Stories from Friday, July 17, 2020

MidAmerican Energy Company today announced a 50% increase in rebate amounts for certain high-efficiency equipment that residential and small business customers in Iowa and Illinois purchase through the end of the year. The increased residential customer rebates apply to high-efficiency air conditioners, high-efficiency heat pumps and smart thermostats. ...

Walmart will require customers at all of its U.S. stores to wear masks beginning July 20, as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads to 3.3 million positive cases nationwide. All stores will have only a single entrance open. “Health Ambassadors” in black polo shirts will be posted at the entries of the stores including Storm Lake’s, to stop customers who do not have masks and help them find a solution. ...

Sterk Financial Services is pleased to announce the opening of a new branch office in Storm Lake, Iowa. Financial advisor Lindsay Brechwald will lead the office and is available by appointment only. “We are expanding our locations to be better able to serve clients who share our Midwest family values and local roots.” said Brechwald. “Storm Lake is a wonderful location to serve both the diverse local population and to connect in with the surrounding farm and ag based small communities.”...

While farmers have had to contend with all sorts of challenges over the past years due to precipitation and flooding, this year the weather has been much kinder to the crops growing in fields throughout the region. Area agriculture professionals who’ve been out in the fields said the only thing that could potentially cause havoc as we head through the summer is hot weather...

The folk duo Fishin’ for Olives returns to the InnSpiraton Vines & Wines stage Sunday, July 19, 3-5 p.m. Join Tommy Lee and Aunt Bee for some picking and harmony. The Gary and Dani Show will be the following Sunday at 6:30.

Undoubtedly, the first thing one would ask about Tiffany Midge’s biting satire Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s is why a Native author would take Dee Brown’s seminal Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee as inspiration for her book’s title. Brown’s serious epic is one of those works that changed how America thinks about Native people. ...

The Clay County Fair announced the rescheduling of Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone with special guest Gary Lewis & The Playboys as part of the SRG Concert Series in the Sleep Number Grandstand at the 2021 Clay County Fair at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12...

The Highwaymen Live will be in concert Saturday, July 25 in a free show for all ages at Preservation Plaza, next to the amusement park in Arnolds Park. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. The Highwaymen Live is a musical tribute to Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash as The Highwaymen, bringing three top solo performers to the stage together...

Jay Slight has resigned as principal of Storm Lake Middle School. He has accepted a new position in Ankeny as principal at Northview Middle School.  Earlier this month, Slight submitted the resignation, effective immediately. “It is both a time of sadness when I think about leaving such a wonderful district, but also a time of great excitement as I pursue a new leadership opportunity. ...

A representative of an area coalition of immigrant and labor groups is asking the City of Storm Lake to help pressure a local meatpacking company to reveal specifics of how it has handled an outbreak of COVID-19. Joanne Alvorez spoke to the council recently during a “hear the public” session, asking for support...

In response to a federal judge ordering the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) effective August 5, the environmental activism group Bold Iowa is calling on the Iowa Utilities Board to reconsider its decision to allow Energy Transfer to double the flow of oil through the pipeline...

Crews work on improving the rail crossing at Highway 7 and Abner Bell Road on the west edge of Storm Lake. Local officials have pushed for protections at the crossing, which is located between the elementary/middle school area and the 90th Avenue site for the new Early Elementary School where construction is getting underway. ...

Rik Zortman, of Coralville, has made a name for himself — the #humanetchasketch — by spelling the names of children who have lost to, battled or are currently fighting cancer. Armed with a running app and GPS, he spells out their names, phrases or symbols as the GPS tracks his runs through their hometowns. ...

A dose of great news hit Storm Lake High School senior Fletcher Kucera this spring, bringing joy to a student-athlete in need of a good break. “I was pretty happy when I heard the news,” Kucera says of his qualification for one of the 15 Invest in Rural Iowa Scholarships being awarded by Buena Vista University to members of the 2020-21 freshman class. ...

A youngster hangs in midair during a dive off the high board at King’s Pointe waterpark in Storm Lake. The park belatedly opened for the season recently after COVID-19 concerns, and has seen the crowds growing in the steamy weather. /Pilot photo by Dana Larsen...

