DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa egg farm that killed millions of chickens because of a 2015 bird flu outbreak is suing companies hired by the federal government to disinfect barns. Sunrise Farms says the chlorine dioxide gas and heat treatments used to kill the virus destroyed barn equipment, electrical wiring, production equipment and water lines. The company also says the structural integrity of its barns was diminished.

Max Barnett, the CEO of Sunrise Farms’ parent company, South Dakota-based Sonstegard Foods, said he couldn’t comment on a pending court case. The farm is near the northwest Iowa town of Harris, about 225 miles northwest of Des Moines. It includes a feed mill, 25 layer barns, two manure barns and a processing plant. The barns housed 4 million egg-laying hens, and two other buildings had 500,000 young hens being raised to become layers.

The farm confirmed on April 19, 2015, that its birds had the deadly strain of H5N2 bird flu. Officials from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service division arrived within days and took over the cleanup and disinfection process, hiring several companies to complete euthanizing birds and disinfecting barns to prevent the spread of the virus.

In the 2015 U.S. bird flu outbreak, more than 50 million chickens and turkeys died or were destroyed. That comprises about 12 percent of hens that produce eggs people eat and 8 percent of the inventory of turkeys grown for meat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

About 87 percent of bird losses occurred in Iowa, the nation’s leading egg producer, and Minnesota, the top turkey grower. Other cases were reported in Nebraska, Wisconsin and South Dakota. The heat treatment used at some of Sunrise Farms barns was designed to raise the temperature to 120 degrees for a period of seven days. In other barns the government officials ordered the use of chlorine dioxide, a chemical known to kill the flu virus.

The barns were declared free of virus and eligible for restocking on Sept. 16, 2015, but court documents say the treatments destroyed equipment, electrical wiring and water lines, and left the barns’ structural integrity diminished. Sunrise Farms claims its property damage required extensive repairs.

The company filed the lawsuit in March 2018 in federal court in Iowa, seeking to be repaid for the cost of repairs, interest, late charges and the cost of the lawsuit. It claims negligence for causing significant property damage and breach of contract, saying the contracted companies “failed to adequately perform the contract obligations.”

The lawsuit names Clean Harbors Environmental Services of Norwell, Massachusetts, and other companies based in Georgia and New York. In court documents, Clean Harbors, which applied the chlorine dioxide gas treatment, denied responsibility for the damage and asked that the lawsuit be dismissed. The company said Sunrise Farms “failed to adequately and properly mitigate its damages.”

Clean Harbors is suing six other companies that were contracted to assist in the operation. One of those companies is suing seven other companies with which it had contracted. The lawsuit is set for trial on Jan. 27, 2020, in Sioux City.

Another major egg producer with barns in Iowa and other states also used the heat treatment for disinfection after the bird flu and said he saw some damage but determined the equipment was older and needed to be replaced anyway.
Marcus Rust, CEO of Rose Acre Farms, the nation’s second-largest egg producer, said his company was satisfied with its outcome.

Rust said he’d heard about the problems at Sunrise Farms and was uneasy but determined that the effectiveness of the gas treatment was better than any other alternative. “Did we have zero problems? No. But has it been acceptable? Yes. We were apprehensive and maybe we watched it a lot closer because of all the warnings,” he said.

2020 Democratic presidential candidate, Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke, from Texas, will be in Southwest Iowa today, holding town hall events. His schedule includes:

• 8:30am   Cottonwood Pavilion, Shenandoah
• 10:45am  Chautauqua Park, Red Oak
• 1:00pm    Sunnyside Park, Atlantic (O’Rouke is scheduled to speak at 1:30-p.m.)
• 3:45pm    Old Depot, Creston

The 46-year old O’Rouke is a businessman, musician, and politician who represented Texas’ 16th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019. After being re-elected to the House in 2014 and 2016, O’Rourke declined to seek re-election in 2018. Instead, he ran for United States Senate against incumbent Republican Ted Cruz. His campaign received significant national attention for its record fundraising, ability to draw large crowds, and extensive use of social media. Cruz narrowly defeated O’Rourke 50.9% to 48.3% while O’Rourke set a record for most votes cast for a Democrat in Texas history.

On March 14, 2019, O’Rourke announced his campaign for President of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election.

A Special meeting of the Griswold School Board will be held 5-p.m. Monday (May 6th), in the Middle School/High School Library. The meeting is for the purposes of hiring an assistant high school softball coach, and to consider approving an open enrollment request. The public is invited to comment on the assistant coaching matter, prior to Board action.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:40 a.m. CDT

KENSETT, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in north-central Iowa say a man has died after being hit by a car. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that the incident happened Friday evening in rural Worth County when a car hit 58-year-old Rick Johnson, of Kensett, while he was walking on a county road. The Iowa State Patrol says the car was driven by a 42-year-old Mason City man.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The demand for cybersecurity experts has grown as crooks with computers hack their way into business, government and other networks. CyberSeek, a project funded by the U.S. Commerce Department, says nearly 4,600 people are working on cybersecurity in Nebraska and there are openings for more than 2,000 workers. Nearly 4,300 are doing cybersecurity in Iowa and there are openings for more than 2,400 people. Colleges in both states have been trying to meet the need for more cyberdefenders.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Criminal Investigation is warning of a phone scam targeting state residents. The department says it has received reports that scammers are posing as employees of the “Iowa state police” and claiming there is a warrant issued for the person who receives the call, then demands money via and online account, such as Google Play.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The National Weather Service at St. Louis says rain in the coming days will determine whether Mississippi River levels will rise more than expected. Levels at some points reached their highest ever this past week. Several rounds of rain are expected in the coming week throughout the Mississippi River basin.

