A project that began in 2008 is now complete and the John Wayne Birthplace Museum is open for visitors in Winterset. The four-bedroom home in which Marion Morrison was born in 1907 has been a tourist stop since the 1980s, but the museum next-door to catalogue the life of the movie star who became known as John Wayne is holding its grand opening festivities this weekend. Joe Zuckschwerdt — the president of the new museum’s board of directors — says a 25-seat theater is a good first stop inside the museum.

“We have a wonderful minute-and-a-half introduction from John Wayne’s daughter, Aissa Wayne, which is just wonderful,” Zuckschwerdt says. “And then we have (an) eight-and-a-half motion picture that highlights John Wayne’s career, from his early days all the way ’til his last movie, ‘The Shootist’.” Among the items in the museum’s collection is John Wayne’s 1972 Pontiac Safari Station wagon with its raised roof, so he could still wear a hat while he drove.

“He was 6’4″ and he loved wearing hats, not just western hats,” Zuckschwerdt says. “This was his personal vehicle. He would get in there and drive all over Newport Beach. He was a regular guy.” Wayne appeared in more than 175 films. “The Shootist” — his last movie — was released in 1976. He died of cancer three years later at the age of 72.

(Radio Iowa)

An email is being forwarded around from Iowans to their loved ones that claims to contain advice about how to survive a heart attack if you’re alone. One expert says the email offers terrible advice. It claims you should cough, hard, with each breath until help arrives. Dr. Shikar Saxena, a cardiologist in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says it’s best to delete that email and try to forget the false remedy.

“That is absolutely ludicrous to say that somebody who’s alone who’s having a heart attack can cough and essentially save their life,” Dr. Saxena says. “You only have about ten seconds, if you’re truly having arrhythmia, before you’re going to pass out from it.” He says that valuable time would be much better spent getting to a phone and calling 9-1-1. Saxena explains the likely origins of the well-meaning but invalid email.

“When we have patients who have cardiac arrest or arrhythmias and we see them in the hospital, we tell them sometimes to cough and very rarely can we get them out of this arrhythmia,” Dr. Saxena says, “so that’s where this all started from.” The subject line in the email is: “How to Survive a Heart Attack When Alone,” and it’s been floating around cyberspace for years but it’s found new life in the past few weeks. Shikar is a cardiologist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

(Radio Iowa)

Two central Iowa residents were injured in a pickup versus motorcycle accident Monday afternoon, east of Greenfield, in Adair County. The Iowa State Patrol says a 2012 Chevy pickup driven by 62-year old Harold Adams, of Ankeny, was traveling east on Highway 92 and slowing to a stop, waiting to turn north onto the Stuart Road, when an eastbound 2011 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by 52-year old Daniel Bruce, of Norwalk, failed to stop in-time.

The cycle, also occupied by 53-year old Rhonda Bruce, of Norwalk, collided with the rear of the pickup. Both vehicles came to rest at the point of impact, in the upright position. The accident happened at around 2:30-p.m.

Daniel Bruce was flown by Mercy One helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. Rhonda Bruce was transported by Adair Rescue to the Adair County Hospital, in Greenfield. A report on their conditions is not available.