(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports the arrest today (Wednesday), of 43-year old Daniel Thomas, of Glenwood. He was taken into custody for Violation of Probation with regard to an original Felony charge of Theft in the 2nd Degree in July 2022. Thomas’ bond was set at $10,000.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday), held a regular weekly meeting in Greenfield. During their session, the Board acknowledged receipt of the FY23 Landfill Audit. The report noted nothing unusual, just the normal recommendation for separation of duties. They also approved the appointment of Mandy Dolan, Recorder’s Office Deputy Recorder, and Joni Raper, Recorder’s Office Clerk.

Adair County Auditor Mandy Berg requested, and the Board approved, a copier lease with Access Systems.

The Board also approved a six-month raise for Election Deputy Nathan Reed.

And, they received a report from Jess Petter, Prevention Specialist with Crossroads Behavioral Health, with regard to how their Opioid Settlement funded programs are going in the schools.

(Elk Horn, Iowa) – The Exira-Elk Horn Kimballton School Board, Tuesday evening, held a Public Hearing on a proposed 2024-2025 District Calendar. Superintendent Trevor Milller says later on in the meeting, the Board approved the Calendar as presented.

The Board discussed and acted on a Weight Room/Fitness Facility Project.

Like many other superintendents, Trevor Miller is hoping the Iowa Legislature takes action on SSA, teacher pay and other matters that affect school budgets.

In other business, the Exira-EHK Board approved the hiring of:

Cody Parmley – for the school Musical
Kristen Borkowski – Trapshooting Program (sharing with the Audubon CSD)
and Tony Santisteban – Asst. Boys Track Coach.

The Board also approved the following:

A Bond Counsel Engagement letter with Ahlers & Cooney
A 2024-25 AEA Purchasing Agreement
A MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Family Connections,Inc.
A Cooperative Agreement with the Univ. of Northern Iowa for the 2024-25 school year.
The adoption of certain policies, following the second & final reading.
A review of other polices with the second & final reading.

The Board also discussed a Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA).

(Radio Iowa) – As part of colon cancer awareness month, Iowans are being reminded of the importance of early screenings for one of the state’s biggest cancer killers. Dr. Steve Schlack-Haerer, a gastroenterologist at Gundersen Health System, says colon cancer is the third-leading cause of death in both men and women. He recommends screenings starting at age 45, and then every ten years. “The time it takes to grow from a small polyp to a colon cancer is actually a very long, slow process, we think on the order of about eight to 10 years,” Schlack-Haerer says, “which gives us about as wide of a window to find these precancerous lesions before they have a chance to ever develop into cancer.”

There are several ways to test for colon cancer, but he says colonoscopies are the best and most accurate. While everyone should get screened, some people may be at greater risk. “We say if there’s a family history of colon cancer, that increases your risk, and we go by first-degree relatives as well as second-degree relatives,” Schlack-Haerer says. “Anybody with a first-degree relative who has either precancerous polyps or colon cancer before the age of 60, we actually start their colon cancer screening at age 40.”

While colon cancer is the number-three cancer killer, he says significant progress is being made through screenings, as a decade ago, it was the second-leading cause of cancer death.  “A lot of times people say, ‘Well, I’m not having any problems or I’m not having any symptoms. I don’t need to do this,'” Schlack-Haerer says, “and the reality is that simply having colon polyps itself — and many times colon cancer as well — is below the radar.”

A few years back, colonoscopies were recommended at age 50, but that’s been pushed up five years due to a rising number of earlier cases. He says people with a family history of colon cancer should consider getting screened even sooner. “There is a higher incidence of colon cancer in our African American population, but really the reality is, it’s a risk for males, females and really can happen at any age,” Schlack-Haerer says. “We occasionally, unfortunately, will find colon cancer in people with no risk factors whatsoever and as early as 20s and 30s.”

When found early, he says the five-year survival rate for colon cancer can be well above 90-percent.

Gundersen Health System has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.

(Des Moines, Iowa; KCCI) – A Mississippi man charged with a hate crime after destroying a display put up by the Satanic Temple of Iowa wants that charge dismissed. The display was put up in the Statehouse during the holidays. The Satanic Temple of Iowa says it was meant to symbolize freedom of religion. A custom statue and other parts of the display were destroyed days after it was put up.

Michael Cassidy argues the Satanic Temple of Iowa is not a real religion and that the hate crime enhancement violates his First Amendment rights. Prosecutors have offered a deal that would involve Cassidy pleading guilty to fifth-degree criminal mischief. As of right now, Cassidy has not accepted that offer.

His trial is currently set for May.

SPENCER, Iowa (KCAU) — A former nurse who worked in northwest Iowa, is accused of overdosing patients at the Spencer Hospital and illegally obtaining prescription drugs. 36-year-old Rachel Martinez, of Sioux Falls, S.D., is charged with one count of prohibited act – prescription drug violation (Schedule I, II, III) obtain by deceit, a class C felony; one count of prohibited act – prescription drug violation (Schedule IV or V) obtain by deceit, an aggravated misdemeanor; and four counts of wanton neglect of a dependent person, a serious misdemeanor.

