DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Supreme Court Justice Daryl Hecht says he will resume hearing cases and participating in decisions as he continues treatment for skin cancer. The high court announced Hecht’s decision Wednesday in a news release. Hecht revealed in April that had been diagnosed with melanoma, considered the most serious type of skin cancer. Hecht has been treated in Sioux City and Rochester, Minnesota.

The 66-year-old Hecht has not participated in hearing oral argument since March and participated in only a few cases during the remainder of the court term that ended June 30. Hecht says he expects improvement resulting from a new treatment regimen will allow him to resume a more active role. The new court term began Tuesday. Hecht was appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court in 2006.

In an update to our story yesterday, Pottawattamie County Chief Deputy Rob Ambrose reports an Atlantic man was injured during a motorcycle accident late Tuesday morning, in Pottawattamie County. 71-year old Paul Fischer was riding a 2009 Kawasaki westbound on Highway 6 at around 11:25-a.m., when his leather coat came loose from the straps and caught the rear wheel. The coat became entangled in the wheel and caused it to lock-up.

Fischer managed to keep the cycle upright until it rolled onto its side on the road in front of 48606 Highway 6. The man was wearing a helmet. Fischer suffered injuries to his face, arms and chest, and was transported by Griswold Rescue to the Cass County Memorial Hospital, in Atlantic. No citations were issued. The cycle sustained about $5,000 damage.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A former church northeast of Fort Dodge is transforming into a homeless shelter for women and children who need help. The Messenger reports that the former St. John’s Lutheran Church in rural Webster County will become the home of the Lotus Community Project. Iowa District West, a part of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, has donated the property. The district took control of the church after it closed last year.

Lotus Executive Director Ashley Vaala says there will likely be $105,000 in renovations before the shelter can open in December. Vaala says there will potentially be eight rooms available to provide temporary living space to women in Webster, Hamilton, Humboldt, Wright, Calhoun and Pocahontas counties.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The governor has issued a disaster proclamation for two counties struck by storms and flooding. They are Bremer County in northeast Iowa and Iowa County in eastern Iowa. The proclamation from Gov. Kim Reynolds allows use of state resources to recover from severe storms and flooding that began Sunday. Grants for people who qualify are available for home or vehicle repairs, replacement of clothing or food, and temporary housing expenses.
Information on the Disaster Case Management Program is available online .

A Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy on patrol in the area of Antique City Drive and North Street in Walnut, Tuesday night, conducted a traffic stop on an SUV without license plates. The driver, 38-year old Daniel Harvey Pash, of Harlan, was subsequently arrested on charges that include: Possession of a Controlled Substance (4.2 grams of marijuana); Possession of drug paraphernalia (a marijuana pipe); and Forgery. Bond was set at $2,000.

The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office reports also, an inmate at the jail, 38-year old Robert L. Bopp, of Shenandoah, was served with a warrant out of Douglas County, NE., Tuesday, for being a Fugitive from Justice. He was being held without bond on the warrant, and a $10,000 bond on an original Unlawful Possession of a Prescription Drug, charge. Late Tuesday morning, 32-year old Corey Andres Stephens, of Council Bluffs, turned himself-in to the sheriff’s office. Stephens was taken into custody on three active Pott. County bench warrants for Violation of Probation. His bond was set at $20,000. Tuesday afternoon, 35-year old William Crittenden Kaltoft, of Council Bluffs,  turned himself-in to the sheriff’s office. Kaltoft was wanted for Violation of Probation. Bond was set at $2,000.

And, a bail bondsman brought to the Pott. County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday afternoon, 23-year old Dushuan Hogan, of Carter Lake. Hogan was wanted on a bench warrant for Violation of Probation. Stephens, Kaltoft and Hogan were all turned over to Corrections staff at the Pott. County Jail. Bond for Hogan was set at $10,000.

(Radio Iowa) — The University of Iowa College of Nursing is getting a federal grant of nearly two-million dollars to set up a center to study treatments for chronic diseases. U-I nursing professor Sue Gardner is one of the co-directors of the research center and says it could make significant contributions to improve the lives of patients with multiple such illnesses.

“The research will specifically target persons who have more than one chronic condition,” Gardner says, “and actually the prevalence of people who have more than one is pretty astounding.” Gardner describes a chronic condition as one that cannot be cured, only managed, such as diabetes, heart disease or arthritis. Gardner says it’s fairly common for people to have multiple chronic diseases.

“This will enable us to very much tailor both prevention and treatment interventions for this very complex population,” she says. The U-I College of Nursing is one of five institutions nationwide granted federal funds to research chronic diseases. The grant money covers five years.