(Des Moines, Iowa [Iowa News Service]) – A Des Moines-based farm co-op is taking high-tech sports-training into the country and has hired an athletic physician to do it. The field of high-tech sports training is usually reserved for athletes and other high-level performers but the mindset is taking a dramatic turn, as the Landus Co-op in Des Moines has hired a physician.

Dr. Dehra Harris has spent much of her medical career training the Toronto Blue Jays minor-league baseball players and is bringing those skills to the Iowa countryside. Harris said she has always been drawn to helping people who have to perform physically to make a living. “You don’t have days off. You can’t take it easy, right?” Harris pointed out. “It’s that ‘rub some dirt on it’ kind of world. And to be able to take the things that we’ve been learning, in sports and in medicine, and apply it to this group is just an incredible opportunity.”

Harris explained she will start by listening to farmers’ physical needs, then developing proper nutrition and recovery programs even if it means responding to a farmer who’s delivering a calf at three in the morning, and whatever else it takes to help with America’s ag production backbone. Harris noted her regimen will not stop with physical training. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports suicide rates are nearly twice as high for farmers compared to the general public. The threat was most severe during the pandemic.

Harris will design wellness plans for farmers’ mental health, although she noted getting the information might not be easy. “I love it when I talk to farmers because I’m going to hear all about their family,” Harris added. “I’ll hear about everything to do with their farm but I’m also not going to hear a lot about what they need. So, we think that the strategies that are actually going to work best here are actually to approach this as a family, and see what the needs are for the whole unit.”

Landus is among the first co-ops in the country to take the new approach.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak say no injuries were reported following a collision Tuesday morning at N. 1st and E. Joy Streets. The accident happened at around 7:30-a.m., when the driver of a van – 27-year-old Guadalupe Ramos-Lopez, of Red Oak – failed to yield to the vehicle on her right, a 2001 Hyundai Elantra, driven by 26-year-old Angel Girouex, of Red Oak. Authorities say Girouex was traveling south on N 1st street, at the same time Ramos-Lopez was traveling westbound on E. Joy Street.

The collision occurred at the uncontrolled intersection, where drivers must yield to the vehicle on their right. Ramos-Lopez’ 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan struck the car on the driver’s side, causing an estimated $8,500 damage altogether, according to the Police report. Both vehicles had to be towed from the scene.

Ramos-Lopez was cited for Failure to Yield.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Emergency crews responded to a two-vehicle collision in Atlantic this (Wednesday) morning. The crash occurred at around 7:50-a.m., at S.W. 7th (Highway 6) and W. 15th Streets. A report on injuries was not immediately available. (Photo courtesy of Chris Parks)

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston report the arrest of a man from Lorimor. Authorities say 56-year-old Jorge Luis Gonzalez was arrested at the Creston Vet Clinic, on a Union County warrant for Theft in the 5th Degree. Gonzalez was taken to Union County Jail, and later released after posting a $300 cash or surety bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Sustained high wind Tuesday evening, in Atlantic, caused damage to trees, property and infrastructure. According to the National Weather Service’ wind gauge at the airport, winds at around at around 6:15-p.m. went from 15-to as high as 59-miles per hour by 6:35-p.m. The winds caused multiple tree limbs to come crashing down, in one case, falling on a parked van. The wind storm also resulted in downed power and cable-TV lines. Crews from the Atlantic Street Department were working diligently Tuesday, to remove the trees from the roads.

Other storm damage was reported in Oakland, where shingles were torn-off of a roof. The Weather Service had issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for parts of northeastern Cass, northwestern Adair, parts of Audubon and Guthrie County, after the storm passed through Atlantic. In Greenfield, there were reports of tree branches snapped and on the ground.

There were no reports of injuries. In the storm’s aftermath, many in the area noticed a full rainbow. Miranda Olson sent us this photo:

MINDEN, Iowa [KETV] — The mayor of Minden, Iowa, says funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA, can’t come fast enough. Last Thursday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds requested an expedited Presidential Disaster Declaration for nine counties, including Pottawattamie, where Minden is. Mayor Kevin Zimmerman said the state and county can only do so much.

KETV in Omaha reports FEMA Region 7 external affairs director Michael Cappannari said damage assessments in Mills County are complete. On Tuesday, FEMA looked at damage in Shelby and Pottawattamie counties. Cappannari said the assessments should be done by Wednesday. That’s when communities like Minden will be one step closer to getting federal funds.

