Attendance at Monday night's Lake Park City Council meeting quickly dropped mid-session after local developer Seth Hellinga announced he was withdrawing his request to rezone an area near Silver Lake. With no rezoning application for the council to consider, the agenda item was scratched, and dozens of community members exited the Lake Park Community Center as the council continued with the evening's business.

A Milford man will be put on probation for two years after pleading guilty to one of several charges which stemmed from a July incident in downtown Milford.

Authorities said two Milford residents were taken to separate hospitals after being ejected from a vehicle early Friday.

Bridge to temporarily close in mid-September

Local and state officials are one step closer to finalizing plans for improving the Lakes Area's main thoroughfare.

A man accused of shooting and killing a woman outside a Milford business last month has pleaded not guilty.

A Spirit Lake woman was possibly injured Monday morning when her minivan ended up on its roof in the parking lot of a local restaurant.

A previous version of this story stated certain paintings displayed at the Abbie Gardner Cabin Museum were painted by Gardner herself. While the Dickinson County Museum houses some items painted by Gardner, it is unclear whether she herself painted the depictions of the Spirit Lake Massacre which once hung in her pioneer museum. This story was updated March 10, 2022.

Local group aims to preserve Gardner Cabin site

The staff at Champion State of Mind welcomed the public last week during an open house at their updated facility on 16th Street in Spirit Lake.

The mental health and addiction counseling service has been expanding both its services and its team of providers in hopes of better serving the public.

Authorities have filed charges against an Emmetsburg man in connection with a 2020 murder in rural Palo Alto County. Brice Patrick Colling has been charged with first-degree murder in the case. He was arrested Monday evening by the Palo Alto County Sheriff's Office and agents of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. The 22-year-old is among three individuals believed to have participated in the murder of Rollin "RJ" Bontrager in July of 2020.

Some remember it as the opera house. Others recall its days as a bank. More recently it was home to the YMCA's Healthy Living Program Center, and current renovation work aims to continue the Stevens Block's iconic role in downtown Spirit Lake.

The building was purchased by Kuhlman Lake Service and Welding in mid-January, and plans are underway to convert the building into several leasable commercial units.

A local nonprofit hoping to preserve and repurpose some of the Lakes Area's oldest trees has gained some support from a well-known soda-pop brand.

CO2 pipeline company voices qualms

Some proposed plans for stabilizing Silver Lake's shores got the go-ahead from state officials last month. Iowa's Natural Resource Commission approved the construction project Jan. 19. The recently approved work is just a portion of the overall improvement efforts and will span about 4,000 feet of deteriorated public shoreline in the northwestern portion of the lake. Work is anticipated to be complete by mid-September this year.

The Harris-Lake Park School District is preparing for some changes in its administration.

He's changed buildings, and he's changed offices once or twice, but Justin Bouse has been with Okoboji Schools for more than 20 years. And now he's preparing to make yet another transition — this time with a change in school colors.