Stories from Wednesday, April 11, 2018

This week drew us closer to the end of this session. The human services budget starts in the Senate this year. The Appropriations Committee continues to work on budget discussions as we look at tax reform for Iowans. I think we will release our budget proposal soon. ...

Arnolds Park Amusement Park announced recently the addition of a new ride this summer. Through a generous donation from two donors, the northwest Iowa amusement park will have a new 36 ft. 2018 carousel made by Chance Rides in Wichita, KS. The new ride will be 8 feet larger than the current carousel that the park has and will be housed in a gazebo that can be closed in the winter to protect the ride from the elements...

DRUG PARAPHERNALIA On Thursday, April 5, at 10:30 a.m. the Storm Lake Police Department made an arrest in connection with the sale of illegal drugs in the city. Police responded to 519 College Street Thursday morning where they located and arrested Jose Cortez, age 18 of Storm Lake. Cortez was arrested in connection with the alleged sale of marijuana in March of 2018 during a controlled buy by the SLPD. On Thursday the SLPD charged Cortez with Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Marijuana (class D

United Community Health Center of Storm Lake staff and board members hosted their 2nd Annual Food Drive in March.  Over 50 items were collected and donated to the Newell Food Pantry.  Last year all goods were donated to Upper Des Moines. UCHC serves all of the surrounding towns...

Denny Adams of Webb will be presenting a program on his personal collection of Indian Artifacts on Sunday, April 15 at 2 p.m. at the Sioux Rapids Historical Theater located on Main Street in Sioux Rapids. The program in being hosted by the Sioux Rapids Area Historical Association. All are invited to view this educational, informational and fun program. A free will offering will be taken...

The towns of Galva and Holstein are teaming up to host community wide garage sales on the same weekend this year to attract more shoppers. The garage sale dates are Friday, May 4 and Saturday, May 5. Registration forms and $14 prepayments payable to the Holstein Advance must be returned to Anne Johnson at Sole 2 Soul in Galva or Amy Forbes at the Ida County Courier in Ida Grove by April 20 to be included in official printed advertising the last week of April...

On the morning of Sunday, April 8, at approximately 4:09 a.m. the Storm Lake Police Department was dispatched to the area of East 9th Street and Seneca Street in reference to a theft. Upon arrival police met with the reporting party who advised that earlier in the morning their phone had allegedly been stolen at a bar in Denison. ...

Average retail gasoline prices in Iowa have fallen 1.7 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.56 to start this week. The national average has fallen 0.6 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.65. Storm Lake prices held stable, starting the week well below average with many stations at $2.40 for super unleaded - that’s 32 cents less than the average this week in Des Moines...

Women across the state of Iowa are seeking public office at the state and national level, many for the first time. The recent state deadlines for candidates to file to run for state and federal offices in Iowa has confirmed 98 candidates will compete in primary elections this year...

Cameron Diaz is claiming retirement from show business, saying the strain of the Hollywood life has taken a toll on her well-being. “I just went, ‘I can’t really say who I am to myself,’ which is a hard thing to face up to,” Diaz said. Her rough reviews in her last film, the 2014 remake of “Annie,” probably didn’t help...

Estherville native Alan Morphew has spent his life performing across the USA and recording his own music (also as a guest with many stars, including Neil Young.) On Friday, April 13, he will be at King’s Pointe Resort in the Regatta Grill from 6-9 p.m. singing his favorite cover songs as well as some of his own award winning, critically acclaimed music...

Twelve Storm Lake High School TAG students traveled to the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines on Tuesday, March 27, to attend the Ed Thomas Leadership Academy. The Leadership Academy was created by The Ed Thomas Family Foundation in order to continue the positive legacy of Coach Ed Thomas, who suffered a tragic and untimely death at the hands of a former student. Coach Thomas had an immense impact on his students, athletes and community...

Straight A Honor Roll Freshmen: Matthew Cummins, Alex DeRoos, Jessica Larson and Cade Rohwer. Sophomores: Chloe Kruger, Jimena Mendoza and Sydney Stanton. Juniors: Phoebe Feis, Emily Morse, Annika Patton, Brittany Turnquist and Chloe Wood. Seniors: Mary Barnes, Hope DeRoos, Jacob Hull, Carson Kruger, Mallorie Lane, Erin Lockin, Grace Newell, Lauren Rohwer, Kaleb Sleezer and Alicia Turnquist...

Four youths attended the Canvas Painting Workshop on Saturday, March 17. The youths learned from Heidi Bonagura from Create on Lake about all of the different textures that could be used when creating their canvas. The youths were able to choose if they wanted some very old farm news prints from the Iowa Farmer Today or some piano sheet music. ...

