Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources said Thursday, that a plugged manhole at the Smithfield Foods plant in Denison, sent some rinse water to the Boyer River early Thursday morning.

Smithfield crews noticed the discharge around 3:30 a.m., about 15 to 30 minutes after they think it started. An unknown amount of final rinse water flowed across the property, then entered a storm sewer that flows into the river.

In less than two hours, a construction crew built a small dam, stopping the flow into the river. Another crew began vacuuming up the rinse water. DNR staff were on site before 8 a.m., checking on the cleanup and the river. DNR will continue to monitor cleanup efforts and consider appropriate enforcement action.

(Radio Iowa) — The executive director of a group which provides school safety training says districts are overlooking a key area where student deaths could be prevented. Michael Dorn of Safe Havens International says accidents in parking lots are the biggest danger to students.  “In 1998 to 2013 we had 525 people hit and killed in the parking lots, 487 died from violence — this is nationally — of those, 62 died in active shooter events,” Dorn says.

Dorn made a presentation at the Iowa Association of School Boards annual convention. He says the parking lot deaths often involved one individual at a time, so they don’t get the headlines that other things do. “When you look at the data on it, we are focusing a great deal of our time, energy, money on some of the rarest — to be clear most catastrophic types of events that we can’t ignore — but even within the category of violence, nine of ten people, more than nine out of ten who are murdered, it doesn’t look like the events we see on the national news,” Dorn says. “Or if you Google school violence on the internet or social media you are going to get the rare but catastrophic, but you are going to miss most of what causes fatalities.”

Dorn says suicides accounted for 129 deaths in the same five-year time period.  “Twice as many people died from suicide than at the hands of an active shooter,” Dorn says. “And suicide prevention efforts lower the risk for both. One of our more effective approaches. If you step back and look at the data what we see is a lot of schools are now very seriously out of whack with their risk profile. And we are doing a lot of things that sound good — that are very popular — but they are not tested.”

Dorn says the images of school shootings push schools to take some kind of action. “What has happened in this country in the last few years is there’s been a bit of a motive reaction to things. And we’re rolling out products and we’re rolling out training programs but people are taking the time to test them with simulation to see how they actually work and they are not doing as well as we might thin, And they can make things much more dangerous as we see.”

Dorn says school districts could benefit more by spending money training personnel on student supervision techniques. “We can reduce our risk of death in tornadoes, active shooter, sudden cardiac arrest, anaphylactic shock, the risk of abduction, sexual abuse of children by children, accidents on the playground,” Dorn explains. “So, taking the time to teach people how to supervise. Taking the time to teach people how to look at our traffic flow in the morning.”

He says schools need to create drills that provide real experiences and teach school personnel the best way to react to situations to keep kids safe.  “We go to a staff member, give them a scenario and they have to react as they would in a real event. That does a lot of things. It reinforces the empowerment of the individual employed to take lifesaving action. It lets them practice, it really makes them confront the reality that they have to be prepared and they have to learn what’s in those plans,” Dorn says. “And when you do that, you won’t get that type of complacency and boredom. Because every time we do a drill, those teachers, those custodians are saying ‘next month it could be me’.”

He talked to school board members about how they can conduct simulations that he says work.  “We get tremendous affect with it and it dramatically improves the speed and reliability of decision making under stress. And very easy to do, not expensive, they don’t have to buy anything. And any school in Iowa can do this,” Dorn says.

Dorn’s bio says he is a former police officer who became a safety specialist and has traveled around the world helping organizations improve their safety.

(DES MOINES) – Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered all flags in Iowa to fly at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Friday, November 16, 2018, to honor a fallen U.S. sailor. Navy Carpenter’s Mate 3rd Class William L. Kvidera, of Traer, was killed in action on December 7, 1941, when the USS Oklahoma was attacked by Japanese aircraft at Pearl Harbor. The 22-year-old was accounted for on July 3, 2018. Kvidera’s remains were returned to his family for burial in Traer with full military honors.

