Stories from Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Zita Thiele age 106, of Sibley, IA passed away peacefully Sunday, August 9, 2020 at Country View Manor in Sibley, IA. Mass of Christian Burial will be 11:00 a.m. Thursday, August 13, 2020 at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Sibley, IA with Fr. Siby Punnoose, celebrating. Burial will follow in the St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery at Ashton...

Robert Charles Donahoo, the son of Robert Frank and Leona (Niebuhr) Donahoo, was born on March 24, 1937 in Omaha, NE. Robert was raised and attended Brook Consolidated School where he graduated and then went to Buena Vista College for twyears. On May 24, 1958, Robert married Wanda Nothwehr at St. ...

The Storm Lake Public Library will be open until 6 p.m. every Tuesday beginning August 18, for the public to file their 2020 Census information online on several Chromebooks. Those who have not filed are encouraged to take the 4-minute, user-friendly survey before the September 30, deadline...

During the Spencer City Council meeting Monday night, Spencer City Manager Amanda Mack announced that the city of Spencer has once again received the cultural and entertainment district designation from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. The state designation is explained by the department as a way to “formally recognize that a particular locale is an acknowledged cultural destination.”...

• Iowans have watched an average of 429 hours of TV during lockdown. • 1 in 3 left unemployed have spent their time binge watching TV. • 57% say they have enjoyed being lazy during lockdown. • Half of those working from home admit watching TV during work hours...

UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine Buena Vista is proud to welcome Dr. Sabrina Martinez to our team of experienced and dedicated providers. Dr. Martinez received her undergraduate degree from Columbia University. She went on to receive her Medical Degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and completed her residency at UnityPoint Health – Iowa Lutheran hospital...

On Aug. 10, the Iowa Pediatric Healthcare Collaborative, a group comprised of Blank Children’s Hospital, ChildServe, MercyOne Children’s Hospital and University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, hosted one-on-one discussions with Iowa families and federal lawmakers. ...

Buena Vista University graduate Britney (Hansen) Beatty was a bit shocked when Council Bluffs Community School District Superintendent of Schools Dr. Vickie Murillo joined Carter Lake Elementary School Principal Doreen Knuth and a pair of other school leaders in showing up at Beatty’s home in Gretna, Neb., recently...

The Storm Lake High School Courtyard is under reconstruction and in need of some items to finish the space. The public can help by buying a bench, picnic table, pebble seat or brick paver, with the opportunity for personalization with name, memorial, graduating class, etc...

Buena Vista Agricultural Society received a $7,300 grant for their building re-wiring project. The grant is provided through Farm Credit Services of America’s (FCSAmerica) Working Here Fund. The Working Here Fund grant will be used to help fund the re-wiring project of facilities throughout the Buena Vista county fairgrounds. Wiring upgrades will take place in the cattle, horse, swine, small animal and sheep barns as well as the show ring, Carter, Open Class and Very Interesting Buildings...

A crew hustles to complete resurfacing of the traffic lane at Storm Lake High School that serves the parking lot, gym and athletic fields area. The school district is working to improve the damaged parking areas for the start of the school year, in a long-awaited project. The project was somewhat delayed as the area hosted the TestIowa Covid-19 testing site for much of the summer. / Pilot photo by Dana Larsen...

Iowa state officials on Friday faced questions over what many Iowans saw as a delayed response by the Iowa National Guard to a major storm Monday that shredded crops, downed power lines and damaged schools. “Some people wondered, ‘Where is the National Guard?’” said Maj. Gen. Benjamin Corell, adjutant general of the Guard. Corell spoke at a Cedar Rapids news conference called by Gov. Kim Reynolds...

Vice President Mike Pence, campaigning in Iowa on Thursday, promised assistance to Iowans devastated by this week’s derecho storm, although he offered no specifics. Pence had no tour of storm damage in his schedule but he delayed a speech at the Iowa State Fairgrounds to meet with farmers affected by the natural disaster...

Despite the Clay County Fair’s postponement, food row continues to be a destination on the Clay County Fairgrounds in 2020 whether through nonprofit Takeout Tuesday or Fair Food to Go, which was conducted last week A trio takes a moment to enjoy their fair food past the lunch hour Friday afternoon. / Photos by Joseph Hopper...

The Fond of Flyers are headed home for a show at Weinzeti’s Bar and Grill on Main Street in Fonda, Saturday, September 5. Showtime is 7 p.m. on the south lawn. The band is made up of Mike Tiedeman, Josh Nielsen, Jesse Wipperling and Josh Stewart. What started as a high school friendship with rock star dreams quickly became two ships passing in the night. ...

Sara Bareilles will be acting against type in her next role: She’ll be playing a washed-up musician. The NBCUniversal streaming platform Peacock said Monday the Grammy-winning artist and Broadway songwriter Bareilles will star in “Girls5eva,” co-produced by Tina Fey...

The funniest part of “ An American Pickle ” isn’t even really in the movie. It’s a little scene in the middle of the credits in which Seth Rogen’s Herschel Greenbaum, a 1920s laborer who wakes up 100 years after falling into a vat of pickle juice, watches “Yentl” with his millennial great-grandson Ben Greenbaum (also Rogen). ...

Yesterday & Today: A Tribute to the Beatles will perform Saturday, August 29 at Preservation Plaza at Arnolds Park, the latest in the free outdoor Live at the Lake concert series. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. Featuring brothers Billy, Matthew and Ryan McGuigan, the Omaha-based band is a unique version of a tribute band - no costumes, wigs and fake accents, just dead-on musical precision in an all-requests format...

The good news? Local farmers are looking forward to a timely harvest at or slightly above average yields. The bad - after surviving pandemic, drought and storms, prices for the coming crop look to be disheartening. “Our crops really look pretty good considering everything. We’re fairly close to the finish line, and at least we’ll have stuff to harvest, which is always better than the alternative,” says Kris Kohl, veteran ag expert for the Buena Vista County ISU Extension...

Storm Lakers Ralna and Ben McVinua headed up a quick fundraiser and delivered water to assist the cleanup effort in storm-ravaged eastern Iowa. $7,000 was raised in the local community in under 24 hours, and 40,000 bottles of water along with other needed items was delivered by the couple Thursday. The Pilot-Tribune asked them to share the experience...

Students returning to Newell-Fonda School this fall will be greeted with a building-size entrance mural, and more. “We were really looking for something positive coming into this year. Coming through a pandemic, our students need something they can feel good about,” says Superintendent Jeff Dicks...

Authorities have arrested a 29-year-old Iowa man on suspicion of murder in connection with a body found last month in a lake. The Palo Alto County Sheriff’s office said Allan Michael Dean Schwidder, of Emmetsburg, Iowa, was arrested Friday night on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with a body found on July 22 in Virgin Lake near Ruthven, Iowa...

Spirit Lake Fire Chief Pat Daly has spent far too much of his summer in a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, hospital bed after contracting COVID-19. He’s still being cared for, but now he’s back in the town he protects. Daly’s long road back included a stretch of highway lined by firetrucks on Wednesday, Aug. 5. Members of the Spirit Lake Community Fire Department welcomed him by providing a fire apparatus escort for the ambulance that transported him to Lakes Regional Healthcare...

While the calendar read early August, two Buena Vista Beavers were in test-taking mode in Tea, S.D. And both passed with “flying” colors. BVU Instructor of Management and Agricultural Business Kevin Price joined senior Andrew Klaassen in passing the Federal Aviation Administration’s drone exam, allowing both to become licensed unmanned commercial drone pilots for a business endeavor taking flight through The Donald F. and Charlene K. Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship at BVU. ...