DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A lawyer for the Iowa Public Information Board says agencies can keep secret the personal email addresses used by their board members for official business. In a draft opinion, board legal counsel Travis Starr says private email addresses used by government officials can be exempt from disclosure under the Iowa Open Records Act. He says the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board likely acted lawfully in redacting the email addresses of board members in records released to Bleeding Heartland, a blog that covers Iowa politics.

The board will consider whether to adopt Starr’s opinion next week. Bleeding Heartland editor Laura Belin says anyone who agrees to serve on a board should be accessible to the public. She says agency staffers shouldn’t be allowed to prevent citizens from contacting board members to ask questions or report misconduct, and it’s “disturbing” the information board could give its blessing to that practice.

(DES MOINES) – Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered all flags on the Capitol Complex to be lowered to half-staff from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, May 11, 2018, in observance of the Iowa Peace Officer Memorial Ceremony. Flags at the Iowa Peace Officer Memorial, located at the Oran Pape State Office Building, will be flown at half-staff the week of May 13-19, 2018, in honor of National Police Week. The governor’s directive applies to all U.S. and state flags on the State Capitol Building and on flag displays on the Capitol Complex. Individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities, counties and other government subdivisions are encouraged to fly the flag at half-staff for the same length of time as a sign of respect.

The Iowa Peace Officer Memorial Ceremony is open to the public. All are invited to pay their respects to Iowa police officers killed in the line of duty.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Investigators have determined that someone intentionally started a fire at a Cedar Rapids apartment building, injuring eight residents. A city news release says the fire reported around 3:45 a.m. Thursday originated in a hallway of the three-story, six-unit building. No arrests have been reported. The Cedar Rapids Fire Department says arriving firefighters found some people hanging from windows and others injured during their escapes. The department says ladders were quickly employed to help residents to safety as firefighters attacked the blaze, which was extinguished by 4:50 a.m.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — With best friends like these, who needs enemies? An Iowa man says his dog inadvertently shot him while they were roughhousing Wednesday. Fifty-one-year-old Richard Remme, of Fort Dodge, told police he was playing with his dog, Balew, on the couch and tossed the dog off his lap. He says when the pit bull-Labrador mix bounded back up, he must have disabled the safety on the gun in his belly band and stepped on the trigger. The gun fired, striking one of Remme’s legs. He was treated at a hospital and released later that day.

Remme told The Messenger newspaper that Balew is a “big wuss” and laid down beside him and cried because he thought he had done something wrong. Police Chief Roger Porter called the shooting a freakish occurrence.

Several wind energy projects are being proposed and planned across Iowa and most of them need approval at the county level before advancing to state and federal levels. Lucas Nelsen, a program policy associate at the Center for Rural Affairs, says many county leaders don’t have the expertise needed to come up with appropriate rules and policies. “Counties can find themselves way over their heads just from the amount of information they have to dig through,” Nelsen says. “What we wanted to develop was a guide that just lays out the basic features of a wind energy ordinance. It’s not exactly a blueprint you would adopt wholesale but it’s something that walks you through the pieces you’d expect to find in an ordinance.”

Nelsen says many counties have a hard time finding a balance between development and private property rights. “You have to allow the public to come in and be a part of the process and try to find the middle ground, that’s the most important part,” Nelsen says. “Don’t just pass something to pass something. Really try to find a compromise that can ensure that people have the right to use their land but also people don’t feel like they’re being caught out by any development.”

Nelsen says it’s best if the public is involved from the earliest stages and he says if private developers approach you and want a meeting, you might not want to take them up on it. “Try and figure out if you can have that happen at a community level, not just at a private level,” he says. “In some of those cases, just meeting and hashing out the concerns, figuring out if you’re just hearing rumors about a thing rather than what the facts may actually be, it’s an important piece, too.”

Nelsen says tax policy, energy demand, and the development of new power lines is helping spur the drive to build wind power projects. The Center for Rural Affairs is based in Lyons, Nebraska.

(Radio Iowa)

ATLANTIC – Dr. Seema Harichand will begin providing oncology care at Cass County Health System on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. Dr. Harichand is board certified in Medical Oncology, Hematology and Internal Medicine. She recently moved to Des Moines and joined the Medical Oncology and Hematology Associates in December 2017. Dr. Harichand will provide cancer care, including chemotherapy oversight, in the CCHS Specialty Clinic on the first and third Tuesday of every month. Patients can then receive chemotherapy and other infusion treatments in the Specialty Clinic. Appointments with Dr. Harichand may be scheduled by referral from a primary care provider.

Dr. Seema Harichand

Dr.  Harichand graduated summa cum laude from Kent State University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry.  She subsequently attended medical school at Ohio State University where she completed her first two years of medical school.  In 2000, she transferred to the University of Miami to complete the clinical years of medical school.  The transfer allowed her to be closer to her husband who was an officer in the Air Force stationed at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.  She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, and then went on to complete a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Emory University in 2009.  She worked at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, and had a faculty appointment at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute until she left in December 2010 to join a private practice in Florida. She recently relocated to Des Moines, and joined MOHA in December 2017.

Originally from Youngstown, Ohio, Dr. Harichand is married, and has three children.  She enjoys reading and spending time with her family.