According to court documents, Martinez was working at the Spencer Hospital and was assigned to care for four separate patients on four different days in late 2022:

1. On Nov. 9, 2022, Martinez was meant to administer hydrocodone to a patient every four hours but instead administered it three times over a five hour period, overdosing the patient. She was also meant to administer tramadol once every six hours, but did so four times over six and a half hours. Documents state Martinez again overdosed a patient on Nov. 19, 2022. A doctor ordered a patient to be given 3mg of melatonin, but Martinez allegedly gave 6mg.
2. On Nov. 21, 2022, documents stated that Martinez administered hydrocodone twice to another patient in a three hour period when the doctor ordered it for only once every four hours. She also allegedly gave zofran, morphine and tramadol over the same three houses, with documents saying “all of these extra narcotics with the Hydrocodone would have further overdosed” the patient.
3. Martinez was assigned to care for a patient on Dec. 7, 2022. The patient was in the hospital due to having an allergic reaction while getting cancer treatment. The doctor ordered that the patient could have IV Benadryl if they had another allergic reaction. Martinez allegedly gave the patient the drug to sleep, telling another nurse that the patient was “being annoying with the call light” and not sleeping.
4. Additionally, Martinez allegedly withdrew a hydrocodone and tramadol pill under a patient’s name on Nov. 9, 2022. Documents state she obtained the pills by “fraud, deceit, misrepresentation or subterfuge,” and kept the pills for herself.

Martinez was arrested on Dec. 1, 2023, and bonded out a day later. She pleaded not guilty to the charges on Jan. 2 in a written arraignment. A pretrial conference for the case is scheduled for April 16, with the trial set for May 21.

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCAU) — A lawsuit against the Biden administration seeking the year-round sale of E15 gasoline has now ended.

The suit, brought about by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, was ended due to the EPA’s new rule allowing drivers in eight states in the Midwest to have E15 all year. The rule goes into effect in April 2025, and ends a ban during the summer, on sales of gasoline with 15% ethanol. Representatives of the biofuels industry, Mid-States governors, and farming groups have sought an end to the rule for years. Bird said the win is long overdue.

Meanwhile, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds released a statement on the lawsuit ending.

“As governor of the nation’s top ethanol producing state, it is my responsibility to ensure our hard-working farmers have access to every market available. I appreciate Attorney General Bird joining this fight to provide Americans cheaper, cleaner burning E15 year-round. While ending this lawsuit is a victory against the Biden Administration and their attack on American Energy Independence, there is still more work to be done. The Biden Administration’s delay of year-round E-15 for 2024 not only hurts American consumers, but also Iowa producers. I will continue to push the EPA to expand the market for Iowa biofuels.”

AMES, Iowa – March 20, 2024 – The Iowa Department of Transportation is asking for the public’s input on a proposed bridge replacement in northwest Iowa. The bridge is on Iowa Highway 3 over a drainage ditch, five-miles west of Iowa Highway 4, in Pocahontas County. The DOT says it plans to maintain traffic on Iowa 3 through the construction project that is planned for 2026.

If you would like to receive future emails about this project or submit a comment or question for this project, you can go directly to: https://bit.ly/iowadotcom5746. Initial comments are due by Monday, April 1, 2024.

For general information regarding the proposed project, contact Shane Tymkowicz, P.E., assistant district engineer, Iowa DOT District 3 Office, 6409 Gordon Drive, Sioux City, Iowa 51106, phone 712-274-5834 or 712-261-0405, email shane.tymkowicz@iowadot.us

(Fort Dodge, Iowa) – Officials with the Fort Dodge Police Department, Tuesday, released the identity of a Fort Dodge man who was shot and killed by Officers during an incident that occurred early Saturday morning. The deceased male was 24‐year‐old Tyler C. Stansberry. The Officers involved in the shooting were placed on Critical Incident leave while the incident is being investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations. Per protocol, their names were being withheld until the Officers can be interviewed by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations.

As previously reported, officers were dispatched to a distress call at a residence in the Fort Dodge at around 8:40-a.m., Saturday. The caller reported that an individual within the residence was out of control and allegedly injured a dog within the residence. It was unknown if the subject possessed weapons.

When officers entered the residence, a male subject armed with two knives ran at the officers. An officer on the scene discharged his firearm, resulting in the death of the subject.

Stansberry’s mother Christine and his brother were not in the house when the shooting happened. They acknowledged Tyler had a knife, and barricaded himself in the basement. The family told KCCI Tyler Stansberry was going through a mental health crisis. Christine Stansberry says she filed papers to have authorities help her get him to a mental health evaluation. She said also, there needs to be more training for Officers to help them deal with persons suffering from mental health issues.

(Radio Iowa) – With this week’s arrival of spring comes new warnings about the potential poisoning risks in our homes and garages in the season ahead. It’s Poison Prevention Week and Linda Kalin, executive director of the Iowa Poison Control Center, says certain types of poisonings are more likely to occur during this time of the year. “People are spending more time outdoors, meaning, you can be exposed to just spring products, poison hazards from plants and mushrooms, garden chemicals, stinging insects, household cleaners.” Most people understand the potential threats caused by chemicals like pesticides and herbicides, but there are quite a few other chemicals that are equally dangerous, even deadly, in our homes.

“Gasoline, kerosene, charcoal lighter fluid, I don’t think we think of those as much,” she says. “Paint thinners, turpentine, that whole group we call hydrocarbons, can be very dangerous if children inadvertently swallow them and it doesn’t take much at all.” While spring cleaning, Kalin says take care -not- to mix certain chemicals — especially things like bleach with ammonia, acids, or other cleaners, or a very harmful liquid or vapor could result. Should you have an emergency, or just a question, the experts are on call around the clock.

“Our center is based in Sioux City and serves all 99 counties in the state of Iowa,” Kalin says. “It handles about 23,000 cases every year, and approximately 38% of those cases involve children under six years of age.” She suggests putting the Iowa Poison Control Center’s phone number of 1-800-222-1222 in your contact list, so it’s always available.