KAREN GERSTORFF, 63, of Greenfield, died Tuesday, May 9, 2023, at the Adair County Memorial Hospital in Greenfield. No services are planned for KAREN GERSTORFF at this time. Lamb Funeral Home in Greenfield is in charge of the arrangements.
Online condolences may be left to the family at www.lambfuneralhomes.com.
Memorials may be directed to the Karen Gerstorff Memorial Fund to be established by the family at a later date.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – Rolling Hills Bank and Trust has partnered with the Atlantic Parks and Rec Department, to purchase fruit trees for our area parks as a community orchard. During an Ambassadors meeting Parks Director Wyatt Adderton spoke about the tree loss in our parks, and how they were going to need to replace some trees.
Photos courtesy Rolling Hills Loan Officer BJ Hart
Assistant Parks Director Jeff Christensen later commented about a beloved pear tree located near the pool that they lost recently. He said it was a shame that it died so many people loved that tree. 
Rolling Hills Loan Manager B.J. Hart said “I went back to the bank wanting to do something and talked with CEO Keith Honke about a tree project. Keith encouraged me to get some information which prompted me to contact our new director. As Wyatt and I were talking the idea was born to have a community orchard.”
The Parks and Recreation Department purchased 26 fruit trees. Apple, Pear and Cherry Trees. The first tree for the Community Orchard was planted today (Wednesday), at Sunnyside Park.
[UPDATE 7:48-A.M. 5/11] – Mr. Brown was located on 05-10-23 at approximately 6:00 pm in Tarkio Missouri. According to Council Bluffs Police, he was located by an Atchison County Missouri Deputy. He was found healthy and the family has been notified.
(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Police in Council Bluffs are asking for your help in locating man who hasn’t been seen since Sunday. Clint A. Brown, of Council Bluffs, was last seen driving a dark blue 2000 Chrysler Town & County Mini Van with Iowa License Plate IZG-974.
Clint Brown
The family is very concerned about his safety. If you have had any contact with him, or know of his possible location, please call 911 or make contact with the Council Bluffs Police Department at 712-328-4728, thank you.
(Radio Iowa) – A report on tax collections since July 1st of 2022 shows state revenue is up nearly two percent compared to the previous 10 month period. In March, the State Revenue Estimating Conference predicted state tax revenue would drop by half a percent this fiscal year. The uptick in ACTUAL tax receipts happened despite the state paying out 107 million dollars MORE in state income tax refunds than it did through the end of April last year.
Jeff Robinson of the Legislative Services Agency says there’s been a bit of a slow down in overall state tax collections since April 3rd, though. That includes a dip in sales tax payments to the state. Iowans who filed their 2022 STATE income tax returns by May 1st and are owed a refund should get it within the next two weeks according to Robinson.
Atlantic, IA—Officials with Cass Health say “During National Nurses Week and National Hospital Week is the perfect time to celebrate and announce that for the third year in a row, Cass Health is one of the nation’s overall top 20 critical access hospitals as determined by the Chartis Center for Rural Health.”
Cass Health CEO Brett Altman says “Though the award is called ‘Top 20,’ we understand that for each of the past three years we have actually been in the Top 10 on that list of hospitals. This puts Cass Health in the top 1% of 1,353 critical access hospitals in the country, which is a remarkable accomplishment. What really amazes me is that our team has achieved this status for three years in a row; Cass Health is one of only four hospitals in the country to have ever accomplished that feat.”
This esteemed group of hospitals was selected from the Chartis Center for Rural Health’s 2023 Top 100 Critical Access Hospital list, which was released earlier this year. The determining factors for the top hospitals are based on the results of the Hospital Strength Index and its eight performance measures, based solely on data for: inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient survey results, cost, charge, and financial efficiency.
Altman says “Our vision is to be the best rural hospital in the country, and each year we are growing closer to that goal. By staying committed to delivering a superior experience to every patient and family, we hope to continue this trend. Not only are we grateful for our incredible staff, but also, we are thankful for our patients. Every time our patients give us top scores on patient surveys it helps us attain recognition such as this.”
The rankings were recently announced by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), and an awards ceremony will be held during NRHA’s Critical Access Hospital Conference.
(Radio Iowa) – The state’s Enhance Iowa Board has awarded one-point-eight MILLION dollars worth of grants to help finance four community projects. The small southeast Iowa town of Keota is getting a half million dollar state grant toward a project to build an outdoor heated pool that will have a splash pad, a diving board and an area for lap swimming. Another half a million dollar grant is going to the Y-M-C-A of Washington County for an indoor aquatic center, which will include spectator seating around six lanes for lap swimming.
