(Clive, Iowa) – The Iowa Pork Producers Association has announced the five finalists for Iowa’s Best Breaded Pork Tenderloin. The announcement serves as the organization’s kick-off of October, “ National Pork Month.” The finalists are:

Massena — Main Street Bar & Grill
Corydon — Ludlow’s Steakhouse
Olaf — St. Olaf Tavern
Van Meter — 5th Quarter Bar & Grill
Waukon — Lid’s Bar & Grill

(Click on the image to enlarge the map)

Qualifying pork tenderloins must be hand-breaded or battered. In addition, the Iowa restaurant serving them needs to be open year-round and offer the sandwich as a regular menu item. Food trucks, concession stands, seasonal eateries, and catering businesses are not eligible. IPPA will announce the first- and second-place winners later this month, dubbed #Porktober22 on social media channels as part of the month-long celebration of pig farmers and the great product they produce. The annual quest to find the state’s juiciest, most flavorful tenderloin sandwich starts with public input. Each spring, tenderloin fans have about two months to nominate their favorites. This year IPPA received 4,812 votes for 449 establishments.

Judging of the top 40 took place this summer. That list included the five restaurants with the most nominations in each of IPPA’s eight districts, which “helps ensure statewide representation,” according to Kelsey Sutter, IPPA’s marketing and programs director. IPPA members and industry affiliates anonymously visited those locations and scored the tenderloins based on pork taste and quality; physical characteristics; and presentation. From there, IPPA’s restaurant and foodservice committee reviewed those 40 evaluations and selected the five contenders to advance to the next round. That same committee appointed a panel of three judges to travel to each of the finalists to determine the first- and second-place winners.

The winning restaurant will receive $500, a plaque, a banner to display, and statewide publicity that will drive new business. The runner-up is awarded $250 and a plaque from IPPA.

(Creston, Iowa) – Two people were arrested on separate charges Saturday, in Creston. Authorities say 21-year-old Alaynna Jo Wagner, of Creston, was arrested a little after 2-a.m. at Summit and Maple Streets, for OWI/1st offense. She later posted a $1,000 cash or surety bond, and was released. And, at around 10:35-p.m., Saturday, 39-year-old Sean Michael Wall, of Creston, was arrested in the 600 block of Livingston, for Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was later released on a $1,000 C/S Bond, after seeing a magistrate.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council is expected to act on approving several matters to come before them during their regularly scheduled meeting, Wednesday evening. First up is an Order to close selected streets on Oct. 8th, in preparation for the Atlantic Fireman’s Parade, which begins at 6-p.m. on that date (click on the parade route map to enlarge). The Parade Lineup starts at 4-pm, at 3rd and Olive.

Their meeting takes place in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall, beginning at 530-p.m., Wednesday. During the meeting, the Council will act on Orders sending to the Planning & Zoning Commission, proposals to vacate a Country Oaks alley Right-Of-Way (ROW) and the Midtown Apartments ROW. City Administrator/Zoning Commissioner John Lund, says both dead-end streets serve no current or future public purpose or strategic value to the City, and as such is recommending the Council approve passing on their recommendation to the P&Z for further review and report.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council will act to approve a Resolution with regard to a public hearing on a proposal “To enter into a General Obligation Land Acquisition Loan Agreement and to Borrow Money Thereunder, in a Principal Amount not to Exceed $700,000.” The Council adopted an identical Resolution during their meeting on Sept. 7th, but it was brought to City officials’ attention that the public hearing was published a few days later than Iowa Code requires. Therefore the Council needs to restart the proceedings for the issuance of the debt, to purchase property from the Comes Family Trust, intended for development of housing.

The Council will also act on passing a Resolution “Approving the Transfer of Funds for the First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2022-2023,” which is simply a (Routine) means to transfer funds (as needed), between the City’s 62 separate funds, in order to make the City’s budget work effectively. And, the Council will hear the Third and Final Readings of Ordinances pertaining to amendment of:

• The Mowing of Properties
• The Removal of Solid Waste
• and the Removal of accumulateD snow/ice from City sidewalks.

