Stories from Friday, December 13, 2019

The 2020 Crop Advantage meetings will give producers a solid foundation of current research-based crop production information to help make smart, informed decisions for their farming operation. The Crop Advantage meetings are an opportunity for farmers and crop advisers to hear current research and crop production information from Iowa State University. Extension specialists will provide updated management options, as well as recommendations on current and future crop production issues...

Staff from Mills Marketing recently collected and dropped off goods for the Storm Lake Police Department’s Gloves of Love campaign. The SLPD will continue to collect items in the police station lobby until December 17th.. / Photo submitted

The expansion project at United Community Health Center in Storm Lake continue through the winter. The facility is one of 14 such clinics in the state that operate on sliding scale fees to meet local needs for medical, dental and mental health services. ...

Lakeside Presbyterian Church will present “The Promised Messiah”, a Festival of Lessons and Carols by Philip Ledger, as part of the regular church service this Sunday, December 15, at 10 a.m. The service will begin with prelude music by the Tower Bells under the direction of Sharon Daniels. ...

Celebrate the holidays at the Fonda KC Hall December 28th with northwest Iowa country music favorite Brad Morgan. The show is 8-11 p.m., with doors open at 7:30. Tickets are $15 at the door. All presale tickets will automatically be entered in a drawing for Brad Morgan swag. Check out MAGS 4 Fonda Inc. on Facebook for advance ticket information...

LINDSEY BAHR 1. “Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood”: Quentin Tarantino’s movie business fairy tale, featuring all-time performances from two of our great living movie stars, and the shadow of one’s spirit, is his most warm-hearted and tender and a complete joy to watch and watch again. It’s hard to glean whether a film will stand the test of time, but “Once Upon a Time...” has the makings of a modern classic...

To date, 168 families and individuals have been “adopted,” and 31 are waiting to be chosen in the annual Adopt-A-Family for Christmas program. The Pilot-Tribune and Upper Des Moines Opportunity co-sponsor the program each year, matching generous individuals, families, businesses, clubs, classrooms and church groups with needy local families to provide the Christmas experience they might otherwise not have. ...

No injuries were reported as Storm Lake firefighters extinguished a chimney fire in the frigid conditions Tuesday night. A fire on a residence roof was reported around 7:15 p.m. at an occupied home in the 1000 block of Kelvin Road. Firefighters arriving on the scene found the chimney area of the house fully engulfed. ...

J.D. Scholten, candidate for Iowa’s 4th congressional district, announced Wednesday that he will be challenging fellow Democrat and presidential candidate Andrew Yang to a basketball game. The two were scheduled to play the game in Ames at the community center Thursday...

A new decade will mean a new addition to Spencer’s downtown district. Planned to open in the summer of 2020, The Iowa Project Brewing Company continues to develop its 316 Grand Ave. property into the future home of a brewery and taproom. “When you come in the space, we’re going to try to keep things open,” said Nicholas Applegate, one half of The Iowa Project Brewing Company. ...

The holidays aren’t joyous for everyone, here are some thoughts for hope and healing

January 4, 1924 - December 5, 2019

December 18, 1930 - December 5, 2019

A cookie walk and vendor stroll will be held December 14th, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lakeside Presbyterian Church, 110 E. 3rd Street in Storm Lake. There will be local vendors, cookies and candies, and door prizes. All proceeds go to support An Angel’s Touch, a non-profit charitable organization that works to improve the lives of the elderly, children and those with special needs who are impoverished...

Iowans can buy 2020 resident hunting, fishing and other licenses on Dec. 15. Licenses purchased for 2019 expire on Jan. 10. The menu of license options includes the popular Outdoor Combo annual resident hunting/fishing/habitat combo license for $55; the Angler’s Special three-year fishing license for $62; and the Hunter’s Special three-year hunting license with habitat included for $101...

Works by Storm Lake artist Boyd Zimmer are being featured in the Buena Vista Regional Medical Center’s hallway gallery, now through March 2020. “Ever since I was old enough to hold a crayon, art has been a passion of mine,” Zimmer said in an artist’s statement. ...

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday announced a a public service campaign to address increased vaping by Iowa teenagers with a focus on social media and information programs for parents and students in schools. Reynolds said increasing awareness and education on the known risks of vaping will help prevent young people from suffering nicotine addiction and health problems...

A firefighter climbs to the roof of a church building in Rembrandt Tuesday night. A construction worker who had been doing repairs became trapped on the roof after his hands became frostbitten with no feeling, preventing him from climbing down. / Photo contributed by Dick Bennett...

In the past several years, a number of anglers have mentioned to me that they would like to get involved in ice fishing. We’ve talked about what it takes to go ice fishing and I’ve learned that there are just a few things that need to be kept in mind if someone wants to try their hand at fishing through a hole in the ice. Let’s talk about some of those things...

