Stories from Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Iowa’s weather has taken a day out of the Legislature’s schedule. As I write this on Wednesday afternoon (2/3), forecasts are predicting ice, snow and blizzard conditions for tomorrow. As a result, committee meetings and subcommittee meetings are being canceled and legislators are heading home to get ahead of the storm. Des Moines forecasts indicate that if we don’t leave tonight we won’t be leaving until Friday at the earliest...

The fourth week of the 89th legislative session has come to an end. Fortunately, the Iowa Senate debated bills on Wednesday as Thursday’s weather was not very cooperative. With bipartisan support All ten bills debated this week passed with bipartisan support, and eight of those were passed unanimously...

A new policing bill faces opposition from all sides, from the Des Moines Black Liberation Movement to several law enforcement organizations. Reynolds’ proposal, Senate Study Bill 1140, was introduced in the Iowa Senate this week. The 28-page bill would forbid police officers from treating civilians differently based on personal characteristics, including race. It would also require law enforcement agencies to keep data on police stops and race...

Throughout the month of February, Hy-Vee’s team of registered dietitians will host free, weekly virtual events – including store tours, adult cooking classes and live Q&As – to provide education about ways to shop and cook to promote heart health. The program began last week with dieticians leading virtual tours of Hy-vee stores, and encouraging heart-healthy nutritian choices...

This year more than 20 percent of Iowa children are missing routine vaccinations that protect against highly contagious and preventable diseases including measles, whooping cough and polio according to new data from Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. The trend in Iowa is similar to nationwide data from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) that shows children are on track to miss an estimated 9 million vaccination doses in 2020, a decline of as much as 26 percent over 2019...

Rural residents and those who associate with them are encouraged to partake in a webinar series called “Rural Resiliency: Caring for You and Yours,” 7:30-8:45 p.m. on four consecutive Tuesday evenings, March 2, 9, 16 and 23. The series is sponsored by the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach dairy team, university extensions in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin; and in cooperation with the Dioceses of Madison, Rockford, St. ...

One month into the new year, many people may be ready to give up on their resolutions to improve their eating habits for better health. However, the newly updated Nutrition Facts label can help you change your habits and keep your resolution, says Jody Gatewood, nutrition state specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach...

A Palo Alto company is the subject of a consent order from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, an alternative to legal action. The M.A. Mortenson Company is ordered to cease all illegal solid waste disposal activity and all illegal opening burning; comply with all applicable regulations regarding the disposal of solid waste and open burning; remove any remaining trade waste on site and properly dispose of it at a landfill or recycling center; provide receipts documenting said disposal to the Department; and pay a $10,000 administrative penalty.. ...

Iowa continues to rank among the states with the slowest COVID-19 vaccine rollout. The latest data from both the New York Times and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates Iowa has delivered at least one dose of the vaccine to just 6.5% of its population. Among the 50 states, only Missouri and Idaho, both at 6.3%, have a lower rate of delivery...

Soulful-pop singer-songwriter and Des Moines native, Emma Negrete, teases her debut EP “Algorithms,” with the release of the first single, “Lost In Translation.” Featuring a dynamic music video directed by award-winning director Jenn Hanching, “Lost In Translation” captures the Los Angeles-based songstress as she navigates love, where it all went wrong, and the uncomfortable truth that she too is to blame for it falling apart...

Unique duo My Darling Clementine will offer a show at Byrons in Pomeroy Sunday April 18. The band is sandwiching U.S. appearances during April in between tours of the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. The Byron’s show is their only scheduled appearance in Iowa. Showtime is 5 p.m...

• Foo Fighters, “Medicine at Midnight” (Roswell/RCA) “Medicine at Midnight” is what happens when the Foo Fighters embrace grooves instead of riffs. Who asked for that? No one, really. But we should have. The nine-track album clocks in at a swift 36 minutes and it’s the band’s coolest in years, throwing out sounds they’ve rarely shown before — David Bowie, hair metal and glam rock. The band sounds like it’s having fun...

Religion and horror are hardly novel bedfellows, but writer-director Rose Glass crafts something fresh of the construct in her promising debut “ Saint Maud.” The film follows the psychological undoing of a devout hospice nurse who becomes obsessed with saving the soul of her terminally ill patient...

The Storm Lake Board of Education has approved the purchase of a new 84-passenger school bus, using funds from the Physical Plant and Equipment levy. The district had planned to trade in its charter school vehicle toward the new bus, but it had broken down...

The impact Storm Lake has on Buena Vista University alum Dominique Daily can be heard in a pair of statements, one reflecting a result; the other, a goal. “My grandmother died a few years ago and one week after her death I went to Storm Lake to center myself,” says Daily, of Chicago. “Storm Lake brought me some peace and serenity.”...

Organizers have announced the revised route for the 2021 RAGBRAI, starting in Le Mars and ending in Clinton. The internationally acclaimed week-long, state-wide bike ride will take place July 25-31, 2021, starting in Le Mars and riding through the following overnight towns:...

While the state has relaxed COVID-19 restrictions including ending a mask mandate, case numbers continue to climb in the area. Buena Vista County has seen 23 cases confirmed in the past week, 58 in the past 14 days - a slight reduction from the pace of January...

The top priority of the Governor’s Economic Recovery Task Force is a familiar one to Storm Lake - child care. Iowa’s lack of affordable child care is holding back economic growth in the state, said three members of the task force who spoke at Gov. Reynolds’ press conference Friday...

Buena Vista University’s commitment to community engagement has taken another step forward this winter with the establishment of The Foundry at the heart of downtown Storm Lake. The Foundry, an incubator and co-working space for start-up companies, is part of BVU’s Strategic Plan and a key component of The Donald F. and Charlene K. Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship (LCRE), a bold initiative aiming to encourage economic development through support for entrepreneurs in the region...

Although crowds have been sharply limited, the Buena Vista University Dance Team put on an energetic performance at halftime of the women’s basketball game Saturday to get the fieldhouse rocking. / Pilot photo by Dana Larsen

For a founder of the Storm Lake SALUD multicultural program, the first steps toward uniting families split at the southern U.S. border is encouraging. “I like what I’m hearing. It feels like a cloud is lifting right now, right? Like the country is finally ready for this,” says community organizer Di Daniels. ...