Stories from Tuesday, January 19, 2021

The A-list is back. How A-list? Try Lady Gaga and J. Lo. Inauguration officials announced on Thursday that the glittery duo would appear in person on Jan. 20, with Gaga singing the national anthem as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are sworn in on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, and Jennifer Lopez giving a musical performance...

Over the course of the last few months, the Iowa Great Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and staff have been meeting regularly to monitor the COVID-19 situation in the region and across the country to assess its impact on the 2021 University of Okoboji Winter Games...

Neil Anders will be in a concert at Shiny Top Brewery in Fort Dodge, Thursday, February 25. Showtime is 7 p.m. and admission is free. Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Anders, from Odebolt, has played extensively with a variety of bands for over a decade, becoming a staple of the northwest Iowa music scene. In addition to performing frequently as a solo artist, Anders plays regularly with the Jay Clyde Band and Nashville recording artist Brad Morgan...

A medical assistance relief fund has been established for longtime Spencer High School Band Director and local musician Jack Ryan. Ryan has been diagnosed with cancer, melanoma in the chest area, a very aggressive and advanced stage cancer, and is in the Des Moines area receiving treatment and living in a care center facility near his niece, Jaci...

Several crime victims and their advocates joined more than a dozen other Iowans who spoke Thursday against a legislative proposal to reinstate the death penalty in Iowa. Clinton native Christy Wolfe’s two younger sisters, Susan and Sarah, were killed by a neighbor in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 2014. She read a statement from their mother, who wrote that while Pennsylvania had the death penalty, the family was “relieved” when the jury did not impose it on the man convicted of the crime...

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposed bill to increase penalties for those who attack the police has yet to be introduced at the Statehouse, but it’s already facing strong opposition from Des Moines leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement. In her Condition of the State address, Reynolds said cities such as Minneapolis, Portland and New York have “embraced the attacks on law enforcement, and now their violent crime rates are rising for the first time in a generation. ...

Rep. Megan Jones, R-Sioux Rapids, was sworn in to the Iowa House of Representatives on the first day of the 89th General Assembly. The swearing in ceremony was shortly followed by opening remarks by Speaker of the House Pat Grassley, outlining some of the priorities of the Legislature for the 2021 session. During session Jones can be reached by email at [email protected]. /Photo submitted...

Hazel Linsted, proprietor of Hazel’s Cafe in Nemaha, Iowa went to her eternal home on January 12, at Park View Rehabilitation Center in Sac City. Hazel Lucille Godbersen was born on a farm near Odebolt, on March 17, 1934, to parents Edward and Dorothy (Siebrecht) Godbersen. She grew up on the family farm southwest of Schaller. Hazel attended country school and completed 8th grade at Schaller Community School...

Despite 2020 being one of the most unusual years to date, one thing remains certain, new life and new beginnings continue to provide hope for the future. In 2020, 229 babies were born at Spencer Hospital, with 118 of those girls and 111 boys. “This has been quite a unique year in our birth center trying to navigate our way through the COVID-19 pandemic, yet our team continues to enjoy the opportunity to help families welcome little ones into the world as well as educating and pampering new moms,” commented Jeannette Hasley, Spencer Hospital Birth Center Director.. ...

Predicting the spread of COVID-19 using standard statistical models has its challenges, which is why two Iowa State University researchers developed a network-based approach to look at the impact of specific policies and vaccination strategies throughout the many stages of the pandemic...

The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) is sharing data on statewide COVID-19 vaccine administration. These updates will be published each week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reports will initially be static visualizations, including high-level information on vaccine administration totals, as well as county-level information. The current update and future dashboard will be housed on the existing coronavirus.iowa.gov website...

Orchids are a popular and colorful addition to any home setting. In this installment of Yard and Garden from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Aaron Steil, associate director of Reiman Gardens, answers some common questions about how to care for and grow orchids at home for all to enjoy...

With the continuing pandemic, many Iowans are rethinking when they will retire, whether sooner or later than they originally had planned. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach is delivering educational online workshops beginning in January that address both scenarios...

Eleven students from Brazil and Chile have filed a federal lawsuit accusing a northwest Iowa community college, a recruitment company, a pet food manufacturer and a packaging company of human trafficking and involuntary servitude. The lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Iowa says Western Iowa Tech Community College and J&L; Staffing, both in Sioux City, lured the students to Iowa in 2019 under a work- and study- based visa exchange program only to push them into factory jobs that had no educational value and were unrelated to the field of study.. ...

Beth Sibenaller graduated from the Iowa Department of Public Safety Basic Academy and became a Trooper with the Iowa State Patrol. Sibenaller works out of the Spencer district and covers a northwest Iowa area roughly from Larchwood to Estherville. Sibenaller, a 2019 graduate of Buena Vista University, says a combination of athletics and classroom instruction at BVU prepared her for this career...

Veteran state legislator Gary Worthan is a bit troubled by a uncertain start to the 2021 session. “We’re kinda feeling our way yet. Nobody knows just exactly what this session is going to look like,” the Storm Lake Republican said. “When the governor gave her address the House chamber was half empty - people are staying away unless they have to be here. I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but the reality is that there is exposure here.”...

The blizzard aftermath wasn’t fit for man nor beast. Bella sits this one out. / Photo by Bethany Larson, Storm Lake.

“Four years of Donald Trump, we can overcome,” then-candidate Joe Biden told an attentive crowd at Buena Vista University in early December, 2019. “I believe he had done significant damage to our country nationally and internationally - I think he’s damaged the soul of the country. Everything he has done is designed to pit us against each other.”...