Officials with the Nebraska-Iowa Region of the American Red Cross report, as uncertain as the past year has been, one constant has been the need for lifesaving blood. Patients rushed to emergency rooms, those battling sickle cell disease and mothers with complicated childbirths rely on the generosity of volunteer donors to help receive the blood transfusions they rely on. And right now, the blood supply has fallen to critical levels. The Red Cross needs to collect more than 1,000 additional blood donations each day to meet current demand as hospitals respond to an unusually high number of traumas and emergency room visits, organ transplants and elective surgeries.

Patients need the help of the American people, who can make a difference by making an appointment to give blood or platelets as soon as possible by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).   In thanks for helping meet patient needs, all who come to give between now and July 31 will receive automatic entry for a chance to win gas for a year (a $5,000 value) and a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card by email. Additional information and details are available at rcblood.org/fuel.

Red Cross Disaster Team Completes Busy First Half of 2021

The first half of 2021 saw an increased number of disasters, keeping volunteer responders busy. Between January 1-June 30 in the Nebraska-Iowa Region, the Red Cross responded to more than 470 disasters, 95 percent of which were home fires. Through those responses, the Red Cross served more than 2,000 people.

Disaster Responses (January 1-June 30, 2021)

State            Events        Individuals Assisted

Nebraska          174                755

Iowa                 297                1,281

The Red Cross provides shelter, food, relief supplies, comfort, health service, recovery planning and other assistance in times of disaster through the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors. Nationally, the Red Cross responds to more than 60,000 disasters every year, most of which are home fires. However, large disasters such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires are increasing with frequency and intensity.

To learn more about Red Cross Disaster Relief, visit redcross.org.

A vigil was held Sunday in Montezuma, for 11-year-old Xavior Harrelson, who has been missing for two-months. KCCI reports dozens of people filled the bleachers of the Montezuma High School football stadium to pray for the boy. They also sang and released of butterflies as organizers implored them not to forget Harrelson and to maintain hope that he will be found.

Diane Hoffman, who organized the event, said she also wanted to show the Harrelson family that the community has their backs.Volunteers handed out more flyers with Xavior’s name and face on them; Hoffman said in putting on the event, she wants to ensure that people don’t forget him as time passes by. Family members of Harrelson, including his mother, Sarah, and aunt, Michelle, attended the vigil.

Family members and organizers also called for changes to the AMBER Alert criteria, believing that such an alert would have potentially helped find Xavior. Xavior did not meet the criteria, which, according to the State of Iowa, requires law enforcement to confirm a child has been abducted, believe “the circumstances surrounding the abduction indicate that the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death,” and have “enough descriptive information about the child, abductor, or suspect’s vehicle to believe an immediate broadcast alert will help.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office at 641-623-2107. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also set up a special web page for tips related to the case.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University economist says if G-O-P lawmakers intend to cut taxes again in 2022, there’s one tax that’s out of whack when it comes to attracting new businesses here. ) “If you compare Iowa to its neighbors, it’s our property tax rates that are the most destructive when looking at, say, which side of a border new firms enter.” I-S-U’s Peter Orazem has done research on the factors business owners consider as they examine where to locate. He says it’s probably counter productive to cut income taxes, as it’s likely to be done in tandem with a sales tax increase. “If you’re starting up a business, you may not have an income and you may not have any sales, but you have to have property and you’re going to have to pay that tax right up front,” Orazem says.

Orazem also served eight years on the Ames City Council and he says it would make sense for state policymakers to take the pressure off property taxes and remove some of the constraints that prevent cities and counties from collecting other kinds of taxes. “You look at Lincoln, Nebraska that paid for all this public entertainment space with an entertainment tax and we’re not allowed to have an entertainment tax in Iowa,” Orazem says. “I think that we have sort of made way too many restrictions on how local governments fund themselves and then put too much burden then on state support for those local efforts and that’s one of the reasons we have a relatively uncompetitive tax structure overall.”

Orazem made his comments earlier this month during an appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S.

(Radio Iowa) – The first half of 2021 saw a significant rise in the number of house fires in Iowa, according to the Nebraska-Iowa Region of the American Red Cross. Chapter spokesman Josh Murray says the agency’s volunteer responders were sent to nearly 300 disasters statewide during the first six months of the year and nearly all of them were house fires. “In January and February, we saw a large increase in those numbers,” Murray says. “Usually we see probably closer to 250ish in the first half of the year.”

Between January 1st and June 30th, the Red Cross responded to 297 incidents in Iowa, with 95-percent of them being home fires, assisting a total of 1,281 individuals. While every house fire is different, Murray says one factor they all have in common is that they happened during the pandemic.”More people are home, more people are eating at home, they weren’t going out so they’re cooking at home, people are working at home so maybe they were using space heaters more to heat their house,” Murray says. “We’re still seeing some now, at this time of year. You get to the summer, we don’t usually see as many home fires, but in June we saw close to 50 in the state of Iowa.”

Murray says he’s concerned about the increase in house fires overall and the boost in fires during the summer months. “We’ve seen this trend of increased fires across the entire state,” Murray says. “It wasn’t just the one area, like just rural areas or urban areas. We’ve seen it from west to east and north to south, all across. It’s definitely one reason we’ve put out the word to make sure people are being cautious with home fire safety.” When a Red Cross volunteer responds to a house fire in Iowa, they do a lot more than just wrap a blanket around the person who may have just lost everything they owned. “Most of the time, it’s finding them a place to stay, finding them a hotel for a couple of nights, maybe get them some meals if we need to,” Murray says. “Helping line up any other services they might require, maybe they lost medicine in the fire and they need help getting a prescription refilled. Or they need storage space to store some stuff they were able to salvage from their home.”

In many cases, the aid the Red Cross provides is not just over a few days, he says, rather weeks and even months. The agency provides a range of assistance in times of disaster through the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.

An SUV collided with a motorcycle Saturday night in Marshall County, resulting in the death of the motorcycle rider. The Iowa State Patrol reports 48-year-old Shelly Anne Tuttle, of Marshalltown, was riding a 2007 Honda VT600CD eastbound on Main Street in Marshalltown, just west of Wallace Avenue, when she was struck from behind by an eastbound 2013 Ford Escape, driven by 17-year-old Jadyn Lynn Palmer, of Marshalltown. The accident happened at around 9:22-p.m.

Tuttle was ejected from the motorcycle and died from her injuries at the scene. The collision remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by Deputies with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office, Marshall County EMS, and Marshalltown Police.