The Iowa State Patrol’s District 3 office in Council Bluffs and Post 6 in Spencer are two of seven Posts in Iowa that will be receiving a total of 8 Humvees designed to serve as emergency response vehicles. The tan-colored Humvees will be added to the State Patrol’s fleet through the military’s 1033 Program, which allow a transfer of military equipment to law enforcement agencies, in order to enhance operations. The vehicles are provided at no cost to the agency. 

When a law enforcement agency no longer desires to retain the equipment, the property is returned to the military. Following the acquisition of the Humvees, the Iowa National Guard assisted the Department of Public Safety (DPS) by performing a maintenance inspection of each Humvee, making minimal repairs, and painting the vehicles. General fund dollars were not utilized to support the acquisition.  The police equipment used to designate the Humvees as emergency vehicles was previously designated as surplus equipment due to the requirements of our newer Dodge patrol vehicles.

Following the crippling blizzard of December 19 & 20, 2012, DPS Commissioner Brian London asked DPS staff to develop alternatives for members of the Division of Criminal Investigation, Division of Narcotics Enforcement and State Fire Marshal’s Office non-uniformed officers to support the State Patrol Division during disaster operations.  During the blizzard, the Department’s non-uniformed officers were unable to support State Troopers as they worked toward rescuing stranded motorists across Iowa.  The limitations included the viability and mobility of the non-uniformed officers’ vehicles.

The State Patrol Division will coordinate the readiness of the Humvees and station the vehicles across the state for rapid deployment during blizzards, flooding, tornadoes, and other disaster or critical incident related operations.  During these deployments, more than 80 sworn members across Department stand ready to operate the Humvees to augment the Department’s uniformed response. The State Patrol Division’s, Safety Education Unit will also use the Humvees occasionally to advance traffic and highway safety initiatives.

Currently, one Humvee is ready for deployment.  Throughout the summer additional Humvees will be painted and up-fitted for deployment across the state.  With the exception of Post 1 in Des Moines, the other six Iowa State Patrol Districts (Posts 3,6,8.9, 11 and 12). will receive one Humvee, each. Post 1 will get two of the former military vehicles.

The Humvee is available for viewing and photographs today (Friday, May 17th,) from 1-to 2-pm, at the Oran Pape Public Safety Building, 215 E 7th Street (Des Moines), and on  Saturday, from 8-am until Noon, in cooperation with the annual Police Week Bridge display. 

Motorcycle enthusiasts rode into Harlan last night (Thursday) for the kickoff of the first Roar into Harlan event of the year.

(photo courtesy of our sister station KNOD)

Roar into Harlan will be featured on the square in downtown Harlan on the 3^rd Thursday of the month for the next 4 months. Last night, the Rocking Chair on the east side of the square was the featured business. Mike Wohlhutter, coordinator for the Roar into Harlan, said this month had a patriotic theme.  He said “Pastor Furby and Bob Dean and the Logan Legion Riders did the flag folding ceremony. There aren’t to many people around that know what the flag ceremony is. They did a great job explaining it and then Jack Kenkel was here to talk about the Freedom Rock. Our flag from the ceremony will go to the Freedom Rock site in Earling.”

He says he never would have guessed the Roar into Harlan Events would become such a huge success. “This whole deal exploded to something I didn’t figure on and it has all been good. We have had tremendous support from all organizations and citizens. It has been phenomenal.” Wohlhutter and the committee came up with a new concept this year called a Poker walk, “It will be a little different than last year since no one last year had time to do it. This year, you will have the whole season and take your time.”

Next month, Roar into Harlan will feature the kids. “June will be kid’s night. We will have bounce houses and kid orientated type stuff. We will have motorcycles and a guy with a colored printer to take pictures with kids on the bikes.” The motorcycles down on the square last (Thursday) night were able to get in the flag folding ceremony and a few games before the rains came pouring down. The next Roar into Harlan event will be on Thursday, June 20^th.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

An official with the Cass County Memorial Hospital says visitors to Cass County Health System have a new tool to assist them in finding their way around the main building. Sara Nelson, Public Relations Director, says just inside the front entrance, next to the information desk at the base of the staircase, is an information kiosk. Nelson says a new “wayfinding” system was added to the kiosk this week.

Cass County Memorial Hospital Auxilian Eileen Denne demonstrates the new wayfinding system on the kiosk in the CCMH Atrium. (Sara Nelson/photo)

Visitors can use the touch-screen directory to select any service or department in the building. When they make a selection, a map with a route line will appear, along with written directions to their destination. The maps can then be printed right at the kiosk. Nelson says they know visitors and patients have been confused about where to go in light of the relocation of so many departments over the last year, so “Being able to view and print a map should help people find their way more easily.” The kiosk is located next to the information desk so the volunteers can assist visitors if necessary.

To get started, just touch the screen anywhere and the home page will come up. Select the top button “How do I get there?” to open the wayfinding directory. Select the first letter of the destination, L for Laboratory, and a list of all the L destinations will appear. Select the destination, Laboratory, and the map will appear with written directions below.

Nelson said while the new system is designed to be user friendly, it doesn’t mean visitors can’t ask for help. She says their “Staff and volunteers are always happy take you where you need to go!”

The Powerball jackpot has pushed to an estimated 550-million dollars after no winning tickets were sold for Wednesday’s drawing. Iowa Lottery spokesperson, Mary Neubauer, says a number that big grabs everyone’s attention. “When the jackpot gets to this level, it just becomes that thing that everybody’s talking about. Everybody wants a shot at it, so now we see not only regular players buying tickets, but occasional players and first-time players jumping in,” Neubauer says. A record Powerball jackpot of 587-million dollars was won in November. Neubauer says the switch from a one-dollar to a two-dollar ticket for Powerball has helped create bigger jackpots more often.

“It’s all designed to keep delivering those big jackpots, but also the chance to win other sizable prizes as well,” according to Neubauer. “So, we’re always looking at ways to maybe tweak the game and change the game to make it better, because over time people don’t want the same old thing, they want the opportunity to try for something that is maybe a little different or new, so we’re always looking at that to see what we can do.” Another thing that’s helped push the jackpots up is the addition of California — the country’s most populated state — to the game. Neubauer says there’s a mistaken view that a bigger state has better odds of having the winning numbers.

“I’ve heard some people saying ‘Oh well now that that California is in we don’t stand a chance, nobody else is ever going to win,’ but in fact the odds in Powerball haven’t change. The odds of winning the jackpot are still the same now that were before California is in,” Neubauer says. “And it goes back to that concept of why Powerball started in the first place. With with more states playing the game, the jackpot grows more quickly, and gets bigger faster. And that’s ultimately what people want from Powerball.” Not only is the Powerball jackpot growing, the Mega Millions jackpot is an estimated 190-million dollars for tonight’s (Friday) drawing at 10 o’clock. Iowa is one of the state’s that sells both games and Neubauer says the results are showing they aren’t competing against each other.

She says the old saying that “a rising tide floats all boats” is what they are seeing with the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots. If you beat all the odds and picked the winning numbers for both games, you’d win and estimated combined jackpot of just over 746-million dollars. Neubauer cautions that you should be reasonable. “It just takes one ticket to win, you don’t have to buy two, five, 10, you just have to buy one to get in on the fun. Don’t count on winning, just do it for fun,” she advises. Neubauer says the fun is dreaming what you might do with the money if you do win. The Mega Millions drawing is tonight. The next Powerball drawing is 9:59 p-m on Saturday. In Iowa, you can buy a ticket for Saturday’s drawing up until 8:59 p-m that day.

(Radio Iowa)