Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon reports in response to the area being under an Excessive Heat Warning Wednesday through Friday, several facilities will be open in the County to serve as cooling stations for Cass County residents needing to find relief from high heat and humidity. The locations include:

• The Nishna Valley YMCA, 1100 Maple Street, Atlantic, open from 4:30am to 8:30pm this Wednesday and Thursday and 4:30am to 6:00pm on Friday.
• Atlantic Public Library, 507 Poplar Street, open 9:00am to 6:00pm Wednesday thru Friday.
• Griswold City Library is open 10:00am to 12:30pm and 1:30pm to 6:00pm Wed. and Thurs., 10:00am to 4:00pm Fri.
• Anita Public Library is open 10:00am – 6:30pm Wed. and 2:00pm – 6:30pm Thurs. and Fri.

Kennon says the National Weather Service predicts very hot and humid conditions will build into the region by Wednesday and last through the end of the week. Heat index values of 100 to 115 degrees are likely Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons. The hottest period will be Thursday and Friday.

Residents are advised to keep cool and stay hydrated during the prolonged period of excessive heat. The hot temperatures and high humidity will combine to create a dangerous situation in which heat illnesses are possible. Drink plenty of fluids, avoid strenuous outdoor activity during the heat of the day, stay out of the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. Do Not leave pet and/or children in unattended vehicles.
Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency…call 9-1-1.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A thunderstorm carrying strong lightning and heavy rain has caused flash flooding in some areas of north and central Iowa including Des Moines. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning Tuesday for portions of four central Iowa counties until early evening. More than a dozen others were placed in a flash flood watch, where conditions are possible for additional evening flooding to develop.

Rainfall estimates ranged between three and five inches across a wide area of central Iowa. Localized street flooding was reported on the east side of Des Moines near the Iowa State Fairgrounds. State softball games and Iowa Cubs games scheduled for Tuesday were also called off.

MidAmerican Energy reported power outages for more than 2,000 Des Moines area customers and about 200 in Council Bluffs.

Republican Congressman Steve King isn’t backing down from statements he made during an appearance on a cable T-V talk show panel Monday. “It’s about time that somebody spoke up,” King says. “Charlie (Pierce of Esquire), who was on MSNBC, going off against ‘old white people.’ And if you would Google ‘old white people’ or ‘old white men,’ now that’s something that continually flows out of mouths of the left and they’re disparaging a group of people who have contributed a tremendous amount to our civilization.”

King says “no other subgroup” has contributed more to the advance of western civilization than Christians of European ancestry. Democrats are calling King’s comments “outrageous” and Republican Governor Terry Branstad is dismissing them as well. “I just think they were inappropriate,” Branstad said. “…People know Steve King.” King says “the truth is provocative” to people like Branstad who are in “the establishment.”

“They see culture as evolving…They want to accept it as quickly as possible so it’s not a liability to be ‘on the wrong side of history,’…That’s what they will say,” King says. “…I say instead that these fundamental principles are timeless. Whatever was a sin 2000 years ago is a sin today.” King says if Republicans don’t make a stand, the party will “have no ground left to stand on” pretty soon.

“I don’t think the establishment wing of the party stands up against the multiculturalists, the political correct crowd. They back up from them. They kowtow to them and I say instead: ‘Let’s confront them.'” King faces Democrat Kim Weaver this fall as he seeks reelection to an eighth term in the U.S. House.

(Radio Iowa)

Griswold Community School District Superintendent Dave Henrichs reports members of the Facilities Committee of the Griswold School District will hold a work session on Tuesday, July 26th at 6:30-p.m. at the Griswold Community School District’s Middle School /High School Library. The purpose of the meeting is to assess the current educational facilities. No action will be taken at that time.

Reports of storm damage are filtering-in this (Tuesday) afternoon. The most recent, a tree that fell on a power line across from 509 Spruce, in Massena, at around 12:30-p.m.  Massena Fire responded to the scene. A nearby home was not damaged.

Fallen tree in Massena Tue. afternoon. Photo courtesy Cass County Emergency Mgmt. Coordinator Mike Kennon.

At 12:20-p.m., thunderstorm winds were clocked by an automated weather system at 63-miles per hour four-miles north-northeast of Anita. Earlier, thunderstorm winds gusted to near 60-miles per hour as they pushed through Shelby County at around 11:25-a.m.  A tree fell on a car along Highway 59 just a few minutes later, one-mile north of Harlan. No injuries were reported. And, just before 11:30, a roof was lifted off of a barn in Irwin.

Officials with Mid-American Energy say power should be restored to some 309 residents in Montgomery County and 65 homes and/or businesses in Pottawattamie County, following a problem with a substation. The problem began a little after 9-a.m. Crews are working on the issue, and it’s anticipated service will be restored by approximately 1:00 PM.  The outage stretches from just south of Atlantic, through Griswold to Red Oak and Emerson.

