It was four years ago this month that online videos of people taking part in the Ice Bucket Challenge became viral hits across Iowa and nationwide, raising record amounts of money for A-L-S research. Josh Nuss, executive director of the Iowa A-L-S Association, says the ripple effects of that widely successful media blitz are still being felt. “Most people know what ALS is now,” Nuss says. “On the research front, since the Ice Bucket Challenge, we’ve been able to actually triple the amount of funding we’ve been able to put into research and that’s shown across the board in a lot of the research studies going on. Last year, the first treatment in over 22 years was approved by the FDA to treat ALS.”

In the challenge, people were videotaped pledging to donate money to the charity while dumping buckets of ice water on their heads and calling out others by name, challenging them to do likewise. As unlikely as it sounds, the campaign was a huge success and it’s had a lasting impact. “There’s a lot of young people getting involved with research as well,” Nuss says, “whether they have a personal connection or they were involved in the Ice Bucket Challenge and that led to them wanting to help find treatments and a cure for ALS.” A-L-S stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It’s relatively rare and only afflicts about 250 Iowans. Like cancer, A-L-S comes in many forms and can rob a person of their voice well before it claims their life. Nuss says an innovation was announced just last month called Project Revoice.

“As somebody progresses and they lose the ability to speak, before they lose that ability, we’re encouraging them to voicebank through ProjectRevoice.org and when the technology is available at the end of this year, they’ll actually have their voice and be able to speak through their device,” he says. A-L-S is a motor neuron disease which usually attacks both upper and lower motor neurons and causes degeneration throughout the brain and spinal cord. Once diagnosed, life expectancy is usually only two-to-five years. Learn more at www.alsiowa.org.

(Radio Iowa)

A new policy the Iowa legislature approved on its final day would force statewide elected officials and members of the legislature to use their campaign funds rather than tax dollars for “self-promotion.” Representative Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, encouraged her colleagues to pass the policy. “This would restrict the spending of public money for paid ads or promotions bearing name, likeness or voice of that person from mass mailings; radio, TV, newspaper, internet ads or promotions or an exhibit display at the fair,” Hinson says.

The governor and other elected officials have had booths at the Iowa State Fair for years.”Currently, I believe they are using taxpayer dollars for the displays and for the space as well,” Hinson says.

If the governor approves this new policy, that will end for the 2018 Iowa State Fair.
The new policy also is likely to bar Republican Governor Kim Reynolds from appearing in ads planned this fall to promote the “Future Ready Iowa” program. Democratic State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald will no longer be able to appear in ads promoting the state’s College Savings Iowa program. Representative Marti Anderson, a Democrat from Des Moines, opposes the idea.

“This section would cause these elected officials to have to pay for things that are even part of their duty,” Anderson said. “…People have the right to know and see their elected officials and to hear directly from them.”

Hinson says it’ll be up to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board to enforce this new policy. It means Secretary of State Paul Pate might have to reimburse the state if any fliers from his office about voter registration contain his name or photo. Democrats say the stickers on every gas pump in the state that have the written name of Iowa’s secretary of agriculture may have to be removed. Hinson is unmoved by those arguments. “This applies to anybody, regardless of party,” Hinson says.

The Ethics Committees in the Iowa House and Senate will police members of the legislature who are accused of using tax dollars for self-promotion if the governor approved this new policy. It was inserted in a catch-all budget bill that cleared the legislature last Saturday.

(Radio Iowa)

Airmen and soldiers from the Iowa National Guard are in the nation of Kosovo this week as part of a two week exercise being conducted with the Kosovo Security Force. Major Brandon Cochran of the 132nd Wing of the Iowa Air National Guard in Des Moines says around fifty Iowa Guard members are working in a variety of areas with their Kosovo counterparts as part of the U-S Military, European Command’s State Partner Program. He says there’s the Sister State Initiative, Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, communications, mission support and security police. “If you have a life experience that you can share with someone else — there’s a nexus point for you within the state partnership program,” Cochran says.

Captain Marty Hogan of Sioux City’s 185th Air Refueling Wing says clinicians are working in the class room and participating in field training with members of the Kosovo Security Force medical clinic. Hogan says they are working with the medical corps to move them toward their NATO certification. Hogan says the annual exercise dubbed “Eagle 6” with the Kosovo Security Force is building continued cooperation and strong relationships. “This is two-and-a-half years of blood, sweat and tears, lots of phone calls, a lot of extra work, a lot of time after work,” Hogan says. ” But when you come over and you see completion of the exercise, or you see growth in what they accomplished last time, that’s always a huge thing.”

The group also includes members of the Army Guard’s 831st engineering company from Middletown, Iowa who are working with the K-S-F honing construction skills. The operation is taking place in Kosovo through May 14th. The Iowa National Guard has been working with Kosovo as part of the state partner program since 2011.

(Radio Iowa)

WELLMAN, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man died after he was struck by a chemical sprayer on a farm in eastern Iowa. The accident occurred around 1 p.m. Monday in rural southwest Johnson County. Authorities say 65-year-old Merlyn Yoder, of Wellman, died after being struck and rolled over by the sprayer. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) — A 7-week-old baby is being treated for skull fractures and brain bleeds after she was hit in the head by a softball while watching her father play in northeastern Iowa. Authorities say the overthrown softball struck McKenna Hovenga and her mom, Kassy, as they watched the game Wednesday in Shell Rock, some 95 miles northeast of Des Moines. McKenna’s father, Lee Hovenga, was in the game.
McKenna was taken to a local hospital then flown to St. Mary’s Hospital at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

A post on the Healing for McKenna Facebook page said that after 48 hours without a seizure, doctors have started to wean McKenna off her seizure medication. A neurologist told the family that McKenna’s brain activity is calming down.