(Radio Iowa) – Students from Northwestern College in Orange City are heading out this week for spring break — but their trips are working mission trips — not a chance to sit on a beach and soak up the sun. Northwestern director of admissions, Patrick Hummel says they 13 trips planned this year including four international trips Hummel says all the students volunteer for the trips and about 43 percent of graduates do a spring trip. He says students are working to help others and they benefit from being in places that are culturally different from their own and where they grew up.

He says students join teams and aren’t necessarily paired up with friends, so they get the added benefit of developing new friends on campus — and he says it connects them in new ways and in different ways.

(Radio Iowa) – After years of flood recovery efforts, a southwest Iowa group is shifting its focus to disaster preparedness. The Fremont County Disaster Coalition, previously known as the Fremont County Long Term Disaster Recovery Group, will meet this weekend. The group was formed after the 2019 Missouri River floods that devastated the region. Coalition secretary Mandy Maher says the meeting will highlight the group’s accomplishments and lay groundwork for the future.

Since the 2019 floods, the group has distributed nearly 240-thousand dollars in financial assistance and helped coordinate other goods and services to aid the 240-some households in the county impacted by the floods. The group is looking to disaster preparedness, as Maher says trouble is always lurking around the corner, whether it’s a tornado, a fire, a flood or a derecho.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report three recent arrests. Authorities say 44-year-old Chase Michael Hill, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 7:45-p.m., Tuesday, on an active Adams County warrant for Failure To Appear on a traffic offense. Hill was transported to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and held on a $600 cash-only bond. Red Oak Police arrested 42-year-old Penny Marie Griggs, of Red Oak, at around 6:23-p.m., Tuesday, for Driving While Suspended. Her bond was set at $491. And, at around 1-a.m. today (Wednesday), Red Oak Police arrested 37-year-old Jacob Wayne Dykes-Vargas, of Council Bluffs.

Dykes-Vargas was arrested on a Pottawattamie County warrant for Violation of Probation on on original Controlled Substance/2nd offense violation. Vargas was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond, while awaiting extradition to Pott. County.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Cancer Registry is marking its 50th year and celebrating the fact cancer is much less deadly in Iowa today than in 1973 when the first report was published. Registry director Mary Charlton, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa, credits decades of advances in medicine, treatment and early screening technology.

“Cancer mortality is declining, and survival among people who are diagnosed with cancer is getting better as the years go by,” Charlton says. “So what used to be kind of a death sentence back in the ’70s versus now, we have over 160,000 Iowans living with a history of cancer and doing great.” Early detection is the best defense against cancer, she says. Fifty years ago, about ten-thousand cancer cases were being diagnosed each year statewide, while today, it’s more than 20-thousand.

While more Iowans are being told they have cancer than five decades ago, many more are now surviving the fight. “So things like breast cancer or prostate cancer, back in the 1970s, less than 75% of people diagnosed with those types of cancers survived at least five years,” Charlton says, “but now over 90% survive at least five years.” There was troubling news in the report, as new national rankings now show Iowa has the second highest rate of new cancer cases in the U-S.

“I was really surprised to see that we had climbed that high,” Charlton says. “We’re only behind Kentucky, which is down in the Tobacco Belt. They’ve been number-one for a long time and have a very high smoking rate. We do not have as high as smoking rate, but it does seem like we’re just high. We have high rates of lots of different types of cancers in our population and we’re really trying to figure out why that is and what we can do to address that.”

The annual report allows doctors and researchers to focus on how to prevent and treat cancer, she says, and it provides Iowans with the knowledge they need to get advance screening and improve survival rates across the board. “Breast, prostate, lung and colorectal cancers continue to make up almost half of all cancer cases in Iowa,” Charlton says. “In terms of cancer deaths, lung cancer continues to be the most common cause of cancer deaths, accounting for one out of every four cancer deaths in Iowa, with colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer also in the top three.”

The report projects 20-thousand-800 Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer this year, an increase of 800 from last year. It also forecasts 62-hundred Iowans will die from cancer this year, a drop of 100 from a year ago. See the full report here: https://shri.public-health.uiowa.edu/

(Radio Iowa) – A House committee has approved a bill to require that developers get permits from every other state other along proposed carbon pipeline routes before construction could begin here. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

“Why would we want construction of this pipeline to take place in Iowa and have our valuable farmland disrupted if it ultimately is never completed?” Holt asked. The bill was approved last (Tuesday) night by Holt’s committee. It outlines how farmers could file claims if tile lines are damaged or the topsoil from cropland displaced by the pipelines isn’t restored. The bill also would require voluntary participation from property owners along 90 percent of the route before state regulators could grant the pipeline companies authority to seize the rest of the land.

The renewable fuels industry oppose the bill. Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton who voted for the bill, says private property rights are worth protecting. “This legislation is not anti-agriculture. This legislation is not anti-ethanol, period!” Kaufmann said. “I’m going to spend the rest of my adult life relying on the price of corn for my survival. The last thing that I personally would do would be to do something to harm agriculture.”

During last (Tuesday) night’s committee meeting, Representatives Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids and Megan Srinivas, of Des Moines, announced they would not vote on this or any other bills dealing with the pipelines. Both said their families may have a financial stake in the pipelines since the routes pass through their land and the companies offer compensation for those easements.