William Kvidera

A Mass of Christian Burial for Kvidera will be held 1-p.m. Friday, Nov. 16th, at the St. Paul Catholic Church, in Traer. Flags will be at half-staff on the State Capitol Building and on flag displays in the Capitol Complex. Flags will also be half-staff on all public buildings, grounds and facilities throughout the state.

Individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities, counties and other government subdivisions are encouraged to fly the flag at half-staff for the same length of time as a sign of respect.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Banking giant Wells Fargo has informed employees that it will lay off 400 workers in the Des Moines area. Local bank spokesman Steve Carlson told the Des Moines Register that the company notified employees in the home lending department on Thursday. The layoffs go into effect early next year. The layoffs announced Thursday were among 1,000 positions cut companywide.

Wells Fargo employs more than 15,500 people in Iowa, including about 14,000 in metropolitan Des Moines. The San Francisco-based bank announced in September it planned to reduce its national workforce by more than 26,000 jobs. The bank has faced several investigations in recent years over practices including the opening of accounts without customers’ consent, charging clients for unnecessary insurance policies, and imposing unfair fees tied to mortgage rates.

Montgomery County conducted its first post-election audit Thursday under a new law designed to monitor and protect election processes.  Auditor Stephanie Burke said Thursday, “The audit was a perfect match to the result recorded on the election tabulator.”

Iowa law now requires that after each general election, the Secretary of State will choose, at random, one precinct in each Iowa county to be audited. County auditors must then supervise a hand count of the ballots from that precinct and compare the results from the presidential or gubernatorial election, depending on the year, to the voting machine count from election night.

In Montgomery County, the Secretary of State chose the Absentee precinct. The process for auditing the absentee precinct is a little different than auditing all other precincts. During the absentee audit, the same machine is used and at least 50% of the ballots must be ran through the machine during the audit. 800 ballots were counted. The machine count and hand count matched perfectly.

“That’s what we like to see,” said County Auditor Stephanie Burke. “the hand count shows that our machines are accurately counting the ballots.” Burke said that the new law is in response to concerns about computer hackers altering election results. “Since our voting machines, as well as our programming and tabulating computers, aren’t hooked up to the internet, hacking the vote is highly unlikely, but not totally impossible,” she said. “Being able to rely on paper ballots should give us confidence in the integrity of our voting system.”

Four precinct election officials, representing the two major political parties, conducted the count under the supervision of Elections Clerk, Beth Peterson, and Auditor Stephanie Burke. As required in the law, the Auditor’s Office notified the county chairs of both of the two major political parties. The process was witnessed by a representative of the Montgomery County Democrats.

Questions about the post-election audit and other election matters may be directed to the Montgomery County Auditor’s office at 712-623-5127.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — For the first time this year, a monthly survey of bankers in parts of 10 Plains and Western states indicates the regional rural economy is shrinking. The overall index of the Rural Mainstreet survey for November sank to 49.9, the first time it’s dipped below 50 since January and down from October’s 54.3. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy in the months ahead, while a score below 50 indicates a shrinking economy. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the farm sector continues to be weakened by tariffs and low commodity prices.

Jeffrey Gerhart, CEO of the Bank of Newman Grove in northeastern Nebraska, says the tariffs are affecting farmers’ income and are “bad policy from the White House.” Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett today (Thursday), announced that USDA is investing $501 million in 60 projects to help improve health care infrastructure and services in rural communities nationwide. Included among the projects is the Glen Haven Home, Inc., in Glenwood, which is receiving $400,000 to provide additional financing to lease and renovate six cottages for skilled nursing care services, memory care, and short-term rehabilitation. The new facility will be able to serve up to 69 residents in family-style living in each cottage. Additional funding includes a $4.6-million Community Facilities Direct Loan and a $641,000 applicant contribution.

