Stories from Friday, March 26, 2021

Hy-Vee, Inc. announces that it will host its second “Best of Local Brands” summit in May to expand and enhance the product offerings at its more than 275 retail stores in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The first quarterly summit was held in February where 52 new brands were selected to become available to Hy-Vee customers in the coming months...

ISG and Tyson Food teamed up on Iowa Agricultural Service Day at Upper Des Moines Opportunities, March 23, 2021. Tyson had two groups work, 1st from 8:30 to 10:30 and 2nd 10:30 to 12:00. Besides sorting and boxing food donations, the ISG group put their hands to good use setting up bikes, over 25! All that engineering schooling going to good use...

Paul Stanley’s Soul Station, “Now and Then” (uDiscover) The love guns have all been unloaded and securely holstered, and Detroit is soul city, not rock city this time out as Paul Stanley, ringleader of the four-ring circus known as Kiss, pays homage to classic soul on a new solo album...

When Steve Rogers handed Sam Wilson his Captain America shield at the end of Marvel’s massive 2019 event “Avengers: Endgame,” Wilson tried it on for a beat. “How does it feel?” the wrinkled Rogers asked. “Like it’s someone else’s,” Wilson responded...

Farm Rock will be in concert Saturday, April 24 at the Okoboji Barn, Spirit Lake. Showtime is 8 p.m. The band formed in March, 2011 as a brand new country rock band out of north central Iowa. With a combination of talented veteran musicians, highlighted by Nashville recording artist Kendall Obermier, Farm Rock is working towards taking the midwest by storm. ...

Hailey Whitters is the first announced act for the upcoming Stone Pier Concert Series at Black Hawk Lake. The popular free concert series brings musicians from across the country to Lake View. Concerts can be enjoyed on land or on lake, with food and merchandise available on site. Concerts run from June into September...

The City of Storm Lake will be hosting an open house discussion regarding the Storm Lake Marina, as the City resumes its open Meet the Mayor sessions.  The community is encouraged to come and provide input and ideas. The topic is “Fishing For Answers About the Marina.” The City is in the midst of talks with the DNR on the future of the facility at Casino Beach that is owned by the state, and managed by the City under an ongoing agreement...

The Buena Vista County Foundation has announced its spring series of funding grants. Out of 18 competitive applications, the Foundation board has awarded seven agencies with a total of $39,000: • Alta Volunteer Fire Association - $5,000 - Airbag Rescue Tools...

The Buena Vista County Board of Supervisors is encouraging courthouse and other county workers to be vaccinated for COVOID-19 as soon as possible. The county Public Health department has offered to perform a mass vaccination at the courthouse for employees who wish to be vaccinated, once the vaccine supply is made available to all...

“It is more and more noticeable in the community that people are relaxing in these practices. We understand that people are ready to get back to ‘normal life’ but we are not yet at a place that we have reached herd immunity and we need people to continue to be diligent in these practices.”

May 20, 1933 - March 22, 2021

Regularly, farm safety is emphasized each Fall around harvest, including the scheduled Sept 19-25, 2021 National Health and Safety Week (which is traced to President Franklin Roosevelt in 1944). However, many of the risk factors relate equally to the Spring planting season. So much so, that I want to raise the ever-important moniker: “think safety” now!...

Bright yellow daffodils, colorful tulips and fragrant hyacinths brighten our spring gardens. Give them the care they need to extend their spring display and keep them coming back for years. Hybrid tulips and hyacinths are short-lived stars of the spring garden. ...

Storm Lake Middle School would like to congratulate SLMS students who participated in National History Day this year. More than half a million middle and high school students participated in this contest. Students benefited by using reading and research skills, problem solving skills, and critical thinking...

KANSAS CITY - The Buena Vista men’s golf team finally had its chance to step out on a course for the first competition of the spring as the team competed in the two-day Shoal Creek Invite, hosted by Baker University, that wrapped up on Tuesday afternoon...

STORM LAKE - Buena Vista University softball had a home opening double-header against Loras College on Thursday night and won 4-3 and 8-6. BVU came out strong in the bottom of the opening inning. Carlee Guyett scored after Michaela Mason hit a fly ball to right field. ...

The Iowa Basketball Coaches Association announced the annual Boys Academic All State Basketball Team. The team was selected by an IBCA panel from more than 83 applicants. This team carries an average of an ACT composite of 28.7, a scoring average of 14.9 and a GPA of 4.0. Two area players from Alta-Aurelia made the team, Cade Rohwer and Trey Engelmann...

It’s hard to be the best at something. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, and Danika Demers has shown that hard work and dedication by being at the top of the state of Iowa, in all classes, with assists in basketball. Demers is a junior student athlete at Storm Lake St. ...

The Revenue Estimating Conference projected additional revenue growth in the current fiscal year and the next at its meeting on Friday. The three-person panel raised their forecast for General Fund revenue in Fiscal Year 2021 to $8.0789 billion, which is a growth rate of 1.9 percent. For the next budget year – FY 2022 – the REC raised state revenue to $8.3856 billion or 3.8 percent growth...

The Newell-Fonda Silver Stars presented their Dance Night event recently. One of the team’s efforts was a pajamas routine. Younger children in the district got their chance to perform, with help from the high schoolers. / Photos by Scott Kilbride

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley plans to visit federal border camps this week to check conditions that continue to be a source of controversy for the Biden administration. Grassley, R-Iowa, said he would visit the U.S.-Mexico border late Thursday and Friday to see conditions at government camps that are housing many children, some of whom arrived without parents. ...

The Storm Lake Board of Education has approved an online program to inform students and families of several different diploma paths and the requirements to earn them, including a new Honors Degree. The project stems from the district’s belief that “all students deserve a rigorous core curriculum that challenges and prepares them for a variety of opportunities - both known and unknown - after high school.”...

Storm Lake Police plan to spearhead an effort to build a new basketball court in Seneca Park for this summer. Officers enjoy outreach with local youth at every opportunity, and recently were playing catch with some children after school in the park, located directly behind the police station. The kids told the officers that they weren’t good at football, and would rather play basketball, but that there isn’t anyplace in their area to play...

Krista Tedrow, who resided in the foster care system until she was nine, carries statistics from those formative years, motivators all. Fifty percent of children who interacted with the foster care system graduate from high school. Of that 50 percent, 20 percent start college...

While Governor Reynolds has signed controversial new election reforms into law, the lawmakers may have forgotten to ask the people who run those elections. “The state auditors association has written letters to legislators, individual auditors have contacted them, and it didn’t help. We’ve tried, but they don’t seem to ask our opinion,” Buena Vista County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Sue Lloyd said of the reforms...

“Every time there is a mass shooting there are cries for gun control, but nothing ever seems to come from it. How many times does it have to happen?”