(Radio Iowa)- Republican lawmakers are proposing a ban on gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy for transgender youth. Senator Jeff Edler, a Republican from State Center, says if the state can make it illegal for minors to use tobacco or alcohol, it can ban body altering procedures. “What they’re feeling today may not be the same that they’re feeling when they’re 18 or older and some of these procedures are non-reversible,” Elder says. “I mean, the damage that is being done. It is very new technology and techniques.”

Subcommittees in the Iowa House AND Senate approved the same bill on Tuesday afternoon. A woman who said her name was Angie testified at the subcommittee hearing in the Senate. “It is irresponsible to lead children down this path at such a young and vulnerable age,” she said. Samantha Fett of Carlisle, a member of the conservative Moms for Liberty group, says the bill protects the children of today and future generations.

“We need to allow children to grow normally because puberty is important to human development,” she said. “Pausing it has life-altering consensuses forever.” Doctors and parents pushed back on the idea children are being manipulated. Karen Butler of Iowa City told lawmakers her child is non-binary and the family spent years meeting with specialists and mental health professionals.

“What makes you think you are in a better position than I to make decisions about my child?” Butler asked lawmakers. “…I want you to understand the gender affirming surgery my child received was medically necessary, potentially life saving care.” Dr. Kaaren Olesen, an O-B/G-Y-N at Broadlawns Hospital in Des Moines, cares for L-G-B-T-Q youth. “We are not going about willy nilly just doing surgeries on young children,” she said. “There are processes and procedures to follow.” Aime Wichtendahl, a member of the Hiawatha City Council, told lawmakers she knew at the age of nine — as a student at a Christian school — that she was trans.

“Being trans is a condition of the human race,” she said. “You can’t erase us, no matter books you ban…no matter how many rules and regulations you put in front of us.” South Dakota lawmakers recently passed a ban on gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy for minors. Similar legislation has been proposed this year in 26 other states.

(Bedford, Iowa – DNR News) – A contractor for the city of Bedford accidentally hit a private sewer line while doing work on a water line Tuesday, causing wastewater to spill between 405 North and 102 Central Street.

City officials estimated 100 gallons of sewage reached the city storm sewer, which drains approximately one mile before outletting into the East Fork of the One Hundred Two River.

The city’s contractor immediately made the necessary repairs to the private sewer line.

The chairman of a key Senate committee has introduced a bill to boost the penalty for assaulting a referee or umpire. Troy Scheuermann of Farmington is urging lawmakers to make this move for sports officials. Scheuermann, who’s a basketball referee, cites what happened after he and a partner volunteered to referee a three-on-three tournament for fifth graders in Fort Madison last March.

Fort Madison’s newspaper has reported that a Burlington man was arrested and charged with a serious misdemeanor. Senator Lynn Evans of Aurelia is a licensed official for football, basketball, baseball, softball and track. He’s never been assaulted over a call he’s made, but Evans says the escalation of these kind of incidents is discouraging people from becoming a sports official.

Senator Nate Boulton of Des Moines says police in Des Moines had to be called this past year after an umpire was assaulted at a slow pitch softball game.

Senator Mike Bousselot, a Republican from Ankeny, says the bill will draw a line of protection for sports officials.

The bill has cleared a Senate subcommittee and is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Twenty-three other states have already made assaulting a sports official a felony.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – In an update to our report earlier this month, officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department, today (Tuesday), said that a woman who was reported missing to Council Bluffs Police on Feb. 14th, was found deceased Sunday, in an area outside the Council Bluffs City Limits. 60-year-old Illene Gowen was found by Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputies.

Illene Gowan

Her death is considered suspicious. Anyone with information on her whereabouts on or after Feb. 13, 2023, is asked to contact the Council Bluffs P-D at 712-890-5400, Option 3

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Harlan Police Department reports numerous arrests took place from Feb. 4th through the 27th. Two suspects were arrested twice.

Beginning with the most recent, on Feb. 27th, 60-year-old William Joseph Daeges, of Harlan, was arrested for allegedly violating a no contact order, and for and interference with official acts. And, 33-year-old Jacob Brady Scheffler, of Harlan, was arrested on an active Shelby County warrant.

On Feb. 24th, Harlan Police arrested Joey Lee Ranney, on active Shelby County warrants for Burglary and Forgery. Officers with the H-PD arrested 22-year-old Brandon Jay Benedict, of Harlan, on Feb. 21st. He was charged with Driving While Barred. The previous day, officers arrested 60-year-old William Joseph Daeges, of Harlan, for Domestic Abuse Assault.

On the 15th 30-year-old Brian Daniel Green, and 31-year-old Shelbie Ann Green, both of Harlan, were arrested for Violation of a No Contact Order. Shelbie Green was additionally charged with Assault. On Feb. 11th, 41-year-old Jasper William Daniel, of Harlan, was arrested for driving while barred. On the 6th, 35-year-old Dustin Allen Hansen, of Harlan, was arrested for Driving while revoked.

And, on Feb. 4th, 31-year-old Shelbie Ann Green, of Harlan, was arrested on an Assault charge.