w/ Ric Hanson

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BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) – A woman has been arrested in Council Bluffs, Iowa, after a 90-minute chase that began across the Missouri River in Bellevue, Neb.  The Omaha World-Herald says the pursuit began about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday when a Bellevue officer checked a car that had stopped on a highway offramp. The officer says the car nearly backed into the officer’s cruiser and then headed north toward Omaha.

The chase continued into Omaha and back to Bellevue, where the car stopped several times and sped away when officers approached. The driver eventually went to Omaha and drove east into Council Bluffs, using the westbound lanes of Interstate 80.

The woman was arrested a little after 3 a.m., when she stopped her car for good in Council Bluffs.   Charges are pending in both states.

w/ Ric Hanson

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The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says last week’s blizzard was not the way Iowa’s pheasant and quail wanted to start winter.  About half of the state received 6 to 12 inches of wet heavy snow that collapsed most “grassy” cover.  The cover that did not collapse was drifted full of snow from the high winds.  Todd Bogenschutz, state upland game biologist for the DNR said it was “A bad storm for upland game birds.” Bogenschutz said he thinks  “It’s very likely we saw some bird mortality with this blizzard.”

He says winter snowfall from December 1st thru March 31st is a good predictor of whether upland bird populations will increase or decrease the following year, and to have upwards of one foot of snow only 20 days into December does not bode well for pheasants. According to Bogenschutz,  “Iowa had only 17 inches of snow last winter. Parts of Iowa are close to that total already with this first storm.”

Iowa’s pheasant and quail populations were decimated by five consecutive winters of 30-50 inches of snow from 2007 thru 2011.  The winter of 2011-12 with only 17 inches of snow led to the first increase in pheasant numbers in years.  Bogenschutz says “Upland bird hunters were hopeful this winter would also be dry and mild to speed a population recovery.” He added that he hopes there are no more storms like the one experienced last week, for the rest of the winter.”

On a side note: The Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Pheasants Forever chapters will meet jointly next month to discuss methods to improve winter habitat for pheasant and quail.
Iowa has 50,000 acres under a new Conservation Reserve Program called Iowa Pheasant Recovery SAFE.  Landowners have the opportunity to enroll in this program first come first serve until the acres are gone.  The catch is, that County FSA offices cannot enroll Iowa landowners until Congress gives USDA authority to begin enrollment under a new farm bill.

(Iowa DNR Press Release)

Police in Red Oak are investigating a recent incident of vehicle vandalism. According to the police department, a Red Oak resident told authorities Monday, that while he was away from his home, the driver’s s side window of his 1994 Chevy S-10 pickup was smashed, and the entire vehicle scratched by an unknown device. The incident occurred while the vehicle was parked near the man’s residence. Authorities estimated damage to the pickup at around $3,000.

If you have any information about the incident, call the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at (712) 623-5107, or Montgomery County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-432-1001.

A study of cancer survivors from Iowa and Nebraska finds exercise may have an important impact on how patients respond to treatment and how quickly they recover. Scientists at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha looked at how exercise boosts the immune system of cancer survivors. UNMC’s Dr. Laura Bilek says the results are preliminary.  “It appears that exercise may help combat some of the negative side effects from chemotherapy and radiation,” Dr. Bilek says. “We hope that this may help cancer survivors enhance their ability to ultimately fight cancer.” Therapies like radiation and chemo can leave a person feeling wiped out.

“When the immune system recovers, we’re left with a lot of cells that are old and not terribly functional,” Bilek says. “Those hang around for a long time. We know in other areas of research that exercise can help to get rid of those slowly and make room for cells that are more helpful.” The study finds those new cells, sparked by exercise, may be able to help the body to fight infections and possibly kill surviving tumor cells. The older we get, Bilek says the more of those older, unhealthy cells we’re carrying around.

“That’s why older individuals are more prone to infection,” she says. “We also know that in the aging population, persons that are more active have a lower number of these non-functional cells and we also know older individuals who exercise tend to get less infection.” This is an early study and Bilek says more research is needed.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

The annual farmland survey released earlier this month by Iowa State University showed a record average cost of land at eight-thousand-296 dollars an acre. I-S-U economist, Mike Duffy, who conducts the survey, says most of the purchases are by those who want to expand. He says the buyers are typically neighbors or those in the neighborhood, as the vast majority of those buying land are inside Iowa. Duffy says farmers see the high return in corn and soybeans as a reason for investing in more land.

“What we’re seeing is a continuing increase in the amount of land that’s going to farmers and a decrease in the amount of land going to investors,” Duffy explains. “And that’s I think due to the fact that farmers are the ones making the money off the land right now. Farmer view land in a different way, and so they are in the market much stronger now than the investors are.” Duffy says there is more transfer of land by inheritance right now than by sale. Duffy says the higher prices have made some of those who inherit land decide not to keep it.

“I think that’s particularly for non-farming heirs that have inherited. They are looking at the land and saying we would have held onto it with it at two or three-thousand dollars and acre, but with it at eight or nine-thousand dollars an acre, the price of sentimentality went up. We are seeing more activity from that group,” Duffy says. The annual survey from Iowa State University showed farmland values increased almost 24-percent over last year.

(Radio Iowa)

A lobbying campaign aims to convince state officials to provide forgivable loans to students studying to be doctors, if they agree to practice in Iowa once they graduate. Sue Huppert, a vice president at Des Moines University, made her pitch directly to Governor Branstad earlier this month. “We’ve been working very closely with the American Academy of Family Practice. They have, in fact, taken the lead last year and as you may know we were successful in getting legislation through for the forgiveable loan,” Huppert said. “We were unable to fund it. You had some fiscal issues that you had to deal with in the past two years and we appreciate that you’ve done that — and now we are here asking for $2 million.”

That money would provide loans to 10 students at Des Moines University who are studying to be osteopathic physicians and another 10 students in the University of Iowa’s College of Medicine. The forgiveable loans would be made available to students just entering the programs. “Who make a committment, up front, to practicing and staying in the state of Iowa,” she said. According to the Iowa Medical Society, 43 percent of the doctors in Iowa today are above the age of 49.  “So this is definitely a workforce issue,” Huppert told the governor. “It’s definitely an economic development issue.”

(Radio Iowa)