Atlantic, IA — A reminder for Cass County residents and others who utilize the services of Cass Health, in Atlantic: Thursday, July 14th will be a busy day at Cass Health as crews begin work on the Emergency Department entrance, Emergency Drive, and AMC Rapid Care. Emergency Drive will be closed through early fall for replacement and repairs. Cass Health Plant Operations Director Lee Wyman says “The driveway up to the building is in rough shape, and we’ve been doing what we can to patch it and keep it in service. During the last two years of construction, it has really suffered from construction traffic and heavy equipment. Now that we’re nearing the end of the project, it’s time to close it so that we can completely replace the drive.”

Emergency traffic will be routed around the building instead, and patients will be directed to enter through the Rehab Services entrance due to construction beginning at the Emergency Department entrance. Cass Health Chief Financial Officer Abbey Stangl says “We want to assure everyone that our Emergency Department is open and will remain open throughout this phase of construction. Our team has spent a lot of time ensuring that access to care remains our top priority, and while these changes are inconvenient, we know that they are necessary in the long run.” 

At the same time, AMC Rapid Care will be relocating to Atlantic Medical Center while the current clinic space is being remodeled to accommodate additional exam rooms. As of July 14, all AMC Rapid Care patients should park in Lot A and use the Main Entrance during this phase of construction, which is expected to last through early 2023. Due to the move, AMC Rapid Care will be closed that morning until noon.

(Radio Iowa) – A few Republicans in the U-S Senate complain they were “misled” by several now-Supreme Court justices about abortion during confirmation hearings, but Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley isn’t among them. Grassley says the nominees were “absolutely” honest with him when they appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “They never know what they’re going to hear,” Grassley says. “You don’t know what’s going to come down the road. You have to give the best answers to questions you can and that’s what they gave.”

Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska say the high court’s recent ruling on Roe versus Wade was inconsistent with precedent. Collins says Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh had said in their testimony how they’d support the nation’s long-standing precedents. Grassley has a different view on affirming views that have stood for decades. “We’re just lucky that precedents can be overturned,” Grassley says. “We’d still have segregated schools in the United States if we didn’t have Brown overturn Plessy 50 years before that.”

Grassley says he has no complaint about the three newest appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying they’re doing exactly what they should be doing, making decisions based on facts and the law. “And that’s what they did in the case of Roe,” Grassley says. “They made a decision based on the fact that the decision made 50 years ago was the wrong decision because there’s nothing in the Constitution about abortion.”

Grassley says the high court’s ruling to refer any decisions on abortion back to the states is the correct one, so those decisions can be made by elected officials and not by appointed justices.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports 59-year-old James Chandler Sash, of Creston, was arrested Monday, at his residence. Sash was taken into custody on a Union County Warrant for Failure to Appear, on an original charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance Methamphetamine/1st Offense, a Serious Misdemeanor. Sash was transported to the Union County Jail where he is being held on no bond till seen by a Judge.

And, on July 7th, an Afton man reported to Creston Police that someone had entered the cab of his Peterbilt semi-tractor, while the rig was parked at the hoop building on East Adams St., by the Under Pass. The victim stated numerous items were moved around, and it appeared that someone had slept in the bunk of the truck. Missing from the vehicle, were two, brand new Sony 5×9 car speakers still in the box, worth an estimated loss $80.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s housing market has been a boon for people selling houses — but the supply shortage of houses is also showing up in the rental market. Anne Bacon is the chief executive officer of IMPACT, which helps low-income residents in central Iowa. She said lower-income Iowans are seeing higher rent prices, with fewer options due to lower supply. “Many thousands of families were in apartments they could afford, who were living a life that was doable, and then the pandemic hit and suddenly they cannot afford where they’re living. But there aren’t any affordable housing units available in their price range,” she says.

Bacon says that creates a stalemate. “Everyone is currently stuck where they were before,” Bacon says. Many communities are trying to find ways to overcome the shortage of homes and rental options. The city of Ottumwa for example is offering an incentive for people who build a new home there. Bacon made her comments on the Iowa Public Radio program “River to River.”

(Radio Iowa) – As the world’s biggest online retailer celebrates its birthday today (Tuesday) and Wednesday with sales on a wide range of products, Iowans are warned to be doubly cautious before they double-click. Amazon’s two-day Prime Days event is compared to Black Friday or Cyber Monday, but Bao Vang at the Better Business Bureau says beware of phishing scams, misleading ads and lookalike websites. “We just cannot resist a sale and scammers know that,” Vang says. “They know our emotions are running high at this moment.” Vang says to read everything carefully, even on Amazon’s own sales, in case something seems too good to be true.

