Each year, thousands of Iowans experience a brain injury. A car crash, a fall on the ice, or a hard bump on the head can cause what’s known as ‘traumatic brain injury’ or TBI. Other types of brain injury can be caused from a stroke, a lack of oxygen to the brain, or concussion. Often, the complications of brain injury, which include changes in thinking, language, or even general emotions, are missed. Because of this, brain injury is often called a silent epidemic.

Thursday, March 2nd, Governor Branstad will sign a proclamation designating March as Brain Injury Awareness month in Iowa. This year’s theme is ‘Shattering the Myths and Unmasking the Opportunities.’

According to the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), about 17,000 Iowans are seen in emergency departments annually because of TBI, which is the leading cause of death and disability among young children aged 0 to 4 years and adults aged 75 years and older. In Iowa, falls are the leading cause of TBI among young children and older adults.

“That number does not include the thousands of Iowans who experience brain injury, but are not hospitalized,” said IDPH Brain Injury & Disability Program Manager Maggie Ferguson. “These individuals may suffer consequences of their injuries, but are never treated.”

You should contact a health care professional or go to an emergency department immediately if you or someone you know receives a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or body, and have the following signs:
In adults
Slurred speech
Repeated vomiting or nausea
Persistent or worsening headaches
Numbness, weakness, or decreased coordination
In children
Excessive crying
Slurred speech
Repeated vomiting or nausea
Numbness, weakness, or decreased coordination
Unable to eat

For information on prevention and resources available regarding brain injuries, visit http://idph.iowa.gov/brain-injuries.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Results from a monthly survey of business supply managers suggest manufacturing is boosting economic conditions in nine Midwest and Plains states. The Mid-America Business Conditions Index report released Wednesday says the overall economic index for the region rose to 60.5 in February from 54.7 in January. It’s the highest figure since April 2014 and the fourth monthly increase in a row.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the increases point to the improving regional manufacturing economy. The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth in that factor. A score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A Grinnell psychiatrist has been given two months in prison for health care fraud. Prosecutors say Dr. Richard Hauser was sentenced Tuesday in Des Moines. He’d pleaded guilty in October. He also was ordered to pay nearly $31,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors say Hauser operated a clinic under the name Prevention Systems Inc. and did business as The Hauser Clinic. His plea agreement says that beginning by at least November 2011 and through December 2012, Hauser submitted false claims to Iowa Medicaid and Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa for more expensive services that weren’t performed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Republican Rep. David Young ignited loud cheers from hundreds at an Iowa meeting last week when he said, “Donald Trump should release his taxes.” He called the move a “no brainer.” Given the first chance to force the GOP president’s hand, Young passed. The two-term, Des Moines-area lawmaker returned to Washington and sided with the Republican majority late Monday to block a Democratic attempt to force Trump to release his tax returns to Congress.

New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell had proposed the resolution directing the House to ask for 10 years of Trump’s tax returns and allow the House Ways and Means Committee to review them in private.

An aide to Young dismissed Pascrell’s measure, arguing it was not a serious legislative proposal.

The second month of this year was quite a roller coaster ride in the weather department. There were a couple of big snowstorms in Iowa, but state climatologist Harry Hillaker says most Iowans will remember this February for an extended period of unusually warm temperatures between the 16th and 22nd. “Every single day, seven days in a row, somewhere in Iowa got up to 70 degrees or higher. The highest was 79 degrees in Ottumwa on the 22nd,” Hillaker said. “Prior to this year, we never had more than four days (in February) in the 70s in the state.”

In Atlantic, the average High for the month of February was 48.8 degrees, which was 13.4-degrees warmer than normal. For the entire month, the preliminary statewide average temperature was 34.4 degrees. “That’s 10.4 degrees warmer than the February average and, preliminarily, that would be the third warmest February in 145 years of records,” Hillaker said.

It could end up being the second warmest February on record once all the numbers are tallied. The warmest month of February ever recorded in Iowa was in 1954, with a statewide average temperature of 35.5. The second warmest was 1998 at 34.8 degrees. There were also some very cold temperatures across the state last month, with the coldest recording at Little Sioux, which hit three-below-zero on February 9th.The coldest day in Atlantic was Feb. Feb. 8th, at 3 degrees above zero.

The Harrison County town of Little Sioux also racked up the most snowfall over the month with 13.6 inches. “Although, the biggest amount from a single storm was last week’s event where we had 12.5 inches reported near West Bend and a foot of snow at Algona,” Hillaker said.

Little Sioux was hit by a snowstorm on February 8th that covered mostly southern Iowa AND the blizzard last week that pounded northwest and north-central Iowa. Snowfall in Atlantic for the month amounted to 7.4-inches. Melted snow and rain combined to make for 1.25-inches of liquid precipitation.

