Stories from Tuesday, May 4, 2021

City of Storm Lake nnouncment. Spring has arrived and with it a colorful, healthy crop of signs for garage sales and other events. Signs, including advertising signs for garage sales, are not allowed in the public right of way in Storm Lake. The public right of way is generally described as the area between the sidewalk and street...

George “Bud” Garton, age 86, of Albert City, Iowa went to his heavenly home on April 28, at the Trinity Regional Hospital in Fort Dodge, Iowa after a hard- fought battle with cancer. Memorial services were held on Monday, May 3, at 2 p.m. at the Sliefert Funeral Home in Albert City. A visitation was held one hour prior to the service at the funeral home. The Sliefert Funeral Home in Albert City is in charge of the arrangements...

Kenneth J. Brabec, age 82, of Fonda, Iowa died April 29, at St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa. Funeral Mass took place Monday, May 3, at 1 p.m. at St. Columbkille Catholic Church in Varina, Iowa. Burial was in the church cemetery. Visitation took place Sunday, May 2, at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake. The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake is in charge of the arrangements...

On Sunday, April 11, the Newell Boosting Achievers 4-H Club met at the Meyer Farm for their meeting and activity. They went over the agenda and important business. After that they got to learn about beekeeping, sheep, goats, chickens, bucket bottle calves, alpacas, horses, rabbits, and ducks. ...

Listed below are students who earned a Division I (Superior) rating for the SLHS Solo / Ensemble Contest held earlier this month. Winners for the Outstanding Vocal Performers: include Sarah Olson and Davion McDaniels. The winner for Outstanding Vocal Performer - State Iowa High School Music Association Virtual Contest is Beatrice Walker...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates for adolescents (ages 10-13) in Iowa are above the national average, according to data by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA). While the overall rate of those receiving their initial HPV vaccination in Iowa increased – from 39 percent in 2016 to 63 percent in 2019, the number of adolescents returning to complete the second HPV dose remains at just 33 percent, just slightly above the national average of 29 percent...

An Iowa nurse who is on the state registry of abusers for allegedly stealing patient medications in 2019 was never criminally charged in the matter and her nursing license remains in good standing with the state. State records indicate that in August 2019, the husband of Sheila Freeman, a Fort Dodge woman, was mowing the yard when he found a purse that had been tossed into the tall weeds alongside the couple’s property. ...

Local favorite Larry Heschke will be performing as Inspiration Vines & Wines in Linn Grove resumes its concert series, Friday, May 28. The show begins at 6:30 p.m. Larry, who has performed with various bands for many years, sings familiar hits from the 1950s on up...

Easily the most heartfelt movie about family life that also includes a robot apocalypse and a pug often mistaken for a loaf of bread, “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” is an antic, irreverent animated delight that somehow doesn’t sacrifice depth even as it hurtles forward at breakneck comic speed...

Local band She’s With Us will perform live at the Farmers Market in the Park, Arnolds Park Amusement Park, Saturday, May 29, 9 a.m.-noon. Beginning in the fall of 2014, She’s With Us started with powerhouse lead vocalist and all around female force of nature Iesha Toft placing some calls to friends old and new. ...

From Nicole Baart, Sioux Center, Iowa-based author of what People Magazine calls the “race-to-the-finished drama” Little Broken Things, comes Everything We Didn’t Say, everything you could want in a suspense novel. This haunting mystery follows a mother who must confront the summer that changed her life forever in order to reclaim the daughter she left behind...

Last week marks number 15 in the typical 16 week legislative session. Whether or not the session ends this week is dependent upon the budget progress made by the House and Senate leadership. Continued progress was made on appointments to boards and commissions from the governor. ...

Storm Lake United’s annual Mother’s Day give-a-way is back again for 2021! A Mother Like No Other! is underway, running through Mother’s Day on May 9th. The grand prize is a one-night stay at King’s Pointe Resort plus four waterpark passes. SLU is also giving away two Mother’s Day Gift Baskets valued at over $150 from its participating businesses. Runner-up prizes include $50 & $100 in Storm Lake Bucks...

