Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources are investigating an oil spill originating from a greenhouse facility in Jefferson that reached the North Raccoon River. The spill was reported to the DNR shortly after 1-p.m. Thursday by local authorities. By Thursday evening, the DNR, with assistance from the police and fire departments in Jefferson as well as the Greene County Sheriff’s Department had tracked the spill approximately eight miles downstream. It was determined that the spill originated from an above ground tank storing used oil at Krieger’s Greenhouse in Jefferson.

A valve on the tank malfunctioned allowing used oil to run into a ravine where it eventually reached the Raccoon River. The amount of oil that was released has not yet been determined Thursday night. Hydro-Klean, Inc. of Des Moines, was in the process of installing booms downstream from the spill to prevent contamination further downstream Thursday evening. No dead or dying fish were found while tracing the oil downstream. The incident remains under investigation by the DNR.

A procedural move pushed by Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, to allow the full U-S House to vote on that body’s version of the farm bill moved ahead Thursday. Braley is now working on getting enough signatures on what is called a “discharge petition” to bring it to a vote. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, says he’s not sure if there is time to get a vote on the House bill and then work out differences in the Senate bill before the fall recess. “I don’t know, probably not, but at least if the House passed it, then you’ve got a bill, you got the Senate (bill), we can meet on it, and then we can come back in the lame duck session and get it done,” Harkin says. He says it is important to at least get the House version passed now.

“If they wait and pass it in November, then it would be problematic,” Harkin says. “But if they pass it now, let staff get to work, do stuff on it, get it ready when we come back, then we can conference the Tuesday after the election, yeah, I think we could get it done.” Harkin a Democrat blames Republicans and Tea Party members for holding up the vote before the election. He was asked if it would be easier to pass after the election.

Harkin says it would be more politically feasible, but more difficult institutionally to pass the bill. “So if you’re looking at the political aspect, I suppose the House leadership wants to punt this until after the election so they don’t bring it out on the floor and have people vote on draconion cuts to the SNAP program and other things like that,” Harkin says. The current farm bill is set to expire on September 30th and the House and Senate are expected to take their fall recess sometime next week.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

A Nebraska man was injured during a crash Thursday morning, in Pottawattamie County. The Iowa State Patrol says 73-year old Dean L. Crase, of Omaha, was transported by Council Bluffs Fire and Rescue to Creighton University Medical Center, following the crash on Interstate 29, near Council Bluffs. Crase was reported to be in “fair” condition at the hospital.

Officials say Crase, who was wearing a seat belt, was traveling north on the interstate at around 7:30-a.m., when the 2004 Chevy Trailblazer he was driving left the road on the west side of Council Bluffs. The SUV crossed the median and southbound lanes of I-29 before entering the west ditch and hitting a fence. It finally came to rest on River Road.

The accident remains under investigation.

Officials with Cass County Home Care and Cass County Hospice have announced both facilities recently received national recognition for demonstrating excellence in performance measures and quality of care. Cass County Home Care has been ranked in the top five percent of home health agencies in the United States by a recent HealthInsight report. The ranking is an improvement from the HealthInsight report released in March, which listed Cass County Home Care in the top seven percent.

And, Cass County Hospice received an excellent report from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s (NHPCO) Family Evaluation of Hospice Care (FEHC) survey results. The report was developed by the NHPCO with extensive input from hospices that participate in the data collection and reporting for the survey. The surveys are sent to family members of hospice patients who received care.  Cass County Hospice received strong marks and satisfaction from survey respondents, with a composite score of 92 percent. Additionally, Cass County Hospice achieved the highest level, top ten percent of hospices, in 18 out of 27 categories measured on the survey.

Cass County Home Care, an integrated home health provider, is part of Iowa Health Home Care, an affiliated network of providers. Iowa Health Home Care is part of Iowa Health System. To learn more about Iowa Health Home Care and its services, visit http://www.yourhealthcareathome.org.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports they were notified of a theft this (Thursday) morning. Sheriff Lyle Palmer says the victim of the theft, 83-year old Billy Duane Gold, of Shambaugh, reported to authorities $5,000 in cash had been stolen from the glovebox of his pickup truck, which was parked inside his garage next to his residence on 6th Street. Gold also reported a safe in the back seat of the truck was stolen, and various, miscellaneous papers were missing. The incident occurred sometime between 9-p.m. Wednesday and 7-a.m. Thursday. Gold said both the garage and his pickup were locked. The loss, including the cash, safe and papers, amounted to just over $5,050. The incident remains under investigation.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors are scheduled to meet Friday morning (Sept. 14th), in a continuation of their regular Wednesday session. During the 7:30-a.m. meeting in their board room at the Courthouse in Atlantic, the Supervisors will discuss and possibly act on a Tax Abatement or Exemption, for the Amaizing Energy Urban Renewal Area property.

Late last month, Kathy Schowalter with PlanScape Partners made a presentation to the Cass County Board of Supervisors on behalf of Ron Fagen, CEO of Granite Falls, Minnesota-based Fagen, Incorporated, with regard to the possible creation of a 25-million gallon Cellulosic ethanol plant. Schowalter asked the Board of Supervisors on August 31st, to consider local assistance in the form of: a property tax exemption until production begins; 50% property tax exemption/rebate for ten years after production begins; and assistance with applications for State and Federal incentives. Even with an agreement in-place, the permitting process she says will take up to a year once investors are secured, construction on the plant itself would take 18-to 24-months.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says a Griswold man was arrested Tuesday, for Possessing Prescription Drugs without a Prescription. 34-year old Michael Lee Moeller was taken into custody and held in the Cass County Jail until his release Wednesday, on his own recognizance.

The Sheriff’s Office reports also, the arrest on Sunday, of 33-year old John W. Perryman. The Fargo, ND, man turned himself to authorities at the Cass County Jail.  He had been wanted on a District Court warrant for violation of his probation. Perryman was subsequently sentenced to 30 days in the Cass County Jail, where he remains in custody until the completion of his sentence.

A $16 million renovation project at Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan, is nearing completion. The project, which started back in June of 2011, is 70% finished, and is on track to be completed by next May 2013. Barry Jacobsen, CEO of Myrtue Medical Center, says employees have been working in some of the new areas of the facility, for  the past few months. That includes the new lab department and data center. Jacobsen says their main focus has been the surgery addition, an adjacent addition, and renovation of the radiology area. Those areas are near completion and should be done by late November.

Jacobsen says once those areas are open and equipment moved, patients will be able to use the facilities on January 1^st. The construction crews meanwhile, are continuing to work on the south patient parking lot as well and are on schedule to be completed in the next two weeks. He says once the surgery and outpatient clinics have relocated, crews will start working on the 2^nd floor. Work on the new business offices, respiratory therapy and sleep study rooms, is expected to begin in January.

A small addition has also been added on the north side as well as parking. Once the project is complete the Auble conference room will be on the north side for meetings. Jacobsen says one of the main corridors of the hospital has re-opened, and although the project isn’t expected to be completed until May of 2013, Jacobsen says the hospital is planning an open house towards the end of this year. The open house is likely to take place sometime this December.

(Joel McCall)

Shelby County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert said today (Thursday), rainfall amounting to at least 1.8-inches across parts of the County has lessened the danger of Extreme fire behavior, at least for the short term. Seivert says area fire stations and others with Fire Danger signs can move them from “Extreme,” back into the “High” category, through this weekend. Another update is expected on Monday.