Stories from Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Be the first in your neighborhood to enjoy a garden-ripe tomato. Then continue harvesting an abundance of flavorful tomatoes throughout the growing season. A little planning and strategic planting can help you get an earlier and bigger tomato harvest...

MidAmerican Energy has taken steps, and is working on additional measures, to insulate customers from significantly higher gas bills that they may be anticipating. While many people are concerned with the impact the February cold snap could have on their budgets, according to company projections, a residential customer in Iowa should see, on average, March bills $13 higher than February. ...

Janet Dreyer-Johnson, age 76, of Marshalltown and formerly of Storm Lake, passed Friday, February 26, 2021, at Israel Family Hospice House in Ames. No public memorial service will be held at this time. Condolences may be expressed online at www.amesmonument.com...

The generosity of the family of Steve Hall will carry on his legacy and passion of helping others for years to come. Steve started his career in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in 1985. As a paramedic specialist, his passion for patient care led him to teaching at Iowa Central Community College for 14 years as an adjunct faculty member. ...

The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 were released the end of December 2020. What are they? Every five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Health and Human Services update the nation’s nutrition recommendations based on the latest scientific evidence. They provide guidance for policies and programs (like the school lunch program) on what to eat and drink to meet nutrient needs, promote health, and prevent chronic disease...

The great recession didn’t just eliminate jobs, it also erased an entire town. Six months after U.S. Gypsum closed its doors in Empire, Nevada, a company town since 1948, its zip code was retired and its inhabitants forced to leave. It’s this brief history that opens Chloé Zhao’s extraordinary “ Nomadland,” which follows one of those residents, Frances McDormand’s Fern, on a journey through the American West to nowhere in particular...

The City of Spencer will hit a significant milestone in 2021: the 150th Anniversary of its founding. The City, the Spencer Chamber of Commerce, and a group of Spencer citizens are currently coordinating activities to celebrate this commemorative event. ...

Des Moines Performing Arts (DMPA) announced a new virtual performance from one of the Prairie Meadow’s Temple Comedy Series favorite performers, Dixie Longate. Known for her one-woman shows, including the international smash hit Dixie’s Tupperware Party and the inspiring Dixie’s: Never Wear a Tube Top While Riding a Mechanical Bull (and 16 other things I learned while I was drinking last Thursday), Dixie has returned with Dixie’s Happy Hour, a new show for these unpredictable times...

Jon Langston is the first announced act for the Live at the Lake concert series this upcoming season at Preservation Plaza, next to Arnolds Park Amusement Park. Langston will headline a free show Saturday, July 31, 7:30-11 p.m. The performer has been named one of Rolling Stone’s “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know.”...

Earlier this month the Lakes Conference membership accepted Western Christian High School’s request to withdraw from the conference, starting at the end of the 2021-22 school year. Spencer Superintendent Terry Hemann offered a brief glimpse into how the conference will move forward during the Spencer School Board’s meeting Tuesday evening...

Nine Buena Vista University business students and nine science students were selected for the Clifford A. Rae Academic Achievement Award for the 2020 calendar year. It marks the 10-year anniversary for the awards, which range up to $5,000. The awards were created by two separate $750,000 endowments from the foundation established by Dr. Harold Walter Siebens and named after the longtime advisor and counsel to Siebens and the foundation, Clifford A. Rae...

The Conservative Political Action Conference began Friday with a session called “Why the Left Hates the Bill of Rights … and We Love It.”  The four-day annual gathering of Republican politicians and activists started Thursday in Orlando, Florida. CPAC’s agenda included five events on free speech, including a Friday speech by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called “Bill of Rights, Liberty, and Cancel Culture.” ...

On February 24, we spent a little over five hours debating the Election Integrity Bill, House File 590, on the floor of the House. HF590 is another step in a series of bills that we have approved over the last several years to improve Iowa’s election laws with the ultimate goal of making it easy to vote and hard to cheat...

While the goals of a school FFA program can be the same, where they are located can dictate what students can do, and when they can do it. With the pandemic curbing certain activities, or at least re-directing them, local FFA programs have needed to pivot a bit, to keep up with their classroom work, plus the events that they need to attend. ...

Deanna Schaffer gets goosebumps describing the road she’s taken to and through Buena Vista University. She’s not alone on this journey. “I am working hard at BVU because it is not only changing my life, it’s changing the lives of my family members,” says Schaffer, a sophomore from Alta. “I know there will be many tears when I graduate. There were when I received this scholarship, which made it all possible.”...

An Iowa senator advocating for legislation to cut unemployment benefits for out-of-work Iowans, said Thursday the state is “out of the pandemic.” “The restrictions have been lifted in Iowa, our unemployment is back down near 3 percent. We’re out of the pandemic,” Sen. ...

Western Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra predicted last week that his amendment to provide relief to derecho-damaged Iowa farms and other victims of natural disaster would be shot down as part of a larger America Rescue Plan stimulus bill that moved to the House Committee on Rules Friday...

The vaccination process in Buena Vista county could soon get quicker, but perhaps more confusing. With the Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine gaining FDA emergency use authorization Saturday, the first 25,000 doses are expected to flow into Iowa this week, according to Julie Sather, administrator of Buena Vista County Public Health...

Buena Vista county has seen an uptick in new confirmed COVID-19 case numbers - 47 last week, compared to only 18 the week before. The county was by far the hotspot of the region. Surrounding county new case totals for last week were: O’Brien with 21, Sac 11, Palo Alto 9, Calhoun 8, Cherokee 6, Clay 4, Pocahontas 3, Ida 2...