Stories from Tuesday, October 27, 2020

The Witter Gallery is currently exhibiting a collection of artwork created by BVU alumni. The artwork, loaned to the gallery by the BVU art department, includes a wide variety of styles and mediums. A 1981 impressionistic painting by Cherie Courter is displayed next to a colorful, abstract encaustic work from 2013. Intaglio prints by former gallery staff member Nicole Nee hang beside a triptych made of oil and wax that portrays bones and human brains (perfect Halloween viewing!)...

Since Sacha Baron Cohen first appeared as his Kazakh journalist on “Da Ali G Show,” Borat Sagdiyev has been remarkably consistent. The accent is the same. The gray suit is still rumpled. “Nahce” and “Mah Wahfe” regularly exude from him with a mangled melody. Borat hasn’t changed in the last 20 years. But America has...

Salty View’s Acoustic Review will be on tap at Shiny Top Brewing in Fort Dodge for a Thanksgiving Eve concert, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 7 p.m. SV is a four piece all acoustic band based in Fort Dodge. Playing contemporary country, with other twists here and there, they play “the best in sing along drinking music,” featuring four-part harmonies and guitar instrumental work...

Comedian Drew Lynch, from Conan and America’s Got Talent, will perform a live show at the Orpheum Theatre in Sioux City on Thursday, November 5. Showtime is 7:30 p.m., tickets are on sale now online at $35 each. The audience will be socially distanced...

Iowa voters are casting ballots in person or by mail at a record pace before the Nov. 3 election with several days of early voting still remaining. The Iowa secretary of state’s office reported that 685,234 absentee ballots have been returned to county auditors statewide by Friday morning, just shy of the record set in 2012. Those include people who voted by mail or early in person at auditors’ offices or satellite voting locations...

Native American tribes opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline once again have asked a federal judge to stop the flow of oil while the legal battle over the line’s future plays out. The Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes succeeded on their first attempt, only to have an appeals court overturn U.S. ...

The Iowa Healthiest State Initiative presented $1,000 to St. Mary’s Catholic School for winning the 2020 School Mascot Challenge. St. Mary’s looks forward to putting the prize money to good use to help enhance the health and wellness of the St. Mary’s students and staff. Left to right – Fr. Brent Lingle, Jami Haberl, Mr. Ryan Berg, Mrs. Kate Swanson . /Photo submitted...

Betty Mentzer, age 88 of Nemaha, IA, passed away on Monday, October 19, at Park View Rehabilitation Center in Sac City. Betty Jean McKay was born on July 23, 1932, to parents Forest and Agnes (Rosenkjar) McKay in Ida Grove, IA. She grew up in Ida Grove where she graduated from Ida Grove High School and was the Salutatorian of her class. On one of her many outings to the Ida Grove Skating Rink, Betty met and started dating Howard...

Dennis Edwardson, of Spencer, formerly of Sioux Rapids, Iowa, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on Sunday, October 18, at the St. Luke Nursing Home in Spencer at the age of 82. Funeral services were held on Friday, October 23, at 10 a.m. at the First United Church in Sioux Rapids. ...

Maxine Lullmann, age 88, of Storm Lake, Iowa died on Tuesday, October 20, at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines. Funeral services were held Monday, October 26, at 10 a.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in rural Storm Lake. To watch the live stream of the service, please click the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82180390491?pwd=YzJacGZ3TGhseVB2dko1ZlUxeHdtdz09 and enter in the password: funeral. ...

Barbara L. Nieland, age 58, of Carroll, and formerly of Newell, died October 20, in Des Moines, after complications due to COVID-19. Memorial services took place Monday, October 26, at 1:30 p.m. at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Newell. Burial will be in the Newell Cemetery. ...

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate presented the Carrie Chapman Catt Award to St. Mary’s High School last week. Senior Evie AlSaffar and junior Ellie Bacon helped receive the award. St. Mary’s received this award as one of 18 schools that got 90% of its eligible students to register to vote...

What About Me? My Wellbeing” is a four-week educational workshop series being offered virtually beginning Nov. 3 by the local Iowa State University Extension and Outreach office of O’Brien County. Each workshop is 45 minutes and begins at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 10, 17 and 24...

Buena Vista Regional Medical Center has received the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline® EMS Silver Plus Award for implementing quality improvement measures for the treatment of patients who experience severe heart attacks. Every year, more than 250,000 people experience an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) the deadliest type of heart attack caused by a blockage of blood flow to the heart that requires timely treatment. ...

Buena Vista Regional Medical Center is hosting a safe and fun trick or treat event for your children scheduled for Saturday, October 31 from 2 – 4 p.m. Stay in your car and drive up to the BVRMC Main Entrance for a treat hosted by ER and Ambulance staff...

Every year, Graettinger-Terril fifth grade teacher Shayla Hunefeld asks her students which subject is their favorite, and every year social studies is consistently at the bottom of the list. But history resonated on an emotional level for some of Hunefeld’s former students after a field trip to the Gardner Cabin Museum in Arnolds Park last year. ...

Because of health concerns this season, the Storm Lake Friends of the Library group has not been able to conduct some of its usual fundraising efforts, such as the Christmas basket auctions of the past. Donations will be important as the group continues its efforts...

“It’s not so much about left vs. right, as much as it’s about getting people out to vote who otherwise wouldn’t.” So says J.D. Scholten, running for the 4th District Congressional seat being vacated by Steve King. Scholten set up in the Storm Lake Field of Dreams parking lot Saturday for a “Drive In” rally, broadcasting his message to the car radios of about 20 vehicles where supporters were huddled against the cold...

The Buena Vista University Board of Trustees selected Dr. Brian Lenzmeier as BVU’s 19th President, effective immediately. Lenzmeier, who joined BVU in 2003 as a Professor of Biology, has served as Interim President since May. In making the announcement, Board Chair Michael Pierce lauded Lenzmeier’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as his extensive knowledge of departments across the University, his command of an ever-changing educational landscape, and his history of enthusiastically working with students, and fellow faculty and staff members in preparing students for their roles as successful members of their communities.. ...

When disaster strikes, they strike back. Three Albert City men, the backbone of the GoServ Global domestic relief program, have been laboring with their small army of volunteers since the day after a derecho storm ripped a violent, hurricane-force swatch of destruction across the east half of the state in August...

Iowa’s Senate race is drawing in massive amounts of fundraising dollars and it shows in the barrage of political advertisements that are becoming increasingly impossible to ignore, said Tim Hagle, political science professor at the University of Iowa...

Tens of thousands of hunters in blaze orange will take to the fields when Iowa’s pheasant season opens Oct. 31. And with pheasant populations on par with the best counts in the past decade, including six of the nine survey regions averaging more than 20 pheasants per route - the most since 2007, hunters can afford to be optimistic...

As of Friday, Buena Vista University reported only one active case of COVID-19 on campus, the lowest number of the academic year. BVU reports its case total to the public twice a week, and has seen a steady decline since early in the academic year. The campus had faced about 40 cases in mid-September...