The Iowa House approved legislation to outlaw so-called “vaccine passports” last week after first voting down a proposal to eliminate an exclusion for health care facilities. “Fundamentally, this a liberty issue,” Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, who floor-managed the bill, said...

St. Mary’s School has again achieved a perfect score on the Iowa Assessment standardized tests - a rare feat for a school of any size. St. Mary’s High School freshmen students achieved 100 percent proficiency level in reading where the state average is 83 percent. The St. Mary’s eighth grade students achieved 94 percent proficiency in reading where the state average is 75 percent proficiency...

A playground bid for the new Early Elementary School was approved by the Storm Lake Board of Education recently. The district had worked with four companies, picking pieces that a committee had liked from each plan in hopes the bidders could replicate the final design. Only one of the four, GameTime, submitted a bid, for $412,000...

Storm Lake’s annual dropout rate comes with a caveat. The district always looks troubled with a low four-year graduation rate - 56 percent for this school year - but Superintendent Stacey Cole noted that many students enroll in Storm Lake’s unique charter school, with a fifth year of studies toward both a high school diploma and a community college associate’s degree...

The Iowa Tourism office named DiscoverPoco.com as the 2021 best rural tourism website in the state of Iowa at the Iowa Tourism Conference on April 28. DiscoverPoco.com, short for “Discover Pocahontas County”, was launched by the Pocahontas County Economic Development Commission (PCEDC) in late August of 2020. The website promotes all there is to see and do in Pocahontas County: outdoor recreation, historical sites, museums, shopping, dining, camping, events, and more...

A couple of sure things happen, when summer hits – grilling, vacations, and a bevy of softball games. Playing softball on the good ol’ neighborhood diamond is one thing, but getting a chance to play in a softball game at Texas Rangers stadium is another thing entirely...

Area COVID-19 rates continue to be low and stable. During the past week, Buena Vista County reported eight new positive tests, with a test positivity rate of 2 percent. That’s about half the number of positive tests being seen per week a month ago. During the pandemic, Buena Vista County has seen the 18th highest number of cases among Iowa’s 99 counties at 4,889 as of the end of the week, but has by far the highest per capita rate. ...

A trip to Chicago in the fall of 2019 ignited a passion for service among Buena Vista University’s Student Association of Social Workers (SASW). The result: Jane’s Closet at BVU, which celebrated a ribbon cutting on Wednesday. Jane’s Closet is a Swope Hall site that contains thousands of pieces of clothing as well as personal care items for foster care children in Buena Vista County. ...

Buena Vista County’s jobless rate has declined for the third consecutive month. Just-released local unemployment numbers for March show the county at 3 percent unemployment, down from 3.4 percent at the start of the year, and near pre-pandemic level...

April is recognized as Sexual Assault Awareness Month across the state of Iowa, and according to Bobi Miller, executive director of CAASA, northwest Iowa is not immune to the predatory, violent behavior. Miller, who oversees a 19-county region including Buena Vista, Calhoun, Carroll, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Emmet, Ida, Lyon, Monona, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Pocahontas, Sac, Sioux and Woodbury, said local statistics indicate someone is sexually assaulted every 73 seconds, and every nine minutes that person is a child according to Miller. ...

Chelsea Baccam and Jaylen Saengchanpheng were crowned as Storm Lake High School Homecoming King and Queen Friday night at halftime of a boys soccer game, making up for the event that couldn’t be held last fall. Students enjoyed their prom celebration the next night...

STORM LAKE - The Storm Lake boys soccer team had a 3-1 homecoming victory over Denison-Schleswig on Friday. Storm Lake got on the board in the first when freshman Adriel Melendez found the goal before the half ended to make it 1-0. In the second half sophomore Deryk Hernandez scored off a chip shot from near midfield to make it 2-0 before the Monarchs scored one to close the gap a bit. ...