The first of two public hearings will be held this evening in Massena, with regard to the disposal of Centennial Park property. The hearing takes place at 6:45-p.m. at the Massena City Hall, prior to the start of the regular Council session. During the regular session at 7-p.m., the Massena City Council will hold discussion on the Centennial Park matter, followed by action on a resolution creating and approving terms of a resolution to dispose of the property, and the date for a special meeting on disposal of the property and related public hearing.

The Council will also act on approving a Street Dance for the Main Street Bar and Grill, set for August 18th, and other matters, including a designated “Children playing” area sign for some city streets, and “No Parking” signs on either side of East Cedar, from 6th to Clark Streets.

Democratic congressional candidate Christie Vilsack says her opponent — Republican Steve King — should return the pay raises he has gotten since being elected to congress in 2002. “A service member in Iowa makes about $48,000 a year,” Vilsack says. “I’m a public school teacher. If I were still teaching I’d be making about $50,000 and Steve King makes $178,000 a year and for people struggling in the fourth district, I think that’s a considerable sum.” Vilsack misspoke. The current salary for members of congress is 174-thousand dollars. King’s salary has increased nearly 20-thousand dollars since he took office in January of 2003.

“At the same time he has not voted for bonus pay for our service members; $1500 is all they asked for,” Vilsack says. King has said he deserves his pay raises because actions he’s taken as a member of congress have saved taxpayers billions of dollars.  “To decide that you should vote yourself a pay raise and then actually say that you deserve it is not right,” Vilsack says, “so I think he should give it back.” King’s campaign accuses Vilsack of “misleading voters in a desperate attempt to distract them” from her own policy positions. According to King’s campaign spokesman, King has never voted to increase his pay on a stand-alone vote. The one time there was an opportunity to cast a vote on pay raises alone, King voted to freeze his pay. Vilsack says if she’s elected to congress, she’ll give any pay raises back to the U.S. Treasury until the federal budget is balanced. Vilsack made her comments during a weekend appearance on Iowa Public Television. Vilsack and King are facing off to represent the new fourth congressional district which includes most of northwest Iowa as well as the cities of Ames and Mason City.

(Radio Iowa)

Six patients who were afflicted with a flesh-eating bacteria were treated in the past several weeks at an Omaha hospital, including at least one person from western Iowa. The condition is very rare and is often deadly. The Iowa woman survived. Jane Bisenius is from Schaller, in Sac County. She says she first saw the spot on her arm on April 12th.  “I noticed in the morning a little round, pinkish-red circle on my elbow, my left elbow,” Bisenius says. “On my way home, that red dot swelled up to an oval about the size of a cupped hand and it became very hot and painful, my arm did.”

When that spot on her arm swelled to the size of a softball, Bisenius’ daughter, a doctor, told her to get to an emergency room right away. Bisenius had surgery at a Spencer hospital and she seemed to be getting better for a while, but things quickly worsened.  “We could see the redness spreading up and down the arm about an inch every 15 to 20 minutes,” she says. That’s when Bisenius was airlifted to the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. When she arrived, she had a temperature of 104-degrees and was extremely sick. Doctors say the cause of her condition was a staph infection. She spent eight days at the hospital, being treated in the hyperbaric oxygen unit. She has recovered but will continue to receive physical therapy so she can regain the full use of her arm.

Dr. Jeffery Sartin is an infectious disease specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He says people shouldn’t panic, as this type of case usually only appears in the region two or three times a year. “There are some stories that get in the news that are very dramatic and tragic, really, but these are very, very rare,” Dr. Sartin says. “There are a lot of bad things that can happen to you out there and there are probably others that are more likely that you should worry about.” The affliction is called necrotizing fasciitis, and it kills 30 to 40-percent of the people who become infected. Generally, he says, the flesh-eating bacteria does not spread from one person to another.  “In most cases, if somebody gets it and you’re in contact with them, you’re at no great risk,” Sartin says. “There are a few exceptions. For instance, if somebody has a staph infection, especially the resistant staph called MRSA, if you live in a household with that person, you are more likely to have MRSA on your body, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get a bad skin infection.” A Georgia woman who recently went zip-lining and landed in a river contracted a severe case of the disease. She had to have both hands and a leg amputated. The Nebraska Medical Center has the area’s only Level One hyperbaric oxygen unit.

(Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s Officials in Guthrie County early this (Monday) morning, released the name of a Greene County man who drowned in Lake Panorama Saturday evening. 54-year old Larry Blanchfield, of Churdan, died shortly after the incident occurred at around 5:20-p.m., Saturday.

