While this Friday, or Black Friday, is considered one of the busiest shopping days of the year for big box stores, there’s an effort underway in Iowa and nationwide to brand the following day as Small Business Saturday. Brad Jones, a spokesman for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, says, just as the name suggests, shoppers across the state are urged to visit their hometown businesses. “It’s those small business folks who put the jerseys on the Little League teams and help support the things at the high school and all of the various charity events,” Jones says. “It’s really an opportunity for the general public to thank them.”

Jones says many small businesses plan to offer extra deals for shoppers on Saturday. Those bargains might be greater this year with five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas compared to last year. “I know there’s a lot of small businesses that are going to be offering certain discounts or coupons or things for shopping with them that day,” he says. More than 98-percent of the businesses operating in Iowa are considered small businesses. This event, Jones says, is an effort to reinforce something the federation tries to promote every day.

“Shop local,” he says. “It’s always good. Always support your small business folks because they certainly do support your local community.” The National Federation of Independent Businesses is asking local business owners to contact them via the group’s website with activities and offers for Small Business Saturday. There’s a list of Iowa businesses taking part at: http://www.nfib.com/small-business-saturday

Experts say it’s not just the pay that keeps new doctors from setting up shop in rural Iowa, it’s the pressure of being on their own AND on call at all hours. Bill Lever is president and CEO of Unity Point Health which has hospitals and clinics in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Dubuque, Fort Dodge, the Quad Cities, Sioux City and Waterloo. He says most young doctors just starting out want to be around other doctors, rather than starting up a solo practice in a small town.

“Most of them want to be in practice with someone else and they want enough technology — you know, imaging services and so forth — around them, ” Lever says. “So the role that critical access hospitals play, providing that kind of place where physicians feel comfortable, ‘I have the resources necessary,’ — that’s the real key.” Lever says advances in tele-medicine will also help.

“Tele-health will be a great boon to supporting medicine in rural Iowa because we’ll be able to link that primary care physician in rural Iowa to specialists here in Des Moines or other places in the state,” Lever says. “So then you won’t have this feeling: ‘I’m out here. I have this situation I don’t know what to do with.’ (Instead that doctor will say): ‘I have somebody I can consult.'” Lever’s hospital just donated 50-thousand dollars to a foundation raising money for grants that will help pay off the college debt of new doctors who choose to practice in rural Iowa.

“Loan repayment is important to get physicians to see, ‘I can make a career out of medicine without being bankrupt,'” Lever says. “That’s important, but once again in practice, you’ve got to support them in terms of that practice environment.” Being on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year isn’t attractive to new doctors, either, and Lever says smaller hospitals in rural areas can provide emergency services so primary care doctors in rural Iowa get some time away from the practice of medicine.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Composer and famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma is coming to eastern Iowa in 2015. The Quad City Symphony Orchestra says Ma will perform with them in a special concert on May 14, 2015, at the Adler Theatre in Davenport. The announcement is part of the orchestra’s preparation to celebrate its 100th season.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sioux City officials say the city has reached a deal for a Florida-based company to buy and renovate a downtown hotel. Conor Acquisitions, of Fort Myers, Fla., would buy the property for $4 million and spend another $6.5 million on renovations. The 193-room hotel, now an independent, would be converted to a national brand.

ROCKWELL CITY, Iowa (AP) — The murder trial of a Rockwell City man accused of killing a police officer during a standoff has been rescheduled for next year. 32-year-old Corey Trott is charged with first-degree murder in the Sept. 13 death of Rockwell City Police Officer Jamie Buenting, an eight-year veteran of the small town’s department. Trott has pleaded not guilty.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa City man has been accused of multiple disturbances while being intoxicated, including causing a car crash and removing his clothes at a hospital. Police say 23-year-old Matthew D. Roberts crashed a vehicle into a guard rail earlier this week on Interstate 380. Roberts is charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and interference with official acts.

ROCKWELL CITY, Iowa (AP) — The murder trial of a Rockwell City man accused of killing a police officer during a standoff has been rescheduled for next year. The Fort Dodge Messenger reports 32-year-old Corey Trott recently waived his right to a speedy trial. It is now scheduled to begin April 21 instead of Dec. 3. Trott is charged with first-degree murder in the Sept. 13 death of Rockwell City Police Officer Jamie Buenting, an eight-year veteran of the small town’s department. Trott has pleaded not guilty.

Buenting was responding to a standoff involving Trott, who was wanted on an outstanding warrant for assault. Trott is accused of firing a rifle that fatally hit Buenting.

Griswold Head Girls Basketball Coach Jeff Koenck says more than 57-hundred dollars has been raised during last week’s Iowa Pride Challenge. The students this year worked to raise awareness and money for the Caps for Kids organization, as well as BrookeLynne Peterson. Caps for Kids is a non-profit organization that provides cancer patients with autographed caps from a celebrity and BrookeLynne is a 1st grader in the Griswold community who is battling kidney cancer.

Koenck says the money raised far exceeded expectations. Change Wars between all of the schools raised a little more than $3,560, and the girls’ basketball team hosted Fremont-Mills in a Junior Varsity-Varisty doubleheader on Friday, Nov. 22nd. Money was raised during the game, bringing the total amount raised to nearly $5,710.

