OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Omaha Police Officer Kerrie Orozco’s family had been planning last week to celebrate her daughter leaving the hospital three months after being born prematurely. Instead, Orozco’s family and thousands of other mourners attended her funeral Tuesday. Orozco was shot to death last Wednesday by a fugitive who was fatally wounded by another officer. Orozco was 29. She lived in Council Bluffs and was a native of nearby Walnut, Iowa.

The funeral began at 11 a.m. at St. John’s Catholic Church at Creighton University with traditional hymns and a remembrance of Orozco’s baptism. Several thousand others – many of whom were officers – sat in Omaha’s downtown arena watching a video feed of the funeral. Burial will follow at St. Joseph Cemetery in Council Bluffs after an 8.5-mile-long procession.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on Monday of 18-year old Peyten Elizabeth Spencer, of Lorimor. Spencer was taken into custody just after 6-p.m. at her residence, on a charge of simple assault. She was later released from the Union County Jail on $300 bond.

Authorities in southwest Iowa’s Taylor County report two people have been arrested in connection with a death that occurred in Bedford. According to the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, the suspects, Charles Hall, of Chicago, IL., and 25-year old April Claire, of Bedford, were taken into custody Friday, on felony charges of Child Endangerment causing serious injury.

The identity of the victim has not been released, but unconfirmed reports indicate the victim was a baby. The investigation is being conducted by the Taylor County Sheriff’s office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa – The food choices of some new parents across Iowa and the nation are changing, as those meal decisions could impact whether their child develops a food allergy. For years health professionals suggested that parents withhold allergenic foods until one-year of age, but emerging research suggests that may be counterproductive.

Dana Morris, regional development director for the Midwest with the group Food Allergy Research and Education, cites a study published earlier this year in The New England Journal of Medicine. “Instead of withholding peanuts, which usually is the common practice, they’re suggesting that you actually give it to your infant, especially if there’s known allergies,” she points out. “So I think that the directive is starting to come down through the pediatricians, and of course, it’s, ‘talk to your pediatrician first,’ before all those decisions are made.”

The study of more than 600 children considered at high risk found that only 3 percent of those children who regularly consumed peanuts had a peanut allergy at age 5, compared to 17 percent of those children who avoided peanuts completely.

Overall, it’s estimated that about 8 percent of children have food allergies, and while some will outgrow their sensitivities, Morris notes that there is also a growing trend of adult-onset food allergies. “So we tell people, anybody can develop a food allergy at anytime,” she stresses. “Personally, myself, I developed them when I was 25 and I didn’t have any food allergies.” Morris adds the most common food allergens are milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, fish, shellfish, wheat and other grains with gluten.

(Iowa News Service)