Authorities say they received a 911 call from a cell phone at around 5:23-p.m., indicating there was a subject down in the water at Lake Panorama, who was unresponsive.  Emergency services responded, including Panora Fire & Rescue, Lake Patrol, State Patrol and Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office.  A male subject later identified as Blanchfield, was pulled from the water with the help of citizens and LPA Lake Patrol.  Panora paramedics attempted to revive the man by performing CPR, but were unsuccessful.  Blanchfield was transported to the Guthrie County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A preliminary investigation indicates Blanchfield initially jumped off the boat into the water to retrieve a hat and went under the water.  The investigation is continuing at this time.  Alcohol is not believed to be a factor.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

 343 PM CDT SUN JUN 10 2012 
 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
 370 IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES….(KJAN LISTENING AREA HIGHLIGHTED IN BOLD)

ADAIR                ADAMS               AUDUBON
BOONE                BUENA VISTA         CALHOUN
CARROLL       CASS                CERRO GORDO
CHEROKEE             CLARKE              CLAY
CRAWFORD        DALLAS              DECATUR
DICKINSON            EMMET               FRANKLIN
FREMONT              GREENE              GUTHRIE
HAMILTON             HANCOCK             HARDIN
HARRISON             HUMBOLDT            IDA
KOSSUTH              MADISON             MILLS
MONONA               MONTGOMERY          O`BRIEN
OSCEOLA              PAGE                PALO ALTO
POCAHONTAS           POLK                POTTAWATTAMIE
RINGGOLD             SAC                 SHELBY
STORY                TAYLOR              UNION
WARREN               WEBSTER             WINNEBAGO
WOODBURY             WORTH               WRIGHT

HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER…THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH…AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

REMEMBER…A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE  FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
 AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR  THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
 AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY  DO PRODUCE TORNADOES.

A study finds almost half of all Iowa children will be nipped by a dog at some point. With school out and many kids playing outside, the odds of meeting up with a stray or unchained canine rise during the summer months. Pam Wiese, spokeswoman for the Humane Society in Omaha/Council Bluffs, says some dogs see us as moving targets.  “Kids on bikes, people running, sometimes dogs with a bit of a prey drive go, ‘Oooo, someone’s running! The chase is on and I can chase you,'” Wiese says. “Often times, dogs will run and bark and not bite. Sometimes they will try to bite you. That gives a dilemma to a lot of people because they want to get away from this dog but getting away means I’m moving and he may want to chase.” Wiese says the best thing a child — or an adult — can do if they come in contact with an aggressive dog is to stop and stand still.

Her simple advice: “Be a tree. Stand still, put your arms down, look at your feet and just look down. Don’t make eye contact with a dog that appears to be approaching or is upset. He may come up, sniff you and leave, like, ‘Oh, you’re boring.'” Wiese says locking eyes with an aggressive dog can actually make matters worse. “Don’t make eye contact with the dog and a lot of times, that will just defuse the situation. The dog will go, ‘Oh, well, you’re not threatening. You’re actually kind of boring. There’s nothing to chase here. I’m going to sniff you and then go on my merry way.'” Wiese says parents need to teach the “Be a Tree” technique to all children, as it may prevent a serious injury. She also reminds parents to talk to their kids about how to act around a dog and never to pet an animal without the owner’s permission.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The 100th anniversary of Iowa’s worst mass killing will be commemorated with lectures, films and a chance to see the ax used in the grisly crime. But most events will be in Red Oak, 25 miles from where the crime occurred in Villisca. In part that’s because the county history center in Red Oak has better meeting space, but some say it’s also because after a century, Villisca residents are tired of talking about the case. As former mayor Susie Enarson puts it, “I would like it to be over.” But many people will still head for Villisca, where they can tour the house where two adults, their four children and two of the children’s friends were hacked to death while they slept. Their bodies were found June 10, 1912.

Two people,  and adult male and a child were injured during a single vehicle accident Saturday afternoon, northwest of Atlantic. The accident happened on Highway 173, about one-half mile north of Eastland Road, or about 2-miles north of the intersection of Highway 173 and 83, at around 3:25-p.m..

According to dispatch reports, an approximately 45-year old male was trapped in the vehicle. The 4-year old male child was in the back seat, in a child safety seat. The man was freed from the vehicle by crews with Atlantic Fire and Rescue. He suffered head and back injuries, but was conscious and communicating with rescuers when they arrived. He was flown by LifeNet helicopter to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha. The child was transported by Medivac Ambulance to the Cass County Memorial Hospital, with what were described as minor injuries.

Marne First Responders were also called to the scene to offer assistance, along with Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies. Highway 173 was blocked to through traffic for nearly an hour.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest Saturday (6/9/12) of 55-year-old Michael Dean Ohnmacht of Essex on a valid Montgomery County warrant for theft in the 5th degree. Ohnmacht was arrested around 11:33am and taken to the Montgomery County Jail where he was later released on $300 bond.