And, St. Anthony Regional Hospital and Nursing Home in Carroll, is receiving a little more than $12.6-million in a Rural Development investment used to construct a free-standing cancer center on the campus of St. Anthony Regional Hospital. The center will combine all of the cancer services into one area. The facility will provide improved radiation and medical oncology services and house the upgraded linear accelerator. Currently, cancer services are spread throughout the hospital, and there is not space for an upgraded linear accelerator. Additional funding includes a $3.6-million Rural Development Community Facilities loan guarantee, and a $1.22-million applicant contribution.

Secretary Hazlett said “Creating strong and healthy communities is foundational to increasing prosperity in rural America. Under the leadership of Secretary Sonny Perdue, USDA is committed to partnering with rural leaders to improve quality of life and economic development through modern and accessible health care.” Hazlett made the announcement as part of USDA’s commemoration of National Rural Health Day, which is held annually on the third Thursday of November to focus on the specific health care issues facing rural communities. The Department is investing in 60 projects through the Community Facilities direct loan program. These investments will expand access to health care for approximately 2 million people in 34 states.

(Updated) DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Hundreds of Iowa National Guard soldiers have been told they were overpaid after a year-long deployment in the Middle East and must make immediate plans to repay the money. The Quad-City Times reports that about 366 soldiers with the 248th Aviation Support Battalion were informed of the issue shortly after returning from Kuwait and Iraq. Lt. Col. Michael Wunn is a spokesman for the Iowa National Guard. He says the overpayments range from $2 to $4,500. He says soldiers have been given multiple options to repay the funds, and many have already taken steps to do so.

Soldiers can write a check to repay their debts, have the Army keep all of their monthly checks until they’re paid off, or have monthly or weekly payments deducted from their pay. “We understand this creates a hardship for those affected,” Wunn said, noting that soldiers don’t have to repay the full amount by the end of the year. Wunn says the problem seems to originate from an issue at the demobilization station at Fort Hood in Texas. He says some battalion members continued receiving active duty pay or entitlements after their active duty ended.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack said it’s unacceptable that a payroll error could cause soldiers financial hardship. “The Army must work with each individual soldier to ensure that they do not face any financial harm or difficulty,” he said. “I encourage any service member in Iowa who was affected by this failure at the Department of Defense to reach out to my office if you are in need of assistance.”

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — (UPDATED) Dozens of students were sent to hospitals Thursday after a building with high levels of carbon monoxide was evacuated at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy in suburban Des Moines, officials said. An overnight security officer detected a strong odor a little before 6 a.m., academy director Judy Bradshaw said. The officer contacted 911 and then used an intercom system to evacuate the 86 students, most of them sleeping. Nearly 60 students with elevated blood levels of carbon monoxide were sent to six hospitals, and Bradshaw said other students who’d been exposed but displayed no symptoms were also taken to hospitals as a precaution. The unnamed security officer was taken as well.

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include vomiting, headaches and dizziness, and high exposure can lead to death. Johnson-Grimes Metropolitan Fire Department Chief Jim Clark said at a news conference that his firefighters found the highest level of carbon monoxide in the building basement. There were lower levels in the upper floors where students lived and attended classes during their training to become Iowa law enforcement officers. The academy sits on the grounds of Camp Dodge in Johnston.

Three ambulances carried a total of nine people with the highest carbon monoxide blood figures or severest symptoms to hospitals, Clark said. Because of the sheer number of students affected, he said, many were taken to hospitals in Des Moines Area Regional Transit buses. It’s unclear so far how many — if any — of the students will remain in the hospitals. Also unclear is what caused the carbon monoxide buildup. Bradshaw said that, to her knowledge, the building didn’t have carbon monoxide monitors. The building has been aired out but won’t be used until the problem’s been found and fixed, she said. The Iowa National Guard has arranged for classrooms and barracks space for students next week. Bradshaw canceled classes for Thursday and Friday.

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

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