Stories from Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Iowa on Friday registered its largest daily jump in coronavirus cases since May, leading health officials in the worst-affected parts of the state to warn people to take the threat more seriously and to stop congregating in bars and other places in large numbers...

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, made a visit to Spencer Tuesday as part of her 99-county tour. The senator stopped at Grand Avenue Community Outreach and met with the Grand Avenue Community Outreach board as well as local and state government officials inside the former Tangney Hotel space where the group toured the building and the ministries housed in the outreach...

A couple of vintage local fire trucks come steaming around the curve at Circle Park, making an impromptu parade route pass of their own on the 4th of July, though the traditional parade was canceled this summer.

UnityPoint Health-Berryhill Center is pleased to announce the launch of a Mobile Crisis Response Team in oout of Fort Dodge. The Mobile Crisis Response Team provides on-site, face-to-face mental health services for an individual or family experiencing a mental health crisis with their voluntary consent. ...

In rural areas like Iowa and Nebraska, where manual labor dominates the work scene on farming operations, the rate of physical injury is often higher. That means the need for pain relief can frequently occur and resources to help manage long term pain may not be readily available to those who need it. All these factors contribute to the risk for becoming opioid dependent...

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently announced that video Telehealth appointments to Veterans’ homes increased over 1000%, as Veterans increasingly chose virtual care through VA Video Connect (VVC) during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Des Moines/Iowa, the VA Central Iowa Health Care System has conducted over 7,575 VVC Telehealth appointments between May through July 1st, 2020...

Buena Vista Regional Medical Center and Buena Vista Anesthesia Associates welcomes Angela Boll, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), to Storm Lake. CRNAs work in BVRMC’s Surgical Services Department providing anesthesia services to surgical patients...

Season tickets are now on sale for the 2020-2021 Storm Lake Community Education Pertorming Arts Series. After much of the current season had to be cancelled, the series picks up again in October with an ambitious and eclectic slate of pertormances for the Storm Lake High School Auditorium stage...

Audrey Meyers, age 96 of Early, passed away peacefully on Saturday, July 4, at the Good Samaritan Center in Holstein. Audrey Arlene Meyers was born on January 4, 1924, to parents Fred and Gladys (Carlson) Voss in Lake Creek Township, Calhoun County, IA. She was baptized as a youth and was a member of the Early Presbyterian Church and later the Nemaha United Methodist Church. Audrey attended country school in Wall Lake Township and later achieved her G.E.D...

Colby Snyder’s college choice was influenced by a college class; a college class he took during high school. “I took a college-level computer science class at Buena Vista University with Dr. Jason Shepherd (BVU Professor of Computer Science),” says Snyder, a graduate of St. Mary’s High School in Storm Lake. “I liked Dr. Shepherd so much, I decided on BVU.”...

The Storm Lake City Council is diving into the dumpster issue. City officials have received complaints of trash piling up and blowing around in the central business district. The council held a recent work session to discuss the situation. Although it was noted that a vital downtown with vehicle and pedestrian traffic will generate some litter issues, problems are being caused by trash overflowing or piled next to trash containers in the alleys, and then blowing around. ...

The SW and NW 4-H Program was recently awarded a grant through the Iowa 4-H Foundation for their programming the area includes BV county. The Iowa 4-H Foundation is proud to offer grant support to state, regional, and county 4-H programs each year valued at more than $200,000. This summer, grants have been awarded to programs from over twenty counties across the state of Iowa, each offering a wide variety of 4-H opportunities and experiences...

Elijah Zaiger came to Buena Vista University with much of his focus on baseball. He leaves as a graduate, soon to command a $16-million Blackhawk helicopter for the U.S. Army. A lot can change in four short years. “I came to BVU to play baseball,” says Zaiger, an accomplished prep on the diamond at Audubon High School. “BVU also has a good track record with the Siebens School of Business, so that’s what I was thinking about academically.”...

Have you ever had to cut your day short because of severe leg pain? Pain or discomfort in the legs is a common symptom of a disease called peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Arteries are the blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrient rich blood from the heart to all areas of the body. ...

The City of Storm Lake is asking residents for help in using water “in a smart and conservative manner” as water usage has significantly increase in the last few weeks. While there is no mandatory water conservation order in affect the amount of water being used on a daily based by all users of the Storm Lake water system has increased steadily over several hot days...

With the effects of a pandemic lingering, area schools may need to lean on substitute teachers more than ever. But will those shoulders be there? “We’re really not sure,” Storm Lake Superintendent of Schools Stacey Cole told the Pilot-Tribune. “We know this is a vulnerable population that may not return in the fall.”...

One Storm Lake City Council member wants to see a plan for dealing with invasive zebra mussels in the lake. “The lake is a huge part of our community, as anyone who comes here could tell you,” Tyson Rice said during a recent meeting, suggesting a council work session on the issue in the near future...

Dr. Norman Nielsen reflected on all that Buena Vista University has meant to him on the eve of his stepping down as BVU Board of Trustees Chairman on June 30, thus concluding a remarkable eight-year tenure, one of the longest in recent BVU history. He will remain as a member of the Board of Trustees as Mike Pierce ascends to the Chairman’s role...

Storm Lake school district leaders tramped through a slightly muddy field on the west edge of Storm Lake Friday morning for a ceremonial groundbreaking for the community’s newest school building, the heavy machinery growling in the background with site work already underway...