A drug prevention specialist who works with teenagers suggests students are the best ambassadors of the “just say no” approach to drug use. Katie Brown meets with students and student athletes in schools in both Jasper and Polk Counties. “Students listen to other students a lot more than they listen to adults,” Brown says. Brown is warning parents and school administrators about so-called “pharm” parties where students take prescription drugs they’ve stolen from home, dump them all into a bowl, mix the pills up and then take out a handful.

“Which is very, very dangerous,” she says. “We know there are lots of side effects to those (prescription drugs).” A federal report issued this week found about two percent of teenagers surveyed in 2014 had abused prescription drugs. That continues a decline in the abuse of narcotic painkillers over the past decade. Smoking rates among teens are dropping as well. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health did find a drop in the number of teenagers who see marijuana use as dangerous.

(Radio Iowa)

As state health officials strive to make Iowa the nation’s healthiest state, a new study finds more than half of all Americans are either diabetic or pre-diabetic. Dr. ViJay Shivaswamy, an endocrinologist in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says 14-percent of study participants had the disease while another 38-percent were growing dangerously close. What does it mean to be pre-diabetic?

“Blood sugar numbers are not normal but it’s not high enough to be called diabetes,” Dr. Shivaswamy says. “It’s also a state where you are at risk for developing diabetes. If you don’t intervene at this point, then you have a very high likelihood of getting diabetes.” Heredity does play a role in developing diabetes but taking steps can help prevent further complications. Of the people surveyed who were deemed pre-diabetic, more than a third of them had not been diagnosed. He says people in that pre-diabetic category need to take action so it doesn’t escalate.

“You can exercise or do the nutrition but if you don’t actually get the weight loss, you don’t get the benefit of preventing diabetes,” Shivaswamy says. “It’s very important to, at least in the first six months to a year, target for 7% weight loss and increase your activity to at least target 150 minutes a week or 30 minutes a day.” Shivaswamy works at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

(Radio Iowa)

“Dealing with Life’s Little Leaks: Bladder Health as We Age” is the title of the next session of Healthy U series of events in Atlantic, set for Thursday, September 24th at noon, in Conference Room 2 at Cass County Health System. Kim Kopp, BSN, CWOCN, CFCN will present information about bladder health and incontinence.

Kim Kopp

Kim has worked at Cass County Health System for 32 years, and she has been a certified Wound, Ostomy, Continence (WOC) Nurse for 20 years. WOC nurses provide direct care to people with abdominal stomas, wounds, fistulas, drains, pressure ulcers, and/or continence disorders.

Healthy U is a free educational series offered by Cass County Health System that focuses on a different health topic each month. Attendees receive a healthy sack lunch in addition to an educational program presented by medical professionals. Future topics will include medications, nutrition and diabetes.

For more information, or to make a reservation for the September 24th Healthy U, call 712-243-7479.

The City Administrator in Atlantic reports “In order to follow precedent on interviews and remain transparent,” he has “scheduled a full Council meeting for the City Attorney Interviews.” John Lund says the City Council will meet 6-p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22nd in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall, and, after approving the agenda, go into a closed session for the purpose of conducting interviews with the three candidates being considered for City Attorney.  Once the interviews are completed, the Council will return to their chambers and adjourn for the evening.

During the Council’s regular session on Wednesday (Sept. 16th), they discussed, but took no action on the appointment of a City Attorney, the search for which began early last month after Jamie Arnold announced his resignation. The City’s Personnel and Finance Committee declined to make a recommendation to the Council on the three applicants for the job, choosing instead to let the Council discuss the matter first.

After some discussion, the Council decided to let the Personnel and Finance Committee take written questions from the Council for each of the candidates, with members of the Council sitting in on the interview process with the Committee as observers.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a Tabor an was arrested Thursday evening on a warrant charging him with animal abuse. 30-year old Andrew David Ethofer was being held in the Mills County Jail on $2000 bond.