With regard to the latter, Councilmen Pat McCurdy, Jim Behrens, and Lee Sisco, have voted No previously, due to questions/concerns over how much snow must be removed from sidewalks, and the time frame for doing so.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic High School Principal Heather McKay reports AHS English & Journalism Teacher Allison Berryhill, is slated to receive the Iowa Council of Teachers of English’ 2022 Distinguished Service Award. The award is the highest given to an English teacher in the state. The presentation will be made at the conference luncheon on Friday, Oct. 14, at Stoney Creek Inn in Johnston, Iowa.

Ms. McKay says “BIG congratulations to Ms. Berryhill! Thank you so much for your hard work and representing our school and community in such a positive light!”

Allison Berryhill

(Radio Iowa) – University of Iowa researchers have identified 60 new genes associated with autism. Researcher Jake Michaelson says this builds on a lot of other studies of the disease. “The single greatest contributor to autism, is genetics….we were very certain about that. But the paradox of that is that we don’t know exactly which genes,” he says. Michaelson is an associate professor of psychiatry, and says identifying the new genes helps unravel some of the mystery. “We’re chipping away and building up our understanding of what parts of the genome are involved in brain development in ways that can lead to autism,” he says, “So the human human genome has about 20-thousand different genes.”

He says there’s lots of different kinds of autism –and some kinds of autism have very serious medical implications.  “So things like seizures, or implications for learning in education, like intellectual disability, and those don’t occur in all cases of autism, but they, but there are enough different developmental mechanisms involved that just by understanding what genes are playing a role, we can identify, oh, well, there might be a way that we can intervene and and reduce these medical issues that people are suffering,” according the Michaelson.

He says there needs to be a lot more study done to come up with some answers. “We’re just at the beginning of this, you know, we think that we probably need three or four times the number of participants that we have now to really start to reliably identify the remaining genes that are out there,” Michaelson says. “And so I guess the good news on that front is that if people are out there, and they haven’t yet participated, the name of the study is SPARK, and they can enroll online sparkforautism.org/U-Iowa,” he says.

Michaelson says they seem to always be talking about the deficits and the problems and the challenges of autism — but he says they need to also understand the strengths that go along with that. He says that can lead to resilience and cultivating those strengths and developing the talents that are there as autism research moves into the future.

(Radio Iowa) – Railroads play a vital role in Iowa moving people, farm commodities and all sorts of products, but they can also be lethal to pedestrians, especially kids. A new report ranks Iowa 7th worst in the country for the number of fatal accidents in 2021 involving trains and children under 19. Mark Chandler, senior research associate at Safe Kids Worldwide, says since trains are so big and loud, people assume they’ll be able to get out of the way if one comes along. “That’s a big misperception with folks is that they think they’ll hear a train coming but they actually don’t make that same ‘clickety-clack’ sound that they used to in the past,” Chandler says. “And they may not always have a horn to warn trespassers either. Adding to that, we see kids often wear headphones near the tracks, so in that case, they virtually can’t hear the train coming at all.”

There were eight accidents in the state last year involving children and trains, four of which resulted in deaths. Chandler says his organization’s research finds that many parents don’t consider it a priority to talk to their kids about the extreme dangers of walking or playing near railroads. “Even with parents that live close to train tracks, this is not something that’s top of mind for them,” Chandler says. “Fewer than half of parents surveyed said they’d ever talked with their child about how to be safe around railroad tracks. And then also when it came to modeling behavior, half of the parents admitted that they themselves take risks around railroads, things like walking along the train tracks and driving around the gates.”

People walking along the tracks may think they’re far enough away from the train to avoid getting hit, but Chandler says trains typically extend out at least three feet on either side of the tracks. “Trains weigh several thousand tons and that means that they can take up to a full mile to stop. That’s about the length of 15 football fields,” Chandler says, “so by the time that a train conductor actually sees a person or a vehicle on the tracks, it’s often too late for them to stop.”

The eight train accidents in Iowa involving children last year were in five counties: Black Hawk, Clarke, Mitchell, Muscatine and Polk. One of the deaths was in Black Hawk County while the other three children killed were all in Clarke County. There was also one injury in Clarke County. Chandler urges Iowa parents to talk with their kids about the hazards and to help create a community of rail safety advocates. Nationwide, a child is killed in a train collision every five days.

On the web at https://www.safekids.org/RailSafetyStation