The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) will launch a web-based tool November 1 designed to help Iowans who have chosen to quit smoking. “Web Coach” is an interactive online program that provides each participant with a personalized experience. The Web Coach focuses on four essential practices to enable smokers to quit for life:

• Quit at your own pace
• Conquer your urges to smoke
• Use medications so they really work
• Don’t just quit; become a non-smoker

Each of those practice areas will include articles, videos, e-lessons and interactive worksheets to help participants successfully quit tobacco. Progress toward that goal includes a spending calculator, to help a participant compare the cost of tobacco vs. the cost of medication; a tobacco usage tracker, which allows a participant to track when and where they smoke to identify patterns and triggers; and discussion forums and online groups for more personalized social support. After quitting, participants can track how long they’ve been tobacco-free and see how much money they’ve saved and time that has been added back to their daily life since quitting tobacco.

In 2011, approximately 2,800 Iowa deaths were directly attributable to tobacco use. Another 1,600 deaths were identified as likely being due to tobacco use. Estimated annual health care costs in Iowa directly related to tobacco use now total $1 billion. For more information about Web Coach, visit www.quitlineiowa.org.

w/ Ric Hanson

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The Cass County Extension Service says volunteers for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program are needed in southwest Iowa.  VITA  is an IRS-sponsored program that certifies community volunteers to prepare and e-file basic tax returns at no cost for low to moderate income individuals and families. Volunteers  are needed to prepare 2012 taxes. Anyone interested should have a basic understanding of income tax laws, an interest in helping others, and basic computer skills.

VITA volunteers are provided free training, self study materials, and software necessary to prepare basic income tax returns including Forms 1040EZ, 1040A, and 1040.  They must complete a certification exam and the IRS waives liability for volunteers if they prepare returns within the scope of their certification. To find out more about the VITA program contact the Cass County Extension Office at 712-243-1132 , or Mary Beth Kaufman, Extension Family Program Specialist at 712-755-3104 or e-mail: mbkaufma@iastate.edu.  Interested persons will need to complete a one page application.

The VITA program provides free tax preparation to low and moderate income families so they can claim the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Care Tax Credits.  In Southwest Iowa, the program is coordinated by Iowa State University Extension with funding and support from the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Human Services, and Iowans for Social and Economic Development (ISED).

Hurricane Sandy is blamed in at least 13 deaths in the U-S, while leaving more than six-million homes in 12 states without power. Allison Roach, with the Red Cross office in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says some volunteers from her chapter are already on the East Coast.  “We have many, many more who are on standby who are ready to go at a moment’s notice as soon as flights to those areas resume,” Roach says.

Several hundred disaster services volunteers in the region are offering a wide array of skills that will be needed in storm-damaged areas.  Roach says, “They will sign up and say ‘I am capable of going out’ and we will get a message from our national organization saying, ‘We need this many volunteers with these skills,’ and they’ll ask for these volunteers by name.” Roach says the best way Iowans can help is to make a donation to the Red Cross or by giving blood.

(Radio Iowa)

An Adams County man was arrested Monday night on a warrant out of Union County for Failure to Appear on a charge filed in April, of Animal Neglect.  Cody M. Jay, of Prescott, was taken into custody following  a traffic stop on Highway 34, at around 8:15-p.m. He was brought to the Adams County Jail and held.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

A northwest Iowa woman died from injuries she suffered during a rollover accident Monday afternoon, in Mills County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 44-year old Rebecca May Kleinwolterink, of Orange City, died after being flown from the scene of the crash near mile marker 33 on Interstate 29, near Glenwood. The woman was a passenger in an SUV driven by 49-year old Galen Dean Kleinwolterink, also of Orange City.

Officials say the 2005 Chevy Uplander was traveling south on I-29 when a tire went flat on the drivers side rear, causing the driver to lose control. The vehicle entered the west ditch and rolled multiple times. Rebecca Kleinwolterink, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the SUV as it rolled. She was flown by LifeNet helicopter to Creighton Medical Center, and pronounced dead. Galen Kleinwolterink was wearing a seat belt. He was transported by Glenwood Rescue to Creighton, where he was listed in stable condition, after suffering from minor injuries.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

Sheriff’s officials in Cass County are investigating the circumstances surrounding a property damage accident that happened early Saturday morning, when a pickup struck a utility pole. Authorities report the Cass County Communication Center received a call at around 2:05 a.m.,  of a one-vehicle accident on 540^th Street. When deputies arrived, the driver of a 2006 Chevy Silverado pickup, 45-year old Danny Leroy Lewis,  of Red Oak, was no where to be found.

Officials later learned he had walked away from the scene of the crash, and was transported by private vehicle to the Cass County Memorial Hospital for treatment of undisclosed injuries.

A Pottawattamie County man was arrested Friday on an assault charge in Cass County. Sheriff’s officials say 53-year old Joseph Anthony Hardin, of Hancock, was taken into custody on a Cass County warrant for Aggravated Assault. Hardin was taken to the Cass County Jail where he was released the following day on his own recognizance.

Sheriff’s officials said also,54-year old William Clarence Shearer, of Atlantic, was arrested Oct. 23rd, on a District Court Warrant for Violation of Probation. Shearer was taken to the Cass County Jail where he was released later that day on $5000 bond. And, on October 18th, Cass County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 34-year old Michael Lee Moller,  of Griswold, on a Cass County warrant for Criminal Mischief 2^nd Degree (D Fel). Moller was taken to the Cass County Jail where he was released the following day on $5000 bond.