funeral Home in Aurelia is in charge of arrangements. In lieu of flowers memorials may be directed to the First United Methodist Church...

The Reverend Jim Mossman has been named Director of Evangelical Mission (DEM) for the Western Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Pastor Mossman’s new call is a partnership between the ELCA’s churchwide ministries and the Western Iowa Synod. As Director of Evangelical Mission, he will be work with congregations in the areas of stewardship, mission support, congregational vitality and evangelism...

Though the fields are still covered in snow, the typical start for planting is fast approaching, and farmers across the state will soon begin preparing to sow the coming season’s harvest. Paul Kassel, field agronomist with Iowa State University’s Extension and Outreach Office in Spencer, said the region’s soil currently has plenty of moisture in it thanks to last fall’s rains. ...

A Storm Lake civic club is going to work on an effort to establish a new park. The city used a Department of Natural Resources grant to obtain the site of a former burned-out greenhouse at Russell and 5th streets, with plans to make the site into a neighborhood park. ...

A Sioux City mother has complained to the local school board after she said her sixth-grade daughter suffered a broken arm and elbow at the hands of two classmates carrying out a viral online prank. The woman said Monday night during a school board meeting that her daughter had been hurt on Feb. ...

The Iowa Rural Water Association (IRWA) is pleased to announce that Julie Sievers with ISG of Storm Lake, Iowa has been inducted into the IRWA Hall of Fame. Mrs. Sievers was presented this honor during the Iowa Rural Water Association’s 45th Annual Conference held at the Veteran’s Memorial Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center February 17-19 in Des Moines...

The ALS Association and Project ALS has announced a joint two-year, $900,000 commitment to fund a clinical research study at Columbia University Irving Medical Center of an experimental drug for patients with a rare genetic form of ALS. The program is a key step in developing a comprehensive program to treat rare forms of ALS associated with gene mutations...

Buena Vista Regional Healthcare Foundation has been selected as a beneficiary for the month of March in the Hy-Vee Reusable Bag Program that supports local non-profits. Buena Vista Regional Healthcare Foundation will receive a $1 donation every time a $2.50 red “My Heart” Reusable Bag is purchased at Storm Lake Hy-Vee during March...

Buena Vista University freshman Mister McNaughton spotted BVU President Joshua Merchant on his way through Siebens Forum recently. McNaughton extended his hand and said, “I’m glad you brought agriculture here.” McNaughton, the first recipient of the Joshua & Carrie Merchant Scholarship in Agriculture Fund, relishes how agriculture helped bring him to BVU, and how the industry continues to take him places. ...