While Amazon may be offering some good deals, Vang says online shopping can be risky. “Amazon has now risen to the number-one spot, the number-one brand most impersonated by scammers,” she says. Vang warns Iowans to check the fine print on whatever it is they’re buying to make sure they’re actually paying for what they want and not a cheap knock-off.

(Radio Iowa) – Some Iowa corn fields were battered or knocked over by last week’s storms and I-S-U Extension Field Agronomist Gentry Sorenson says over the next few days, the upper stalk of the corn may start to shift. “What’ll happen is the corn will ‘goose neck’ — that’s what they call it,” he says. “It’ll try to upright itself It’ll form a crook in the base of the stalk and it’ll upright itself using base roots, trying to get into an upright or verticle fashion.”  Goose necked corn creates headaches during harvest, as the corn cobs fall or break off before they’re captured by the combine.

The latest Iowa crop and weather report indicates the vast majority of Iowa’s corn crop is in good shape. The latest U-S-D-A analysis indicates there were pockets of crop damage from the derecho that swept through northern Iowa last week, but the report does not offer any estimate of the damage. Eighty-one percent of the corn crop is rated in good or excellent condition. Iowa’s soybean conditions: 79 percent in the good or excellent category.

Storms that rolled through dropped rain on parched areas of the state. The state climatologist says the statewide average precipitation last week was over two inches — twice what’s normal this time of year. Spirit Lake recorded the most rainfall for the past week — more than six inches.

(Radio Iowa) – The United States Army Reserve Center in Dubuque was named Sunday in honor of a local soldier who died during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Ronald D. Rennison was assigned to the 14th Quartermaster Detachment after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Rennison was one of 26 people killed in Saudi Arabia on February 25th, 1991 by a Scud missile. He had only been there six days.

The ceremony honoring Rennison in Dubuque. (KCRG TV photo)

Ronald’s brother Randy spoke with KCRG TV about the naming of the Reserve Center. “Oh, it’s a great honor knowing that, you know, the community comes together and wants to pay their respect to a fallen soldier,” Ronald Rennison said. Rennison had joined the U.S. Army in 1987. He served in South Korea as a motor transport operator including missions along the demilitarized zone. He was then assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division and completed missions in Honduras and Egypt.

Rennison’s awards include the Purple Heart, Army Achievement Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, Overseas Service Medal, and the Kuwait Liberation Medal from the Government of Saudi Arabia. His father and brother both also served in the U.S. Military.

(Radio Iowa) – A 73-year-old man rescued from a burning home in the Des Moines suburb of Altoona early this (Monday) morning, has died.

Altoona’s Fire Department got the report of a house fire at 2:40 a.m. and when fire crews arrived, a 71-year-old woman had already been rescued from a first story bedroom window by a neighbor. Firefighters rescued a 73-year-old man from inside the home and both victims were taken to a hospital, where the man later died. No names have been released.

The State Fire Marshal’s website shows 10 Iowans died in fires during the first half of this year.

(Radio Iowa) – The long-range forecasts are calling for hot and dry conditions to persist likely into August for Iowa and the rest of the Missouri River basin. Meteorologist Doug Kluck, the climate services director for the Central Region of the National Weather Service, says the outlook for the next month shows plenty of summertime heat for much of the nation’s midsection.

“Above-normal temperatures are going to be prevalent, Texas up through the Central Plains, really the whole probability extends all the way up to Canada,” Kluck says, “but the strongest and probably the warmest and the biggest anomalies are going to be to the Central and Southern Plains.” While large sections of Iowa have seen a few plentiful rain showers in recent days, Kluck says less precipitation is expected going forward over the next month.

“Precipitation outlook, not a strong forecast here,” Kluck says, “but below normal for the Southern and Central Plains, Lower Basin, Missouri Basin, and then equal chances elsewhere for the most part.” He says the forecast models point to a slightly-elevated chance for below-normal precipitation for Iowa and the region. The U-S Army Corps of Engineers is predicting runoff into the Missouri River system will be far below-normal through the end of the year.

(Radio Iowa) – Public health officials in Iowa’s largest county have confirmed the first case of monkeypox in Polk County.
According to a news release from the Polk County Health Department, the patient was likely infected during travel within the United States, is isolating and receiving outpatient care. Iowa’s first case of monkeypox was confirmed on July 1st in an adult from north central Iowa.

Public health officials say the virus does not spread easily and most who are contracting the virus in the U.S. have had inmate, sexual contact with someone who has the virus. People with direct close contact with a monkeypox patient are offered a vaccine series that can prevent symptoms or serious illness.

Monkeypox symptoms can first appear up to 21 days after an exposure. While some patients only develop a rash or lesions, others get enlarged lymph nodes and a fever in addition to a rash.