Do you sleep with your cell phone on a bedside table? You may want to move it after reading this report from Radio Iowa’s Matt Kelley:

The director of a sleep disorder clinic in Omaha says he’s seeing patients from Iowa and Nebraska, mostly teens and young adults, who are sleep-texting — that’s right, texting while they’re asleep. Dr. Michael Summers says, “The transition from wake to sleep and sleep to wake happens fairly abruptly and you still may be in and out of that either wake or sleep state and that is where these occur.” Dr. Summers believes sleep-texting is a lot more common than you might think. “The frequency of it really increases if you’re sleep-deprived,” he says. “You combine that with certain sleep medications that can make parasomnias more common and you’re starting to see this become more of an issue. It’s probably fairly under-reported, at least sleep-texting, because admittedly, some people may send things that are a bit embarrassing to talk about.” Summers blames the phenomenon of sleep-texting on sleep deprivation. He says, “Most people average around seven hours — or less — of sleep per night and a vast majority of studies show that most people need at least nine hours of sleep per night.” He says sleep deprivation does take its toll on a person and it can carry over into their awake time.

“You are more prone to making mistakes,” Summers says. “You’re less efficient. Chronic sleep deprivation decreases response times, so when you’re driving, you may not be able to react as quickly. You may do what we call automatic behaviors where you’re driving and you may go into this zone-like state where you drive by your exit.” Too little sleep can also lead to sleep-eating, night terrors, restless leg syndrome, sleep paralysis, chronic pain and teeth grinding. Summers, whose clinic is at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, says the first step in stopping these episodes is to get more sleep. He recommends that at a certain time, electronics are turned off. He says never get into bed with your cell phone. If you need it in your bedroom, put it out of reach.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday) approved the transfer $191, 000 from the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) fund to the Debt Service Fund, in order to pay down a $520,000 loan for the Northwest Water/Sewer Extension Project. The loan was originally set-up to be paid in 20 annual installments of $26,000 each, but the agreement also provided an option for the County to prepay the bond principle in all or in-part, prior to its maturity.

The project was approved by the Board in May, 2011. It involved the laying of 3,200 feet of water main and sanitary sewer from Highway 83 to the Amaizing Energy Industrial area and along Glacier Road and underneath the railroad spur line. The utilities were created in that area in hopes of fostering economic development. The County is paying for the project, with Atlantic Municipal Utilities acting as the flow-through agency for the funds.

In other business, the Board set March 14th, 9:05-a.m.,  as the date and time for a public hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2013 County budget.

MANSON, Iowa (AP) – The northwest Iowa town of Manson is struggling to sink a new water well all because of something that happened 74 million years ago. A meteorite slammed into the region, sending up rocks from five miles below the surface. The Manson Crater spans parts of four counties with a diameter of 24 miles.
 
The Des Moines Register says the rocky mess is creating big headaches for well-drilling crews searching for a spot where pumps can bring up enough water for the entire town.  Crews drilled on the edge of Manson in November, but had no luck. The Department of Natural Resources is suggested the city concentrate on the center of the crater, where earlier wells have produced water.    The city’s current wells were built in 1905 and 1921.