Democratic congressional candidate Christie Vilsack says her opponent — Republican Steve King — should return the pay raises he has gotten since being elected to congress in 2002. “A service member in Iowa makes about $48,000 a year,” Vilsack says. “I’m a public school teacher. If I were still teaching I’d be making about $50,000 and Steve King makes $178,000 a year and for people struggling in the fourth district, I think that’s a considerable sum.” Vilsack misspoke. The current salary for members of congress is 174-thousand dollars. King’s salary has increased nearly 20-thousand dollars since he took office in January of 2003.

“At the same time he has not voted for bonus pay for our service members; $1500 is all they asked for,” Vilsack says. King has said he deserves his pay raises because actions he’s taken as a member of congress have saved taxpayers billions of dollars.  “To decide that you should vote yourself a pay raise and then actually say that you deserve it is not right,” Vilsack says, “so I think he should give it back.” King’s campaign accuses Vilsack of “misleading voters in a desperate attempt to distract them” from her own policy positions. According to King’s campaign spokesman, King has never voted to increase his pay on a stand-alone vote. The one time there was an opportunity to cast a vote on pay raises alone, King voted to freeze his pay. Vilsack says if she’s elected to congress, she’ll give any pay raises back to the U.S. Treasury until the federal budget is balanced. Vilsack made her comments during a weekend appearance on Iowa Public Television. Vilsack and King are facing off to represent the new fourth congressional district which includes most of northwest Iowa as well as the cities of Ames and Mason City.

(Radio Iowa)

Six patients who were afflicted with a flesh-eating bacteria were treated in the past several weeks at an Omaha hospital, including at least one person from western Iowa. The condition is very rare and is often deadly. The Iowa woman survived. Jane Bisenius is from Schaller, in Sac County. She says she first saw the spot on her arm on April 12th.  “I noticed in the morning a little round, pinkish-red circle on my elbow, my left elbow,” Bisenius says. “On my way home, that red dot swelled up to an oval about the size of a cupped hand and it became very hot and painful, my arm did.”

When that spot on her arm swelled to the size of a softball, Bisenius’ daughter, a doctor, told her to get to an emergency room right away. Bisenius had surgery at a Spencer hospital and she seemed to be getting better for a while, but things quickly worsened.  “We could see the redness spreading up and down the arm about an inch every 15 to 20 minutes,” she says. That’s when Bisenius was airlifted to the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. When she arrived, she had a temperature of 104-degrees and was extremely sick. Doctors say the cause of her condition was a staph infection. She spent eight days at the hospital, being treated in the hyperbaric oxygen unit. She has recovered but will continue to receive physical therapy so she can regain the full use of her arm.

Dr. Jeffery Sartin is an infectious disease specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He says people shouldn’t panic, as this type of case usually only appears in the region two or three times a year. “There are some stories that get in the news that are very dramatic and tragic, really, but these are very, very rare,” Dr. Sartin says. “There are a lot of bad things that can happen to you out there and there are probably others that are more likely that you should worry about.” The affliction is called necrotizing fasciitis, and it kills 30 to 40-percent of the people who become infected. Generally, he says, the flesh-eating bacteria does not spread from one person to another.  “In most cases, if somebody gets it and you’re in contact with them, you’re at no great risk,” Sartin says. “There are a few exceptions. For instance, if somebody has a staph infection, especially the resistant staph called MRSA, if you live in a household with that person, you are more likely to have MRSA on your body, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get a bad skin infection.” A Georgia woman who recently went zip-lining and landed in a river contracted a severe case of the disease. She had to have both hands and a leg amputated. The Nebraska Medical Center has the area’s only Level One hyperbaric oxygen unit.

(Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s Officials in Guthrie County early this (Monday) morning, released the name of a Greene County man who drowned in Lake Panorama Saturday evening. 54-year old Larry Blanchfield, of Churdan, died shortly after the incident occurred at around 5:20-p.m., Saturday.

Authorities say they received a 911 call from a cell phone at around 5:23-p.m., indicating there was a subject down in the water at Lake Panorama, who was unresponsive.  Emergency services responded, including Panora Fire & Rescue, Lake Patrol, State Patrol and Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office.  A male subject later identified as Blanchfield, was pulled from the water with the help of citizens and LPA Lake Patrol.  Panora paramedics attempted to revive the man by performing CPR, but were unsuccessful.  Blanchfield was transported to the Guthrie County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A preliminary investigation indicates Blanchfield initially jumped off the boat into the water to retrieve a hat and went under the water.  The investigation is continuing at this time.  Alcohol is not believed to be a factor.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press