Atlantic, IA – The October session of Healthy U will be held Thursday, October 18, at Cass County Health System. The program, The Medication Experts will be presented by two CCHS pharmacists, Crystal Starlin, PharmD, and Sara Arnold, PharmD. They will be discussing several areas of medication safety and education, including Ask 3 Teach 3, Medication Reconciliation and appropriate use of antibiotics.  “Medications play a critical role in healthcare and have become more complex and diverse over the years,” Crystal noted. “It is important that patients partner with their healthcare providers and pharmacists to ensure medications are used effectively and safely.”

Crystal Starlin, PharmD, and Sara Arnold, PharmD

Crystal has served as the Pharmacy Director since joining CCHS in 2006; Sara has been a staff pharmacist at CCHS since 2009. Together, they provide pharmacy oversight for all medications issued in the hospital for inpatients and patients receiving outpatient treatments.

Healthy U will be offered at both 7:30 am and noon on Thursday, October 18. 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 712-243-7479 to reserve your seat.

(DES MOINES) – Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered all flags in Iowa to fly at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Saturday, October 13, 2018, to honor a fallen U.S. sailor killed during World War II. Navy Seaman 2nd Class Bernard V. Doyle, of Red Cloud, Nebraska, was killed in action on December 7, 1941, when the USS Oklahoma was attacked by Japanese aircraft at Pearl Harbor. The 19-year-old was classified as non-recoverable until March 2018. Doyle’s remains were returned to his family for burial in Lake City, Iowa, with full military honors.

Saturday, October 13, 2018: Mass of Christian burial at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Lake City, IA – 11 a.m.

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.

(Radio Iowa) — Snow fell in parts of Iowa this (Friday) morning, but for the Iowa DOT, their activities begin to ramp-up in a few days. The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Winter Operations Administrator Craig Bargfrede says their winter season begins Monday. “In our world, winter officially starts on October 15th and runs until the 15th of April,” Bargfrede said. The DOT has implemented a couple of changes as workers prepare for another winter of battling snow and ice on the state’s roads. Bargfrede says cameras will be installed in ALL snow plows and still images will be posted online. “So, the public will be able to view those and see what’s actually going on out on the system from our operator’s perspective,” Bargfrede said.

Last winter, about two-thirds of the DOT’s roughly 900 snow plows had cameras. This year, all of them will be equipped with the technology. All plows will also feature blue and white safety lights, along with the familiar amber color. “The blue and white portion of our lighting package is only rear facing. So, you will know when you see that lighting package, you’ll be coming up (behind) a snow plow truck,” Bargfrede said. The Iowa DOT experimented with the blue and white colors for the past several years and, according to Bargfrede, they’ve helped reduce certain types of crashes by nearly two-thirds. “Our own internal research crash data over the last four years, we really saw a reduction in rear-end and side-swipe crashes to our vehicles when we started doing the blue-white-amber lighting package,” Bargfrede said.

The Iowa DOT sets aside $40 million each year for winter operations. Bargfrede oversees roughly 1,000 full-time employees. “And we’re also in the process of trying to hire some seasonal employees, in the neighborhood of 600 seasonal employees, to augment our full-time staff across the state of Iowa,” Bargfrede said. Those part-timers are paid $17.45 an hour. Iowa’s low unemployment rate is making it difficult to find those extra workers, according to Bargfrede. While DOT workers wait for the first significant winter storm, they’re busy with maintenance on the plow trucks, topping off storage sheds with salt, and going through driver training. “We have a driving simulator that is rotating throughout our districts, where we’ve got operators going through and doing refresher training and new operator training on that driving simulator,” Bargfrede said.

CHEROKEE, Iowa – Oct. 12, 2018 – A road construction project on U.S. 30 east of the north junction with U.S. 59 in Denison will require closing the roadway to traffic starting at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, until 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, weather permitting, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Cherokee construction office. During this closure, traffic will be detoured around the work zone using Seventh Street, Avenue C, Iowa 39, and U.S. 59.

