Iowa chapter of C.O.P.S. encourages donors to give blood

December 29, 2022 — This January, the American Red Cross, Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.), and the Iowa chapter of C.O.P.S are joining forces to boost the blood supply and help save lives through a series of Blue Blood Drives.  C.O.P.S. provides resources to help families and co-workers of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty cope with the sacrifices of their loved ones. This partnership provides members a meaningful way to support the community by hosting blood drives across the nation and raising awareness about the constant need for blood.

Eligible donors are invited to make a difference through this special partnership by giving blood at various locations throughout Iowa. These locations include:

• 1/9/2023: American Legion Post 735 (207 Robins, Rd., Hiawatha, Iowa), Noon-5 p.m.
• 1/10/2023: St. Mary’s Hall (102 East Penn St., Williamsburg, Iowa), 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
• 1/10/2023: Community Reformed Church (747 B, N. 12^th St., Clinton, Iowa), 1-6 p.m.
• 1/10/2023: Quad County Admin Office (300 Crawford, Galva, Iowa), 1-6 p.m.
• 1/10/2023: First Christian Church (201 W. Monroe, Mount Ayr, Iowa), 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
• 1/11/2023: Iowa City Library (123 South Linn St., Iowa City, Iowa), Noon-4 p.m.
• 1/11/2023: The Crew Center (601 Snyder Road, Woodbine, Iowa), Noon-6 p.m.
• 1/11/2023: Lewis Community Center (400 W. Main St., Lewis, Iowa), Noon-5:30 p.m.
• 1/12/2023: Berndes Center (766 N. Maple St., Monticello, Iowa), 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
• 1/12/2023: Atlantic YMCA (1100 Maple St., Atlantic, Iowa), Noon-6 p.m.
• 1/12/2023: Community Center (202 W. South St. Greene, Iowa), 1-6 p.m.
• 1/13/2023: Boyd Building (303 Cherry St., Shell Rock, Iowa), Noon-5 p.m.
• 1/14/2023: St. Patrick Catholic Church (4 Valley View Dr., Council Bluffs, Iowa), 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

January is National Blood Donor Month, a time that can be challenging to collect enough blood for patients in need. Severe winter weather and seasonal illnesses can often prevent regular donors from being able to give. The traditional decline in blood donations during the winter months come as the blood supply already faces challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic. Required medical treatments and emergencies don’t pause for a widespread coronavirus outbreak. “The Iowa chapter of C.O.P.S is happy to partner with the Red Cross to help keep the blood supply stable during the winter months,” said, Lieutenant Brent Kock, Patrol Division, West Des Moines Police Department. Additionally, January 9 has been dedicated as National Law Enforcement Day. For questions on the Iowa chapter for C.O.P.S., please contact Lieutenant Brent Kock at 515-222-3357.

How to donate blood

Simply download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org, or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to make an appointment or for more information. All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients. A blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age in most states (16 with parental consent where allowed by state law), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. High school students and other donors 18 years of age and younger also have to meet certain height and weight requirements.

Blood and platelet donors can save time at their next donation by using RapidPass to complete their pre-donation reading and health history questionnaire online, on the day of their donation, from a computer or mobile device. To get started and learn more, visit RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass and follow the instructions on the site.

The American Red Cross and the National Football League (NFL) are partnering this January during National Blood Donor Month to invite football fans and blood donors to join a lifesaving team and score big for patients in need. All who come to give Jan. 1-31, 2023, will be automatically entered to win a trip for two to Super Bowl LVII in Arizona. Details are available at RedCrossBlood.org/SuperBowl.

About C.O.P.S.

Concerns of Police Survivors is a nationwide not-for-profit organization that has held the mission of rebuilding shattered lives for 35 years. With 55 chapters across the country, members of C.O.P.S. are always prepared to help survivors when they need it, where they need it. C.O.P.S. has a national membership comprised of more than 48,000 families who have identified themselves as survivors. Unfortunately, that membership continues to grow as an average of 140-160 officers die each year in the line of duty.

(Radio Iowa) – With new online scams emerging almost daily, Iowans are being encouraged to use a little of their extra time during the holiday break to brush up on their computer security precautions. Consumer protection advocate Michael Domke says you should consider using a password manager on your computer and phone, instead of reusing old passwords. “Humans are creatures of pattern,” Domke says. “With so many different sites and places that you go needing a password, it gets tough to remember all of them.” Domke says it’s important to keep the password you use for your personal email account or cell phone as strong as possible and never use it for other apps or websites.