The Enhance Iowa Board has awarded a half a million dollar grant toward improvements around West Okoboji’s Terrace Park Beach, which has a public swimming area in the lake, and the nearby Alex Danborn Memorial Park. The small northwest Iowa town of Marcus is getting a 300-thousand dollar grant for a facility that will include a golf course clubhouse, a recreation center, a restaurant and event venue as well as an area for virtual sports.
The Enhance Iowa Board has awarded sports tourism marketing grants to Carroll for its Kick It Up youth soccer tournament next month and to two groups promoting events during the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa’s overnight stop in Des Moines. This is the 50th anniversary year for RAGBRAI.
The Iowa men’s and women’s basketball teams will play at doubleheader at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on December 16th. The Hawkeye men will play Florida A@M while the women will take on Cleveland State. Maury Hanks is president of Global Sports Management and says he reached out to Iowa officials several months ago about the idea of a doubleheader.
Hanks says Iowa still controls the television coverage and tip times will be announced at a later date
The Iowa men are coming off a season in which they made it to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season while national player of the year Caitlin Clark returns for a women’s squad that has several key players back from a team that made it to the national championship game. The Iowa women’s basketball team is coming off a historic season in which it won a school-record 31 games en route to a NCAA national runner-up finish. This will mark the first time in program history the Hawkeye women have ever played in Wells Fargo Arena.
Iowa senior guard Caitlin Clark, who was the consensus National Player of the Year averaged 27.8 points per game, 8.6 assists per game and 7.1 boards per game, will return to her hometown. Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin also are set to return to the Hawkeyes along with 2023 Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year, Hannah Stuelke. Marshall, Martin, and Stuelke were pivotal pieces in its second Final Four run in program history.
The Hawkeye men, who are one of 10 teams in the country to compete in the last four NCAA Tournaments, will be making their ninth appearance at Wells Fargo Arena. They return four players with starting experience, including seniors Patrick McCaffery and Tony Perkins. Perkins was an honorable mention all-conference honoree after averaging 12.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists. McCaffery was tabbed the team’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree after averaging 9.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and one assist.
Junior Payton Sandfort and freshman Pryce Sandfort played their prep careers at nearby Waukee HS and Waukee Northwest HS, respectively. Payton, who was the 2023 Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year, helped guide his team to the 2021 Class 4A state championship. Pryce, who was named 2023 Mr. Basketball of Iowa, led his team to a Class 4A runner-up finish this past March.
GARY BAKERINK, 79, of Fontanelle, died Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at his home. A Celebration of Life for GARY BAKERINK will be held 1:30-p..m. Thursday, May 18th, at the Lamb Funeral Home in Fontanelle.
Food and fellowship will follow the service at the Olive Branch in Greenfield.
Visitation at the funeral home, will be held Wed., May 17th, from 2-until 7-p.m., with the family greeting friends from 5-until 7-p.m.; Online condolences may be left to the family at www.lambfuneralhomes.com.
Burial will be in the Iowa Veterans Cemetery in Adel, Iowa, at a later date with full military rites.
Memorials may be directed to the Gary Bakerink Memorial Fund to be established by the family at a later date.
GARY BAKERINK is survived by:
His daughters – Stephanie (Craig) Johnson, of Indianola; Shannon Hogan (Daniel Miller), of Fontanelle, and Casey Bakerink, also of Fontanelle.
His brother – Ronnie Bakerink, of Phoenix, AZ.
7 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; other relatives and friends.
(Harlan, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Shelby County have issued a report on arrests that occurred between May 1st and the 6th. Beginning with the most recent:
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa faces a critical shortage of nurses and under the legislature’s proposed budget awaiting the governor’s signature, the University of Iowa nursing program would get nearly three-million dollars to hire more staff. Julie Zerwic, dean of U-I’s College of Nursing, says with the extra funding, they’ll launch a program where people who hold a master’s degree in another field will be able to graduate with a Master’s in Nursing in just 20 months. “We believe that that’s a critical new program. We don’t have one like that here in Iowa,” Zerwic says. “That program will graduate 48 new nurses when we’re at capacity.” Zerwic says by hiring additional faculty, the program on the Iowa City campus will be able to increase admissions.
“One of the problems is that we have more individuals who are interested in coming into nursing than we are able to actually admit,” she says. Studies show Iowa hospitals will be short hundreds of nurses in the coming few years, due in large part to retirements and nurses quitting due to burnout.
Zerwic made her comments on the Iowa Public Radio program “River to River.”
(by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)
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