Stories from Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Storm Lake firefighters raced to a house fire at 811 West 6th Street Sunday night, where heavy smoke was pouring from all the windows in the structure. Despite initial reports that one person might still be trapped inside, police officers arriving first on the scene learned that all the occupants had escaped without injuries, with young people being comforted by others across the street...

Buena Vista County has resolved a legal dispute with an employee who filed charges of harassment, retaliation, and other possible civil rights violations against the county. In court documents provided by the county attorney's office, the county agreed to increase hourly pay, pay attorney fees, pay $1,000 in compensatory damages, assign employee Sonia Banuelos as second deputy in the motor vehicle division of the county treasurer's office, and to strike any disciplinary action from January to June of 2018 from the employee's personnel file.. ...

After four years sitting vacant, the former KFC building in Storm Lake is a restaurant again. Pop's Cafe opened Tuesday, after about six weeks of renovation to the building located on Flindt Drive. The owner, Pete DePuma, of longtime downtown eatery Pantry Cafe, says his entire family is involved in the operation of the new business, "everybody pulling their weight" and even doing much of the work on the building. ...

Local inventor Edgar Hosiel Leon Esquivel has received a patent for an anti-rollover automotive design. The H-shaped base is mounted to the vehicle. An electric motor with a rotatable axis powers a metal disk coupled to the axis of the electric motor. The rotation of the metal disk stabilizes the vehicle through centrifugal force...

Storm Lake St. Mary's High School is undergoing a major renovation for their high school science laboratory/classroom this summer. The investment will mark $400,000 spent on STEM improvements in the school in the last two years. The school also renovated their middle school science room, purchased numerous computers, upgraded their servers and purchased science equipment recently...

Buena Vista University (BVU) held an Employee Recognition Celebration on May 25 to recognize and award achievements for faculty and staff of the University. The annual Education for Service Award was presented to Scott Wunschel. Wunschel began his career at BVU as a technical support specialist in 2002. Throughout his time at BVU, Wunschel's roles have evolved, and he currently serves as the director of infrastructure and operations for information services...

Buena Vista County supervisors are considering an offer by County Attorney Dave Patton to sell his office building to the county. With Patton leaving the position at the end of the year, and county attorney business having been done out of this office, the county will need to provide space for an office...

The Storm Lake Library trustees quickly hit an impasse Monday over a proposal to remove and replace the library's two murals, located in the children's section. They estimate that the art has been in place for over 20 years. The handprinted work was done by former librarian Susan Stone when she was a page at the facility...

A Storm Lake Police officer suffered minor injuries Saturday night when an arrested suspect attempted to head-butt the officer. Officers were called to Mo's Bar on Lake Avenue for a disturbance between two Patrons. Patrick Scott, age 43 of Des Moines, had been...

A Storm Lake man has been arrested in a domestic assault incident that left his wife injured. Shortly before 1 a.m. Monday, police were called to a home in the 1000 block of East 1st Street, where suspect Juan Pintado Lila, age 32 of Storm Lake, had allegedly assaulted his wife...

A Storm Lake Tree Planting Celebration is planned for Monday at the site of the future Russell Street Park, the former Joyce's Greenery location at Russell and 5th Street. The public is welcome, and volunteers are invited to help plant 75 trees after...

EMMETSBURG - Hits were at a premium on Monday night for Sioux Central. They were able to open up with a handful, but then went silent against Emmetsburg in a 4-2 defeat. The Rebels opened up with two runs in the top of the first on a two out rally. Sophomore Kally Fahnlander led off with a single and scored off of a single from senior Sydney Sundblad. Sundblad was brought in by the next batter, senior Kennedy Hatch...

EMMETSBURG - The Rebels picked up their 10th win of the season on Monday night as they were able to take a 7-4 contest over Emmetsburg. Sioux Central got going early with a run in the top of the first. The scoring resumed in the top of the third with the Rebels getting five across, all five of those runs vital. ...

WALL LAKE - The bats were hot on Monday night for the Mustang ladies as they had 20 hits in five innings against East Sac County. Those 20 hits came into play in a 15-3 victory over the Raiders. N-F got on the board early with three runs in the top of the first. ...

SAC CITY - It was a change of fortune for the Newell-Fonda baseball team on Monday night as they were able to best East Sac County, 11-3 to end their three game slide. N-F scored one in the top of the first and added three more in the top of the second to get up 4-0. ...

RUTHVEN - The St. Mary’s boys got off to a great start on Monday night, sophomore Sam Peters hitting a grand slam in the first inning, but the Panthers faded down the stretch in a 5-4 loss to Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Aryshire. The Panthers started the game with a lead off single and had a couple of walks to load the bases for Peters’ to hit the grand slam. ...

ALTA - It was four innings of perfection Monday night for Alta-Aurelia softball pitcher, junior Abby Kraemer, as she was spotless in the circle for a perfect game. The Warrior bats did their job as well, A-A picking up their 11th straight win in a 12-0 victory over South Central Calhoun...

STORM LAKE - It was a heartstopper on Monday night between Lakes Conference rivals, Storm Lake and Spencer, neither team gaining separation from the other through the night. It took an extra inning to decide the winner, the green and white bowing to the Tigers, 9-8...

STORM LAKE - The Storm Lake softball bats came to life on Monday night against their heated rival Spencer. The green and white collected 14 hits, half of them doubles, as it propelled them to a 12-4 win over the Tigers. The runs came early for the green and white, scoring three times in the bottom of the first. ...

A Storm Lake man has lost his life as a train collided with an agricultural sprayer Wednesday. The accident took place at about 9:30 a.m. at the intersection of 170th Avenue and 620th Street in rural Buena Vista County. Kyle Drey, 33 was ejected from the equipment he was operating, and pronounced dead at the scene by the county medical examiner's office...