Koenck said he is “So proud of the students, my players, the staff, and community members of Griswold. The amount of awareness and money raised for pediatric cancer is a testament to the character of our community.”

(12-p.m. News)

No injuries were reported following an accident early this (Wednesday) morning, in Atlantic. According to the Atlantic Police Department, a vehicle driven by Ashley Jensen, of Atlantic, was traveling east in the 500 block of East 8th Street at around 2-a.m., when it hit a parked trailer. The trailer, owned by George Wagner,  slid forward and hit a parked vehicle, registered to John Worth.

Atlantic Police Chief Steve Green reports a local man was arrested this (Wednesday) morning on felony drug charges. Green says a search warrant was executed at 607 West 6th Street as the result of an ongoing narcotics trafficking conspiracy. The conspiracy included the use of minors in the drug trade and the distribution of controlled substances to minors.

Taken into custody on felony charges of Distribution of a Controlled Substance to a person under the age of 18, and two-counts of sale and Possession of Marijuana, was 48-year old Richard Allen Wehrli, of Atlantic. Wehrli also faces two aggravated misdemeanor charges of Prohibited Acts, for keeping or maintaining a premises used for the distribution of controlled substances.

The investigation was a joint effort between the Atlantic Police Department and Cass County Sheriff’s Office.

Firefighters from several western Iowa departments remained on the scene of a grain bin fire east of Shelby until about 10-a.m. Wednesday, or more than 7-hours after it was first reported. Crews from Shelby, Avoca, Harlan, Minden and Defiance were called to the scene north of Interstate 80, at 33804 400th Street. Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker told the Omaha World-Herald the bin, which was worth about $30,000, contained about $60,000 in corn that was being dried. Officials say most of the corn was only damaged, and not destroyed. So it was still be used as cattle feed.

Avoca Assistant Fire Chief Keenan Martin says the blaze occurred sometime before 3-a.m., as his crew was dispatched at around 3:10-a.m.  Martin said Shelby Fire was already on the scene with pumper and tanker trucks when Avoca Fire arrived with their engine, tanker and support vehicle. He described what they saw: Heavy smoke and flames were emitting from the roof of the grain bin, and because and elevator link was hooked up, several bins around the main bin, were in danger of catching fire.

He said the situation was somewhat unusual, he said, with 20-foot high flames shooting from the roof of the bin, which held 8- to 12-thousand bushels of corn. He said it was a unique bin, in that  the dryer was on top. That allowed the fire to burn above about 75-percent of the corn being stored in the bin. The flames were coming from the top of the structure and over-shooting the roof when his crews arrived.

The structure was likely not salvageable, according to Martin. Avoca Fire was on the scene for about 6-hours. No injuries were reported. A cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

(Ric Hanson-KJAN/Joel McCall-KNOD)

The Harlan Municipal Utilities (HMU) approved a capacity agreement with the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). In a regular meeting Tuesday, the HMU board agreed to the contract to help with peak electricity emergencies and as a back up in case an outage was to occur. Chief Executive Officer Darrell Wenzel explained to the board the contract costs $700 per month and is mainly for peak times during summer months. HMU would incur a fine in the sum of $93,000 if they did not have the agreement. The contract with WAPA will run from now until December 31st, 2015.

In other business, HMU agreed to a new nepotism policy. The policy is for conflicts of interest that could arise including when circumstances exist which would place relatives in a situation of actual or reasonably foreseeable conflict between HMU’s interest and their own. Wenzel stated HMU needed the policy in case two individuals such as family members or domestic partners, outside the work setting that could make it difficult for the individual with the decision-making responsibility to be objective or that for a reasonable person would create the appearance that such an individual may not be objective.

During the director’s report, recently hired office manager Krista Allen told the board a financial change has been made in the office. Previously, HMU had hired an outside identity to work on financials. However, Allen is taking on the responsibilities for all the financials to make things easier and get the financial information out quicker to the board members and officials with HMU.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, took under advisement, a request from Elizabeth Tobak, who asked for $1,400 in funding for a continuation of her “I Care About Kids” PRICE Parenting classes. Tobak has presented the classes for several years, but none has been held for the past four-years, due to a lack of interest. Auditor Dale Sunderman says according to Tobak, interest has recently been renewed in the classes, which teach the basics of positive parenting to new parents. Sunderman says PRICE stands for Positivity, Responsibility, Influence, Consequences and Encouragement.

In a letter to the Board of Supervisors, Tobak says she would like to teach two, four-session PRICE Parenting Seminars and one, “1,2,3,4 Parents” class, beginning in January, 2014. In the past, the County has budgeted $1,200 for its contribution to the program.

In other business, the Cass County Board passed a motion to allow or disallow homestead credit and military service exemption claims for Fiscal Year 2013-2014 taxes collectible in FY 2014-2015, and a motion to exempt from taxation (for taxes collectible Fiscal Year 2015 – Jan. 1, 2013 values), all valuation on three parcels owned by the City of Atlantic, at the Municipal Airport.

In a letter to the Board from City Administrator Doug Harris, he said “The taxes on Atlantic’s Airport should be abated because it meets the exemptions under Section 427.1 of the Iowa Code as this property is devoted to public use and is not held for pecuniary profit.” The County has received a similar request for the past two-years. Sunderman said the reason the matter was brought before the board was because of a difference in opinion between the Assessor and Harris, on what “Pecuniary profit” is.