The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.4MB)
Subscribe: RSS
(Radio Iowa) – The Sioux Rapids City Council has decided on disciplinary action for their Chief of Police over a comment he made on social media. Chief Tim Porter posted a comment on an image of a truck attempting to drive through a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters in Des Moines. It read: “Hit the Gas and Hang on over the speed bumps.” Porter later apologized for the post, saying it was made on the wrong post.
After a closed session, the city council decided on two weeks suspension without pay and to have the council and Porter take a sensitivity course.
(Radio Iowa) -A soldier from the 185th Air National Guard in Sioux City is walking across Iowa from border to border to raise awareness about mental health. Technical Sergeant Jeff Campbell is on a 20 day, 389 mile journey that started in Clinton and will end back in Sioux City. “Twenty days? Nothing compared to someone who is suffering with depression for six months, someone who is legitimately struggling with a marriage,” Campbell says. “…We need to teach people that these bubbles of time are not permanent. You only do that by talking, by relating, by sitting down, having conversations.”
Campbell works as what’s called a “Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape” specialist for the 185th. He says issues concerning mental health affect everyone, plus mental health is a particular concern during these times of social distancing and isolation because of Covid019. “I’ve had a lot of people stop and talk to me about what I’m doing,” Campbell says. “I had a lady open up to me about a son that had died because of suicide and just the other day I walked with a guy who was Vietnam vet for five miles and he was just talking about his struggles.”
Campbell says mental health is a particular concern during these times of social distancing and isolation because of Covid-19. And he says it’s an issue in rural as well as urban Iowa. “It’s actually eye-opening talking to just different farmers and stuff and then just how they struggle in their suicide rate among their own community. You can’t escape it,” Campbell says. “It doesn’t matter where you re in the world, like, if you’re struggling mentally you have to be able to step outside of that…and be able to say: ‘Hey, this isn’t going to be forever.'”
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 600-thousand Iowans live with some form of mental illness.
The Atlantic City Council has a lot to consider during their meeting on Wednesday (July 1st). On their agenda is:
There are also matters pertaining to: The closing of an alley behind the Fireside Lounge on July 11th, from 8-a.m. until 11-p.m, for a Street Dance; The Whitney Group Urban Renewal Area/TIF/Property Tax levy & a related public hearing; A supplemental Engineering Agreement for the 2020 Atlantic Golf & Country Club/Palm Street Drainage problem; The re-appointment of Alexsis Fleener to the Community Promotion Commission, and recognition of Crista Wiskus for her 20-years of service to the Atlantic Public Library.
The Iowa Department of Public Health reports 145 new cases of COVID-19 today, and five more deaths. The latest figures mean 28,874 Iowans have tested positive, and a total of 712 have died. Officials say 302,719 Iowans have been tested for the virus, with 273,427 coming up with a negative test result. The IDPH says more Iowans have recovered from the virus (23,003) and a total of 810,507 assessments have been completed, 5,000 more than yesterday. Testing levels are at all-time highs for Iowa, averaging more than 5,500 test results per day in the last 7 days.
Three fewer Long-Term Care (LTC) facility outbreaks are being reported today (21). The peak occurred in May at 35. In those care facilities, 669 people have tested positive, 520 have recovered and 365 have died, which is one more death than reported Monday. Iowa’s hospitalization data show 14 more people were hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms Monday, for a total of 133. Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients number 34 (1 less than yesterday), 25 were admitted to a hospital over the past 24-hours, as compared to 19 the previous day. Two more people were on a ventilator, for a total of 20.
The numbers for southwest and western Iowa (RMCC Region 4) are nearly steady, with 5 hospitalized, 2 in an ICU, 0 admitted and one person on a ventilator). Area County-by-County figures show:
Thirty-one years ago today, two Troopers with the Iowa State Patrol died during an airplane crash southwest of Atlantic. It was on a Friday evening June 30, 1989, that the Cass County Sheriff’s Office contacted the State Patrol, requesting help with locating an elderly man who had wandered away from a nursing home. Trooper/Pilot Lance Dietsch of Council Bluffs and Trooper Stanley E. Gerling of Atlantic responded in a Maule Patrol aircraft.
The search was about to be terminated when the two troopers spotted the man in a soybean field. The airplane turned sharply and plunged into the ground, nose first, killing both men. Troopers Dietsch and Gerling were the first aircraft fatalities since the addition of the Patrol Airwing in 1956. In Oct. 2012, two bridges in Cass County were named in honor of the men. The bridges are located along Highway Six.
Dietsch, of Council Bluffs, was 30-years old when he died, and a six-year veteran of the Iowa State Patrol. He was survived by his fiancé.’ Gerling was 34-years old, and in his first year of service to the Patrol. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa basketball coach Fran MCCaffery says his players are following strict protocols as they enter the facility for voluntary workouts. All of the players returned to campus this month.
If Luka Garza returns for his senior season the Hawkeyes will return seven players with starting experience. Jack Nunge and Jordan Bohannon both had last season cut short due to injury.
With five incoming freshmen McCaffery will have a challenge dishing out playing time.
(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds has taken action on a host of bills, including three that deal with marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes. When bars and restaurants were closed this spring due to the pandemic, Governor Reynolds issued a proclamation allowing the sale of carry-out cocktails in addition to take-out food. Now, Iowa has become the first state to permanently allow bars and restaurants to sell mixed drinks to go.
The governor has also signed a bill into law that changes the state’s medical marijuana program. The new 90-day dosage maximum is four-and-a-half grams of T-H-C — the active ingredient in cannabis and physicians assistants, nurse practitioners and podiatrists may now sign the paperwork so Iowans can legally buy cannabis products at state-licensed dispensaries. Post-traumatic stress and severe intractable autism are now on the list of conditions for which medical professionals may recommend cannabis as a treatment.
Reynolds has also signed the bill that raises the legal age for buying tobacco products from 18 to 21. It mirrors a recent federal change, lets local officials start ticketing violators and ensures Iowa doesn’t lose $3.2 million in federal funding for substance abuse programs.
Penalties for animal abuse will be increased by another bill the governor signed. She’s also approved creation of a “blue alert” similar to “amber alerts” for suspected of child kidnapping. A blue alert will go out statewide if someone in law enforcement has been seriously injured or killed and there’s a threat to the public from a suspect or suspects who haven’t been arrested.
AMOND GARY OHMS, 89, of Omaha, died Sunday, June 28th, at home. Graveside services for AMOND GARY OHMS will be held 2-p.m. Thursday, July 2nd, in the Harlan Cemetery. Pauley-Jones Funeral Home in Harlan has the arrangements.
Visitation at the funeral home is from 4-until 8-p.m. Wed., July 1st.
AMOND GARY OHMS is survived by:
His son – Neil (Melanie) Ohms, of Harlan.
His daughters – Diane (Tim) Johnson, of Council Bluffs. Lori (Kevin) Bayne, of Omaha.
His sister – Verda Johnson, of Elk Horn (IA).
and 3 grandchildren.
VERDA MAE LARSEN, 92, of Harlan, died Monday, June 29th. A Private graveside service will be held for VERDA MAE LARSEN. Burmeister-Johannsen Funeral Home has the arrangements.
Online condolences may be left at www.burmeisterjohannsen.com.
VERDA MAE LARSEN is survived by:
Her daughter – Marie (Warren) Madsen, of Newton
Her sons – Philip (Genene) Larsen of Fontana, CA & Scott (Jeanine) Larsen of Harlan
Her Sister – Lile (Richard) Petersen, of Kirkman
7 Grandchildren, 14 Great-grandchildren, Other Relatives & Friends.