Stories from Friday, February 9, 2018

October 8, 1952 - February 3, 2018

As state lawmakers near a key deadline, the 2018 legislative session’s first funnel of February 16, AARP Iowa is urging lawmakers to pass the 2018 Iowa CARE (Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable) Act. The bill (SSB 3123), with no cost to the state or taxpayers, would provide vital support for Iowa’s more than 317,000 family caregivers who help their older parents, spouses and other loved ones live safely and independently at home...

Work continues on the state budgets for both FY 18 and FY 19. The FY 18 budget needs to be adjusted to make sure we do not spend more than we take in. The FY 19 budget will reflect the priorities Iowans have expressed to us including K-12 schools, healthcare and strengthening our businesses - especially small employers and those in rural Iowa...

On the evening of Wednesday, February 7, at approximately 11 p.m., a Storm Lake Police Officer on patrol observed a young child walking alone in the 400 block of East 4th Street. Police made contact with the child and learned he was 6 years old and was allegedly left unattended for 10 or more minutes at a residence located at 319 East 4th Street #6. The child reportedly left the residence and was walking on 4th Street in search of his mother...

On the morning of Thursday, February 8, at approximately 1 a.m., the Storm Lake Police Department was dispatched to the alley in the 700 block of Superior Street in reference to a suspicious vehicle. Responding officers were advised that it was reported that a vehicle had pulled into the alley and parked in a suspicious manner. Upon arrival police located the vehicle and made contact with the driver, identified as Justin Howard, age 37 of Laurens...

WANTED On the morning of Monday, February 5, at approximately 8:45 a.m., a wanted person surrendered at the Storm Lake Police Station. Police arrested Bidong Dak, age 23 of Storm Lake who was wanted out of Buena Vista County on a warrant charging him with Failure to Pay Fines. Dak was booked into the Buena Vista County Jail and held without bond.

The BV Historical Society is closed with limited hours on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday through February. Members of the BV County Historical Society have been on a scrubbing spree in preparation for our new season. Members Connie Stille, Mark Huddleston, and Office Manager Marlene Hansen are seen preparing fresh displays in our Main Room. ...

Several Ridge View speech students participated in Large Group District Speech Contest at LeMars on Saturday, Februray 3. The Ensemble Acting Group is moving forward to the All State Competition. The students who participated in the Ensemble Acting were Gracie Chance, Trentin Moeller and Kyra Martin...

Hannah Gulick grew up wanting to be a writer. Then, while taking a project-based class during her sophomore year of high school in Spirit Lake, she discovered astronomy. "I was put in the gym with a star dome and told to learn the constellations and about nebulas and asteroids," Gulick said. "Then I took a college astronomy course through Iowa Lakes Community College and thought I could definitely see myself doing this and being able to benefit the field."...

Storm Lake Elementary School and Lincoln Elementary in Spencer have received water bottle filling stations courtesy of a grant. “It was installed for the students over Christmas break, and they love it,” says Storm Lake Principal Juli Kwikkel. According to the counter on the station, it has saved over 5,200 plastic bottles through refilling. Students each received their own refillable bottle...

The city of Storm Lake is working to solve odor problems that are plaguing residents in the area of the Casino Lift Station. Staff members met with some of the people who live in the area recently. Following that meeting, a Request for Proposals was issued on January 12, seeking engineering services with expertise in wastewater management. Bolton & Menk was chosen from two applicant firms during a council meeting this week...

On the morning of Friday, February 2, the Storm Lake Police Department took a report in reference to a sexual assault which occurred in January of 2017. Police were advised by a 13 year old male victim, that on January 7, 2017 between the hours of 8 p.m. and 12 a.m. he was allegedly sexually assaulted by a person identified as a 16 year old male of Storm Lake at a residence in the 1700 block of Rose Lane...

In the provocative Lebanese film “The Insult,” a minor conflict over a gutter between two ordinary men in Beirut spirals and escalates to the level of national significance with the stability of the country hanging in the balance. The film, from director Ziad Doueiri (“West Beirut,” “The Attack”), on Tuesday became Lebanon’s first foreign language Oscar contender. It’s also, somewhat fittingly, caused a fair amount of controversy internationally, being banned in countries like Jordan...

The Storm Lake Public Library will host its Monthly Monday Matinee on February 12 at 1 p.m. This month’s pick is the final film in the library’s Great Directors Film Series. Directed by Sidney Lumet, and starring Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, William Holden and Robert Duvall, and Beatrice Straight this 1976 film won four Academy Awards...

