News

Sioux Central, Clay Central-Everly and Laurens-Marathon school districts shared Superintendent Dr. Scott Williamson is expected to talk about his impending resignation at Monday's CC-E Board of Education meeting. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. in the music room at the CC-E Elementary School in Royal...

The Spencer Police Department is investigating a burglary that took place on Wednesday at approximately 2 a.m. at J.C. Penney, located in the Southpark Mall. Spencer Police responded to a report of a burglary, and upon arrival at the business discovered that there were signs of forced entry. The suspects were able to remove miscellaneous merchandise from within the business. ...

“You’ll just come to headquarters, that will be at Arts on Grand, that will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,” Spencer Main Street Executive Director Nancy Naeve said. “We’ll have you sign in and give you your passport. We want you to go to 10 places, but you can got to as many as you want.”...

— Plowing a driveway and leaving the snow in a position to cause drifting out onto the traveled portion of the roadway could potentially be violating Iowa Code, obstructions in highway right-of-way. — Priority is to plow paved surfaces first. The lowest priority roads are low traffic volume roads with no residences along them, such as level “B” roads. ...

STORM LAKE — Clay County residents wanting to get a bit closer to the Democratic presidential races will have an opportunity to do so this weekend, they will just have to drive 40-plus miles south to do it. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who made a Spencer stop, during the early months of his campaign, will join businessman Andrew Yang, for two independent stops in Storm Lake on Sunday, and a surrogate, for former Vice President Joe Biden will be in Storm Lake Saturday...

After voting to adopt a new, seven council-committee system on Monday, members of the Spencer City Council have received their appointments from Spencer Mayor Kevin Robinson to the committees. Each committee: public safety, public works, personnel, finance, economic development, long-term planning; and parks recreation and culture is chaired by one of the seven council members serving alongside two other committee members...

The Spencer Hospital Board of Trustees met Thursday morning to address agenda items which included listening to a legislative update from the Iowa Hospital Association. The IHA detailed their current legislative key issues at the state and federal level. At the state level IHA officials said some issues they were monitoring would be improvements to complexities within the Medicaid system, funding for behavioral health and any policies regarding workforce...

STORM LAKE ― A Storm Lake man accused of arson incidents at the Vista 3 theater and the movie aisle of the Storm Lake Walmart has pled not guilty in district court to charges of arson, assault on a police officer and criminal mischief. A trial date has been set for March 10, but the county attorney’s office anticipates a delay...

There are still more questions than answers as investigators look into a fatal crash and the discovery of pipe bombs east of Knoxville. Special Agent in Charge Ron Humphrey and the State Fire Marshal's Office confirmed Del Sorey, of Arnolds Park, as the driver of a truck that left the roadway, rolled and burst into flames in the first few moments of Sunday, Jan. 12. Sorey was the only occupant in the single-truck crash at 12:04 a.m...

WASHINGTON — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, as president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, led an enrollment ceremony to sign the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act. Grassley’s signing of the legislation is the final step before it goes to the president for his signature to become law. “After three years, we’ve seen some success from the president’s trade policy and USMCA is the best example of this right now ... 176,000 jobs as a result of this and what it does for agriculture, getting a lot of our agriculture products into Canada that we would never be able to get in there under NAFTA, and also in regard to helping manufacturing, particularly in the automobile industry. It’s very helpful,” Grassley said. The Iowa senator was joined by fellow Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; Pat Roberts, R-Kan.; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; John Hoeven, R-N.D.; Deb Fischer, R-Neb.; and Martha McSally, R-Ariz.

The Spencer Performing Arts Coalition will host its 2020 Alumni Concert featuring 1998 Spencer High School alumnus Ryan Odor and Friends at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26. Odor has been involved at SCT for the past four years and is the executive director at Arts On Grand. ...

The Spencer School District support staff union met with school officials during a special school board meeting Tuesday evening to enter into discussions and propose initial contracts for the 2020-21 school year. Spencer support staff consist of teacher associates, media, technical support specialists, administrative assistants, cooks, bus drivers, building secretaries, custodians, library associates and English language interpreters...

