Stories from Saturday, January 7, 2017

The Clay County Fair announced country breakout band Old Dominion as the first act to headline the U.S. Cellular Grandstand at the centennial fair celebration at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16. "The opportunity to bring one of country music's rising stars to the Clay County Fair is so exciting," fair manager Jeremy Parsons said. "This concert will be one of the highlights that people will want to 'come home' for during the fair."...

The Spencer Chamber of Commerce extends its annual invitation to the public to attend the 2017 Eggs & Issues legislative sessions. The first session will be Saturday, Jan. 21; this event is a great opportunity for everyone to meet area legislators and other elected officials to discuss the issues that affect Spencer, Clay County and northwest Iowa...

When local elected officials, Sen. David Johnson, I-Ocheyedan, who serves Senate District 1, and Rep. Megan Jones, R-Sioux Rapids, who serves House District 2, return to work in Des Moines Monday to begin the 87th General Assembly, they will both be looking at a Republican-controlled Legislature...

While most 18-year-old high school seniors are shaking off the rust from their holiday break, gearing up to begin their final semester and overcome the nagging symptoms of the dreaded “senioritis,” Katie Simpson is busy taking finals and wrapping up her time at Spencer High School as a new adventure awaits on the horizon — beginning Monday...

The Iowa Space Grant Consortium, which is affiliated with Iowa State University, recently announced that representatives of seven Iowa schools will be participating in the 2017 ISGC Academy, which will be held Feb. 8-10, at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. ...

The past month has been pretty rough on Spencer's basketball boys. The Tigers have been trying to find their winning formula ever since their last foray into the W column back on Saturday, Dec. 3 against Sioux Central. The purple and gold pieced it together Friday night in the Field House, handing a quality Cherokee team a 61-41 loss with the help of a 24 point outing from junior guard Brady Kluender...

Spencer's girls took to the hardwood for the third time in four nights Friday night, facing a top-five team for the second evening in a row. To make matters worse, the visiting 3A No. 4-ranked Cherokee Braves entered the game with the fourth highest per game scoring average in the state across all classes with 71.6 points per game. The Braves pushed the pace all night, resulting in early foul trouble for the Tigers and eventually a 76-38 defeat...

Well, I'm back. Did you miss me? (Don't answer that.) Yes, the Gregorian calendar did me a solid this past holiday season, dropping back-to-back Saturday editions of the Daily Reporter and with them my column. (For what it's worth, I told myself several times I'd write a column for one of the midweek papers. I just, uhhhh, didn't. Surprise, surprise I'm a natural procrastinator (I mean, my name is even in the word ... sort of.) that requires a deadline for motivation. I am who I am.)...