(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, county offices in the southwest area, have announced award recipients for outstanding achievements in 2021. Krista Downing, Guthrie County Program Coordinator and Mollie Clark, Guthrie County Youth Coordinator received the Excellence in COVID Recovery award for developing and engaging partnerships that implemented innovation in programming. In the fall of 2020 and again in the fall of 2021 “Fall Feel Good” bags were delivered to 100 area farmers and 100 area small businesses. Items in the bag included resources for mental health such as; Iowa Concern magnets, stress balls, fidget toys, brain break games, exercise moves at a desk, healthy snacks, as well as a few other fun resources.

ISU Extension and Outreach builds a strong Iowa by engaging all Iowans in research, education, and extension experiences to address current and emerging real-life challenges. Learn more at www.extension.iastate.edu.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider. For the full non-discrimination statement or accommodation inquiries, go to www.extension.iastate.edu/diversity/ext.

(Des Moines, Iowa/KCCI) – A total stranger walked into the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit at MercyOne medical center in Des Moines and bottle-fed a baby that wasn’t his. KCCI reports Des Moines Police are trying to identify the man seen on surveillance footage while he was in the hospital. The station says according to police, the man slipped by a nurse, bottle-fed a baby in the NICU and then left the hospital. Des Moines police say the unidentified man was trespassing, but what they don’t know is why the man did this.

Thomas Slater, a lawyer in West Des Moines who deals with medical malpractice cases says the hospital has a duty of care to the baby in the NICU. He said an unidentified person claiming to be a parent should not have been allowed in. Slater adds that the baby being fed and other babies in the NICU were put in danger when the man entered the unit.

MercyOne sent KCCI a statement that read:
“MercyOne takes the safety and security of our patients and families very seriously. The incident that took place last month is extremely troubling. We are actively cooperating with the Des Moines Police Department on this ongoing investigation and have conducted an internal investigation into the matter, which prompted several changes to our policies and protocols to expand our security and prevent this from occurring in the future.

Des Moines Police say they want to find the man and figure out what his motive was. Authorities say MercyOne is cooperating with their investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans are spotting vast numbers of bald eagles this winter, but time’s running out to admire the big birds. More than 400 eagles were counted recently along one mile of the Iowa River in Johnson County, but D-N-R wildlife biologist Stephanie Shepherd says nesting season is almost here, and that means it’ll be much harder to find eagles. “They can begin as early as February and sort of the peak of them initiating nesting is in March, so they’re actually going to be breaking up here pretty soon, probably in the next three weeks or so to start getting back to their nest sites and initiating that nesting cycle,” Shepherd says. “I think we’re probably going to see numbers dwindling a little bit over the next few weeks.”

While many of the eagles we’re seeing are migrating here from states like Wisconsin and Minnesota, Shepherd says Iowa has many hundreds of resident eagles. “We probably have at least 500 active nests in the state but of course they’re not as gathered together or congregated around open water sites,” Shepherd says. “There’s still a lot of eagles here, it’s just they’re spread out across the countryside, hanging out in their nest and being busy and not congregated around open water.”

The Mississippi River has traditionally hosted Iowa’s highest eagle numbers — both resident and wintering — but in recent years, the Iowa and Des Moines rivers have hosted even more.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that’s cleared a House subcommittee would let Iowa doctors prescribe a medication used to treat parasites as an EXPERIMENTAL treatment for Covid patients on a ventilator. Republican Representative Lee Hein of Monticello says he sponsored the bill after learning two families wanted ivermectin used as a last resort treatment for a critically ill relative, but hospital policies prevented it. Both patients died of Covid.

“I don’t know whether any of these drugs work, but I think at that late stage in the game, once you’re on a ventilator, families ought to have at least a glimmer of hope to try something,” Hein says. The Food and Drug Administration has authorized ivermectin tablets as treatment for worms in humans, but the agency says currently available data does not indicate ivermectin is effective in treating or preventing Covid. Representative Ann Meyer, a Republican from Fort Dodge who’s a nurse, says ivermectin has been around for many years and the bill would allow what’s called “off-label” use of the drug for Covid patients on life support.

