A Monona County resident is hitting the road on a trip across the state of Iowa for her grandson. Tammy Mohr, of Ute, is beginning her trip across Iowa called, “Trottin’ for Taylor” to raise awareness and funding for Batten Disease. 

Mohr’s grandson Taylor Lee Mohr has Batten Disease, a rare neurological degenerative disease that comes in four forms and is fatal in every case. The form Taylor has the late infantile form of the disease and there is no cure. Taylor is eight years old and is bedridden, blind, can not walk or talk, and his limbs are contracted. The condition forces him to use a feeding tube. 

The trip by his grandmother Tammy will begin in Muscatine on Saturday, and will end in Missouri Valley on Monday, June 18^th at the Missouri River. The entire trip from one end of Iowa to the other will be done horse back riding. Tammy welcomes others to join her at any point on her ride. 

She plans to stay overnight in several places including stops in Massena, Atlantic, Avoca and Beebeetown. Donations can be made to Tammy Mohr 42883 270^th Street, Ute, IA 51060. Any donations made will be delivered to the University of Iowa Batten Research. You can follow Tammy’s journey on Facebook by searching for “trottinfortaylor”.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A new monthly report suggests economic growth is slowing in nine Midwest and Plains states, but the region remains healthy overall. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says businesses in the region are still benefiting from healthy farm income and exports. But he says the strong dollar is limiting the amount of growth.
 
The report’s overall economic index declined to 57.6 in May from April’s 60, but remained well above the neutral score of 50.  The survey uses a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Any score above 50 suggests growth while a score below 50 suggests decline for that factor.   The survey of business leaders and supply managers covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

w/ Ric Hanson

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One of the few remaining historic opera houses in Iowa will hold its first big event tonight (Friday) following the facility’s grand reopening in early April. De (dee) Heaton is the program director at the Corning Opera House in southwest Iowa. The structure was built in 1902.

Corning Opera House BEFORE restoration

“We completely restored from the roof to the basement,” Heaton says. “The auditorium is restored to look like the original and we added a conference room and a prep kitchen for catering.” Between 1870 and 1920, roughly 1,500 opera houses were built in Iowa. In recent years, several Iowa cities have taken steps to restore the structures.

Heaton says many opera houses are still standing, but have been abandoned. Some of Iowa’s recently restored opera houses are located in Elkader, Coggon, Clermont, Decorah, DeWitt, What Cheer and Dubuque. The Corning Opera House, which has room for about 300 people, will be used for concerts and movies and can be rented for wedding receptions and other special events. Tonight, the Corning Opera House will host a special screening of “The Last Ride” – a new movie about the life of 1940s and 50s country music star Hank Williams. “There are 10 historic theaters across the United States that get to premiere the movie and we are the only one in the Midwest,” Heaton says.

Corning Opera House AFTER restoration

 The movie will show today, Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. each evening. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students at the door.

Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have announced the agency is providing additional tools for federal, state, local officials and others, to alert and warn the public about severe weather. The Commercial Mobile Alert System, or CMAS, will be used to deliver Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) to wireless carriers for distribution to the public. That means your cell phone will receive messages on its screen, similar to a text message, showing the type and time of the alert, along with what type of action will be taken. The alerts will NOT take the place of locations where CODE RED alert systems are in-place, as those systems also handle a wide variety of local emergency situations. 

The message will be no more than 90 characters, and will have a unique tone and vibration, indicating a WEA has been received. If an alert is received by your cell phone, you are advised to follow the instructions and seek additional information from local radio, television, NOAA Weather Radio and other official sources for emergency information. 

The alerts will be broadcast by cell towers. Any cell phone within range of those specific towers will immediately pick up the signal, provided they are capable of receiving the alerts. The availability of WEA alerts will be dependent on the network status of the wireless carriers and handset availability, since not all cell phones receive WEA’s. Check with your cellular carrier to see if WEA alerts are available in your area. 

FEMA says as with all new cellular services, it will take time for upgrades in infrastructure, coverage and handset technology, to allow WEA alerts to reach all cellular customers.

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin has announced the City of Atlantic’s airport has received a grant amounting to $510,763 to assist the facility in meeting design standards. The funds were a portion of the more than $11.5-million awarded to 27 Municipal airports in Iowa, from the US Dept. of Transportation and F-A-A. 

Also receiving grant monies were these airports; Arthur N. New in Carroll, $236,700 – for the acquisition of replacement snow removal equipment; Creston Municipal Airport, $412, 408 – to enhance airport access; Guthrie County Regional Airport, $382,500 – for construction of a hangar building; Red Oak Municipal Airport, $142,106 – for the replacement of snow removal equipment; and Schneck Field in Clarinda, $313, 920 – for the rehabilitation of the runway lighting system. 

Senator Harkin, who is a member of the appropriations subcommittee which funds the DOT, said the funds will ensure Iowa’s municipal airports have the resources they need to update, repair or replace their facilities.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest Thursday of two Villisca residents. Officials say 19-year old Taylor Shane Luna, was arrested at around 11-p.m. Thursday, on charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct, following an incident which occurred at 2^nd Avenue and High Streets. She was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond. 

And, at around 5:45-p.m., 24-year old Kahla Ellen Morrison, of Villisca, was arrested for driving while revoked, for OWI test refusal. Morrison was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 cash bond.

Officials with the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic report CCMH has gone live with a new integrated information system, which is designed to stabilize and integrate the facilities’ technology solutions across the organizations, enable the hospital to control costs, and provide a higher level of patient safety and care. The new Health Care Information System (HCIS) includes all clinical and financial software, including scheduling, registration, laboratory, radiology, and several other applications. 

One change patients will notice, according to hospital officials, is the need to re-create their medication information in the new hospital system, as the previous list did not transfer to the new computer system. Patients who are seen in the CCMH Outpatient Specialty Clinic, are asked to bring either a list of med’s and dosage levels, or their actual medications to review with the nurses. Arriving 5- to 10-minutes prior to your scheduled appointment time will help to facilitate that process. 

This does not affect patients being seen at the Atlantic Medical Center, Southwest Iowa Surgery, Eye Associates, or the Southwest Iowa Mental Health Center.

Officials with the Adair-Guthrie County Emergency Management Office report 9-1-1 service has been restored in Guthrie County. The office had put out a notice at around 6-p.m. Thursday about a disruption in 9-1-1 service that began sometime between 5:30- and 6-p.m.  The service was restored, a few hours later. A Sheriff’s dispatcher in Guthrie County said a fiber optic cable was accidentally cut somewhere. 9-1-1 service he said, was also knocked out in southern Iowa’s Clarke County at the same time.