The flu season appears to be off to an early start in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) today (Friday) announced testing by the State Hygienic Laboratory (SHL) has identified cases influenza circulating the state. While influenza activity remains at a low level, the identification of the virus in Iowa should serve as motivation for those who have not yet received their yearly influenza vaccination to do so now.

IDPH Medical Director, Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, says “The most effective way to prevent influenza illness and death is the yearly flu vaccine. Based on CDC estimates, an average of 300,000 Iowans gets the flu every year and together, flu and its complication of pneumonia cause an average of 1,000 deaths yearly in Iowa.”

IDPH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend annual influenza vaccinations for everyone 6 months of age and older. It’s especially important to be vaccinated if you have regular contact with people more vulnerable to the complications of flu, including babies, children with asthma, and the elderly. IDPH also recommends pregnant women be vaccinated to protect themselves, and to pass on some immunity to their baby.

The flu is a serious respiratory illness caused by viruses. The flu comes on suddenly and symptoms may include fever, headache, tiredness, cough, sore throat, nasal congestion, and body aches. Illness typically lasts two to seven days, and often puts healthy people in bed for days. Influenza may cause severe illness or even death in people such as the very young or very old, or those who have underlying health conditions.

Influenza is not a ‘reportable disease’ in Iowa, which means doctors are not required to notify IDPH each time a patient tests positive for influenza; however, IDPH conducts year-round influenza surveillance through the Iowa Influenza Surveillance Network. This surveillance indicates what types of influenza viruses are circulating and how widespread influenza illness is. For more information about where and what kind of influenza is in Iowa, go to https://idph.iowa.gov/influenza/reports.

Contact your health care provider or local health department to find out where the vaccine is available in your community or use the Flu Vaccine Finder at www.flu.gov/.

Authorities in Cass County today (Friday) released additional information about an accident that took place Oct. 20th. The Sheriff’s Office says at around 11-a.m. that day, deputies responded to a report of a car/tractor accident on Highway 71 south of Atlantic. A 2015 Cadillac owned and driven by 81-year old Dale Dean Pauley, of Atlantic, was southbound on Highway 71 when the driver attempted to pass a 2015 Case tractor driven by 24-year old William Garrett Wilson, of Exira.

Pauley’s car hit the driver’s side of the tractor and rolled in the west ditch, landing on its top. Pauley and a passenger, Ila Lucille Pauley, suffered minor injuries, and were transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital by Medivac ambulance.

Damage to Pauley’s Cadillac was estimated at $43,000. The tractor sustained an estimated $5,000 damage. Deputies cited Dale Pauley for Failure to Maintain Control.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office today (Friday) released information about two arrests that took place, Wednesday. 45-year old Curtis Lloyd Rush, of Wiota, was arrested on a District Court warrant for Failure to Appear (Child Support). Rush was taken to the Cass County Jail where he was released later that day on $2000 bond.

And, 40-year old Joseph Michael Greathouse, of Massena, was arrested Wednesday on a Dallas County warrant. Greathouse was taken to the Cass County Jail and released to Dallas County authorities the following day.

Ten Republican presidential candidates will visit the Iowa State Fairgrounds Varied Industries Building during the Iowa G-O-P’s day-long “Growth and Opportunity Party” tomorrow (Saturday). It starts in mid-morning and lasts until five o’clock and will feature a fair-like atmosphere, with candidate booths and even TVs to watch college football between the speeches. Many of the candidates are arriving in Iowa today (Friday). Mike Huckabee will be making stops in Missouri Valley, Harlan, Audubon and Carroll — part of his aim to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties.

Huckabee huddles/Town Hall meetings, are being held today: from 9-to 10:30-a.m. at Penny’s Diner, in Missouri Valley; from Noon until 1:30-p.m. at the Pizza Ranch, in Harlan; in Audubon at Quality Machine of Iowa (1040 4th Ave), beginning at 2:30-p.m.; and at Sam’s Soda and Sandwich shop in Carroll, from 5- to 6:30-p.m.

Huckabee says “Winning Iowa is not a sudden explosion, it’s a slow burn and, you know, I’m not the least bit panicked about where we are and where things are going because every day we’re adding chairmen in counties,” Huckabee says. “We have volunteers. We have people in our structure and organization.” Huckabee won the 2008 Iowa Caucuses and he says it’s because he took the time to meet potential Caucus-goers “person-to-person.”

“You can’t do that behind a rope line,” Huckabee says. “You can’t do that, you know, in a big event where you never go out there and answer questions and touch people. If there’s a better way to do it, I’d love to find out, but having won it before with the most votes anybody ever received in an Iowa Caucus in its history I’d like to think I learned something in that process.”

Here’s the list of the other candidates who’ll be speaking Saturday at the G-O-P’s event in Des Moines: Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal and Marco Rubio. Each will be given 15 minutes to speak to the crowd. The new Iowa front-runner Ben Carson, will NOT attend. Carson is holding campaign fundraisers in Tennessee tomorrow.

(Radio Iowa)

Authorities in western Iowa are on the lookout for a man who escaped from a Council Bluffs work release facility. According to the Iowa Department of Corrections, 30-year-old Jonathon Mandel Clausell was placed on “escaped” status following an unexcused absence from the facility. Clausell was transferred to work release October 13th.

Jonathon Clausell

Clausell was serving 20 years for 2nd degree robbery in Union County, and 1st degree theft and assault while participating in a felony, in Montgomery County. He’s described as being African American, 5-feet 10-inches tall, and weighing 189 pounds. Clausell has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information on the prisoner’s whereabouts should contact Council Bluffs police or the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office.

Police in Council Bluffs are investigating an assault that took place late Thursday night. Officers called to the 1500 block of 2nd Avenue at around 10-p.m., to check on the welfare of a person, found Justin Wirsing sitting on the curb suffering from a laceration to the right side of his head. Wirsing told police he was assaulted by three unknown men, who left the scene in a white car before officers arrived. Wirsing was transported to Mercy Hospital for treatment of his injuries, and released.

Anyone with information about the incident should contact Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867.

GLENWOOD, Iowa (AP) – A man who police say called for “vigilante justice” after a brawl and shooting in southwest Iowa no longer faces charges. The Omaha World-Herald reports that prosecutors say the two weapons charges against 20-year-old Liam Whitehouse were dropped because evidence found in his vehicle likely wouldn’t hold up in court. Authorities say Whitehouse made a suspicious Facebook post calling for “vigilante justice” after the Sept. 27 incident outside the home of a Glenwood school principal, Richard Hutchinson.

Mills County Attorney Tricia McSorley says the car search was done without Whitehouse’s permission. Glenwood Police Chief Eric Johansen says Whitehouse initially denied officers permission to search the car but later granted it.

Police in Creston say a local woman was arrested on a drug charge Thursday evening. 31-year old Maxine Burton, of Creston, was taken into custody for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Burton was being held in the Rinngold County Jail on a $300 bond.

Authorities said also, two thefts were reported, Thursday. A resident in the 600 block of N. Oak Street, in Creston, told police someone took and began using her credit card to make purchases and withdrawals, beginning June 26th, until the card was cancelled sometime in July. The loss was estimated at $2,000.

And a woman in the 600 block of New York Avenue, in Creston, reported to police that her late model Buick Park Avenue, was stolen out of her driveway at around 10:40-p.m., Thursday. The woman’s phone and several personal items were inside the vehicle.  Police located the car at around 11:35-p.m., and returned the vehicle to its owner.