(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says there are dangers associated with “vaping” and she’s discussing policy options with key advisers. “I think it’s alarming what we’re continuing to see and the increase in the number of cases and so we continue to work with the Iowa Department of Public Health to collect the data,” she says. State officials announced last Friday that nearly two dozen Iowans had been diagnosed with a respiratory illness linked to so-called “vaping” with an electronic cigarette.

Reynolds says a majority of the illnesses involved vaping products containing T-H-C, a chemical from marijuana. “That’s a significant concern,” Reynolds says. “That’s, you know, illegal.” According to federal officials, nine people have died in the U.S. from the mysterious illness connected to vaping and hundreds have been hospitalized.

“The increases that we’re seeing in people using, especially young people, is concerning,” Reynolds says, “to see the growth really in a short time frame.” This week the Republican governor of Massachusetts declared vaping a public health emergency and approved a four-month ban on ALL vaping products. Also this week, Minnesota’s governor called on his state’s legislature to ban the sale of the flavored pods inserted in “e-cigarettes.”

Similar bans are already in effect in New York and Michigan. A federal study found the number of high school seniors who were “vaping” doubled from 2017 to 2018. Preliminary data from this year’s survey indicates one in nine teenagers “vapes” DAILY.

(Radio Iowa) — After a third round of flooding hit southwest Iowa last month, Iowa Congressman Steve King met Wednesday with officials from the U-S Army Corps of Engineers in Missouri Valley. The goal was to find ways to better protect people and property from high water. King, a Republican from Kiron, says he knows the Corps has requested funds to study the lower Missouri River and its tributaries.

King says, “I want to make sure this river can contain all of the water that has ever run down it and not have this thing outside the levees.” King recalled a bill he introduced in 2011 directing the Corps to adjust its flood control storage space in the Missouri River Reservoir System. Opposition from recreational fishermen froze the bill, but King says he may bring it back to Congress in the future.

Corps officials say the Missouri River study will look at the waterway’s impact from Sioux City to St. Louis, seeking ways to reduce flood risks and improve infrastructure resilience. Corps District Commander Colonel John Hudson says solutions for future flooding go beyond beefing up levees and may include establishing floodways and looking at drainage management.

“We have a similar melt event that we had in this last March, we’ll have similar impacts on the system,” Hudson says. “It was overtopped for four days and we’ll have levees overtopped for four days again. It was all on unregulated tributaries.” Hudson says the study could take three to five years. King asked how many would be in favor of an expedited study and the majority of the people at the meeting raised their hands.

(Thanks to Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa pork processing plant is working to address concerns the island nation of Micronesia raised about how some of its citizens working at the plant are being treated. Seaboard Triumph Foods says it follows all employment laws and it is working with its local union and officials to resolve the matter. Micronesia sent a formal letter to the U.S. State Department Friday asking U.S. officials to investigate possible misconduct at the plant, including whether false Social Security numbers are used.

Seaboard says workers are assigned a temporary tax ID number until their permanent Social Security card arrives a couple months after they start work. Seaboard officials say the Micronesians at the plant have the same rights to vacation and time off as other workers at the plant.

Protecting savings and assets becomes increasingly important as people age. Older adults can be attractive targets for fraudsters. Studies have suggested that older Americans lost at least $2.9 billion to financial exploitation in 2010 by a broad spectrum of perpetrators, including persons they know and trust, as well as strangers. Financial education practitioners can help to prevent, recognize, and report financial exploitation.

Stay Independent: Spot, Stop & Avoid Fraud is a specialist-led workshop developed by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach designed to raise awareness among older adults and their caregivers on how to prevent elder financial exploitation. The fraud prevention public awareness program has been recently updated to include new information on frauds and scams, and how to prevent them.

On Thursday, October 10, 2019 ‘Stay Independent: Spot, Stop & Avoid Fraud ‘ is coming to Harlan, Iowa at the Senior Center from 12:00 pm (Noon) to 1:00 pm. Presented by ISU Extension and Outreach Family Finance Specialist, Carol Ehlers, “Stay Independent: Spot, Stop & Avoid Fraud” educational event teaches up-to-date strategies to protect financial and personal information.

To find out more contact the Shelby County Extension office at 755-3104.

(Radio Iowa) — A teenage climate change activist from Sweden says she’ll be in Iowa tomorrow (Friday). Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg has won global attention. Just Monday, she addressed the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit in New York City, giving its leaders a firm rebuke: “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.” Thunberg tweeted on Wednesday that she plans to visit Iowa City on Friday to take part in a student-led protest. What’s being called a climate strike was started by students at Iowa City’s South East Junior High and it’s spread to other area schools as well as to the University of Iowa.