Stories from Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Why is anyone obsessed with whether President Trump changed the FBI plans to build a new FBI headquarters in downtown Washington? If President Trump did anything illegal I am sure the 93% of Democratic federal workers in Washington and the national news media would immediately let us know. The national news media (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, AP, WP, and NYT) have made 93% of their news stories negative about President Trump...

Week 11 of the legislative session is in the books. The bulk of my newsletters go heavy and deep on particular policy issues we're considering in the legislature. This week I wanted to try something different to give you a peek behind the curtain and a more personal flavor of life in the week of a legislator...

It's not every day an Iowan has the opportunity to wake up and ask top executives of seven major pharmaceutical companies the question that's on the minds of most Americans: Why do prescription drug prices keep rising in America? That’s exactly what I did when I chaired a congressional hearing of the Senate Finance Committee. It's the second in a series of hearings I have called to examine drug pricing in the United States...

Governor's bill on contraceptives creates a statewide standing order with the medical director of the Iowa Department of Public Health and allows pharmacists to dispense initially three months of an oral contraceptive, hormonal vaginal ring or hormonal contraceptive patch, and then subsequent year supplies. This bill only applies to patients 18 years and older...

April 29, 1973 — March 31, 2019 Arnold Joseph Tolan, 45, of Spirit Lake passed away on Sunday, March 31, 2019, at his home. A memorial service will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in the Parish Center in Spirit Lake. ...

Nov. 17, 1949 — March 25, 2019 A funeral service for Cathy Simpson, age 69, of Des Moines and formerly of Spirit Lake, was held Monday, April 1 at Turner Jenness Funeral Home in Spirit Lake. Burial was at Lakeview Gardens Cemetery. Cathy Coleene Simpson passed away peacefully at her home in Des Moines on March 25, 2019, after a lengthy illness...

Sept. 6, 1931 — March 19, 2019 Funeral services for Jeanette Van Tassel, 87, of Jefferson, will be held at noon Saturday, April 6, 2019, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Jefferson.  Visitation with the family will be from 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 6, at Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home, 119 West Lincoln Way, Jefferson, IA...

May 9, 1934 — March 27, 2019 A funeral service for Lawrence Gath, age 84, of Spirit Lake, was held Saturday, March 30, 2019 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Spirit Lake. Burial was at Silver Lake Cemetery. Lawrence Donald Gath, the son of Ernest and Anna (Koster) Gath, was born May 9, 1934, in Round Lake, Minnesota. He graduated from Lake Park High School in 1953...

  Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Music Association held its first event in the 2019 "Iowa Rocks Talent" on March 21. The event took place at the Pearson Lakes Art Center in Okoboji. Two bands and one individual won the event and will advance to finals. Triple Shot, The Noobers, and Kaela Weston will compete at "Iowa Rocks Talent Finals" on Saturday, Aug. 31, at the Roof Garden Ballroom in Arnolds Park...

The human-sized honeycomb climber inside the Dickinson County Nature Center has been a hit since it was installed in Pollinator Paradise. "The honeycomb climber helped us increase our visitor numbers to more than 15,200 in 2018, and we're excited for the many other children's museum-quality exhibits that will be installed in our new addition in 2019 as well," community relations coordinator Kiley Roth said...

The Harris- Lake Park 4th and 5th grade classes were recently awarded $500 in a Project Jack grant from the Iowa Association of Realtors. The purpose of the grant was to have students actively involved in a service learning project and spread acts of kindness to the community...

A total of 28 band students were selected to participate in the Hinton 2nd Annual 5th & 6th Grade Band Festival, sponsored by the Hinton Community School's band program. Student recommendations were submitted in February for participation in two separate bands. The selected students performed a concert at the Hinton High School Gym, Friday, March 8, following several hours of rehearsal...

What do an orphan train rider, a kidnapper, a betrayed wife, a church missionary, a wealthy businessman, a land baron's wife, a maid, a farmer, a college student, an immigrant and a newspaper reporter have in common? They all had ties to Iowa, and their stories would forever become intertwined with the saga of the opulent Titanic, which struck an iceberg and plunged to the bottom of the North Atlantic in 1912. ...

