Stories from Friday, May 8, 2020

Hy-Vee, Inc. announces that effective Wednesday, May 6, it would limit meat purchases at all of its locations. Hy-Vee Statement: We continue to work with industry leaders so we are prepared for any possible fluctuations in product and can best serve our customers. ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on businesses from large to small, and there are many questions surrounding what business owners and entrepreneurs should do as the state prepares to re-open. To help answer some of these questions, and to help Iowans understand the many resources available, the Community and Economic Development program and the Farm, Food and Enterprise Development program with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach are providing a series of podcasts and webinars, in partnership with the Iowa Small Business Development Centers.. ...

Area non-profit organizations want to remind northwest Iowans about the options available to cope with anxiety during a time of social distancing or self-isolation related to COVID-19. Officials with Plains Area Mental Health, a non-profit community mental health center with offices in Spirit Lake and Storm Lake, said anxiety disorders are the most frequently occurring mental health problems among the general population...

Baseball and tears, the ones streaking down cheeks. Tears, the kind leaving rifts between fathers and sons. “Field of Dreams” is about phantoms and phenoms on an unlikely diamond in an Iowa cornfield. Emotions gush like water across the fresh-cut grass, resonating three decades later because of the nerves the movie digs down to reach...

Josh Turner, with special guest Dillon Carmichael, will appear at the 2020 Clay County Fair, Thursday, Sept. 17, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available now thorough the fair website or Midwesttix.com. Other grandstand shows announced to date include Skillet, Darci Lynne and Friends and Herman’s Hermits...

Mollie B, the multi-instrumentalist and award-winning vocalist who is the host of the Mollie B Polka Party TV show, has been booked to perform during the 50th anniversary Albert City Threshermen & Collectors Show, Saturday, August 8. Mollie Busta is well known locally for headlining two sellout shows as fundraisers for Santa’s Castle in Storm Lake in recent years...

Storm Lake Superintendent of Schools Stacey Cole has received a positive performance review from the Board of Education, and a new three-year contract. Cole, like other administrators, will receive a 3.5 percent wage increase, to $196,440. Board President Peter Steinfeld said that a three-year contract has been typical for the district in recent years. “It is a signal that we are happy and satisfied and very much want to retain her,” he said of Cole...

The number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb in Buena Vista County, reaching 28 as of Thursday. Six people were considered recovered and the remainder were still being monitored. The governor’s office informed the local Public Health Department that they had emailed the longterm care facility nursing homes in the county offering the opportunity to do COVID-19 testing for the staff and residents...

Area counties are concerned about the balance of decision-making power within the mental health region, as the state has called on regions to take over management of children’s mental health services. The region has been directed to add three more members to its board of directors in recognition of the expansion, who may be parents of children with mental health needs or service-providing professionals...

An initial meeting for a Building Storm Lake Child Care Solutions Steering Committee has been pushed back for a second time due to COVID-19 concerns. The group is the result of a community meeting on a lack of child care availability in March. A new date of June 24 is planned with a location to be determined...

The Spencer School Board approved a trio of agreements with the Clay Central-Everly School District which details how the two districts will partner together as CC-E’s district transitions from operating three simultaneous seven to 12 tuition out agreements to one, with Spencer. The CC-E board was the first to approve the agreements during their meeting Monday, which include a student academic agreement and student activity agreement...

With more work-from-home opportunities available now, there looks to be more time to explore some possible hobbies, for growth and development. Home maintenance, computer skill development, cooking, all these skill sets are possibilities for gaining insight on, and having fun while doing so. ...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking that he grant Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’s request to extend the authorization of 1,000 members of the Iowa National Guard to serve in Title 32 status through June 30, 2020...

August 13, 1929 - April 26, 2020

Storm Lake (including Little Storm Lake) Anglers have had good luck from shore and in the main lake. Storm Lake has a daily limit of 3 walleye and all 17- to 22-inch walleye must be released; and no more than one walleye longer than 22 inches may be taken per day. ...

Nearly 1,400 workers at three Tyson Foods pork processing plants in Iowa have tested positive for the coronavirus, the state reported this week, as deaths surged to a new daily high and a testing backlog persisted. The Iowa Department of Public Health revealed for the first time that the state’s largest workplace outbreak has been at the Tyson plant in Perry in central Iowa. There, 730 workers were confirmed to have the virus, a startling 58 percent of those tested, the department said...

The lyrics say it all ... “I give my life to you ... My heart to you ... You’re all I need ... Come and make me new.” “Jaci Hermstad, our warrior angel here on earth, has answered the call to join the angels in heaven, reunited with her beautiful twin sister Alex. She is made new and perfect, embraced by the loving arms of Jesus.”...

Ten new cases of Buena Vista County residents testing positive for COVID-19 were reported Thursday, by far the most of any day to date. Cases total 28, six are considered recovered. As of Thursday, one was hospitalized. Public Health coordinator Pam Bogue said the spike is due both to more testing, and the beginning of a local spread. She could not say how many cases are packing plant workers...

With nowhere to take trash, the rural parts of the county are getting trashed. “It’s getting bad out here in the country. It’s horrible on the gravel roads,” Buena Vista County Supervisor Paul Merten said during a supervisors meeting thus week. Mattresses, sofas, TV sets, appliances and other junk are being dumped on the country roads and in the ditches, raising the ire of the rural residents...

After some tense sparring, Storm Lake city officials and the contract operators of the Storm Lake Marina came to an agreement during a city council meeting by phone this week. Under the deal, the contact will be amended with the city taking over rental and revenue for the 80 boat slips, after the marina operators indicated they will no longer do that task. ...

Spurred by the pandemic experience, Storm Lake Schools are proposing to go to a “one-to-one” technology system that would allow every student to have a district-provided laptop computer for use at school and at home. “The pandemic has put a spotlight on many things,” Superintendent Stacey Cole said, especially the need for technology to better communicate and teach...

Trepson Montessori Preschool in Storm Lake is finding progress in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. The local day care and preschool program has leased a new location after a long search, taking space in a business building across from the high school. Signage is expected to go up next week...

A trio of enthusiastic pooches slam into the lake with gusto near Scout Park on one of the first warm days of spring, giving their trainer an unexpected bath. / Pilot photo by Dana Larsen

“As a mother, I’m so worried I’m going to lose my son. It’s a helpless feeling. I can’t help but feel like nobody cares that these people are in danger - because of their backgrounds.”