(Radio Iowa) – State health officials are issuing a call to action for lead poisoning prevention awareness to decrease childhood exposure. Kevin Officer, community health consultant at the Iowa Department of Public Health, says 60- to 70-thousand Iowa kids are tested for lead every year and as many as ten-percent are found to have high lead levels in their bodies. Officer says old houses are part of the problem. “If you live in a home that was built prior to 1950, then there should be an assumption that the paint in that home is lead paint,” Officer says. “Take a look. Is that paint chipping, is it peeling, is it somehow in bad condition and does it need to be repaired?”

In many parts of the U-S, lead in the water due to old pipes is a problem, but here in Iowa, old house paint is usually the prevalent culprit. Iowa is among the top states for pre-1950 housing and many contain lead paint. “Working with parents on hygiene, keeping kids hands clean and keeping the home clean,” Officer says. “Home cleanliness is one way to minimize and reduce that exposure in kids.”

This is National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week which highlights ways parents can reduce children’s exposure to lead in their home environment and prevent serious health effects and learning disabilities. “One of the areas we want to focus on the most is testing kids at the earliest ages, which is 12 months,” Officer says. “One-year-olds, two-year-olds and three-year-olds, at the point where they’re really beginning to develop to catch it early.”

The three themes of this year’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Week are: Get The Facts, Get Your Home Tested, and Get Your Child Tested.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lottery officials say someone has won the record $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot. Mega Millions officials say a ticket purchased in South Carolina matches all six numbers in Tuesday night’s drawing. The massive jackpot is the world’s largest ever lottery grand prize. The winning numbers were 5, 28, 62, 65, 70 and Mega Ball 5. No details on where the winning ticket was sold were immediately available.
The jackpot has been growing since July, when a group of California office workers won $543 million. The lucky player overcame miserable odds. The chance of matching all six numbers and winning the top prize is 1 in 302.5 million. Mega Millions is played in 44 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Police in Council Bluffs say a convenience store was robbed early this (Wednesday) morning. The incident happened at around 1:12-a.m., at the Kwik Shop located at 3632 Ave G. Police say a man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with “Omaha” written on the back, a black mask, and light colored jeans, entered the store while brandishing a silver handgun. (See images below)

The suspect then left the store on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. He was described as being an Hispanic male between 20 and 30 years old, 5’06” tall, 250 pounds. The Council Bluffs Police Department is asking anyone with information to please call the Criminal Investigation Division at (712) 328-4728 or Crime Stoppers at (712)328-7867.

Kwik Shop robbery suspect (Still frame from surveillance video)

(Radio Iowa) — Three candidates are listed on the November ballot for the statewide post that will oversee elections for the next four years. Current Secretary of State Paul Pate is seeking reelection. Pate, a Republican, served as secretary of state for one term in the 1990s, then won another term in the office four years ago. Pate is emphasizing his role in shaping the new state law that requires new measures to verify the identity of voters. “You left your home, you locked your door at your house. You didn’t lock it because there’s a rash of burglaries in your neighborhood. You locked it because you valued the things inside that home,” Pate says. “and voting is one of
those things that we value.”

Deidre DeJear is the Democratic candidate for secretary of state. DeJear says Pate’s office hasn’t done enough to explain the “soft roll out” of the new law and it risks disenfranchising qualified voters. “I want to be the one that’s a champion for people’s voices and a champion for people’s votes and ensuring we’re getting as many eligible voters out there participating in the process,” DeJear says. DeJear was a voter outreach coordinator for President Obama’s 2012 Iowa campaign. She’s now a consultant to small businesses and non-profits. This is her first run for elected office. If DeJear wins this race, she would be the first black Iowan elected to statewide office.

The Libertarian Party’s nominee for Secretary of State is Jules Ofenbakh, an attorney from West Des Moines who’s a native of Russia. “The fact that Iowans have their constitutional right impeded upon by a voter ID is appalling to me,” she said at the State Fair. Ofenbakh’s family came to the United States 26 years ago as visitors and sought political asylum. She became an American citizen 16 years later.

The election is just 13 days away.

(Radio Iowa) — U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan has campaigned this week with two of the three Iowa Republican congressmen seeking reelection this year. Ryan toured a West Des Moines plant with Republican Congressman David Young Tuesday morning, then spoke briefly to plant employees in their break-room.”The reason we’re here is we want to see if the policies that David and I have been working on in congress are working or not,” Ryan said, “and it’s spectacular to see that you’ve added 44 jobs in just the last year.”

The company — eye-2-tech (i2-tech) — melts plastic pellets into parts that other manufacturers use to make things like John Deere tractors or Kawasaki motorcycles. Young says new expensing rules in the federal tax code provided certainty and prompted the company to buy new equipment. “I was here three years ago. There wasn’t as much activity out there on the floor, not as many employees, and to see what’s happening today — it’s just like it’s a brand new business,” Young says. “There’s such a great economic renaissance going on all throughout the country and here in the third district especially.”

The House speaker did a private event Monday with Iowa’s FIRST district congressman, Republican Rod Blum. Monday morning, Ryan delivered this argument for re-electing Iowa’s THIRD district congressman:  “David Young has worked his tail off in congress for his constituents here in Iowa,” Ryan said. “David Young is an impact player who has done so much work on water issues, one on the things that has been a big issue, on agriculture issues, but on economic growth, on tax reform.”

Reporters were allowed to observe the tour and listen to Ryan and Young speak to employees, but questions from the media were not permitted. Later, Ryan did interviews with two Des Moines T-V stations. Cindy Axne, the Democrat who’s challenging Young’s bid for a third term in the U.S. House, is releasing a list of campaign finance reforms she’d vote for in congress.