Riverdance will be at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on Sunday, March 4, at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. The international Irish dance phenomenon is back by popular demand in Riverdance. Drawing on Irish traditions, the combined talents of the performers propel Irish dancing and music into the present day, capturing the imagination of audiences across all ages and cultures in an innovative and exciting blend of dance, music and song...

Hy-Vee, Inc. announced that 100 percent of its private-brand shelf-stable tuna products are now sourced from environmentally preferred fisheries. The news comes less than one year after Hy-Vee announced it was expanding its Seafood Procurement Policy to include the shelf-stable tuna category.    ...

Hy-Vee customers joined the company’s annual Hy-Vee Round Up for the Homefront initiative during the month of November and raised $290,068.85 to support our country’s active-duty military members and veterans. Customers joined Hy-Vee in supporting veterans and military members at the company’s 246 grocery stores across eight Midwestern states. Hy-Vee matched customer donations up to $100,000, bringing the total donation to $290,068.85...

Federal officials gave Iowa breweries something to toast. The “Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act,” part of the president’s federal tax reform initiative, allows for a significant decrease in the taxes paid by breweries. The new law changes the rate small brewers pay from $7 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels produced to $3.50 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels produced. One barrel is about 31 gallons of beer...

Straight A Honor Roll Freshman: Matthew Cummins, Trey Engelmann, Kelly Jensen, Elizabeth Kaskey, Jessica Larson, Teagan Meyer, Cade Rohwer and Alaina Westphal. Sophmores: Alexa Fredericksen, Kirah Kolpin, Chloe Kruger, Abigail Latta, Jimena Mendoza, Sarah Sundene and Morgan Wilson...

After brief discussion this week, the Alta City Council decided to provide a letter of support for the proposal by volunteers to build a recreation center in Storm Lake - but stressed that they will not budget any money for it. Some members felt the project is a longshot, like several other attempts in the past. But others felt Alta could benefit also, especially in the form of a place for senior citizens to get exercise in the winter...

Several guests spoke with us on Tuesday morning. Three Alta-Aurelia students from Mr. Weber’s science class talked about their upcoming NASA Trip. The trip is to NASA Headquartersin Houston, Texas from March 23-26. Their purpose is to work to design a workable space settlement with the help of students from other schools. In addition, they will be consulting with current and former NASA officials...

Cynthia Placido a native of Alta, has enrolled at the University of Iowa for spring 2018 semester. The University of Iowa is one of the nation’s premier public research universities, dedicated to academic excellence, groundbreaking discoveries and creations, commitment to Iowa and the world, and a culture that prizes community, diversity, and opportunity...

Penguin on Vacation and The Not So Perfect Penguin were the two stories that were read during Toddle Time. In Penguin on Vacation the Penguin leaves to discover other animal’s habitats. The Not So Perfect Penguin highlights a penguin who shows the others that it’s ok to be different and think out of the box...

A one-time jail may be torn down in Alta. The tiny brick building was only large enough to hold one person. It is located near the bus barn, between another structure and the reservoir where it is difficult to see, and most people probably don’t know it is there, council members said this week...

The Alta Council reappointed Megan Peterson as city clerk Tuesday, but before the meeting was done, she had given them an earful over plans to begin charging employees 15 percent of their health insurance. “I’m very offended by it. It comes out of my pocket, it’s kind of a demotion,” she said, expressing disappointment that other city employees had not attended to speak out...

Alta city officials continue to wrestle with issues surrounding the living conditions at West View Trailer Park. During a city council Tuesday night, Mayor Al Clark called for the owner, a businessman in Canada, to “come to Alta and look over the condition of his property.”...

The Ames chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People marked the beginning of Black History Month with its 18th-annual Freedom Fund banquet Thursday night. A swath of local civic groups, government bodies and churches gathered for the event, with addresses on diversity from Mayor John Haila, Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen and Edna Clinton, president of the Ames NAACP chapter...

A K-12 education spending plan moving through the Iowa Legislature will not keep up with rising annual costs for school districts, warned some superintendents who say they’ll have to make cuts to balance their budgets. Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled chambers appeared to agree on $32 million in new K-12 public school funding for the budget year beginning in July. ...