An Iowa State University survey says farmland values in the state rose 2.3% over the past year, despite the trade disputes and declining income. The increase was only the second in six years, according to the survey report released Wednesday. Low interest rates, strong yields and a limited amount of available land helped boost the statewide average to $7,432 an acre (0.40 hectares), said Wendong Zhang, an Iowa State assistant economics professor. ...

Despite a two-day flight delay that cut into her missions in Mexico, Storm Lake Library Director Elizabeth Huff had a successful trip attending the annual book fair in Guadalajara and visiting Storm Lake’s sister library at a school nearby. At the book fair, Huff arranged to purchase about $7,000 worth of Spanish materials that will be shipped to the library, bolstering the Spanish language collection...

County supervisors from Buena Vista County and other area counties met with area legislators this week to express concerns about the juvenile mental health system in the state. The mental health regions administrated by the counties were given two years to take over children’s mental health services, Buena Vista County Supervisor Paul Merten said, “with no funding for it.”...

The Citizens First National Bank Foundation has donated $10,000 that will provide valuable coding and computer science opportunities to Storm Lake Elementary School students. The school recently integrated coding into its curriculum to help build an important skill that’s critical to jobs across an increasing number of industries. The district considers coding to be an important component to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programming...

Santa makes some new friends at Storm Lake’s holiday showplace, Santa’s Castle. Attendance has been brisk so far this season, with plenty of new features to go with the collection of antique animated characters. Santa even autographs books for his young visitors. ...

“What we hear a lot is students trying to navigate their teenage years - how do I balance school, work and family? We know it’s a struggle - a lot of our students have to go straight from school to a job to help support their family, or they go straight home to take care of their siblings all night. They are living lives that are more adult than they should ever have to be at that age.”

SCHALLER - It was one of those stellar defensive performances on Tuesday night for the Ridge View girls basketball team as they held River Valley to just 15 points in a 49-15 win. “I really liked our intensity to start. We built a nice lead early and continued to play a pretty solid game defensively all night,” RV Coach Brian Bode said. “Our hans were active and applied strong ball pressure.”...

ALTA - A balanced scoring effort for the Sioux Central girls, four players in double figures, along with a strong first quarter gave them all they needed to get the better of Alta-Aurelia on Tuesday night, taking a 64-39 decision. “We got off to a pretty good start and then relaxed a little bit. Alta-Aurelia made some adjustments and got some easier looks in the second half,” SC Coach Kasey Krager said. “We started the game well and then maintained our lead for most of the game.”...

POCAHONTAS - To say the Newell-Fonda Mustangs had the game well in hand on Tuesday night against Pocahontas Area after the first quarter would be an understatement. Newell-Fonda drove past the Indians, 78-23. “Tonight the girls did a good job of getting after Pocahontas from the start. ...

STORM LAKE - It was a close game after the first quarter on Tuesday night between the Storm Lake and Emmetsburg girls basketball teams, but the E-Hawks switched to a full court press starting in the second quarter that changed the tide of the game. The green and white fell in a 71-24 contest...

CARROLL - The Storm Lake boys swim team got in the pool on Tuesday night, taking on both Spencer and Carroll. The green and white swimmers came home with a 63-30 loss to Spencer and a 95-12 loss to Carroll. Storm Lake had two third place finishes. Ben Stark took that spot in the 200 freestyle after a time of 2:40.41. The 200 freestyle relay team of Stark, Ethan Runneberg, Cole Kleespies and Lucas Keller finished in 1:58.24...

SCHALLER - It wasn’t only cold outside on Tuesday night but also cold inside the gym as making the most of the chances they had were difficult for the Ridge View boys basketball team. The Raptors struggled shooting the ball in a 46-32 loss to River Valley...

POCAHONTAS - One big outburst in the third quarter created the separation necessary for the Newell-Fonda boys to come away with a 14-point win on Tuesday night over the Pocahontas Area Indians, 74-60. “This was a good win. That was a hard fought, intense game and I thought our depth was a big reason why we won that game,” Mustang Coach Chad Buchholz said. “When our bench comes in, we don’t lose much and in the second half they (PAC) wore down while we were still fresh.”...

ALTA - Through the first half on Tuesday night, it was about as even as it could get between Alta-Aurelia and Sioux Central’s boys basketball teams. Neither team had a big edge over the other, but basketball is a two half sport and the Rebels came to play in the second 16 minutes, taking a 70-56 contest over the Warriors...

STORM LAKE - The St. Mary’s boys basketball team made a few too many mistakes on Tuesday night against Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire that hurt their chances to come away with a victory. Instead, the Panthers bowed to the Titans, 53-32. It was only a three-point game after the first quarter, St. Mary’s trailing 11-8. However, GTRA began to create some distances in the second period, outscoring the Panthers by 10 to take a 13-point lead to the locker room, 31-18...

STORM LAKE - The Storm Lake boys basketball team continued to take some early season bumps in the road after a home loss on Tuesday night against the Emmetsburg E-Hawks, 74-62. Storm Lake had an early lead against the E-Hawks, but an Emmetsburg run swung the momentum in their favor in the first quarter, taking a seven-point lead to the second, 19-12. ...