April 14, 1958 - July 18, 2020

May 27, 1940 - July 9, 2020

May 6, 1930 - July 10, 2020

March 3, 1934 - July 13, 2020

Families United Action Network, www.familiesunite.org), announced today that District Court Judge Patrick Tott found a mother in contempt of court who was attempting to limit a father’s summer visitation because of COVID-19 concerns. The father, Jerry Beavers of the Sioux City area, has court ordered summer parenting time or “visitation” with his two minor children but was denied that time when his ex-wife refused to turn over the children to him during Memorial Day weekend. ...

On Monday July 13, at 3:40 pm the Storm Lake Police Department arrested a wanted subject at 1409 Seneca St. in Storm Lake, Iowa identified as Jaime Zaragoza-Colon age 22 of Storm Lake.  Zaragoza-Colon was wanted on a Buena Vista County warrant charging him with the following:...

The 3A District Court Judicial Nominating Commission has received eight applications for the upcoming vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Don E. Courtney on Oct. 1. Among those on the list are: Ashley A. Herrig of Storm Lake, Spencer attorney Bridget Bailey, Lisa Mazurek of Cherokee, and other candidates from Rock Rapids, Spirit Lake and Algona...

Skaters planning to try out their kickflips at the skate park in East Leach have to find a new venue for an entire week as the city announced the park’s immediate closure on Monday. The city’s announcement came through a letter penned by Spencer Recreation Director Jared Elbert, who wrote that his department takes pride in keeping parks areas clean and well maintained for the public but there is also a responsibility on the users of the park system and suggested the Spencer skate park has not been treated well.. ...

The state auditor said Tuesday that the Iowa Department of Public Health is violating the law and exposing Iowans to greater health risk through the delayed reporting of COVID-19 test results. Auditor of State Rob Sand issued a report Tuesday that alleges the results from the COVID-19 testing conducted through the Test Iowa program are not being passed immediately to IDPH, as the law requires. ...

Valued partners for years, Buena Vista University (BVU) and Buena Vista Regional Medical Center (BVRMC) agreed to terms recently within BVU’s new Strategic Partnership initiative, which will enhance both entities while further strengthening the region...

Nathan Tun, age 25, of Storm Lake, received a deferred judgement in Buena Vista County District Court following an investigation by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau for his part in a scheme in which he made a fraudulent submission to an insurer (Class D felony)...

The four Catholic Diocese bishops from Iowa issued a statement Monday supporting immigrants in DACA and asylum programs. “Recently, these days are not easy in our country. We see new instances of overt racism, the return of capital punishment at the federal level, a pandemic sickening and killing thousands of people, the possibility of thousands of young people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status being deported, and proposed sweeping, negative changes in the U.S. ...

For the Class of Quaran20, high school careers came to an end with a whimper, not a bang. But wait… Storm Lake school district officials promised the departing seniors that if there was any way to safely have an in-person graduation ceremony or a prom, they would pursue it...

The Buena Vista County Fair, one of the few surviving summer events in the region, saw a turnout of between 3,800 and 4,000 guests this year, nearly the same as last year’s event despite COVID-19 concerns. Clare Peters, daughter of Steve and Deb Peters, from the Providence Go-Getters Storm Lake 4-H Club, preps for a livestock show at the fair, which wrapped up Monday with all of its planned events intact. / Photo by Stephanie Lynam...

The COVID-19 test site in Storm Lake has been extended to at least August 7, and will be moving to the Sunrise Pointe Golf Course parking lot. Today will be the final day at the Storm Lake High School parking lot site, with moving to take place over the weekend and the golf course location opening Monday...

“We need to be sure we are not creating a Petri dish experiment with COVID. The single most important thing we can do as a community is commit to wearing masks, keeping our social distance, washing hands and all of those things we know we should do. Places that thought they were done with it are getting it again because they opened too soon… If we can keep our COVID rate down and keep the spread rate down, we will be more likely to be able to keep our kids in school.”