“I think that we should give patients the right to try,” Meyer says. Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, says a number of medical groups sent lobbyists to merely monitor subcommittee discussion of the bill. “I’m curious about that,” Mascher says. “There’s a lot of folks in the room…and I have heard no one in support of the bill.” Mascher opposed the bill in subcommittee, but with the support of two Republicans on the panel, the legislation is now eligible for debate in a House Committee.

(Radio Iowa) – Officials in several Iowa school districts have announced temporary mask requirements for students have ended after a panel of federal judges issued a ruling on Iowa’s statewide ban on school mask mandates.

Last fall, after a group of parents sued, a federal judge based in Iowa put a hold on the state law banning mask mandates in schools. Yesterday, a panel of federal judges based in Missouri ruled the Iowa judge’s action was too broad and the State of Iowa may enforce its ban on masking in most schools. Disability rights advocates who’ve analyzed the ruling say it appears masking could be required around students with disabilities.

A spokesman for Iowa’s attorney general released a statement to The Des Moines Register late yesterday. It indicates the state will not be enforcing the ban on school mask mandates as it files an appeal that seeks a ruling from all 11 judges on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

(Radio Iowa) – The unemployment in Iowa rate fell to three-point-five percent in December. The rate is down from three-point-seven percent in November, as Iowa Workforce Development reports the number of unemployed dropped by 38-hundred compared to November, and the number of working Iowans was up 52-hundred.

It is the fifth straight drop in unemployment since July. I-W-D says the state added jobs in each of the last four months of 2021 — ending the year with a total non-farm employment increase of more than 41-thousand jobs. (41,200 jobs).

(Radio Iowa) – A federal appeals court has thrown out a temporary order that has allowed Iowa schools to have mask mandates. A federal judge’s order this fall had blocked enforcement of the state law that forbids mask mandates in schools. Disability rights advocates and a group of parents filed a lawsuit in September challenging the law.

The federal appeals court has ruled mask mandates in the schools their children attend may continue, but the ruling said this group of children with disabilities are not harmed when students in other school districts who do not encounter disabled students attend class without masks on.

(Radio Iowa) – A semi driver died in an accident early this morning that also left 600 people without power. The accident happened at about 5:00 a-m when the semi-truck and trailer were heading southbound on Highway 75 approaching the Plymouth County town of Merrill. The semi initially collided with a power line utility pole, which resulted in a loss of power for Merrill residents. Then it careened into a used auto sales lot, striking several vehicles.

Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed the driver has died. The identity of the driver is being withheld at this time pending notification of family members.

(Radio Iowa) – Investigators are trying to determine how a school bus and train collided in northeast Iowa.The crash occurred around 9:15 this (Tuesday) morning near Castalia in Winneshiek County. Authorities later confirmed that two students and the driver were on board the Postville Community School District bus when it collided with the Canadian Pacific train.

Officials say the driver was taken by a private vehicle to a nearby hospital to receive treatment for minor injuries after being evaluated at the scene. The two students were also looked at by emergency crews, before an ambulance transported them to the hospital for further evaluation.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports deputies executed a search warrant at around 8-p.m. Monday, at 1105 2nd Avenue, in Malvern, and arrested 34-year-old Christopher Nicholas Smith, of Malvern, on multiple felony charges, after they recovered more $50,000 in stolen property. The property includes several mowers, ATV’s, dirt bikes, lumber, construction tools and several other items. Smith was transported to the Mills County Jail and held on a $74,000 cash-only bond, with additional charges pending.

Authorities say with the execution of the search warrant and recovery of items, the Mills County Sheriff’s Office was able to solve and close over a dozen burglaries/thefts that have occurred in the county, dating back to July, 2021. There are also several items that have yet to be identified, leaving many cases still open at this time.

Christopher N. Smith

The Sheriff’s Office says, “If you have been a victim of a burglary or theft in Mills County or surrounding areas, and had items stolen, please contact Mills County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Pittman or Sgt. Mather, at 712-527-4337.