(Radio Iowa) – The recent heat wave is apparently keeping some Iowa blood donors from giving the gift of life. Danielle West, with LifeServe Blood Center, says while they normally have a three-to-five-day supply of all blood types on the shelves, the supply has dwindled to less than a one-day supply. “Truly right now, we are low in every blood type and we’re lower than we have been in quite some time,” West says. “The first part of the year has been really tough for us we haven’t seen a lot of blood donors come out and our inventory is really, really low — dangerously low at this point.”

Donors are needed immediately as the demand for blood products is continuing to rise. “Everybody is needed. If you’ve never donated before, you don’t even know your blood type, we would still love you to come in and give it a try,” West says. “If you haven’t donated in a while, we have our Steady Eddies that come in so frequently, which is great, but even if we have one or two new people, that makes a big difference.”

There is a constant need for donations as blood products have a short shelf life and the blood supply needs to be continuously replenished. On average, West says someone needs blood every two seconds. “We are encouraging people to make appointments. We have donor centers all over the area, mobile blood drives, so hopefully it’s super-convenient for people,” West says. “From start to finish, you’re in and out within within an hour. You can actually do your questionnaire ahead of time now, which will save you time, and really the donation part is only five to 10 minutes in the chair.”

A blood drive is underway today (Thursday) at Valley West Mall in West Des Moines, with more drives in the coming days in: Ankeny, Pella and Urbandale. Appointments are also available in Ames, Fort Dodge, Mason City and Marshalltown. LifeServe is the only provider of blood and blood products to more than 120 hospitals in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

www.lifeservebloodcenter.org

DES MOINES – Coming off a highly successful 3-year run across all 99 Iowa counties, the State Historical Society of Iowa’s mobile museum is back on the road with a brand new exhibit. Housed in a custom-built Winnebago, the 300-square-foot museum on wheels launched in 2017 and completed its first 99-county tour in 2019, making 175 stops along the way and attracting nearly 65,000 visitors, including 11,400 students. The current exhibition, “Iowa History 101: Iowa’s People & Places” debuted last year and will continue its new 99-county journey through 2023. It will offer free self-guided tours at 405 5th Street in Adair during the Adair Sesquicentennial at the following dates and times:

• Friday, June 17, 4-6 p.m.
• Saturday, June 18, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

The new exhibition shares stories from Iowa’s past with an eclectic array of artifacts from the State Historical Museum of Iowa’s permanent collection, plus a video narrated by WOI-TV host Jackie Schmillen. Guests will see iconic artifacts that reflect the role of Iowans in state, national and international events, including a Meskwaki cradleboard representing the past and continued presence of Native nations in Iowa. They’ll also see women’s suffrage materials from the early 1900s and the pen used by Iowa Governor William Harding to sign Iowa’s resolution in support of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Other artifacts include a menu from a dinner held in Des Moines for Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, in 1959, as well as photos of a southeast Asian refugee and Sudanese women in central Iowa, and a flight suit that southern Iowa native and accomplished astronaut Peggy Whitson wore during one of multiple expeditions (totaling 665 days) aboard the International Space Station. The idea for the mobile museum emerged in 2014 from a series of community conversations organized by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, which oversees the State Historical Society of Iowa. Iowans care deeply about history and made it clear they wanted new ways to access the State Historical Museum’s resources.

Iowans may request a visit from the mobile museum for their local schools, libraries, museums, community festivals, county fairs and other places where people gather. Visits are complimentary and the tours are self-guided. More details are available at iowaculture.gov. Iowans can also follow the mobile museum’s statewide journey on Facebook at facebook.com/IowaHistory.

The traveling exhibition presenting sponsor is EMC Insurance Companies and fuel sponsor is Casey’s. Additional partner support is provided by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Winnebago Industries, Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company and Mike Wolfe

(Radio Iowa) -The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the firing of a Cedar Rapids Police Officer following his arrest for a second O-W-I. Austin Mensen was hired with the knowledge he had previously been convicted of O-W-I. He was with the Cedar Rapids department three years before being convicted of second offense O-W-I. The Civil Service Commission fired him and he appealed –saying there were not sufficient facts to support the decision and that it was arbitrary because it did not consider mitigating factors.

The Court of Appeals ruled Mensen’s conduct was detrimental to the public interest — as the loss of his driver’s license limited his ability to do his job. It also says police officers represent the department and city and are held to a high standard of conduct, and the existence of mitigating factors does not automatically render a decision arbitrary.