Stories from Monday, April 1, 2019

What began as a social media post has snowballed into a grass roots relief effort to assist communities in northern Nebraska and southwestern Iowa devastated by flooding. Nancy Bumann and Brian Bumann, of Spencer, said they decided to take action after witnessing coverage of the flooding...

The new energy efficiency plan for Alliant Energy’s Iowa customers will provide direct financial savings on their monthly energy bill. The plan will also provide cost-effective options to help electric and natural gas customers reduce their energy usage...

Dorene Ehlers, age 57 of Newell, passed away Wednesday, March 27, at the Buena Vista Regional Medical Center in Storm Lake. After a courageous fight with cancer in 2005, Dorene’s battle resumed March 2018. Her strong will to live and the love and prayers of family and friends carried her through the year long battle with cancer...

Dwayne R. Ehlers, age 86, of Alta, died Saturday, March 23, at the Buena Vista Regional Medical Center in Storm Lake. Funeral services took place Thursday, March 28, at 10:30 a.m. at the Zion Lutheran Church in rural Storm Lake. Burial was at in the church cemetery. Visitation took place Wednesday, March 27, from 5 - 7 p.m. at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake. The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake is in charge of the arrangements...

UnityPoint Health – Trinity Regional Medical Center announced it has been named one of the Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals in the United States by The Chartis Center for Rural Health for the fourth year in a row. Regarded as one of the industry’s most significant designations of performance excellence, the annual Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals award is based upon the results of the Hospital Strength INDEX® from iVantage Health Analytics. ...

Imagine if the slightest breeze or the touch of a bed sheet caused excruciating pain on your head, shoulder or side. What if you also had a fever, chills or an upset stomach? That’s what shingles, a painful, blistering rash, can be like for some people...

When we spot a wrinkle or gray hair, some people may respond by quickly looking for ways to cover up the signs of aging. We try vitamins, supplements and skin care regimes in the hopes it’ll keep us looking and feeling young. But what about the important organ that makes us who we are? How do we keep our brain from aging?...

The area will have its own mini “Comic Con” this season, with Kee Con 2019, at the Cherokee Public Library, with Western Iowa Tech College. Join in for a free day of geeky trivia, gaming, and contests. All ages are welcome and encouraged to dress up...

The summer-long Live at the Lake concert series will get under way Saturday, June 8 with “Free Fallin’ - A Tribute to Tom Petty.” The free concerts are held on the Preservation Plaza next to the Arnolds Park Amusement Park. Minneapolis-based Free Fallin’ has been performing Tom Petty’s music throughout the country and internationally for more than 11 years now. ...

A new “Nashville Nights” country music series is on the way at Hard Rock Resort in Sioux City, showcasing up-and-coming acts. Things kick off April 4 with Daniel E. Johnson, followed by Jake Dodds on April 11, Garrett Speer April 18, Nick Hickman April 25, Big Time Grain Co. ...

“Nature’s Art: Marvelous Mud” is planned for Tuesday, April 30 at the Prairie Heritage Center, rural Peterson. The unique art class will be 7 - 8 p.m. There is more to soil than getting dirty - this event will have you painting with the Earth.

The Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency Board of Directors will not be considering financial incentives for hard-to-fill positions after all. Last month, the board discussed the issue and directed Chief Administrator Jeff Herzberg to further research options. At this month’s meeting, however, Herzberg said he is taking his proposal off the table, after some further conversation with current staff members...

Community Education continues to be a force in the Storm Lake community, according to a recent presentation by Director Joe Kucera to the city council. With three employees, CE is able to operate 26 different programs offering recreation programs to young people from preschool to high school age, which served about 4,500 participants in the past year, he said. Nine adult recreation programs served around 450, and adult education classes involved another 200 participants...

The Clay Central-Everly School Board announced it will reduce its high school and middle school staff as the district moves forward to provide only K-6 education next year. The announcement came as part of a special board meeting in Everly lastweek evening in which the board gathered to address the staff reduction procedures and support staff agreement...

Members of the Storm Lake High School Key Club and other students helped out Wednesday at the Kiwanis Food Distribution at the former Sears store in Storm Lake, as they have for each event to serve the needy. The next distribution will be May 22. /Pilot photo by Dana Larsen...

Roadways can turn hazardous and deadly during winter’s wrath, and a project under way in Iowa is looking at one possible solution: Heating the pavement. The Iowa Department of Transportation and Iowa State University are working together on heated pavement technology, the Ames Tribune reports...

Hunzelman, Putzier & Co., PLC today released an audit report on Buena Vista County, Iowa. The county had local tax revenue of $35,399,043, for the year ended June 30, 2018, which included $2,085,383 in tax credits from the state. The county forwarded $25,397,270 of the local tax revenue to the townships, school districts, cities, and other taxing bodies in the county...

The phrases “mostly sunny” and “partly cloudy” are common on the National Weather Service’s seven-day forecasts — and that’s good news for Dickinson County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Ehret. “Mike is keeping tabs on things minute-by-minute, almost,” Dickinson County Emergency Management Commission President Bill Maas said. “We’re within 5 inches of where the 5 miles per hour speed limit would kick in automatically.”...

The Storm Lake school district formally parted ways with former high school principal Beau Ruleaux in a special meeting Friday, accepting his resignation and approving a separation agreement. Ruleaux resigned immediately following a recent investigation of conduct violations at the high school. The district has not released specifics of the alleged violations...

It was his seventh trip there, but this time was different. This time, physical therapist Todd Nicholson had to go out of his comfort zone. Not because of the riots that were happening in Nicaragua—the deadliest civil conflict since the end of the Nicaraguan Revolution that saw at least 76 killed and 500 injured. But because unlike the other six times, he was going to heal spiritual wounds outside of his comfort zone of physical therapy...

“Let’s keep the country in the family, let’s keep the family in the country.” That was the theme - and words to a song crooned enthusiastically by the crowd of around 200, at the Family Farm Action rally in Storm Lake Saturday. The event pitched a “Farmers’ Bill of Rights” and made it clear that members of several farm groups were fed up with their treatment by Washington politicians...