ARNOLDS PARK — Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigeig was welcomed by a warm crowd during a frigid Jan. 16 afternoon campaign stop at the Waterfront in Arnolds Park. The Democratic contender for the presidency had participated in a nationally televised debate two days before his arrival, and he told the Arnolds Park audience he feels equipped to challenge President Donald Trump on not only economic and military issues, but on issues of common decency...

As the roads worsened as a result of freezing rain overnight Wednesday, Clay County began receiving calls for cars in the ditches at approximately 3 a.m. and they removed the last semitrailer from the ditch (above) at Clay County Road M-50 and U.S. Highway 18 at 10:30 a.m. ...

A familiar, small-scale game will be played in the macro the Saturday of Winter Games. Human foosball has been added to the events roster of the 40th annual games. Historic Arnolds Park will host teams of life-sized foosball players as they compete near the park in Preservation Plaza...

A combination of cabin fever and a commitment to promoting commerce inspired a Lakes area event that's now 40 years strong. This week will mark the 40th Annual University of Okoboji Winter Games. The first games were held Jan. 24-25, 1981, as part of an effort to promote the area outside of its typical tourist season. Kiley Zankowski, director of membership and events with the Iowa Great Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce, said that same mission continues today...

It's been only a few short months since the Iowa Great Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce hosted the Oktoberfest 2019 celebration, and chamber officials hope some of the enthusiasm will carry over to this year's University of Okoboji Winter Games. The chamber is bringing the game of hammerschlagen to the Winter Games after it debuted at Oktoberfest this past fall. ...

The Clay Central-Everly School District and districts it has partnered with in tuition-out agreements have had to review their agreements after the Iowa Department of Education required a change due to language. Notified of the issue during their first board meeting of the year, CC-E Superintendent Scott Williamson said making the necessary revisions required would not cause any noticeable changes or affect students...

Pete Buttigieg will return to Iowa on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 25-26. On Jan. 25, he will hold a town hall in Storm Lake beginning at 6 p.m. No site has been announced at this time. It was noted doors will open to the public at 5:30 p.m. Buttigieg appeared at The Waterfront in Arnolds Park last Thursday...

Owner Dan Menough was joined by his wife and the Spencer Ambassadors at his restaurant Kazarelli’s on the River. Located at 24 West Park St., Kazarelli’s is open Tuesday through Saturday; 5-9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The restaurant serves a combination of Italian fare and barbecue specialties. Menough said he is planning to add pizza and pasta nights weekly, perhaps as early as February. The owner has worked in the industry for 30 years after attending culinary school in Colorado. He grew up in Minneapolis but has been in the area for 15 years. He opened at the original Kazarelli’s Italian-themed location at the Lakes 13 years ago.

Lutheran Services in Iowa was recently awarded $3,700 from the United Way of Spencer to support the Family Development and Self-Sufficiency program. The free program is provided through LSI’s early childhood services for families of young children in Clay, Dickinson, O’Brien and Osceola counties...

WASHINGTON ― The Internal Revenue Service confirmed that the nation’s tax season will start for individual tax return filers on Monday, Jan. 27, when the tax agency will begin accepting and processing 2019 tax year returns. The deadline to file 2019 tax returns and pay any tax owed is Wednesday, April 15. More than 150 million individual tax returns for the 2019 tax year are expected to be filed, with the vast majority of those coming before the traditional April tax deadline...

Shortly before 11 a.m. Sunday, the Spencer Police Department responded to 718 Fourth Ave. SE for a domestic disturbance involving a man with a gun. ...

The Spencer City Council approved a change to how city business is addressed during their regular meeting Monday evening. The council approved establishing seven council committees: public safety, public works, personnel, finance, economic development, parks recreation and culture, and long-term planning...

Last week Gov. Kim Reynolds announced her newest appointments to Iowa’s boards and commissions, with two appointments coming from the city of Spencer. Matthew Horihan was appointed to the Iowa Council on Homelessness and Kevin Brown has been appointed to the Commission on Community Action Agencies, pending Iowa Senate confirmation...