Junior Zambrana, son of Adolfo and Odilma Zambrana, was selected by audition to sing the National Anthem for the State Boys’ Wrestling Tournament on February 15 in the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. His audition was selected from a total of 44 applicants. Junior is a junior at Storm Lake High School and the student of Joanne Tucker. The State Boys’ Wrestling Tournament is under the auspices of the Iowa High School Athletic Association...

A $25.5 million Iowa Central Community College bond issue was passed by voters across the region Tuesday. A supermajority of 60 percent yes votes was required, and voters approved at a 67.5 percent rate. In Buena Vista County, the ICCC measure passed 293 to 135, approved in every precinct except Sioux Rapids. ...

Buena Vista Regional Medical Center, in conjunction with the American Heart Association, The Children’s Heart Foundation, and hospitals across the state, launched the 3rd year of Iowa’s Little Hats, Big Hearts initiative. The program outfits newborns with knitted red caps during Heart Month in February to raise awareness of heart disease, the number one killer of Americans, and congenital heart defects, a condition that affects 1 in every 110 babies born in the US. ...

Storm Lake leaders are looking for input from the community on how to use property the city council approved for purchase earlier this week. A 7.08-acre parcel is located near Highway 71 and Radio Road, across from the Sunrise Pointe Golf Course. There are two buildings in the area...

“No Man Left Behind” may be a motto of the Marines, but for some, it seems as though society back home may have forgotten them. Buena Vita County Veterans Affairs Director John Stange recently told the county Board of Supervisors that a cemetery had been removing grave markers for veterans. “This was going on for a while. A bunch of the military markers were found hidden behind a shed on one occasion. “They had been thrown in a wheelbarrow and that had left them in pretty bad shape,” he said...

July 9, 1936 - February 6, 2018

NEWELL - The Mustang girls were able to keep their undefeated regular season intact on Tuesday night as Sioux Central could not keep up, NF taking a 79-45 decision for their fifth undefeated regular season in team history and the first in 17 years. The first quarter made it seem like the two teams were in for another back and forth affair like their prior meeting this season. ...

NEWELL - For the second straight game, Newell-Fonda sophomore Bryce Coppock showed the ice in his veins with a buzzer beater. Only on Tuesday night, the buzzer beater lifted the Mustangs to a senior night win over Sioux Central, 75-73. The first half, much like the entire game, was a back and forth affair. ...

WEST BEND - The St. Mary’s boys have started out great in games this season only to struggle towards the latter part of the contest. They fell in a one point decision on Tuesday night against West Bend-Mallard, 57-56. The Panthers built up an early three point advantage in the first eight minutes, taking a 13-10 score to the second quarter. They continued to build on their slim lead in the second, outscoring WBM by three points once again to claim a six point lead at halftime, 24-18...

STORM LAKE - Facing a 19-point deficit midway through the second half, the Buena Vista men’s basketball team cut the deficit all the way down to three with just over two minutes to play, but the University of Dubuque closed the game on a 10-5 run to pull out a 92-84 victory over the Beavers inside of Siebens Fieldhouse...

STORM LAKE - The Buena Vista women’s basketball team overcame a 13-point fourth quarter deficit with a late basket from senior Jasmine Demers before a steal and layup from McKenna Whitehill added insurance in the final seconds as the Beavers edged the University of Dubuque 58-55 inside of Siebens Fieldhouse...

ESTHERVILLE - The Storm Lake boys were narrowly knocked off on Tuesday night against Estherville-Lincoln Central, dropping a 37-36 decision, sending the green and white to their fourth straight loss. The first eight minutes did not go Storm Lake’s way as ELC was able to put the first seven points on the board and carried that to a 14-8 score at the end of the first quarter. ...

ESTHERVILLE - The green and white girls picked up their sixth win of the season on Tuesday night as they were able to hold off the Estherville-Lincoln Central Midgets, 56-41. The Midgets raced out to an early 9-4 lead in the first but Storm Lake battled their way back into the game, tying it up after the first quarter, 14 all. The Tornadoes were able to claim the lead in the second and used it to springboard themselves to an eight point halftime advantage, 29-21...

Saturday will mark the 3A-District 6 wrestling tournament in Sioux City for Storm Lake as the top two wrestlers in each weight class will move on to State for a chance at a State title. However, in this district lies a minefield of talented wrestlers for the Tornadoes to match up against. ...

February 8, 2018

October 3, 1935 - February 8, 2018