The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced today that six Iowa water systems have been awarded fluoride certificates by the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors on behalf of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and American Dental Association (ADA). Fluoridation is the adjustment of fluoride in the water to an optimal level for preventing tooth decay. The award recognizes communities that maintained a consistent level of optimally fluoridated water throughout 2012.

The awarded communities include:

50 Year Award (1962-2012): Council Bluffs, Greenfield, Red Oak, Shenandoah, and Tipton.

2012 Community Fluoridation Reaffirmation Award: Maquoketa

Fluoride is a natural element found in rocks, soil, and water. Fluoride’s benefits for teeth were discovered in the 1930s. Dental scientists found low tooth decay rates among people whose water supplies contained natural fluoride. In communities of 20,000 people, every $1 invested in water fluoridation results in $38 of savings in dental treatment costs.

The CDC has recognized community water fluoridation as one of the ten great public health achievements of the 20th Century and recommends water fluoridation as a safe, effective, and inexpensive method of preventing tooth decay. IDPH is a strong supporter of fluoridation programs. The IDPH Division of Environmental Health monitors the fluoridation of public water supplies, assists and trains water system operators, and helps communities with fluoridation projects. To see the fluoridation status of Iowa counties and towns, visit www.idph.state.ia.us/hpcdp/fluoride_search.asp.

Scott Hatfield, from Winterset, is this week’s winner of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Adventure Ready Gift Card Giveaway. Hatfield won a $50 gift card generously donated by Sheels.

Hunters and anglers who purchase one of four new licenses in 2013 will be automatically entered into a weekly drawing for a $50 gift card.

To participate in the drawing, Iowans can simply purchase one of the four qualifying licenses at any license retailer or on the DNR’s website at www.iowadnr.gov. The four qualifying licenses are:

· Bonus Line License – resident and nonresident anglers can fish with one additional line (with the purchase of the annual fishing license, which allows two lines), for $12.

· Outdoor Combo License – annual resident hunting/fishing/habitat combo license for $47.

· Angler’s Special – a three-year resident fishing license for $53.

· Hunter’s Special – a three-year resident hunting license with habitat included for $86.

The DNR will draw every Monday at noon and announce the weekly winner on its website and through Twitter on Tuesday afternoon. The promotion will run through December 23, 2013.

Mills Fleet Farm is sponsoring the July 1 gift card drawing. Weekly winner announcements, gift card sponsors and complete drawing details can be found at www.iowadnr.gov/giveaway.

Iowa Congressman Tom Latham and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey announced Monday that they will be visiting Cass County on Monday, July 1 along with Guthrie, Montgomery, Mills, Pottawattamie, Fremont, Page, and Adams Counties on July 1st and 2nd.

Northey and Latham will tour the new Design Technology Center at the Cass County campus of Iowa Western Community College, located at 705 Walnut St. in Atlantic. The visit is scheduled to begin at 11 am.

Latham and Northey will be in the following locations on Monday, July 1st 2013:

Guthrie County at 9:00 a.m. to meet with economic development officials at Saints Center, 320 N. Fremont St in Stuart.

Montgomery County at 2:00 p.m. for a roundtable discussion with rural law enforcement officials at the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center at 106 W. Coolbaugh St in Red Oak.

Mills County at 4:00 p.m. for a tour of Glenwood Resource Center at 711 S. Vine St. in Glenwood.

Latham and Northey will be in the following locations on Tuesday, July 2nd 2013:

Pottwattamie County at 7:30 a.m. for a meet and greet at Iowa Western Community College in the Reiver Room at the Student Center at 2700 College Rd. in Council Bluffs.

Fremont County at 10:15 a.m. for a flood roundtable discussion at City Hall at 1201 Main St. in Hamburg.

Page County at 12:00 p.m. for lunch and tour with Shenandoah Chamber and Industry Association. Starts at the Green Plains Renewable Energy, conference room at 4124 Airport Rd. in Shenandoah.

Adams County at 3:00 p.m. to tour New Balance Commodities at 2320 Birch Ave., in Nodaway.

Latham, a farmer and former small business owner from Clive, represents Iowa’s Third District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and also sits on the Subcommittees on Agriculture and Homeland Security. He is a champion for Iowa issues, including passage of a full five-year farm bill and pro-economic and -jobs policies for the state’s increasingly diverse economy.

Northey, a corn and soybean farmer from Spirit Lake, is serving his second term as Secretary of Agriculture. His priorities as Secretary of Agriculture are promoting the use of science and new technologies to better care for our air, soil and water, and reaching out to tell the story of Iowa agriculture.

A mass murderer has killed himself in an Iowa prison.

In 2001 Adam Matthew Moss pled guilty to killing seven people in Sioux City, including his girlfriend and her five children. Investigators say he bludgeoned the children to death in their sleep with a hammer. He hit his girlfriend with the hammer, too, but also slit her throat.

Moss also killed a 58-year-old Sioux City man. Moss had worked for the man in the past.

The crime happened when Moss was 23 years old. He was 35 years old when he died Wednesday afternoon. Authorities say Moss hung himself with a bed sheet. Moss was inside a “clinical care unit” at the time of his suicide. The unit is used to keep inmates with psychiatric issues away from the general prison population.

(Radio Iowa)