Northwest Iowa's first major winter storm of the year was hard to miss Friday, making travel difficult as more than 7 inches of snowfall was reported, with precipitation continuing into Saturday. (DIRECTION) City snow plows were making their passes to keep as much of the city's roads open as possible Friday. During the Spencer City Council meeting Monday, city officials praised the work done by city crews in cleaning up the roads. "Every place gets four cuts, so when you extrapolate that out that's like 350 or 370 miles, which is the equivalent of driving south of Kansas City, every time we have a snow event," Spencer Mayor Kevin Robinson said. "It's an incredible amount of time and dedication that gets put in by everybody and we appreciate that." (DIRECTION) With school canceled ahead of the storm, a few youngsters tried to brave the bitter cold to have some fun as the snow flew, but ultimately decided after a short period of time to return home.

AMES — A total of 10,066 Iowa State University students have been recognized for outstanding academic achievement by being named to the fall semester 2019 dean's list. Students named to the dean's list must have earned a GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale while carrying a minimum of 12 credit hours of graded course work. ...

Williams & Company P.C. announced the advancement of Ebony Rahe, CPA, as managing shareholder; and Dan Semmler, CPA as shareholder in their full-service certified public accounting firm, made effective Jan. 1. Prior Managing Partner Dave Radke, will step out of the role but continue as in-charge shareholder of the Onawa office. ...

CLIVE — The 2020 Iowa Pork Congress will be held Wednesday and Thursday at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. This event, organized by the Iowa Pork Producers Association, is North America's largest winter swine trade show and conference. The Iowa Pork Congress will include 10 other educational seminars, training sessions on quality assurance and manure application, social events, and youth activities. ...

Rotary President Chris Tostenrud recognized Spencer High School senior Isaac Pingel as the Rotary Student of the Month for January.

ESTHERVILLE — The annual Iowa Lakes Community College Show and Jazz Choir Festival, featuring show choirs and jazz choirs from area high school and middle schools, will be hosted on Jan. 28-29 at Iowa Lakes Community College. The choirs will be performing for two clinicians — Clay Blackman from Omaha, Nebraska, to work with the show choirs, and Dr. ...

Born in Cedar Falls, Virginia Christensen was the only child of Ted and Hollis Dykhouse. Her family moved to a farm in northwest Iowa when Christensen was 6. She gained a love of music and the outdoors from her parents. As she matured, she developed a kind personality, a positive attitude and a “gentle fighter and grateful survivor” manner. Christensen attended and graduated from Moneta High School in 1948. During that time, she began dating Amos from Royal...

STORM LAKE ― While conversation might not fix what’s wrong in the country, it is probably where a solution will start. Or so says Eric Schnurer, founder of the Greater Good Gathering initiative, who brought such a conversation to the Buena Vista University campus in Storm Lake on Jan. 12 ― the first site to host such an event besides New York and Los Angeles...

Now in its 29th year, the Spencer Chamber of Commerce has brought forward the next generation of community leaders and volunteers through its Leadership Spencer program. Leadership Spencer was created to develop informed, involved and concerned community leaders of the Spencer area. ...

With a storm system expected to bring winter precipitation through Saturday at daybreak, National Weather Service officials said they expected driving conditions to be poor throughout the region as snow falls and gusts blow. “Winds will be fairly strong out of the south and southeast during the daytime Friday, gusting between 30 to 40 mph, then they’ll switch out of the northwest Friday night into Saturday gusting between 40 and 50 mph,” said Andrew Kalin, meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls. ...

Taking an original approach to educating middle school students to the dangers associated with vaping, facts were delivered to the sixth through eighth grade classes in a game show. Rather than a gym full of quiet, reluctant youth — game show host Orlo Azul had students screaming, jumping up and down and cheering for one another as he introduced the information through interactive trivia questions — offering up cash and prizes to the winners...

While Iowan library card holders have access to more than 600 libraries in the state, being able to check out a limited number of items through the Open Access program, five libraries in northwest Iowa have been going a step further in granting patrons access to their combined collections of information and media. ...

DES MOINES — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig was among many with ties to the agriculture industry in the state of Iowa who offered some thoughts on the U.S. Senate’s vote to pass the USMCA trade agreement. “I want to thank President (Donald) Trump for his commitment to negotiating better trade deals for America’s farmers,” Naig said. ...

At 5:50 a.m. Tuesday, Joel Ehlers, 41, of Albert City, was traveling northbound in a 1999 Peterbuilt semitruck, in the 4100 mile of Clay County Road N14/310th Avenue when he lost control due to the icy road conditions. The tractor-trailer jack-knifed and entered the west ditch where it came to rest. There were no injuries reported due to this accident. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by Clay County Roads and Bud’s Service. No charges were filed...