The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) has announced six Iowa communities have been awarded fluoride certificates by the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors on behalf of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and American Dental Association (ADA). Fluoridation is the adjustment of fluoride in the water to an optimal level for preventing tooth decay.

Among the six communities receiving the 50 Year Award for maintaining continuous community water fluoridation from 1965-2016, is Elk Horn Municipal Water Works.

Fluoride is a natural mineral present in almost all water. Its benefits for teeth were discovered in the 1930s. Dental scientists found low tooth decay rates among people whose water supplies contained natural fluoride. Today, approximately 75 percent of Americans and 91 percent of Iowans served by community water systems have access to optimally fluoridated water. Even with the availability of other fluoride-containing products, fluoridated water prevents approximately 25 percent of tooth decay in children and adults.

The CDC has recognized community water fluoridation, the process of adjusting the fluoride concentration in water to the optimal level for preventing tooth decay, as one of the ten great public health achievements of the 20th Century. It is supported by the U.S. Surgeon General, American Dental Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Public Health Association as a safe, effective, and inexpensive method of preventing tooth decay. Both Healthy People 2020 and Healthy Iowans have set goals to increase the number of people receiving fluoridated water.

IDPH is a strong supporter of fluoridation programs. The IDPH Bureau of Oral and Health Delivery Systems monitors the fluoride levels of Iowa communities and provides information and assistance to water supply professionals, healthcare professionals, and the public. To see the fluoridation status of Iowa counties and towns, visit https://nccd.cdc.gov/DOH_MWF/Default/Default.aspx.

CHEROKEE, Iowa (AP) – A former teacher in northwest Iowa has been given five years of probation and a suspended 10-year prison term for having a sexual relationship with a student. Court records say Chad Osler, of Manchester, pleaded guilty to sexual abuse after prosecutors dropped two related charges. At his sentencing Monday he also was fined $1,000.

Court documents say Osler was a physical education teacher in Cherokee when he had sex with the student in July 2013. The relationship continued through 2014 and early 2015.  Osler took a job with the West Delaware Community School District, where he was put on administrative leave after he was arrested in April 2015. He’s no longer listed in the district staff directory.

Sheriff’s officials in Audubon County today (Tuesday) released details about a tractor-trailer rollover accident that took place Monday afternoon, northeast of Exira. Authorities say the driver of the semi, 32-year old Shawn David Irvine, of Clearmont, MO., was transported by private vehicle to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, following the accident that took place at around 3:30-p.m. on Pheasant Avenue, near 280th Street, or about three-miles northeast of Exira.

The Sheriff’s Dept. says Irvine was traveling south over the posted speed limit in a 2013 Peterbilt tractor-trailer registered to Sioux Valley Transport, L-L-C, of Estherville, when he entered a curve in the road. A load of market hogs shifted in the trailer, causing the semi to roll over onto the shoulder of the road. About 60 hogs died in the crash.

The semi sustained an estimated $100,000 damage. Irvine was charged with Failure to Maintain Control. The Iowa State Patrol and Exira Fire and Rescue assisted at the accident scene.

The Iowa Soybean Association’s board of directors has voted unanimously to spend 150-thousand dollars to help Sac, Buena Vista and Calhoun counties defend themselves against a federal lawsuit brought by the Des Moines Water Works. Association C-E-O Kirk Leeds says the organization supports the three northwest Iowa counties because the suit could impact farmers statewide and this will bring a quicker end to the case.

“We ultimately think we’re going to be successful in throwing this case out,” Leeds says. “If you look around the country and certainly look around Iowa and the work we’re doing in Cedar Rapids, for example, it’s a great example of farmers and urban folks working together.” He says the court action takes away from the cooperative and proactive approach farmers have taken on water quality and nutrient management.

Leeds says, “It’s unfortunate because it certainly has distracted many of us from the work that was going on before and that continues but certainly at a distracted pace as relates to cleaning up the water and and improving nitrogen management.” He says the suit is also hurting efforts by farmers and the utility itself from implementing programs and practices to address water quality.

“It has taken dollars away from those programs, not only for farmers and farm organizations and the counties but also Des Moines Water Works,” Leeds says. “Before this is said and done, this first round in the lawsuit will have over $3-million invested in legal fees.” That’s money he says could have been invested in improving the water works’ facilities and in helping farmers to make the needed changes.

The lawsuit filed in March of 2015 charges the county supervisors allegedly allowed nitrates coming from 10 drainage districts to pollute the Raccoon River, a primary water source for 500,000 customers in Des Moines. The case is scheduled to go to trial in June of 2017.

(Radio Iowa)