Six students of Suzanne Winterhof, Aurelia, performed in the Junior Music Festival sponsored by the Morning Musicale Music Club affiliated with the National Federation of Music Clubs in March. Each student played two contrasting selections at an appropriate level of advancement and were evaluated...

On April 3 Buena Vista University students on the Storm Lake campus received an email with a link to a new BVU Campus Climate Survey. BVU is conducting this survey to gather important input regarding students’ experiences on sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, relationship violence, and other sexual misconduct. ...

The Food Summit met at Buena Vista University on Tuesday to identify the face of hunger, brainstorm steps to address the needs of food insecurity and familiarize attendees with existing efforts to address hunger. Some new, novel approaches to tackling hunger in Storm Lake were showcased: Little Food Pantries and Eden Garden...

Buena Vista County is beginning preparations to replace its largest and most iconic bridge. The project may include a bike trail and could top $3 million. A funding award of $514,000 was recently received through the regional planning authority, for the fiscal year 2021-22, a trigger to launch the project...

The City of Storm Lake has only one member to remove from the library board for failing to attend meetings. After the issue was raised with the city council a week ago, member Tyrone Sims has submitted a letter of resignation. The city will hold a public hearing next Monday on removing the other member, Nathan Deters. The two members have not attended any meetings of the board since the start of 2017...

Iowa’s livestock organizations are expressing increasing alarm over a lack of available farm labor, and immigration policy they believe could further harm the pork and beef industry. Given a tight labor market, particularly in rural areas, the loss of foreign-born workers would lead to a drop in agricultural jobs, according to a study commissioned by the National Pork Producers Council...

The National Geographic Channel series “America Inside Out” with veteran broadcast journalist Katie Couric will debut tonight, with the first episode focusing on the southern U.S. The six-part series runs weekly at 9 p.m. through May 2. One of the episodes later in the series will examine “white anxiety” in the face of immigration - an issue that brought Couric to Storm Lake to film last summer...

Wintery weather will chase this year’s Fiesta Latina indoors. The multicultural festival was planned for Chautauqua Park Saturday, but has been moved to BVU´s Recreational Center (inside the field house). Events will run from 1-6 p.m. with games, crafts, food, mariachi music, dancing and more. The public is invited, and admission is free...

STORM LAKE – The Buena Vista baseball team has made a few schedule adjustments to their weekend slate of games due to all the recent snowfall in the Twin Cities area. On Saturday, April 14, the team was scheduled to travel to Hamline University for a DH, but the location for those games has now been switched to Storm Lake. ...

Buena Vista junior pitcher Marissa Promes notched a pair of wins against No. 6 Illinois Wesleyan over the weekend, and for her performances the past week, has been named the Iowa Conference Female Athlete of the Week Promes went the distance in finale of Friday afternoon’s doubleheader against the Titans, allowing three runs on just four hits while striking out six and walking one, as BVU picked up a thrilling 4-3 victory. ...

Semi Pro Football is coming to Early, Iowa. The North Iowa Knights have a new home and new league for 2018 season, they have joined the Midwest Football League. Knights rival NW Iowa Bulldogs also joined the new league with them along with other teams from Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri. The Knights did not stop there, they also added a new head coach as first year coach Waylan Shoesmith takes over the helm for the Knights and Marty Hart returns as Defensive Coordinator...

BLOOMINGTON, Ill - The Buena Vista softball team wrapped up the Illinois Wesleyan Tournament on Sunday afternoon with a split of two games; picking up a second consecutive 8-2 victory over Wittenberg before losing in walk-off fashion, 3-2, against DePauw...

Buena Vista University (BVU) Director of Athletics, Jack Denholm, has announced that Todd Lorensen has been hired as the next head men’s basketball coach at BVU, pending successful completion of a standard background check. Lorensen just recently completed his fourth season as head men’s basketball coach at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa, where he quickly became one of the storied head coaches in the program’s recent history. ...

The spring sports season has been anything but a beautiful time of year with nature blooming in full force. Rather, it has been a desolate, bleak landscape with numerous events being postponed or outright cancelled. The outdoor track season has yet to see a single meet due to the weather for the Pilot-Tribune area. Golf and tennis have also been affected by the snow, wind and frigid for spring temperatures...

On the evening of Tuesday, April 10, at approximately 9 p.m. the Storm Lake Police Department was dispatched to the Storm Lake Middle School in reference to a 12 year old juvenile refusing to go home. Upon arrival of police they met with the juvenile who alleged that he didn’t want to go home due to being physically abused at his home...

May 15, 1930 - April 8, 2018

April 10, 2018