(Radio Iowa) – A University of Iowa survey about nurse midwifes finds Iowans understand they deliver babies, but don’t know much else about them. Professor Peggy Stover, director of the U-I’s Undergraduate Marketing Institute, says she was shocked at how little people knew about the midwife profession. “In addition to birth care, prenatal care and post delivery care,” Stover says, “midwives also offer women’s wellness checkups, birth control, menopausal care.”

The U-I’s Carver College of Medicine is planning to open the state’s first nurse midwife education program this fall to help fill gaps in rural areas. Stover predicts it will be an important addition for the state’s health care offerings. “I think the program is going to go very well, especially given the fact that in a lot of rural areas, there is definitely a need for women wellness providers,” Stover says. “Our goal is to help attract and retain students into the program, in addition to making people aware of all the services a midwife provides.”

While “wife” is in the name, being a midwife is not exclusively a job for women, but it’s a matter of perception. “In other countries, a male midwife, it doesn’t even blink an eye, but here in the United States, it’s still associated as being and attracting women,” Stover says. “So there’s going to be that learning curve to recruit men into this field, just like the nursing industry went through many, many years ago.”

The survey found a majority of respondents didn’t realize most insurance companies cover the services of a midwife, and that nurse midwifes can deliver babies in a hospital in the event of an emergency.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A woman was arrested early this (Wednesday) morning in Red Oak, for Breach of Peace. Authorities say 23-year-old Brook Anna Marie Moon was taken into custody on the Simple Misdemeanor charge at around 2:13-a.m., in the 2400 block of N. 8th Street. She was being held in the Montgomery County LEC on a $300 bond.

And, no one was transported to the hospital following a rear-end collision Tuesday evening, in Red Oak. Police report vehicles driven by 40-year-old Michelle Renee Shuffler and 31-year-old Cheyenne Sue Meek, both of Red Oak, collided at around 5-p.m., near the intersection of Broadway and Corning Streets. Officials say Shuffler was driving a 2006 Ford Escape and had stopped at the red light, when her SUV was hit from behind by a 2018 Ford Focus, driven by Meek.

Meek complained of pain/possible injury, but refused medical treatment. No citations were issued. Damage from the collision amounted to $11,000. Both vehicles were towed from the scene.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Red Oak/Montgomery County First Responders and all of their friends and colleagues in southwest Iowa will be joining forces on Aug. 2nd along with 38 million others, in celebrating National Night Out. This is the 39th year of the National event (the 6th year in Red Oak), and there will be more than 10 other Iowa cities officially registered for the event.

Red Oak/Montgomery Co. officials say the theme of the evening is Public Safety-Safety of the Public. First Responders confirmed to be on hand are from ROPD, ROFD, MCSO, MCSO Communications/Corrections, Mont Co EMA, Stanton Fire, Villisca Fire & Rescue, Elliott Fire & First Responders, Grant Fire, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa DOT MVE, Secret Service, IA National Guard, BNSF Police, Iowa DNR, Mont Co Conservation, Air Evac.

Surrounding counties/cities have been contacted and first responder invites have been extended – and there is always a great showing of cooperation and support from those agencies, as they all truly work together. The Safety of the Public aspect will focus on Fire Safety (Local FD, Elks), Farm Safety (AgriVision, IA Corn Growers), Health related (MCMH, MOCO Public Health, Zion, MOCO Child Abuse Council, Blank Children’s Hosp, Kiwanis, Red Oak Comm Schools, and others. (Click on the map to enlarge >>>)

There will be a Helicopter landing. Throughout the Park and around the square will be FREE food (Elks, Rainbow, Eagles, Walnut Creek Acres, HyVee, Fareway, United Group, Rotary, Grand Theater, and others), info booths and handouts, displays, games, SuperHeroes, vintage police and fire vehicles, (Prescott car club, racecars, photo booth, tribute vehicles and displays, and monster trucks. As of the most recent report, there are over 96 total partners helping with food/displays/ vehicles/ exhibits/events/and other participating factors and many more expected by August 2nd.

Please join Emergency Personnel at the beautiful Fountain Square Park in Red Oak, for a FUN and FREEEEEEEEE, evening. A reminder also, that the Square area and one-block in each direction, will be shut down at 4:00 pm to allow for set up and all of the partners to get prepared for the night. As a sign of support please turn your porchlight on for the evening. The National theme is to take back the night, take back our neighborhoods and communities.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa casinos took in a record amount of money in the fiscal year that just ended — despite a slowdown in the finals months. Racing and Gaming Administrator, Brian Ohorilko  says pent up demand showed early. “The industry really had a lot of success at the beginning of the fiscal year. So that would have been July through December of 2021. A numbers were still very strong from coming out of the pandemic,” Ohorilko says. Iowa casinos reported one-point-seven-six billion dollars in gross revenue for casino games and slots. “Many of the other entertainment options we saw either closed or had reduced hours, where the casinos in Iowa, for the most part did not. And so the casino industry really was able to kind of fill that gap — and that drove a lot of the revenue,” he says. He says things slowed down in the second part of the fiscal year, especially in this last quarter.

“It will be interesting to kind of keep an eye on what will happen here in the next fiscal year, just based on some of the early signs that we are seeing a slowdown at a number of the facilities across the state,” according to Ohorilko. He says finding enough staff has been a significant problem throughout the casino industry this year and the casinos are doing a number of things to try to counteract that problem. “We’re starting to see some wages increase, we’re seeing a number of the the businesses or other amenities associated with casinos, maybe adjusting some of their hours to maybe be more friendly or favorable for people seeking employment,” according to Ohorilko. ” But it still is a difficult time in terms of finding employees. And so the facilities are starting to figure that out.” Casinos generally see a little downturn this time of year as people are on vacation or doing more outdoor activities.

Ohorilko says the state is also seeing the Nebraska casinos ramping up their operations. “That really will be another thing to monitor closely — will be how does gambling in Nebraska impact the western Iowa casinos? And what do those casinos in western Iowa do to counteract some of that competition?,” he says. He says it appears that Nebraska will have temporary facilities open up relatively soon, or at least in the fall.