Spirit Lake vocal and instrumental students participated in individual and small group music contest in Spencer, March 23. Four students received perfect scores: Max Miller, Faith Norris, and Noel Roberts for instrumental solos and Nate Walsh with a vocal solo...

Spirit Lake Elementary special education teacher Jessica Vancura was presented with a $500 Buddy Grant from Northwest Iowa Down Syndrome Society Board Member Donna Seehusen of Pocahontas. The Buddy Grant was created in 2017 for special education teachers in the Prairie Lakes AEA region who have a project or item for their classroom that exceeds their budget. ...

Congratulations were extended to members of the Spirit Lake Instrumental Music Department on their recent performances at the IHSMA Solo/Ensemble Contest in Spencer. Students earned 17 Division I, 13 Division II, and a pair of Division III ratings...

A special group of Okoboji students gathered together on March 22 at Camp Foster YMCA for a bereavement program. The Okoboji Community Schools success team and Champion State of Mind counselors worked together to design and lead the free grief program for youth impacted by the loss of a significant person in their lives...

An early evening report of a man with a gun Friday resulted in the arrest of a Milford man who was charged with assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. Thirty-year-old Jared Wolthuis was taken into custody by Clay County Sheriff's deputies shortly after 5:35 p.m. Friday at Spencer Hospital after being transported from the scene of the complaint at 1515 350th St...

This week was the Iowa Alliance of YMCAs Advocacy Day on the Hill. Pictured here with Nathan Prenzlow, CEO of the Spencer Family YMCA and Andrew Fisher, CEO of the YMCA of the Okobojis are State Senator Zach Whiting (above) and State Representative Megan Jones (below).

The Friends of the Milford Memorial Library has received funding from Humanities Iowa, a private, non-profit state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, to host a presentation called "Iowa's Hidden Treasures" by Dan Kaercher at 2 p.m., Thursday, April 4, at the Milford Memorial Library...

"Let's keep the country in the family, let's keep the family in the country." That was the theme — and words to a song crooned enthusiastically by the crowd of around 200, at the Family Farm Action rally Saturday in Storm Lake. The event pitched a "Farmers' Bill of Rights" and made it clear that members of several farm groups were fed up with their treatment by Washington politicians...

The Democratic Party seems to know one thing for certain: that the road to winning in 2020 runs through rural America. Storm Lake's Buena Vista University became an intersection on that highway in the party's route to 2020 — in one of five Midwest states that flipped from voting for Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016...

A Dickinson County jury may still be tasked with determining whether an Ackley man is guilty of subjecting his son to neglect and torture at the family's home in Hardin County. District Court Judge James Ellesfson moved the Alex Shadlow trial out of Eldora — and to the Dickinson County Courthouse in Spirit Lake — in an effort to find a jury that might be unfamiliar with the case and its details. Shadlow is now scheduled to stand trial at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 30...

A team of scientists from the University of Iowa returned to the Lakes Area last week to share some of their findings regarding the Lower Gar outlet's role in containing local flooding. The Iowa Great Lakes Association hired Dr. Larry Weber, of the University of Iowa's hydroscience and engineering department, and his team to apply a complex mathematical model to the local watershed to better understand major flooding events. ...

"Everything is bad today," Renee Evans said, as she loaded some of her belongings into a van Monday morning. A fire heavily damaged portions of her Okoboji apartment building mid-Sunday, and officials say the extensive damage displaced all of the residents. The cause of the fire was found to be improperly discarded smoking materials, according to Okoboji/Arnolds Park Fire Chief Chris Yungbluth. The fire department said five of the building's six units were occupied at the time...

An agreement finalized by the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors will keep things operating as usual at Brooks Golf in Okoboji. The county conservation board in early March announced the purchase of the 230-acre golf course, thanks to an anonymous $3 million donation to the Conservation Foundation of Dickinson County. ...