One really good idea, he says, is to put your most important accounts — like your email, banking and credit card accounts — behind two-factor authentication. “There are apps and other devices that can help you do that and make a little bit stronger and help protect your information,” he says. That way, even if someone can work out your password, your information will stay safe and you can be alerted to update your password. He notes, even cursory knowledge about you could let people get past basic security questions.

“Some of those that are generalized and asked nowadays, even close friends or family might be able to get some of those,” Domke says. “So pick a question that isn’t just easy for you to answer, make it hard for somebody else to answer.” Making a password “strong” may involve having it be at least eight characters, with some upper and lower case letters, as well as numerals and symbols.

(Radio Iowa) – The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors has decided to choose a new county attorney rather than hold a special election. Amy Zenor resigned earlier this month after being arrested in the county courthouse and charged with public intoxication. County Supervisor Steve Clark says it would be three months before a special election could be held. “The fairest way is to let the voters decide, but at this point in time, I think I would rather appoint a new attorney, so we can have somebody on board instead of waiting,” what would it take three months,” Clark says. “…I think it’s more necessary to get someone appointed and on the job.”

The supervisors appointed an interim Dickinson County Attorney earlier this month and January 3rd is the earliest date the board could appoint someone to the job permanently. This Friday, December 30th, is the deadline for people to submit applications for the position.

(Rural Adair County, Iowa) – (Update 9:33-a.m.) A firefighter on the scene of a crash this (Thursday) morning in Adair County reported to Sheriff’s dispatchers that one person died during a collision this morning involving a semi and a car, southwest of Adair. The accident happened at around 9:23-a.m. in the 1100 block of Whitepole Road, near the Jesse James Historical Site/Monument. The roadway was blocked.

Anita Rescue and Cass EMS were requested at the scene, and a helicopter was requested to be on stand-by.  No other details are currently available.

(Radio Iowa) – The annual Iowa State University survey finds more farmland sales in the last two to three years compared to five or six years ago. But survey manager, Wendong Zhang, says the farmland turnover rate is still very low and the buyer profile has only changed slightly.”Iowa farmland purchases by the buyer type are still dominated by existing farmers. But the share of the investors that includes both local and non-local investors are going up,” he says. He says the increase hasn’t been that pronounced.

“South-central has the highest investor share, so almost 40 percent of the land is actually bought by local or non-local investors,” Zhang says. “But on average, you’re seeing that they’re half and a half in terms of local, non-local across the board.” Zhang says the area with the highest land values has the most local buys. “In northwest Iowa where you see the strongest gross it’s the predominantly it’s the existing local farmers are buying the land in their own county or nearby counties pushing the land market,” he says.

Zhang says this is due in part to the large number of cattle owners in the area that need farmland to spread the manure on from their operations. He says that the desire to expand operations pushed up land in O’Brien County — which edged out Sioux County by 15 dollars for the most expensive farmland acres. Both topped long-running value champ Scott County. “It is the first time that Scott County is not the top county in the last 20 years, I think,” Zhang says. O’Brien County averaged 15-thousand-931 dollars an acre to Scott County’s 15-thousand-968. He says a majority of the farmland on the auction block is coming from estate sales or retired farmers.

“So, in northwest Iowa, for example two-thirds are actually coming from estate sales and 15 are coming from retired farmers,” he says. “So yes, we see a growing investor interest. But it is it’s predominantly a still a local farmer buying a local land story.” Zhang says other states like Illinois probably attract more of the investor interest because they have fewer restrictions on corporate land ownership than Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Many Iowans have answered their phones to hear a distant caller claiming to be with Microsoft and offering to “fix” our computers. A survey finds the extent to which those tech support scams are reaching us — and ripping some of us off. Mary Jo Schrade, with the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit, says three in five of us have received those calls, and one in six lost money on them. Schrade says, “Tech scammers are targeting everyone, even the most active technology users like Millennials and Gen Z.” The con artists are using sophisticated schemes that have evolved from cold calls to more of them using fake pop-up ads and fraudulent websites.

“Scammers are fast-moving and innovative,” Schrade says, “so when someone encounters a pop-up that asks them to call a phone number or click on a link to resolve an issue, it’s important to be wary and use caution.” Microsoft gets 65-hundred complaints every month from people reporting they were victims of a tech support scam in which scammers use the company’s name to lure victims into paying for unnecessary or harmful “services.” Many thousands more are going unreported.