Many areas of southern Iowa have received less than six inches of snow this entire winter. Meanwhile, snowfall totals over the northern half of the state are well above normal.
[ripcFebwx2] :13 this winter
(as said) “Some places, close to 40 inches of snow so far this winter, up in north-central Iowa,” Hillaker said. “Along the Missouri border, there are many areas with only three to five inches this entire winter.”

(Radio Iowa/KJAN Weather records)

Red Oak Police arrested three people late Tuesday afternoon through early this (Wednesday) morning. At around 5:30-p.m. Tuesday, 26-year old Michael Todd Archer, of Red Oak, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault and Public Intoxication. Archer was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

And, at around 1:50-a.m. today (Wednesday), Red Oak Police arrested 24-year old Stephanie Rose Eggleston, of Red Oak, for Unlawful Possession of Prescription Pills and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. At the same time, Red Oak Police arrested 40-year old Tommy Joe Lovell, of Red Oak, for Driving While Suspended. Lovell was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond, while Eggleston’s bond was set at $1,000.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:50 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican Rep. David Young ignited loud cheers from hundreds at an Iowa meeting last week when he said, “Donald Trump should release his taxes” and called the move a “no brainer.” Given the first chance to force the GOP president’s hand, Young passed.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University is keeping secret the price that it wants for the plane that President Steven Leath decided to buy and often flew. An ad on the Trade-A-Plane website doesn’t list a price for the 2011 Cirrus that Leath is selling amid scandal. It says ISU’s selling the plane through sealed bids that are due April 6, and that an unspecified minimum bid has been set.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Abortion would be outlawed in Iowa after 20 weeks of pregnancy under a bill that advanced Tuesday in the Legislature only a day after a panel approved another measure that would outlaw the practice. Besides forbidding pregnancy after 20 weeks, the bill approved in a subcommittee Tuesday also would allow felony charges against doctors who perform abortions after that time and would let a woman or her spouse sue doctors who perform abortions.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — The president of University of Dubuque says two students seen in a photo posted on social media that appeared to show them in blackface showed “spectacularly poor judgment.” The Telegraph Herald says University President Jeffrey Bullock wrote in a statement that the social media post, which included the words “Celebrate black history,” is at odds with the university’s culture “in which diversity is not only appreciated, but embraced.”

A motorcyclist was injured when the 1981 Honda he was riding broadsided an SUV Tuesday morning, in Fremont County. The Iowa State Patrol reports 65-year old William J. Salmons, of Hamburg, was flown by LifeNet helicopter to CHI/Mercy Health in Council Bluffs, following the crash the happened at around 9:30-a.m. near the Sapp Brothers Truck Stop at 211th Avenue and Highway 2.

Officials say a 2013 Ford Escape driven by 65-year old Thomas A. Lietzan, of Sidney, was stopped at the intersection and waiting to turn east from 211th. The collision happened when Lietzan proceeded into the intersection – a through highway  controlled by a stop sign – at the same time Salmons was traveling westbound on Highway 2 through the intersection.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest of two male juveniles on Tuesday after an investigation into the theft of a dirt bike.

At 7:15am Red Oak Police received a report of a burglary that occurred at a garage at 102 N 5th Street in Red Oak. A 1996 Kawasaki KDX 200 dirt bike had been stolen from that garage within the past two days. At 9:30am officers received a report of the bike being spotted and it was then located at 1306 N 8th Street in Red Oak.  Then at 10:30am a search warrant was executed at on a single unit garage at City View Apartments in Red Oak looking for items related to the theft.  Shortly after the search two male juveniles ages 15 and 16 were detained for questioning.  During the investigation officers recovered a second dirt bike that was reported stolen on February 19th.

The two juveniles were arrested and charged with Burglary 3rd Degree and Theft 3rd Degree. They were both taken to the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs and held pending a hearing before a Juvenile Court Judge.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A man accused of firing at a Woodbury County sheriff’s deputy has been charged with attempted murder. Authorities say 24-year-old Melvin Spencer, of Sioux City, was charged Monday and is being held on $250,000 bail. His attorney didn’t immediately return a call Tuesday from The Associated Press.

Authorities say a deputy had tried to pull over a vehicle carrying Spencer and another man around 3:30a.m. Sunday. The chase ended when the vehicle stopped south of the Sioux Gateway Airport. Authorities say one or both men then opened fire at the deputy, who shot back. The other man was injured during the shootout and was hospitalized. His name hasn’t been released. The deputy and Spencer weren’t injured.

Authorities say Spencer fled on foot but was caught a few hours later.