According to the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), reported cases of gonorrhea are increasing quickly in Iowa. Preliminary Iowa data indicate 3,600 cases of gonorrhea in 2017. This would be a 145 percent increase since 2013. There were 2,600 cases reported in 2016. In Iowa, increases are occurring in both women and men and the rate of increase is higher among men. This likely signals an increase among men who have sex with men. About 80 percent of diagnoses are among persons 15 to 34 years of age.

Additionally, there continue to be disproportionate rates among Iowa’s black/African American populations. Despite making up about 3.5 percent of the Iowa’s population, just under 30 percent of the gonorrhea diagnoses occur among black/African American populations. By comparison, about 60 percent of the diagnoses are among white populations and they make up about 91 percent of Iowa’s population.

“Numerous studies over the years have demonstrated that higher rates of STDs among certain populations indicate that some combination of social forces are at work. Factors like neighborhood location, economic opportunity, income, rates of incarceration and even the number of alcohol outlets in particular neighborhoods have been associated with higher rates of STDs in some populations,” said IDPH STD Program Manager George Walton. “Further analysis is needed to determine which factors are most important in Iowa for each population that is disproportionately affected.”

For more information about gonorrhea, visit https://www.cdc.gov/std/Gonorrhea/.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 32-year-old man has been imprisoned being for drunk when his pickup truck rammed into a semitrailer on Interstate 80 in Polk County, killing his passenger. The sentence of 15 years was handed down Friday in a Des Moines courtroom to Michael Wright, of Ankeny. He’d pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide-reckless driving and to driving while intoxicated-third or subsequent offense.

The accident occurred April 23, 2016. The Iowa State Patrol says Wright changed lanes and hit the semi. His pickup hit a guardrail and went airborne, ejecting Wright and the passenger, 44-year-old Susannah Thompson. She was pronounced dead at the scene. He was briefly hospitalized.

For the second time in less than a week, a female from Creston has reported the theft of an Apple Watch from their school locker. Thursday night, a woman reported her son’s Apple Watch was taken from a locker at the Creston High School. The incident happened sometime between 4:30-and 6:30-p.m., Thursday. The watch was valued at $250. On Friday, a female from Creston reported to Police that sometime between 4:30-and 7-p.m. Thursday, someone stole a Series 1, black, Apple Smart Watch from her locker, at school. The watch was valued at $250. No arrests have been reported.

Sioux City’s 185th Iowa Air National Guard Refueling Wing has received a special honor. Base Commander Colonel Larry Christensen announced at the 185th Headquarters that they’d won the “Outstanding Unit Award.” He says the award is not only a reflection on the unit, but also the community and the support they give. Christensen says this is the 9th time the unit has earned the award, and this one is for the 2015 to 2016 time period. Christensen says that seems like a long time ago, but he says it takes them some time to evaluate the units.

The 185th’s main mission is mid-air refueling, flying and maintaining eight K-C-135R Stratotanker aircraft. They have personnel stationed all over the world on a constant rotational basis and some will soon go on a new mission: “We’re currently in South America, Africa, the Middle East, but we shift every once in a while. And we are going to have a shift here shortly,” Christensen says. “We’ll continue to deploy where we are at, but we will also move over towards the Pacific, over towards Guam,” Christensen says.

The 185th Air Guard unit is comprised of over 900 full and part time members.

(Radio Iowa)