“Report the scam on the Microsoft website,” she says. “The more reports we receive, the better we get at fighting these scammers. Remember, we will never proactively contact you asking for your financial or personal information.” While you might think young people would be more tech savvy, the survey found one out of ten Millennials and one out of ten Gen Zers who encountered a scam fell for it — and lost money.

www.microsoft.com/reportascam

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s Attorney General has announced a settlement with an electronic cigarette maker over the company’s advertising. The A-G’s office says JUUL (jewel) Labs has agreed to pay the state five million dollars over four years after allegations the company promoted the electronic devices to those under 21 in violation of Iowa’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The agreement has JUUL sending more than one million dollars to the Department of Health and Human Services each of the next fours years to help Iowans quit using e-cigarettes, fund prevention programs, and help adopt age-verification technologies. The company has also agreed to change the way it promotes and sells its products in Iowa.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man following a traffic stop, Wednesday night. Authorities report 52-year-old Richard Bryan Jenkins, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 9-p.m., for Driving While Suspended. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on bond amounting to slightly more than $491 ($491.25).

(Fayette, Iowa) – A collision between a car and an SUV in northeastern Iowa, Wednesday afternoon, resulted in injuries to  both drivers and a passenger in one the vehicles. The Iowa State Patrol reports the accident happened just south of Fayette, at around 3:10-p.m.

Authorities say a 2000 Buick LeSabre driven by 92-year-old Eldon Anthony Knipper, of Arlington (Iowa) was traveling south on Highway 150/K Avenue, when the car crossed the center line of the road and struck a northbound 2007 Chevy Equinox, being driven by 64-year-old Debra Sue Husted, of Oelwein.

Following the impact, the  Buick came to rest on the north shoulder, while the SUV stopped on the southbound shoulder of the road. Both drivers and a passenger in the SUV, 35-year-old Trenton James Husted, of Oelwein, were transported by Fayette EMS to the Mercy/Oelwein Hospital.

The accident remains under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol.

(Radio Iowa) – Top Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate say the 2023 legislature will consider new guidelines for pipelines that would capture and carry carbon away from Iowa’s ethanol plants. The proposed Summit and Navigator pipelines run through areas House Speaker Pat Grassley represents.

“I’ve been around here long enough to know when something really is an issue in our districts and I’ve talked to enough members as well as (people) in my own district to know that this is a real thing,” Grassley says. “This is something that Iowans are frustrated about.” Grassley suggests an outright ban on carbon pipelines is unlikely.

“Sometimes it’s just: ‘Well, stop it! Make it stop,’ where we have to be thoughtful in this process,” Grassley says, “and that’s what we’re trying to do right now.” Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says it won’t be an easy debate. “I expect that we’ll have a thorough conversation about this. It’s something that our members have heard about back on the campaign trail,” Whitver says. “And they hear from both sides — people that want the pipeline, that are excited about it, that think it’s good for our economy and our rural areas and people that are against it and so we have a lot of members that have a lot of different opinions on it.”

Whitver says there are similar debates about the siting of wind turbines and large-scale solar arrays. “Landowner rights is a key part of Republican philosophy in our platform and so we certainly want to restrict that and that’s what makes these issues difficult, you know. There are people concerned about solar farms going up. There’s also people saying: ‘Well, that’s their land. They can do what they want,'” and that’s what makes these conversations difficult and we’re coming into session to try to work through these issues.”

This fall, Grassley sent a letter to the Iowa Utilities Board, expressing concern about a waiver developers of the Navigator pipeline were seeking from current regulations about sampling and restoring topsoil in farm fields.  “When I’m talking back in my district — I know I’m not allowed to take off my speaker’s hat, but I’m going to try to — and I said: ‘I’m going to watch this very closely…I want the process to play out, but if there’s things that happen that I don’t think are up to par or not being fully transparent, I’ll weigh in,” Grassley says.

Navigator withdrew its request to reduce the amount of testing and restoration of topsoil currently required by state regulations. This fall during a televised debate, Governor Reynolds said she supports existing state law outlining when carbon pipeline developers would be able to seize property from unwilling landowners, but she has not commented on county ordinances which establish local rules for where the pipelines may be built.