The Iowa Department of Public Health has received a federal grant of more than five million dollars to expand treatment for opioid abuse across the state. Project director Monica Wilke-Brown says the grant will help stop the growing epidemic of abuse. She says both the deaths associated with opioid overdoses and the hospital admissions for treatment have increased dramatically in the last 10 years. “So, we are really trying to get the issue under control where it has already become a big problem, and also prevent it from becoming a bigger in the communities that are less affected at this point,” Wilke says.

She says the five million dollar grant will allow them to use the successful treatment methods that have already been developed. “We want to expand it across the entire state so that all the counties and service areas have the chance to do the same thing,” Wilke says.Part of the process involves doing a community assessment. She says the agencies in communities will bring together everyone in the community and look for any gaps or needs in coverage and will be able to focus on prevention efforts, the prescription monitoring program and expand the treatment options.

According to Wilke, “We’ll have a formula specific to a variety of both kind of highest need and size of the service area. So, it’s not by county specifically. Some service providers share a county and some cover up to 10 or more counties.” She says they will try several different strategies. “One of them is promoting the C-D-C guidelines for prescribing opioid medications,” Wilke says, “because we know that a lot of people who end up with opioid use disorders may have started with a legitimate prescription that got out of control.”

Wilke says another key component is education in preventing overdose deaths. “Making sure people are aware of naloxone — which is the overdose reversal drug. That can be very instrumental in saving someone’s life if they have accidentally overdosed it,” Wilke says.

The five-point-four-five million dollar grant comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of the U-S Health and Human Services Opioid Initiative.

(Radio Iowa)

An event taking place this weekend near Lewis will take you back in time to the days of the Pioneer. The Hitchcock House Pioneer Festival takes place Saturday, from 1-until 4-p.m. at the historic Hitchcock House, located about six-miles south of Atlantic off Highway 6 and 1.5 miles west of Lewis.

Cass County Naturalist Lora Kanning says you’ll have a chance to learn pioneer skills and tour the national historic landmark, two-story home, built in 1856.

(You can observe the making of ropes, candles and tin punching, and more importantly, try your hand at some of those skills. All of the activities are free.)

The skills activities will take place in the barn. Again, there is no charge, but if you want to donate toward the preservation of the property and buildings, funds will be gladly accepted. If you want to tour the Hitchcock House, the fee is just $5 for adults, high school students and those younger are admitted for free. The home holds a historic value, because it was used as a stop for the Underground Railroad during the days of slavery.

The home features thick, sandstone walls, window seats, native hardwood trim, and a secret room that hid runaway slaves. The secret room is located in the basement where there is also a stone fireplace slaves could use to cook their meals and stay warm. It’s said the famous John Brown preached around that fireplace.

There are lots of other activities taking place at the Hitchcock House this Summer.

For more information, call Lora Kanning at 712-769-2372.

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

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a man accused of killing a deputy and wounding another while escaping from the Pottawattamie County jail before being recaptured in Nebraska, will be held at a different county jail once he returns to Iowa. Twenty-three-year-old Wesley Correa-Carmenaty agreed to extradition during a hearing Thursday in Omaha.

Woodbury County Sheriff Dave Drew said Correa-Carmenaty will be held at his jail in Sioux City and that his officers will take great caution in handling him. Authorities say Correa-Carmenaty had just been sentenced to 45 years imprisonment in an unrelated case when he managed to grab one of the two deputies’ guns while being transferred the Council Bluffs jail.

All three of Iowa’s Republican congressmen voted for the health care bill that passed in the U-S House Thursday afternoon. Fourth District Congressman Steve King and former Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachman were the first Republicans in congress to introduce bills seven years ago that called for repeal of the Affordable Care Act. King says this shouldn’t be represented as full repeal of Obamacare, because he says it is not. King invited Bachman onto the House floor with him to press the “yes” button together.

He’s satisfied with most of the elements of the bill that passed the House: “Its the package that repeals significant components of Obamacare, puts some pieces in place that are closer to free market, not as free market as I would like…what they do is they satisfied most peoples concerns and stretched other people’s concerns to the absolute limit,” King says.