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — A judge says the city of Burlington and the Iowa Criminal Investigation Division broke Iowa law by refusing to turn over all records gathered in investigating a police officer’s accidental shooting of a Burlington woman. The Hawk Eye reports that Administrative Law Judge Karen Doland said in the decision she filed Monday that the public’s right to transparency should have outweighed officials’ desire for secrecy.

The newspaper and the family of Autumn Steele have sought the records since she was fatally shot on Jan. 6, 2015, by an officer responding to a fight between Steele and her husband. A federal judge already has ordered the city to release body camera video from the officer, his medical records and a portion of the state investigative files.

The Cass County Conservation Board is asking you…When do you think the first Trumpeter Swans will arrive at the Schildberg Quarry? You can call-in your prediction (by November 12^th) to the Conservation Board at 712-769-2372, leave a message and return phone number if the staff is not in. Duplicate dates will not be allowed. For example, if a caller predicts November 25th, no one else will be allowed to predict that arrival date. So, call anytime until November 12th to make your prediction! One prediction per family, please.

The sponsors of this contest will determine the official arrival of more than 6 trumpeter swans to Lake 4. The winner will receive a Trumpeter Swan 8×10 print from the Cass County Conservation Board. This contest is only for residents of Cass County.

Trumpeter Swans have visited the Schildberg Quarry for, at least, seventeen out of the last eighteen winters. Arrival and departure dates of the swans have been as follows:

1997/1998 December 18 – January 2

1998/1999 Nothing on record

1999/2000 December 25 – February 15

2000/2001 November 23 – March 6

2001/2002 December 25 – February 24

2002/2003 November 23 – March 15

2003/2004 November 26 – March 21

2004/2005 November 25 – March 18

2005/2006 November 17 – March 5

2006/2007 October 30 – March 9

2007/2008 November 22- February 14

2008/2009 November 18- March 12

2009-2010 November 19 – January 5

2010-2011 November 5 – February 10

2011/2012 November 17 – February 21

2012/2013 November 24– March 4

2013/2014 November 12- April 7

2014/2015 November 11- April 6

2015/2016 November 22- March 24

2016/2017 November 19- March 9

2017/2018 November 9- March 20

A woman from Glenwood was arrested Thursday morning. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports 59-year old Francine Wendy Hamilton was taken into custody at around 9:30-a.m. on a warrant for OWI/1st offense. Her bond was set at $1,000.

An investigation into an alleged assault that occurred Oct. 4th in Oakland, resulted in the arrest of a man on an aggravated assault charge. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says a domestic abuse report was taken Thursday at Project Harmony, in Omaha, with regard to an incident where a woman’s boyfriend, 39-year old William Ray Wilke, III, of Oakland, allegedly assault her at the home the couple and the woman’s two juvenile daughters share, in Oakland. Wilke was arrested for Domestic Assault with injury, and was being held without bond in the Pott. County Jail.

A Council Bluffs woman was arrested Thursday afternoon in Pott. County, following a traffic stop. Sheriff’s officials say 55-year old Lorri Lea Brown-Parks was arrested for a Compulsory Education Violation/2nd offense. She was transported to the Pott. County Jail and held without bond. She was also given a verbal warning for a vehicle window tint violation. And, 43-year old Chad Daniel Study, of Council Bluffs, turned himself-in to the Pott. County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday. Study was taken into custody on a Pott. County warrant and turned over to Corrections Staff.

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

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GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say two Iowa residents were arrested in south-central Nebraska after a state trooper found several pounds of marijuana in their car. The Nebraska State Patrol says the trooper pulled over the car around 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, just west of Grand Island on Interstate 80. The patrol says a subsequent search turned up 37 pounds of marijuana and other drug items.
The driver was identified as 26-year-old James Chase and his passenger as 25-year-old Charitie Olson. Both live in Des Moines.

They’ve been charged with possession of drugs for sale and related drug crimes. Attempts to reach his attorney Friday were unsuccessful. The next court hearing for Chase and Olson is scheduled for Nov. 2.