The Cass County Board of Supervisors will meet 9-a.m. today (Tuesday), in their Boardroom at the Courthouse. On their agenda, is the appointment of a member to the Cass County Local Foods Policy Council (If an appointee is available), and regular reports (as available) from the Cass County Attorney and Engineer. The Board will also canvass the results of the Nov. 5th City/School Elections.

On Wednesday, Nov. 13th, the Board will meet at 8-a.m. to perform a post-election audit of ballots tallied at the Cumberland/Union Township precinct, and votes cast for Mayor/City of Cumberland on Nov. 5th. Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman says this is not a recount, but a hand-count audit of ballots tallied by optical scan equipment, to verify that the election vote tabulation equipment functioned as designed and programmed. It will include a hand-count of the votes cast for a designated position on the first ballot style of the selected precinct.

The November session of “Healthy U” will be held on Thursday, November 21st, at Cass County Health System. The program, “Women’s Pelvic Health,” will be presented by Alyssa Rogers, (Master of Occupational Therapy, Occupational Therapy- Registered/licensed).

Alyssa Rogers, MOT; OTR/L

She will be discussing several areas of pelvic health including anatomy, bladder health, helpful hints to improve incontinence, and how pelvic floor therapy works. Alyssa has worked at CCHS in occupational therapy for three years, and she has recently become a pelvic floor therapist.

Healthy U will be offered at noon on Thursday, November 21st. Healthy U is a free educational series at Cass County Health System held monthly in Conference Room 2. The public is invited and welcome to attend, but reservations are required as a meal is provided for all attendees. Call 712243-7479 to reserve your seat.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness or NAMI (NAH-mee) is holding its annual conference later this week. Executive director Peggy Huppert says the state continues to lag behind the rest of the nation in providing mental health services, largely because of workforce issues. “Unfortunately, we continue to rank near the bottom in a lot of areas, including the number of state psychiatric beds, and the number of psychiatrists, the number of psychologists,” according to Huppert.

Huppert says there have been positive developments in the past year, including the state putting in place a mental health system for children. She says Iowa now needs to find a way to adequately fund it.  “Are they going to allow counties to levy what they need to pay for what is required. If not, how are we going to pay for it? The Legislature needs to grapple with that,” she says.

The conference this week will include perspectives from law enforcement, a pediatrician and a former star athlete who has been diagnosed as bipolar.

(Radio Iowa) — The U-S Army Corps of Engineers is still struggling with high water levels in Missouri River reservoirs and time is running out to get them down to winter storage stages. John Remus, chief of the Corps’ Missouri River Basin Water Management Office in Omaha, says there’s been discussion all year on the congressionally-authorized purposes versus the operational priorities for the system. “It is important to understand that authorized purposes and priorities are not the same thing,” Remus says. “While the system is authorized for eight purposes, the Corps’ priority is life and heath safety. In large run-off years such as 2018 and 2019, or during an extreme hydrologic event, the flood control purpose drives the Corps’ operational decisions for the system.”

Remus says water troubles have persisted much of the year.  “In 2019, Mother Nature has made managing run-off in the Missouri River basin very challenging,” Remus says. “People throughout the basin have been, and continue to be, directly impacted, some severely impacted. The Corps is well aware of the damage that this year’s flooding has caused and we are doing all we can to reduce the impact and assist in the recovery.”

Remus says each run-off year is different and calls for different responses. “It’s important to understand that the volume, timing and location at which run-off enters the system significantly impacts the timing and amount of releases,” Remus says. “Each run-off season and flooding event is unique and care should be taken when comparing one event to another.”

The Corps will maintain releases from Gavins Point Dam at 80-thousand cubic feet per second through November before rapidly stepping them down by mid-December.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Regulators have found serious workplace safety violations at a state-run psychiatric hospital in Iowa where combative patients have assaulted employees. A recent inspection found that employees at the Independence Mental Health Institute struggle to manage violent outbursts due to inadequate emergency plans, low staffing, ineffective communication and dissatisfactory safety shields. Inspectors ordered the state to fix seven serious safety violations and proposed a $72,770 fine.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A half-dozen or so of the Democrats running for president are languishing at the bottom of polling less than three months before the Iowa primaries. Yet they are continuing to campaign, a resolve bolstered in part by some concerns over the lineup of top contenders and the belief that the race could be upended. One of those candidates, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, says everyone goes up and down in polls and that he needs to be organizing and catching fire as the voting begins.

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man burned in a fire at a northwest Iowa hog confinement has died. Le Mars Fire-Rescue says 38-year-old Jorge Orozco died Saturday at St. Elizabeth Burn Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. He’d been flown there after being taken in a private vehicle on Sept. 30 to Floyd Valley Healthcare in Le Mars. The hog confinement sits about 5 miles northwest of Le Mars. Orozco lived in Sioux City.

Griswold Rescue and law enforcement were called to the scene of a shooting Monday night. The incident involving a female in an SUV took place in the parking lot of the Casey’s Store in Griswold. It was reported at around 9:44-p.m.

The weapon was said to be a .38-caliber Ruger handgun. The woman, a 39-year old whose name was not immediately released, suffered a self-inflicted, non-life threatening, gunshot wound to the hand.

The vehicle was impounded as evidence late Monday night. Authorities were interviewing witnesses late Monday night.

The Cass Co Farm Bureau and Farm Bureau Financial Services are again sponsoring a Winter Coat Drive and accepting new or gently used winter coats, hats, gloves or mittens for children, men and women.

Please drop off your donation at our office, 1501 E. 7th St. in Atlantic. Office hours are 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday thru Thursday and 8:00 am to 3:00 pm on Friday. Donations will be accepted through Wednesday, November 27th.

The coats will be donated the first week in December to the West Central Community Action Office in downtown Atlantic for local families in need.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Regulators have found serious safety violations at a state-run psychiatric hospital in Iowa where several combative patients have assaulted employees. An inspection found that employees at the Independence Mental Health Institute struggle to manage violent outbursts due to inadequate emergency plans, low staffing, poor communication and ineffective safety shields that staffers haven’t been trained to use.

The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an investigation in June after a series of attacks against staff members. A union representing employees said the hospital faced an urgent safety crisis. Inspectors found seven serious and three minor safety violations. They proposed a $72,770 fine against the Iowa Department of Human Services, which operates the facility, and ordered it to fix the problems.

The hospital treats patients with severe and complex psychiatric needs.

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man burned in a fire at a northwest Iowa hog confinement has died. Le Mars Fire-Rescue says 38-year-old Jorge Orozco died Saturday at St. Elizabeth Burn Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. He’d been flown there after being taken in a private vehicle on Sept. 30 to Floyd Valley Healthcare in Le Mars. Officials say Orozco lived in Sioux City.

The hog operation sits about 5 miles (8 kilometers) northwest of Le Mars. Officials say Orozco and another man had been inside a building, using a power washer to clean it. Orozco left the building to refuel the power washer engine, and he spilled gas on himself and the machine. The vapors ignited, burning Orozco.

Officials with the Cass County Health System in Atlantic say they will temporarily close the Emergency Drive on Tuesday, November 12th from 10:30 am to noon. Patients who need access to the Emergency Department or Rehabilitation Services during this time are asked to please use the Main Entrance drive and circle around the building instead.

The drive is being closed while soil borings are being taken in preparation for repair work on CCHS parking lots and drives, and for the upcoming renovations outlined in the master facility plan. Additional soil borings will also be taken throughout the day, however, they should not cause any disruptions to patient traffic or parking