The effort to bring the Little Sioux River back into its banks at Linn Grove continues. The Federal Emergency Management Agency intends to restore the site to its pre-disaster condition, while county officials advocate for improvements that will help prevent the same kind of problems from occurring again in the future...

Iowa Republican leaders are once again pushing for a constitutional amendment that would limit abortion rights in Iowa after an attempt to pass a similar measure fell short in 2019. The amendment aims to nullify the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2018 that struck down a law requiring a 72-hour waiting period for abortions. It states that Iowa’s Constitution does not “secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.”...

Iowa environmentalists charge that the state government is directly threatening the health of swimmers and other recreationists by failing to adequately inform the public of risks and by falling behind on a federally required warning system. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources “is not meeting its legal obligation to submit the (impaired waters) list by the statutory deadline, leaving Iowans in the dark about the status of their waters and putting them at risk,” Michael Schmidt, attorney for the nonprofit Iowa Environmental Council, wrote in formal comments of a proposed list of “impaired waterways.”. ...

OKOBOJI — Helping get a weekend of Winter Games underway on Friday, Jan. 24, take an authentic trip back to the fantastic 1950s with The Holy Rocka Rollaz. The classic early rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly of Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash and many more that fans want, played just the way those legends played it will hit the stage of the Lauridsen Performing Arts Theatre stage in the Pearson Lakes Art Center in Okoboji beginning at 7:30 p.m...

ORANGE CITY — Orange City Arts will welcome acclaimed Lightwire Theater for the visually stunning show, “Dino-Light!” on Wednesday, Jan. 29. A glow-in-the-dark adventure for all ages, “Dino-Light!” is a story to warm the heart on a cold northwest Iowa day...

The Spencer Chamber Ambassadors joined Spencer Main Street in welcoming Jessi Johnson and Jaime Hurst-Gonzalez, the friends and partners behind Perfect Imperfections, as the group cut a ribbon inside the Main Street business Thursday morning at 16 E. Fifth St. The business duo talked with ambassadors about their plans for the craft studio and do-it-yourself workshop, whether hosting events and classes or allowing others to rent the space for the same purposes. The two said more than anything, they wanted Perfect Imperfections to become a place for people of all ages to have something fun to do. A schedule of the craft studio’s events and information such as prices and how to register can be found at perfectimperfectionsdiy.com or on the Perfect Imperfections Facebook page.

The Clay County Board of Supervisors met with Clay County Fair CEO Jeremy Parsons and representatives from the Clay County Fair Board on Tuesday as CCF officials gave a report of 2019 and discussed annual funding from the county. Parsons outlined the fair’s role in the community, both from a business and employment perspective...

A 15-year-old sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries following a snowmobile accident Monday afternoon. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office responded at approximately 4:15 p.m. to the report of an incident in the 1800 block of 340th Street where it was reported the juvenile, operating a 2001 Arctic Cat snowmobile, was westbound in the ditch...

CLAY COUNTY — A Storm Lake man sustained minor injuries following a Tuesday afternoon accident involving a pickup and a semitrailer in the 4100 mile of U.S. Highway 71. Abelino Orellana Ramirez, 38, of Storm Lake, went to Spencer Hospital with minor injuries after the 2015 Toyota Tundra pickup he was operating collided with a 2014 Freightliner pulling a cargo trailer...

Since October, seventh grade students at Spencer Middle School, have been engaging in financial literacy studies facilitated by Farmers Bank, of Spencer, as part of the Junior Achievement program. “We started this program just this last year six weeks into the school year,” said Kent Gethmann, vice president commercial loan officer. ...

With the Iowa Legislature in its second day of a new session, Gov. Kim Reynolds met with state lawmakers inside the State Capitol Tuesday and delivered her third Condition of the State address. The reaction to the address by Northwest Iowa legislators largely centered around Reynolds’ plan to introduce the “Invest in Iowa Act” this session, which Reynolds said would “significantly cut income taxes, create a sustainable funding source for our mental health system, reduce the burden of property taxpayers, and fund the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust.”. ...