A report from the advocacy arm of the American Cancer Society finds Iowa is making strides in efforts to reduce cancer incidence and death, but still has plenty of work to do. The government relations director for the agency’s Cancer Action Network, David Holmquist, says of the ten main criteria, Iowa got an excellent “green” rating in four areas, “yellow” in two, and a failing “red” grade in the remaining four.

“They have a very strong smoke-free law,” Holmquist says. “They have better provisions for those patients at end of life who need access to critical pain-relieving drugs. They also did expand Medicaid three or four years ago, that’s a huge improvement.” One of Iowa’s yellow areas — where the report suggests progress is needed — is in the category of tobacco excise taxes. Iowa’s cigarette tax is $1.36 per pack, which is far above Missouri’s tax of only 17-cents, but is far below states like New York, where the tax per pack is over $4.

Holmquist says Iowa ranked poorly in several key categories of the report.”They need to improve their funding for tobacco control and prevention,” Holmquist says. “They need more state funds for the breast and cervical cancer (screening) program. They need some improvements in their palliative care provisions, so, provision of care that begins at the beginning of the diagnosis and goes through the continuum of life.” Another “red” ranking for Iowa comes with the lack of regulation on tanning beds, especially the lack of restrictions for teens using them.

“We have huge concerns about tanning beds and young people particularly,” Holmquist says. “We believe that no one under 18 should use a tanning bed.” He says exposure to ultraviolet radiation, through sunlight and indoor tanning devices, is one of the most avoidable risk factors for skin cancer. In Iowa this year, an estimated 17,100 people will be diagnosed with cancer and 6,470 will die from it. With the knowledge we have today, Holmquist says we could prevent roughly half of cancer deaths in the United States. This is the 14th year for the study.

See the full “How Do You Measure Up?” report here: http://www.acscan.org/content/report-cards/2016/iowa/

(Radio Iowa)

Marshalltown police are investigating an attempted child abduction on Thursday afternoon. A ten-year-old girl was approached by a man in a silver four-door car. He tried talking to her, to get her name and offered her money to get into his car. She ran away and was not harmed. The man is described as having dark hair and sunglasses.

Sergeant Melinda Ruopp, of the Marshalltown Police Department, says the case is similar to ones reported in Grundy and Black Hawk counties. Area parents are being reminded to talk to young persons about “stranger danger.”

(Radio Iowa)

A domestic situation in Clarinda late Thursday night resulted in a Police Officer being assaulted, and a Clarinda man taken into custody. Police Chief Keith Brothers reports 24-year old Dustin James Danick, of Clarinda, was arrested for allegedly violating a protective order, interference with official acts, and resisting arrest. He was being held without bond in the Page County Jail. Reports have been filed with the Page County Attorney’s Office for review and filing of formal charges.

Chief Brothers says at around 11-p.m. Thursday, his officers responded to a 911 call of an unknown problem-situation at 315 W. Logan St.  Upon arrival, officers encountered an intoxicated female and an intoxicated male who reside at the home together. On initial investigation, officers learned that the male, Dustin Danick, was subject to a no contact order issued by the Page County Magistrate Court. The order prohibited Danick from having contact with the female at the residence.

When officers placed Danick under arrest for violation of the order, the man kicked at officers, striking one officer in the thigh and knee region. The officer did not sustain any injuries that required medical attention. Danick continued to resist the arrest and booking process and eventually was subdued and placed in an isolation cell at the Page County Jail.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Police in Creston say a resident in the 500 block of S. Cherry Street reported Thursday, that sometime over the past week, someone stole a gas tank from the residents’ pontoon boat. The loss was estimated at $75.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Federal Reserve says farmers are borrowing more to cover their operating expenses because farm income continued to decline in during the second quarter in Midwestern and Western states. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Missouri, said Thursday that 75 percent of the bankers surveyed reported shrinking farm income.

The value of irrigated farmland in the region fell 5 percent while non-irrigated land and pastures both declined 3 percent.

Roughly half of the bankers said loan repayment rates were lower in the second quarter. And the number of loans with severe repayment problems grew to 7 percent. That’s up from roughly 3 percent in 2011 to 2013.

The 10th Federal Reserve District covers Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Colorado, northern New Mexico and western Missouri.

