SLOAN, Iowa (AP) – A rural mail carrier is being hailed a hero for coming to the rescue of an elderly Sloan woman suffering from heat stroke.  Mary Jane Bromander says that she had been lying on the scorching driveway behind her house for about an hour Tuesday, unable to get up after venturing outside in triple-digit heat and losing consciousness.
 
     She was found by U.S. Postal Service carrier Jeff Madsen, who spotted her out of the corner of his eye after delivering her mail.
 
     Madsen propped her up, gave her water and summoned an ambulance. Once at a Sioux City hospital, workers discovered she had a 104-degree temperature – an early sign of heat stroke.
 
     Madsen says he just did what anyone else would have done.

More area News from KJAN News Director, Ric Hanson….

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Adair/Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Kempf says 9-1-1 service has been restored to residents in Guthrie County, after having been down for about 2-hours.

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson….

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A nuclear power plant near Council Bluffs that was forced to shut down during last summer’s massive Missouri River flooding is -still- closed. The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station is some 20 miles north of Omaha on the Nebraska side of the river and is a matter of yard from the Iowa border. Gary Gates, CEO and president of the Omaha Public Power District, says there’s still a lot of work to do before the plant can be brought back online. “We’re still in that mode of finding out all of the items we need to work on,” Gates says. “The progress has been great to date and we’re excited about that. We’re finally in the phase now where we’re starting to do a lot of physical work.” 

Many people in Iowa and Nebraska were concerned about safety hazards during the 2011 floods as the facility was surrounded by record-high water. Gates says the flood slowed progress but caused no problems at the plant. He says many challenges were discovered during the process to upgrade the plant to a higher power level. With the extreme heat of the past several weeks, electric usage is peaking but Gates says, the utility is meeting the high demands, even with Fort Calhoun remaining offline. “We bought some power ahead so we covered that,” he says. “The current units we have are operating extremely well in difficult conditions.” 

Even though there are no significant problems in meeting the demand for electricity in the region, Gates says the nuclear plant at Fort Calhoun is still needed, for two primary reasons. “It provides 500-megawatts of carbon-free, CO2-free emissions for us and that’s a positive, and the other is a diversity of fuel mix,” Gates says. “We’ve found over the years, the best thing we can do for our customer-owners is to have all different kinds of fuel available. In my experience, each one has been challenged and each one has been very positive so we want to maintain that fuel diversity.” 

The plant has been offline since April of 2011. It’s still unclear when it will be restarted.

(Radio Iowa)

Adair/Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Kempf says the 9-1-1 lines are currently down in Guthrie County. It’s not known when service will be restored. Persons with an emergency are asked to call the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office at 641-747-2214.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Department reports three people were arrested Friday night. 28-year old Tara Squibbs, of Corning, was arrested at around 8:40-p.m. on a charge of Aiding and Abetting a No Contact Order. She was subsequently released on $500 bond. At around 9:45-p.m., 35-year old Terry Squibbs, of Corning, was arrested for Violating a No Contact Order. Squibbs was also released from custody, on a $500 bond.

And, Just before 11-p.m., 18-year old Cody Johnson, of Stanton, was arrested in 500 block of 8th Street in Corning, on Public Intoxication and Possession of Alcohol by persons underage, charges. Johnson was being held in the Adams County Jail early Saturday morning.

A call to authorities in Montgomery County late Friday night about a woman letting air out of trucks in Villisca, resulted in the arrest of a Prescott woman. Sheriff’s officials say 19-year old Shelby Kate Evans was charged with Criminal Mischief and Public Intoxication, following an investigation into the incident in the 1100 block of west High Street, which was reported just after 11-p.m., Friday. Evans was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $600 bond early Saturday morning.

Two Midwestern economists say the drought that’s hit the region will “absolutely” be felt beyond the farm and will be a damper on the national economy. Ernie Goss, an economist at Creighton University, says his research finds the drought hitting beyond the farm field, impacting other businesses like ethanol plants and farm equipment dealers. “Depending on the weather, we’re going to see some significant impacts,” Goss says. “And this is going to roll across the U.S., all the way from Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota — less impacts up further north — (and in) Missouri, very significant impacts, so this will have some impacts on GDP.” The latest report, released Friday, shows the country’s Gross Domestic Product increased by one-and-a-half percent in the second quarter.

There was a drought last year in the south, Texas was especially hard hit, but Iowa State University economist Bruce Babcock says this year’s drought will have a far wider impact because corn and soybean losses will be significant.  “I think Midwesterners mainly felt the southwest drought because now we’re experiencing higher beef prices over the last six months because the herds got culled and we’re now at our smallest cattle herd size in I don’t know how many years,” Babcock says. “…Now we have a potentially another round of shrinking the cattle herd again, but also because of higher feed grain costs, and so this should be a wider-spread event.” According to Babcock, it’s the smaller producers who are most likely to get out of the cattle or hog business this year.

A U-S-D-A report recently estimated food prices would climb five percent because of the drought, but Babcock suggests that impact is under-estimated because the calculation was made before the full extent of crop losses became clear. “It’s really the livestock sector that’s going to be taking the big burden here through higher feed costs,” Babcock says. “It’s not necessarily the crop sector. Even though the drought’s there, it’s not like we’re going to produce zero and what we do sell is going to be sold at a higher price and so crop income is going to be somewhat buffered.” Babcock estimates more than 90 percent of Iowa grain farmers bought crop insurance for this growing season. Skyrocketing feed costs will lead to increased prices for not just beef and pork, but for many other grocery store items, including eggs, milk and cheese.

Each month, Goss and some of his colleagues at Creighton University survey bankers in the Midwest and his July survey is nearly complete. “These are bank CEOs in rural portions of 10 states, average community size 1300. We asked them the impact of this drought. We asked about the impact on ethanol plants and biodiesel and two-thirds of those with ethanol and biodiesel plants in their area reported there were either cut-backs or shut-downs — temporary shut-downs, of course,” Goss says. “…We have an ag equipment sales index. (It) dropped to recession levels this month.” Goss and Babcock made their comments on the Iowa Public Television program, “Iowa Press” which aired Friday night and will be replayed Sunday at noon.
(Radio Iowa)