Officials at Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan have approved a corrective action plan for the Petersen Family Wellness Center. A press release says the hospital became aware of problems with the building performance since the early part of 2011. The board of trustees has been collaborating with the architect, construction manager and two of the contractors along with consultants to understand the source of these problems and develop a corrective action plan.

The problems are related to the pre-engineered building envelope that has resulted in unusually high utility costs due to the lack of an effective insulation system. The mediation process resulted in a preliminary agreement approved by the Myrtue board of trustees at their meeting this (Friday) morning.

The board agreed to a cash settlement payment to the hospital of $650,000. A final agreement is expected by the middle of January. The construction at the Petersen Family Wellness Center is planned for late spring or early summer of 2014.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

A Harlan Community High School graduate has signed with a record label and released his first CD. Jeff Johannsen, son of Seth and Kay Johannsen of Harlan, has released a CD titled “I Want to Know” produced by Jerroll Lehman Productions of Fort Wayne, IN.

Johannsen has a long list of singing accomplishments including performing the national anthem at the 2009 3-A boy’s basketball championship. He’s a four year member of the Drake University choir and chamber choir, and graduated with a degree in May of 2013 from Drake in Music Business. He plans to return to Drake this coming January to complete his music education degree.

The CD project began in December 2011 when Johannsen signed with The Management Agency of Jacksonville, FL for artist management and development. The tracks were produced earlier this year in Tennessee and Indiana. Now in distribution, the Christian contemporary artist, has released one song in conjunction with Christian Radio Promotions and is the title track “I Want to Know”.

A second single will be released sometime later from the promotions company. The 7 track CD is out for purchase and can be found online for digital download on iTunes, Amazon and Google play by searching for Jeff Johannsen. The CD can be purchased online as well from Jeff’s website, www.jeffjohannsen.com and locally from Seth and Kay Johannsen or at Farm Sweet Farm store in rural Harlan. The cost of the CD is $12.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

The Iowa Department of Public Health says the flu season is starting to pick up as we approach the Christmas holiday. Department medical director, Patricia Quinlisk, says there are three strains of flu in the state this year, but they hadn’t been that much of a worry until now. “For most of October and November it was sort of steady at a very low level, but unfortunately it’s really starting to take off,” Quinlisk says. “We have quite a few more people being hospitalized, coming down with laboratory confirmed flu.”

Dr. Quinlisk says the concern now is that people will start getting together for holiday parties. “It is here and it is starting to spread and as we come across people starting to travel for the holidays, we are a little bit concerned that this is really going to take off,” Quinlisk says.

One way to prevent the flu is to get vaccinated against it. “Don’t put it off any farther, holidays are coming up, you need to go get your flu shot now, so that again you won’t get the flu — and you won’t spread it to other people while you are traveling for the holidays,” Quinlisk says. The flu can cause you to get sick at a time when you’d like to be spending time with family and friends. And Quinlisk says in some cases it can lead to serious consequences.

“We know that — especially among the elderly — influenza is one of the top 10 causes of death,” Quinlisk explains. “Now people don’t usually think of people dying of the flu, but we do have people dying of the flu in Iowa every single year, and quite a few.” Quinlisk says there are plentiful supplies of the flu vaccine in the state.

(Radio Iowa)

A prosecutor in southwest Iowa is now discussing what landed a Council Bluffs woman in jail this week after she wrote about school shootings on Facebook. Police charged 39-year-old Teri Pallat with harassment and making terroristic threats after she suggested her son might soon be opening fire at Lewis Central High School. Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber says that type of comment is not the way to vent one’s frustrations.

Wilber says, “In today’s day and age, especially when we’re sitting here at the one-year anniversary of Sandy Hook and within a couple days of another school shooting out in Colorado, we take all of these threats very, very seriously.” Pallat was upset because her son, a student at the school, had been bullied over many months and she blamed administrators for not doing anything to stop it. Reports say Pallat had filed a police report about an attack on her son at school last month.

“I know that law enforcement was at least looking into some of her concerns,” Wilber says. “I know that one of the assistants in my office had been talking either to her or law enforcement. Obviously, it was a little different situation when I started receiving phone calls at night about the situation on Facebook.”

In her rambling Facebook rant, Pallat said her son would “get the ones that caused this,” and claimed he’s a good shot. School officials reported the posting to police and deny there’s a problem with bullying at Lewis Central. Wilber says people need to understand something about how the law works. “There is no criminal law against bullying,” Wilber says. “We don’t charge bullying. If there’s been an assault or there’s been harassment or there’s been threats, those are things we look at in criminal law. You hear the word bullying used all the time but we don’t have the crime of bullying.”

Pallat has told reporters her son hit his head when he was tackled by a bully in a locker room and now suffers from seizures.

(Radio Iowa)

The Atlantic School Board Thursday night, discussed the reasons for choosing a considerably more expensive new construction and renovation plan for the school district, prior to voting on proceeding with the process to bring a $19.8-million bond referendum to the voters. Superintendent Mike Amstein said it all boils down to current and projected increased enrollment and the need to provide a quality education.

Board Member Dennis Davis, who was the only one to vote against Concept 2, wanted to know why Amstein thought the less expensive option (Concept1). wasn’t more fitting. Amstein said it doesn’t provide any additional space for what’s going to be needed in the next two- to three-years. He said when space for Title 1 and ESL increasing enrollments are taken into consideration, Concept 1 doesn’t provide the necessary space. It does provide space for regular classrooms, but the other classes are cramped. Concept 2 he says, will provide that additional space.

Davis wanted to know how firm and accurate the projected enrollment numbers are that is prompting a proposed expansion of the district’s facilities. Amstein said “Our best guess comes from our 4-year old program and our 3-year old program. Both of those numbers still tend to run along the same lines we’ve been receiving in the past few years.” He said graduating class numbers are also expected to increase over the next couple of years.

Past that, Amstein says it’s difficult to project what the numbers will be, but the State is projecting 120-to 125 kindergarten students coming in. Amstein says they’ve already surpassed that. He said he doesn’t think the district is “overbuilding.”  Board member Phil Hascall said he “Would have voted in a heart beat for Option 1,” so the district could build faster and get rid of the mobile classrooms, but it would “short change” the kids. He said he’s glad the administration gathered the necessary input and the board made the right decision in choosing Concept 2.

Hascall said he thinks it gives the district more flexibility. Option 1 also didn’t contain a renovation for the Industrial Tech program. Board member Rod Hartwig said Concept 2 helps meet the Board’s goal of a high standard of education.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – The outbreak of a contagious bacterial infection that causes diarrhea has worsened in northwest Iowa’s Woodbury County.  Siouxland District Health Department Deputy Director Tyler Brock tells the Sioux City Journal that shigellosis had sickened 225 children and adults in the region as of Wednesday. That’s up from 95 cases in late November.   Woodbury County recorded a single case of shigellosis last year.

Most people who are infected have frequent watery stools that could be bloody, as well as fever and stomach cramps, starting a day or two after exposure to the bacteria. Symptoms usually last several days.