(Atlantic, Iowa) – October is Disability Employment Awareness month. Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett, Wednesday night, signed a proclamation to that effect during the City Council’s meeting. The proclamation she read (in-part) said…

“The State of Iowa,” she said “believes that long-term investment in rehabilitative workforce programs to help Iowans with disabilities find successful pathways, must remain a priority for years to come.”

Rehna Lensch and Ellen Sokolowski, with Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Service in Atlantic, were present for the reading of the proclamation. The Vocational Rehabilitation Service office is located in the strip mall just east of the Iowa Western Community College Campus in Atlantic.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council passed a resolution making appointments to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission. The commission replaces the former Parks and Recreation Board. It consists of three people living within Atlantic City limits, two Cass County residents, and one non-voting high school student. The appointments, effective January 1^st, include Kevin Ferguson (2-year term), Dolly Bergmann (2-year term), Shirley Jensen (1-year term), Ali Pieken (1-year term), and Mary Strong (1-year term).

Councilman Pat McCurdy…

Mayor Garrett added….

The Council also approved an order to allow the Atlantic Elks Lodge to install a flagpole in the right-of-way abutting 411 Walnut Street. And, they approved an order to shift future fireworks budgets from the Fourth of July to Labor Day, due to the success of the larger, “Bash at the Ballfields event,” that occurred over Labor Day weekend. The 2023 4^th of July Celebration was postponed until Labor Day, due to the weather, but it turns out that the decision to move the celebration brought out many more people, sponsors and vendors, than was possible on the original date.

Urbandale, Iowa (KCCI) – A school resource officer found a loaded handgun in a student’s backpack Wednesday at Urbandale High School. In a statement, Urbandale Community School District officials said two students who were suspected of vaping were taken to the high school office. “One of the student’s behavior escalated quickly while in the administrator’s office,” the statement said, which led administrators to call in the school resource officer. The SRO searched that student’s backpack, in which the officer found the loaded handgun.

The district says it will follow board policy for disciplining the student. According to the school’s handbook, students found on campus with a firearm could be subject to expulsion. Urbandale police have not said if the student will face charges.

Des Moines, Iowa – Gov. Kim Reynolds, Wednesday, signed a proclamation declaring the week of October 22^nd through October 29^th, Blue Ribbon Week and calling upon Iowans to observe this moment of solidarity by wearing blue ribbons in support of Israel. 

In advance of Blue Ribbon Week, the Iowa State Capitol Building will be illuminated in blue in support of Israel beginning October 18^th through the evening of October 22^nd. 

You can read the full proclamation here.  

(Radio Iowa) – About five-percent of all Americans have the lung condition known as C-O-P-D, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but new research shows the rate in Iowa is higher than the national average at about six-point-six percent. Pulmonologist Dr. Bobby Mahajan, at the American Lung Association, says about 15-percent of Iowans smoke, and that’s one of the leading causes of C-O-P-D. “Unfortunately, Iowa still has a grade of a ‘D’ in smoking cessation services,” Mahajan says. “The best way to reduce the incidence of COPD is to diagnose it, but once we’ve diagnosed it, we want a way to stop that smoking and smoking cessation is an important part of that where Iowa could do better.”

C-O-P-D, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, is a long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe, though some people try to ignore the symptoms. “Most individuals will say, ‘Yeah, well, I’m just getting older and that’s why I get more short of breath,’ but in many cases, they need to be able to get checked out by their primary care physician, because that might not just be deconditioning or getting older,” he says. “It might be COPD.” The latest figures show about 161-thousand Iowans have been diagnosed with C-O-P-D, while about 16-hundred die from it each year. Diagnosis comes through specialized lung tests.

“Typical symptoms that we see are shortness of breath at rest, or on exertion and doing daily activities, like walking to the bathroom, going to the grocery store, getting dressed,” Mahajan says. “Additionally, people can sometimes have chronic bronchitis associated their COPD where they cough a lot and produce a lot of sputum.” The American Lung Association report shows the annual cost of treating C-O-P-D in Iowa is 391-million dollars, while Iowans lose more than 235-thousand work days to the disease each year. There is no cure, but once identified, C-O-P-D patients do have several courses of action which can improve their lives.

“They can be treated with a number of different options,” Mahajan says. “Sometimes, medications like inhalers can improve their functionality and their breathing significantly. Other things like pulmonary rehabilitation, where we actually strengthen the breathing muscles, is associated with not only improvement in symptoms but it improves survival as well.” Learn more at lung.org.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks says she’s received credible death threats after she switched her vote for House speaker.

Miller-Meeks voted for Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan for House Speaker on Tuesday, but she said her “initial concerns” about “threatening tactics” from other Republicans in congress and Jordan supporters elsewhere increased. Miller-Meeks supported the chair of the House Appropriations Committee during today’s second round of voting. Miller-Meeks, in a written statement issued early this evening, said her office is cooperating with “the proper authorities” after she received a barrage of threatening calls and death threats following that vote. Miller-Meeks said she will “not bend to bullies” and is looking to support a “consensus candidate” for speaker.

Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, who has voted for Jordan twice, issued a video statement late Wednesday, calling the eight Republicans who engineered the ouster of Kevin McCarthy “chaos agents” who “should be ashamed of themselves.” Hinson said it’s time to end to “drama and infighting” among House Republicans.