A traffic stop at around 4:40-p.m. Saturday in Montgomery County, resulted in a pursuit and crash. Sheriff’s officials report deputies tried to stop a motorcycle at Nature Avenue and 200th Street, north of Stanton, but the cycle continued eastbound on 200th Street before turning south onto Highway 71.

The cycle reached speeds of up to 90-mph in a 55-mph zone. The pursuit ended when the motorcycle crashed east of Clarinda at Washington Street and Highway 71. The driver, 37-year old Jacob Allen Cochran, of Red Oak, was not injured.

He was taken into custody and charged with Possession of a stolen vehicle, eluding, driving while barred, and speed by pace, 90 in a 55. Sheriff’s deputies were assisted in the pursuit and arrest, by the Iowa State Patrol, Page County Sheriff’s Office, and Clarinda Police.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The demand for cybersecurity experts has grown as crooks with computers hack their way into business, government and other networks.
CyberSeek, a project funded by the U.S. Commerce Department, says nearly 4,600 people are working on cybersecurity in Nebraska and that there are openings for more than 2,000 workers. Nearly 4,300 are doing cybersecurity in Iowa, with openings for more than 2,400 people.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that colleges in both states have been trying to meet the need for more cyberdefenders. Bellevue University in Bellevue has invested $1.3 million into its new Intelligence Systems Lab, where students learn how to break into networks and then make them more secure.

The university is among the few honored for a strong academic cybersecurity program by being named a center of academic excellence by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. Three others in Nebraska are the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha’s Metropolitan Community College and Norfolk-based Northeast Community College.

Only Iowa State holds that distinction in Iowa, and it was one of the first seven schools in the nation to win that designation, in 1999, said Doug Jacobson, director of the Information Assurance Center there. “Since the adversary is dynamic and persistent, the field changes constantly,” Jacobson said. “We need more schools in the game to help produce the students.”

The endorsement means among other things that a college has put the necessary resources and expertise into offering up-to-date cybersecurity classes. Cybersecurity salaries vary depending on expertise and responsibilities, according to CyberSeek. But the average for cybercriminal investigators is $85,000 a year. The average for cybersecurity architects who design system concepts: $129,000.

Janel Nelson, who’s taught at Bellevue University, said the need for more cybersecurity experts remains acute. “We’ve had 20 years to work on this problem — more than 20 years — and it’s just as bad as when I started,” Nelson said.
Cybersecurity was undermanned then, she said. And it’s undermanned now.

Federal Food officials said Friday, that Tyson Foods has significantly expanded a recall of its chicken strips over concerns that some might be contaminated with pieces of metal. The recall now affects more than 11.8 million pounds of frozen, ready-to-eat chicken strip products that were shipped nationwide, up from more than 69,000 pounds when the recall initially was issued in March, the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a statement.

The expansion comes after three of six people who complained about finding pieces of metal in certain Tyson products also said they suffered an injury in their mouth, the agency said.
The products now being recalled were produced from October through March 8, and they have “use by” dates of October 1, 2019, through March 7, 2020. Each of the recalled products have establishment number “P-7221” on the back of the package.

Products under the recall include:
• Tyson fully cooked crispy chicken strips in 25-ounce and 40-ounce bags;
• Tyson fully cooked Buffalo-style chicken strips in 25-ounce and 40-ounce bags;
• Tyson fully cooked honey BBQ flavored chicken strips in 25-ounce bags;
• Best Choice Buffalo-style chicken strips in 20-ounce bags;
• Great Value fully cooked chicken strips in 25-ounce bags;
• Food Lion crispy chicken strips in 25-ounce bags.

In the previous recall, the products had only one use-by date: November 30, 2019. The Food Safety and Inspection Service said it initially discovered the problem because of two consumer complaints about extraneous materials in chicken strip products. But the agency said it “is now aware of six complaints during this time frame involving similar pieces of metal.”
Three of the complainants alleged they had an oral injury, it said. Consumers are urged to throw away or return products that might be affected and not to consume them.

(HANLONTOWN) — A pedestrian on 390th Street in northern Iowa’s Worth County was struck and killed by a car Friday evening. The Iowa State Patrol reports 58-year old Rick Johnson, of Kensett, was walking eastbound on 390th Street, about one-eighth of a mile east of Ironwood Avenue at around 5:20-p.m., when he was hit by a 2013 VW Passat. The car was driven by 42-year old Luke Beenken, of Mason City. The accident, which took place northeast of Hanlontown, remains under investigation.

The State Patrol was assisted at the scene by Deputies with the Worth County Sheriff’s Office, Mercy Air Med, Hanlontown Fire and Rescue, and the Forest City Ambulance Service.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden is focusing his 2020 White House campaign on South Carolina this weekend while several other Democratic candidates are spending time in Iowa, another early-voting state. Biden is making his debut visit in the first-in-the-South primary state with a stop Saturday in Columbia, the capital, followed by a fundraiser. He opened his latest run for president with explicit appeals to white, working-class voters across the Midwest, pledging his support for unions and promising to rebuild the middle class, Biden now is trying to gauge whether his message will resonate among black voters whose backing will be crucial in South Carolina and elsewhere.

Iowa is the focus for some of his rivals, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, as well as former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke. Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper are campaigning in New Hampshire.

Outside those early-voting states, Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is in Houston, Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio visits Michigan and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is in California.
There are more than 20 Democrats competing to take on President Donald Trump in 2020.