(Radio Iowa) – A central Iowa man who survived one of the deadliest forms of cancer is offering his story of hope on this World Pancreatic Cancer Day (Thursday). Andy Lyons, a retired commercial photographer from Johnston, will turn 72 next week and realizes he was one of the fortunate few to beat the disease. In the past two years, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer has risen from 11 to 13-percent, which may not sound like much, but Lyons says it’s significant. “Any uptick is fabulous. There seem to be more cases being diagnosed now, the treatments are getting better. There’s just so much progress being made rapidly, which is encouraging,” Lyons says. “Still, it’s only 13-percent, but still, it’s 13-percent! It’s twice as much as it was 10 years ago, so that’s good.”

Lyons was diagnosed in October of 2021 and had surgery the following month. After 12 rounds of chemotherapy, his doctors declared him cancer-free in October of 2022, which he calls a testament to the importance of cancer screenings and early detection. “That’s the key, if you find it when it’s in its infancy, chances for surgery are much better, chances for survival are tenfold better,” Lyons says. “When mine was discovered, everyone says, ‘Oh, what stage was it at?’ because everyone hears stage four, stage five, which is not good at all. Mine was stage — (puff of breath) — it was just starting.”

Pancreatic cancer is lethal because it’s often not found until it’s spread to other areas, so Lyons knew he’d need to act quickly once the tumor was discovered. “I was diagnosed on a Wednesday, and met with a surgeon on Friday, and 10 days later, I had it removed robotically, so it’s less invasive and, a quicker recovery,” Lyons says. “It was not a fun surgery, but it wasn’t too bad.” Lyons lost at least seven close relatives across three generations to pancreatic cancer, including his grandmother, at least two of her sisters, his mother, an aunt, an uncle, and his brother. Some 25 years ago, Lyons enrolled in a familial pancreatic cancer study and he’s gone through extensive testing every year since. He had 22 years of negative tests before being diagnosed. He offers Iowans a warning.  “If you have a history, a family history, of pancreatic cancer, that’s a good key to be alert and get things checked out,” he says.

The symptoms of this type of cancer are often vague and can be mistaken for something else. That includes things like abdominal pain and back pain, changes in stool, yellowing skin, weight loss, appetite loss, and a feeling of being full after only eating a little food. Pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. It’s estimated 600 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in Iowa this year and more than 500 of them will die from it.

(Radio Iowa) – The Farm Bureau finds the cost of the Thanksgiving dinner has dropped again this year, but is still impacted by inflation and the pandemic. Iowa Farm Bureau’s economics and research manager Christopher Pudenz says the overall cost is down considerably. “The total cost for the Thanksgiving dinner was 58-dollars and eight cents, which represents a five-percent decrease in the overall price of the basket from 2023,” he says. The turkey accounts for 44 percent of the costs of the 11 items, and the 16-pound bird this year dropped in cost by six percent.

“In 2023 the turkey was also the primary source of a decrease from the previous year, but in 2023 that was because prices in 2022 had been so high due to losses of turkey flocks because of highly pathogenic avian influenza. Here in 2024 the decrease from last year has to do with a decrease in the overall demand for turkey,” Pudenz says. He says the cost of the Thanksgiving meal is still well above the pre-pandemic level.

“That 58-dollars and eight cents this year is still roughly 19 percent higher than we had back in 2019 which roughly reflects national inflation during that time period. Now we’ve seen a decline in the rate of inflation over the past year or so, but that doesn’t mean prices have gone down.” He says some of the issues raised in the recent election hold true for the Thanksgiving dinner.”If folks are, you know, still feeling like groceries are, on the whole are more expensive than they were back in 2019, or 2020 it’s because they are,” Pudenz says. He says one thing to note is farmers are not seeing much of the increased cost of feed.

“According to the U-S-D-A, farmers, on average, still received less than 16 cents per one dollar that consumers spent on food at the grocery store in 2023,” he says. The increase costs came after the food left the farm. “The remaining 84 percent of that food dollar that they call it goes to other part of parts of the supply chain, no energy, packaging, transportation, things like that,” Pudenz says. “Food Processing gets roughly 13 cents of that, according to U-S-D-A Food Service. So think restaurants that gets nearly 32 cents of that food dollar. Advertising gets two and a half cents or so.”

The other food items in the survey were frozen pie crusts, pumpkin pie mix, whipping cream, dinner rolls, fresh cranberries, whole milk, frozen peas, sweet potatoes, and stuffing.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Red Oak Police Department reports a woman was arrested at around 6-p.m. Wednesday, on two active Montgomery County warrants for Violation of Probation. 48-year-old Keyla Rae Churchill, of Red Oak, was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on bond amounting to a total of $10,000 ($5,000 for each warrant).

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission listened to public comment Wednesday on the proposal for the 275-million dollar Cedar Crossing Casino. The casino would be located along the Cedar River near downtown Cedar Rapids and would feature slot machines, table games, restaurants, and a 15-hundred seat entertainment venue. Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell spoke in favor of the casino.

“Cedar Crossing is one more compelling reason to stay and build our lives and futures here,” she says. O’Donnell told the commission that there’s much excitement in the city and Linn County for proposal. “Let me paint a picture for you of what this project is going to look like. Cedar Crossing is a casino and it’s a comprehensive entertainment destination,” O’Donnell says. “We’re talking about bars, restaurants, an entertainment center and other venues that will enrich our city’s already vibrant arts and entertainment scene.”

Representatives of other cities and counties that already have casinos urged the commission to reject the Cedar Rapids application. The commission will make a decision on awarding a license for the Cedar Rapids casino in February.

(Radio Iowa) – A 55 year old man serving a life prison sentence for shooting his wife to death in their central Iowa home has died in state custody. In April of 2014, Vallerie Cory’s co-workers at the Firestone plant in Des Moines asked police to do a welfare check because she had missed work. Her husband, Jeremy Cory, told a policeman who went to the couple’s home in Cambridge that he didn’t know where she was.

During a search, police found her body upstairs. She’d been shot 18 times and the rifle used in the shooting was found in a closet. State prison officials have announced that Jeremy Cory was pronounced dead Monday night at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, but the agency’s news release did not reveal the cause of his death. He was 55 years old.

Cory appealed his first degree conviction twice, arguing his lawyers were ineffective. He also appealed the amount of restitution he was ordered to pay his wife’s estate.

(Radio Iowa) – The leaders of Iowa’s Catholic churches say they stand in solidarity with migrants. President-elect Trump says he plans to use the military to deport undocumented immigrants who entered the country illegally. The bishops’ letter says they’ll advocate for just treatment of migrants within the framework of the law. Tom Chapman is executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference.

“What they at least wanted to do initially is to make sure they said something to migrants that says: ‘We’re with you, we’re praying with you, and we will serve you to the extent that we can,'” Chapman said. Last week, the U-S Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement calling for federal policy that welcomes refugees and creates a pathway to citizenship for those who entered the country illegally, but have been here for many years. They also called for a secure southern border. This week’s statement from the Catholic bishops in Iowa says migrants face immense challenges and their letter is meant to send the message that they are not alone.

“We all serve together, you know. We’re supposed to be a community,” Chapman says. “This issue has been a top priority for them both at the state and federal level, so they wanted to make sure that people knew where they stood in terms of trying to stand with people and seeing what policy looks like going forward.” Chapman says Catholic Charities helps people with legitimate claims receive legal status to stay in the United States.

“I know in Sioux City Catholic Charities, they have a very extensive welcome program for immigrants,” Chapman said, “and those are things that are happening in different parts of the state.” The American Immigration Council estimates there are over 52-thousand undocumented immigrants in Iowa.