And, 30-year old Jennifer Lee Norton, of Bellevue, NE, was arrested Thursday afternoon for Possession of Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Her bond was set at $1,300.

Fans of smoked meats can get their fill this weekend in Denison. The west-central Iowa town is hosting the 2nd annual Tri City BBQ Festival, which opens tonight (Friday) and runs through tomorrow (Saturday). Evan Blakley is executive director of the Crawford County Chamber and Development Council.

“The first Tri City BBQ Fest was an enormous success and it definitely exceeded our expectations,” Blakley said. “The estimates were that we saw up to 10,000 visitors to the festival per day. So, it was fantastic and our vendors did very well.” The street festival will be bigger this year — covering more space and likely drawing more people.

“We’re a nonprofit event and we rely on our community to raise the funds. We got pretty ambitious this year and said we’d like to increase the scope and budget of the event by 50-percent,” Blakley said. “What we were able to do with that was market further out into the metros and bring in larger name entertainment.” The musical acts on Saturday night include rock bands Fuel and The Verve Pipe, both of which enjoyed success in the 1990s. Tribute act Hairball plays tonight (Friday). There will be an Iowa Craft Beer Tent and 18 food vendors.

“Our vendors are coming from as far away as Chicago and then we have some professional barbeque vendors from around Iowa as well,” Blakley said. “We have lots of locals who’ve stepped up too. We like that, we like impacting our local businesses more than anything.” The event also serves as a “State Championship” BBQ competition.

“The winner of our event gets to move on to the highest level national event of BBQ, what they call the World Series of Barbeque in Kansas City,” Blakley said. “So, there’s a lot on the line, $10,000 in prize money as well.” There are kid-friendly activities too, including inflatable attractions, a petting zoo and pony rides. Admission to the festival is free, but tickets are required to see the entertainment.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) board today (Friday) awarded direct financial assistance and tax benefits to two companies for job creation and expansion projects. The awards will assist in the creation of 199 jobs and will result in over $24 million in new capital investment for the state. The board also approved innovation funding for six startups.

The board approved assistance for planned or proposed projects located in Ankeny, Coralville, Denison, Des Moines, Independence, Johnston and Urbandale.

In Denison, Quality Food Processors (QFP), which produces bacon and cooked meats by processing on contract for 10 customers, was awarded $1-million in direct financial assistance through the Economic Development Set-Aside (EDSA) program. This $21.7 million capital investment is expected to create 195 jobs at a qualifying wage of $12.70 per hour.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, earlier this week, approved an Annual Urban Renewal Report for Fiscal Year 2014-15, that ended June 30th, 2015. Local governments are required to complete and submit an annual report showing all TIF activity within each of their urban renewal areas during the preceding fiscal year

The report, presented by Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman, indicated Cass County had one active TIF area: the Amaizing Energy Urban Renewal Area. Sunderman says $277,000 of the original $520,000 bond was outstanding as of July 1st, 2014. $26,000 of the bond was paid by TIF funds in Fiscal Year 2015, leaving a bond balance of $251,000. In addition, interest expense of nearly $9,460 was paid. TIF revenues for FY 2015 was slightly more than $44,217. The Ending TIF fund balance was $20,796.

The Annual Urban Renewal Report for Fiscal Year 2014-2015, will be filed with the State of Iowa.

A traffic stop in Crawford County this (Friday) morning, resulted in a man being arrested on drug and other charges. Sheriff’s officials say a deputy stopped a vehicle driven by 35-year old Williams Matthew Lee Soll, of Dow City. Authorities say Soll allegedly attempted to throw an item out of the vehicle. When the Deputy recovered it, approximately ½ ounce of methamphetamine was recovered and seized.

Soll was formally charged with Driving Under Suspension (a Simple Misdemeanor). He also faces felony charges of Possession with Intent to Deliver Methamphetamine, and Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp Soll was being held without bond in the Crawford County Jail.

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

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