King says “Obamacare” has collapsed and many of the companies that provided policies have dropped out of the program. He says the bill will save taxpayers money: He says the bill will cut taxes by 999 BILLION dollars in 10 years, cuts spending by one-point-one-five TRILLION dollars, which he says is a 151 BILLION dollar deficit reduction, while it eliminates the employer mandate and eliminates the individual mandate.

The lone Democrat in Iowa’s congressional delegation, Dave Loebsack, voted against the bill as did all House Democrats. The bill passed the House 217-213, and now goes to the Senate.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Creston report one person was arrested on separate charges this (Friday) morning and two people were arrested Thursday afternoon. 21-year old Chandy Rose Waldhauser, of Lake City, was arrested a little after 2:30- this (Friday) morning, for OWI/1st offense. She was later released on a $1,000 bond.

On Thursday, Creston Police arrested 34-year old Jacob Jeffrey Fry, for Parole Violation, and 37-year old Dustin Ray Kilgore, on two warrants for Probation Violation. Both men are from Creston. Kilgore was being held in the Union County Jail on a total of $10,000 bond. Fry was being held in the jail without bond, until he’s seen by a magistrate.

And, a Creston man reported to Police Thursday evening, that the license plate was missing from his motorcycle. It’s not clear when the theft occurred.

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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The new U.S. Secretary of Agriculture will spend much of today (Friday) in Iowa. According to the U.S.D.A., Sonny Perdue will deliver his first “major farm policy speech” as the nation’s ag secretary during a mid-morning event at a cattle farm near Nevada. IOWA Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey will be there.

“Certainly in his second week in the job, it’s a great thing to be to have him here,” Northey says. “I think Iowans are going to like him a lot. He’s going to feel very much like a regular down-to-earth, Iowa farmer almost — with a little bit of a twang.”

Perdue is the former governor of Georgia, but — as Governor Terry Branstad notes — Perdue has extensive roots in agriculture. “He’s been involved in the elevator business and, of course, he’s a veterinarian,” Branstad says. Branstad and Perdue had dinner in April when Branstad was in Washington, D.C. “That’s when he told me…’I might be from Georgia, but I don’t raise peanuts or cotton on my farm. I raise corn and soybeans,'” Branstad says.

Northey says there’s an ethanol plant near Perdue’s farming operation and Perdue has sold corn to the plant. Northey is rumored as under consideration for a job in the U.S.D.A. Northey says he hasn’t had an interview and hasn’t been told he’ll have one today (Friday) while Perdue’s in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Red Oak late Thursday night, arrested a man who allegedly broke into an unoccupied vehicle. 26-year old Cody Keen Blystone, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 11:07-p.m. in the Red Oak Hy-Vee parking lot, on a charge of 3rd Degree Burglary.

Officials noted Blystone has prior convictions for motor vehicle burglary, making this most recent charge a Class-D felony. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 cash bond.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety, early this (Friday) morning, issued an update with regard to an officer involved fatal shooting in northwest Iowa this past weekend. Authorities say Milford Police Officer Jesse Hoss has been identified as the Officer who fired his weapon after he and another Police Officer from the Arnold’s Park Police Department responded to a call about a domestic situation at 26 Westview Dr. in Milford.

The shooting occurred around 9:00PM Sunday April 30, 2017.  Officers Hoss and the Arnolds Park Police Officer approached the residence of 26 Westview Dr., when a male subject inside the residence who has since been identified as 52-year old Robert Brunner, pointed a handgun at the two officers.  Shots were exchanged between Brunner and Officer Hoss. Both officers retreated to safety and requested more backup.

Law Enforcement attempted to make contact with Mr. Brunner for several hours in effort to resolve the situation in a peaceful manner.  No contact was ever made with Mr. Brunner.  Law Enforcement made entry to the residence around midnight Sunday and located Mr. Brunner deceased.

Mr. Brunner was transported to the Iowa Office of State Medical Examiner in Ankeny Iowa.  On Thursday May 4, 2017, Dr. Jon Thompson, a pathologist at the Iowa Office of State Medical Examiner conducted a forensic autopsy.  Initial autopsy results show that Mr. Brunner sustained a fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head and another gunshot wound to his torso.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is actively conducting their investigation and no other details are being released at this time.  Once the DCI investigation has been completed it will be turned over to Dickinson County Attorney Jon Martin for his review.