(Omaha/Valley, NE.) – Officials with the National Weather Service in Omaha, Tuesday, reported that on Monday, May 6, three Tornadoes swept through a portion of southwest Iowa. Tornado number 1 (rated an EF-2) touched down near Glenwood at approximately 8:48 p.m. It was 250 yards wide and carried wind speeds as high as 110 miles per hour. It traveled northeast for 5.66 miles before lifting at 8:55 pm.

The second tornado (an EF-1) touched down at around 9:07-p.m.near Carson and Macedonia. It was approximately 200 yards wide and carried with it 93 mile per hour winds. It was on the ground for 1.53 miles.

The third and final tornado (Also an EF-1) touched down at around 9:13-p.m. Tuesday, east of Minden and Shelby. The Weather Service says it was 450 yards wide and had winds of up to 110 miles per hour. The twister traveled northeast for 4.05 miles, and lifted at 9:19 pm.

(Radio Iowa) – There have already been 14 motorcyclists killed in accidents this year and the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau and the Iowa D-O-T are trying to raise awareness of the problem. G-T-S-B spokesperson, Colleen Powell, says some people are not following basic safety rules.

“We know speed has been a factor even in our passenger cars, that people are just driving way too, fast excessive speeding. We may also be seeing that on motorcycles people being distracted,” she says. Powell says being distracted in a car or on a motorcycle can lead to bad results as you need to have all your attention focused on driving. She says there’s also another trend in the motorcycle deaths.

“Seventy-four percent of our motorcycle fatalities are unhelmeted, and that’s compared to the national average which sits closer to 38 percent,” She says. “So we’re almost double here in our state.”Powell says motorcyclists can give themselves more protection with a helmet. “We’re one of three states without a helmet law — right now people’s choice but we always encourage people to be protected, the same way we encourage people to wear seatbelts when they’re in a vehicle,” Powell says.

Motorcycles make up three tenths of one percent of all registered vehicles in the state, and point-33 percent of all vehicle miles traveled. But last year motorcycle deaths accounted for 16 percent of total traffic fatalities.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says a focus on what’s called “the science of reading” will improve the reading skills of students. The governor went to Adel Tuesday afternoon and sat among a group of first graders as their teacher led them through a reading lesson. The Adel-DeSoto-Minburn district adopted the science of reading three years ago in all grades and Travis Welker, the administrator in charge of the project — says they’ve had amazing results. Four years ago, tests showed a quarter of the district’s students were not skilled readers. This year’s results show 95 percent are proficient at reading and writing.

“Our teachers have taken this on at all levels. We’ve asked our high school teachers to engage in this, not just our lowest grade levels, ” he said, “and the results speak for themselves.” Reynolds chose an A-D-M board room as the site for signing a bill into law that requires Iowa schools to develop a plan for each student in first, second or third grade who is not reading at grade level. The law also requires testing of Iowa college students who want to be teachers to gauge their knowledge of the science of reading. Reynolds says the most recent data shows 35 percent of Iowa third graders aren’t reading at grade level.

Governor Kim Reynolds sat in the back row as ADM teacher Erin Koelker led her first graders through reading exercises.

“That’s why we’ve made it a priority to empower all teachers and school districts with the tools they need to implement the science of reading in their classrooms by providing critical training at no cost to 6000 teachers and 600 administrators,” Reynolds said. Nine-million dollars is set aside in the state budget for that training. “Stay tuned because I think this is something we’re going to be able to show progress year after year and really have some good wins to talk about,” Reynolds said.

The governor spoke with reporters at the end of a hallway the school had named “Literacy Way.”

(Radio Iowa) – Nearly 27-million dollars in state funding that could have been used for prevention and treatment of opioid use won’t be spent. States are getting money from legal settlements with pharmaceutical companies and distributors accused of fueling the opioid crisis, but Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate can’t agree on how money in the Iowa’s Opioid Settlement Fund should be spent. Republicans in the Senate favored letting Iowa’s attorney general and the Department of Health and Human Services distribute the money. House Speaker Pat Grassley says Republicans in the House had a different idea.

“Where we wanted to get is assign some of those dollars to specific projects, but at the same time not just blanket hand those dollars over to the department,” Grassley says. “…We wanted to at least set up an advisory board that the legislature would have some input on.” The state’s Opioid Settlement Fund will eventually receive 144 million dollars over the next several years. That is to be split evenly between state and local governments in Iowa. House Republicans proposed that new council made up of opioid experts in state government and the private sector review grant applications and make recommendations to the legislature for approval.

“To get those kind of dollars that you’re talking about out the door, I think the legislature should be involved in that conversation and ultimately that’s where the differences boiled down to,” Grassley says, “turn it over to the department or have a little bit more control by the legislature.”

Grassley made his comments during a recent appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S.