Officials with The Wellmark Foundation say they are currently accepting Community Kickstarter grant applications for up to $10,000 for projects in Iowa and South Dakota focused on making community members more active or improving access to healthy foods. Stephanie Perry, The Wellmark Foundation manager, says “The Community Kickstarter grant is designed to provide funding to communities that may not have the resources to complete a project on their own. Examples of projects include community and school gardens, bike-sharing programs, community walk and bike audits, just to name a few.”

The application process is easy. A few of the questions include:

· What is the problem or issue that affects active living or access to consumption or healthy foods?

· How is this a priority in your community?

· Who will be affected and how will they benefit?

· How will the project have a sustainable impact on the community?

In order to be eligible to apply for the grants, applicants must be classified as a 501(c)(3) organization or governmental entity in Iowa or South Dakota. Qualified organizations can submit applications at Wellmark.com/Foundation through Sept.18th. Perry said “We want the public to be part of the process as well. All eligible submissions will be uploaded to Facebook, allowing the public to show their support by telling us which one is their favorite.”

From Sept. 26 through Oct. 7, the public can show their support for their favorite projects by visiting Facebook.com/WellmarkBCBS. Grant recipients will be announced in November.

To apply and view past Community Kickstarter grants visit Wellmark.com/Foundation.

Severe storms that raced through eastern Nebraska into western Iowa Thursday evening, brought flooding to parts of Omaha, nickel-size hail in Crawford County, and damaging winds to parts of western and central Iowa. The National Weather Service says cars were stuck in water in Omaha late Thursday evening, due to flooding. Nickel size hail was reported near Arion, in Crawford County, at around 6:50-p.m.

Just before 8-p.m., a 69-mile per hour wind gust was recorded in Audubon. In Shelby County, winds gusted to over 65 mph, knocking out power to over 50 customers in Kirkman. MidAmerican Energy restored power within a couple of hours, but worked most of the night in Kirkman repairing small outages.

Damage in Shelby County (photo from KNOD, our sister station)

  Harlan received 1.25 inches of rain with many tree limbs down. Kirkman received 2 inches of rain with a number of 4 to 8 inch branches down and a power outage for about 2 hours, southeast of Irwin received 1.62 inches of rain with minor tree damage

Winds gusting to near 60-mph blew through Atlantic, knocking down numerous trees and power lines, resulting in a loss of power to some 400 customers of Atlantic Municipal Utilities. The power was restored late Thursday night. Other outages were reported elsewhere in Cass County. Along Interstate 80, an electronic DOT message sign was blown over, onto a portion of the traveled portion of I-80 westbound, near mile marker 62, in Cass County. The sign was pushed-off to the shoulder of the road by around 9-p.m. Rainfall in Atlantic, at KJAN, was 1.45 inches. One-mile southeast of Corning, 5.3-inches of rain fell Thursday night.

In Stuart and Menlo, Emergency Management officials report multiple trees and tree limbs fell during Thursday night’s storm. The largest tree was 12-inches in diameter. And, in Guthrie County, Emergency Management reports a flag pole was blown over in Yale at around 8:20-p.m., Thursday.

Power outages were reported throughout Dallas County, and a tree limb fell on a house in Adel. Winds gusted up to 61-mph in Creston at around 9:15-p.m. Heavy rain was reported in the Pocahontas County community of Rolfe Thursday evening, where as much as 2.6″ of rain fell.

Elsewhere, reports from across the state indicated winds averaged 60-mph, with thunderstorm damage being reported in Cumming, West Des Moines, Grimes and Urbandale.

The Department of Veteran Affairs Office of Inspector General is reviewing the death of an Iowa veteran who was reportedly denied care at the Iowa City V-A Medical Center. Iowa Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley say they received confirmation of the investigation of the death of Brandon Ketchum. Senators Ernst, Grassley and Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson sought the review following reports of Ketchum’s death.

Ketchum was a Wisconsin native living in Davenport who was a veteran of the Marines and Iowa National Guard. The senators say Ketchum struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and asked to be admitted to the psychiatric ward at the Iowa City V-A on July 7th due to what he termed ‘serious mental issues,’ but was reportedly denied. Ketchum took his own life just over 24 hours later.

The Senators say a representative of the medical center said the standing policy is never to turn away a patient who requires admittance as long as beds are open and that even if beds at the Iowa City facility are unavailable, the V-A would find the patient a bed at another facility. The Inspector General said in a letter to the Senators he will make every effort to share information in the review that is allowed by law.

(Radio Iowa)