OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge visitor center will close for New Year’s Day. Officials say the center will close Monday at noon and reopen Wednesday morning. The seasonal sections of the refuge tour road and refuge grounds will remain open during the federal holidays. DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge sits 25 miles north of Omaha on U.S. Highway 30, between Missouri Valley, Iowa, and Blair, Nebraska.

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — A major financial rating agency has lowered its bond ratings for an Iowa town because of how it is financing a $70 million arena. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that S&P Global Ratings pointed to Coralville’s bank loans with variable interest rates to pay for the planned 5,700-seat arena set to open in 2020. The arena would host the University of Iowa’s home volleyball games and concerts.
City leaders say they remain confident the project does not threaten Coralville’s finances.

S&P this month lowered its rating for Coralville’s general obligation bonds from BBB+ to BB+, making it “non-investment grade.” The rating for bonds back by annual appropriations dropped from BBB to BB. An S&P report said the city has a “heightened debt burden” and exposure to high interest rates.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman whose son died from a drug overdose has had a chance to hear his heart beat again in the chest of an Ohio man who received it as an organ donation. The Quad City Times reports that Lisa Bragg met Friday in Davenport with Kenneth Vogelsong, of Sherwood, Ohio. She and family members put a stethoscope to Vogelsong’s chest to listen.

Bragg’s 27-year-old son, Markus Abbott, died in January, and his heart was transplanted in Vogelsong. With the help of donor networks, Bragg and Vogelsong exchanged letters, emails, and texts and agreed by phone to meet.

Vogelsong is a is a 45-year-old father of four who was close to death because he had an enlarged heart that couldn’t efficiently pump blood to other organs.

The Iowa State Patrol says four people were injured during two separate eastern Iowa accidents. Just after 2-a.m. today (Saturday), three people were hurt during during a rear-end collision in Bremer County. Authorities say a 1995 Chrysler Cirrus driven by 48-year old Donald F. Fairholm, of Charles City, was traveling north on Highway 218. A 2000 Dodge Dakota pickup driven by 57-year old Bambi K. Teska, of Charles City was behind the car traveling at a slow speed, when it was struck by a northbound 2015 Ford van, driven by 49-year old James E. Garner, of Dunlap. The van was traveling at a high rate of speed when it struck the pickup. The impact caused the pickup to hit the rear of the Chrysler. All three drivers were hurt. They were transported to the Charles City Hospital by Chickasaw County Ambulance. The accident remains under investigation.

And, at around 3:10-p.m. Friday, a two-vehicle accident in Black Hawk County injured a passenger in one of the vehicles. The State Patrol says a 2011 Chevy Equinox driven by 27-year old Justina Brown, of Waverly, had pulled to a stop in the gore of the ramp at U-S Highway 218 northbound and U-S Highway 58 southbound, in the untraveled portion, when it was hit from behind by a 2003 Dodge Durango, driven by 16-year old Joshua Michael, of Charles City. The accident happened when the Durango went out of control and hit a concrete bridge rail before striking the rear of the Chevy. The road surface was ice-covered at the time of the crash. A passenger, 19-year old Zaria Middleton, of Charles City,  was injured and transported to Satori Hospital, in Cedar Falls.

Authorities cited Joshua Michael for Failure to Maintain Control.

HOLY CROSS, Iowa (AP) — Bob Hayes picked up the phone Dec. 21 and gave the usual greeting. “Holy Cross Locker, Bob speaking,” he said. A few seconds pass. Suddenly, Hayes chimes in again. “All right, 30 packages, that’s 60 pounds, all smoked, got it.” He jotted down the order on a piece of paper and pinned it to a wall already smothered with similarly sized notes. Thirty packages. Sixty pounds. It was a larger-than-usual order for the Holy Cross Locker. But practically every order for the past few weeks has been of a similar size. “People are in panic mode,” Hayes told the Telegraph Herald . “We got a guy coming up from Minnesota who ordered 100 pounds.”

Those massive orders started coming in November, shortly after Hayes announced that after 72 years in business, the Holy Cross Locker will permanently close Dec. 29. Founded in 1946 by Vic Brecht and Louie Hayes, who was Bob’s father, Holy Cross Locker has been one of the cornerstone meat processors in the tri-state area for generations. Much of the business remains the same as it did more than 70 years ago. A chipped wood countertop sits at the entrance. Ink-stained meat-labeling stamps dangle from the wall. Family photos hang on the massive freezer door. Hayes can’t remember when he started working at the locker with his father. He’s pretty sure by middle school he was slicing up cuts. But what he is certain of is that the locker has been a second home for his entire life.

Now, at 67 years old, he’s hanging up the smock. It’s not that he is tired of meat processing, he said. It’s just time to move on. The locker’s closing will hit meat enthusiasts throughout the tri-state area and beyond. Holy Cross Locker is known for producing some of the finest smoked sausage, with many farmers claiming it has no equal. While he enjoys working with meat, Hayes said he mostly is going to miss the people, whether it be his customers or his longtime employees who he now considers family. Still, he’s looking forward to his retirement. All that stands in the way now is a few thousand pounds of meat.