A University of Iowa researcher says he’s troubled by a new federal report which finds the nation’s suicide rate has reached its highest level since 1941, with nearly 50-thousand people taking their own lives last year. Professor Jonathan Platt, a U-I social epidemiologist, studies changes in the population patterns of mental illness and suicide. Platt says certain findings in the C-D-C report are especially worrying.

The federal report shows suicide deaths are rising among older adults, especially those over 70, and Platt offers some insights into why that demographic may be more at risk.

While suicide rates had been sharply rising in young people in recent years, this latest report indicates those numbers are starting to level off, which Platt says would be encouraging news. Experts are studying the recent rise in youth suicide rates, and Platt says many theories point to a single culprit.

Free, confidential, round-the-clock help is available through the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, a resource Platt says holds promise for helping to reduce the numbers. A report released earlier this year from Trust for America’s Health shows 549 Iowans died by suicide in 2021, which is a drop of three-percent from the year before.

(Radio Iowa) -Fourth District Congressman, Randy Feenstra, says his constituents are concerned about the country’s economic situation.

He says high interest rates are also making it tough on businesses.

Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, says mounting credit card debt is another issue.

Feenstra says Congress needs to find a way to balance the federal budget and the Biden Administration needs to stop increasing spending. He says without changes the federal debt will continue to climb and that means we need more taxpayer dollars to fund the interest of our debt.

The U-S Army Corps of Engineers is accepting public comments through mid-December about the on-going clean-up of a former missile site in western Iowa. Jessica Messerschmidt — a program manager at the Corps of Engineers’ office in Omaha — says the site near Missouri Valley was used for maintenance, storage and potential launch of missiles during the Cold War.

Messerschmidt, who is a geologist, says work began in 2013 to determine the extent of groundwater contamination in the area from T-C-E. It’s a synthetic chemical that has been shown to cause kidney cancer after prolonged exposure.

The Corps of Engineers has installed 28 filtration systems for residents who get their drinking water from wells in the area.

The Corps regularly tests over 140 wells for contamination. The Corps’ clean up plan is also focused on removing contaminants from the soil.

The Corps hosted a public meeting in Missouri Valley last Thursday.

The 178-acre area was part of Offutt Air Force Base and known as Site 3 for the potential launch of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. It was deactivated in 1964.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest information from the Legislative Services Agency shows a 243 million dollar drop in personal income tax payments to the State of Iowa over the past five months. In October, the three-person panel that sets an estimate of state tax receipts predicted state income tax tax payments would drop, mostly due to the tax reduction plan Governor Reynolds signed into law.

For the first five months of the state fiscal year, there’s been a more than 12 percent decline in income tax payments to the state compared to same period a year ago. That is a larger drop than had been predicted, but recent accounting changes in state government make direct comparisons difficult.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says new investigations show money may still be hidden that German government and military leaders stole during the wartime years of the early 1940s. Grassley, who serves on the U-S Senate Budget Committee, says he’s stunned there’s still some plundered funds that haven’t been returned to the ancestors of those who likely died in concentration camp gas chambers.

In 2020, Grassley says Credit Suisse (SWISS) was given credible information that it was holding Nazi-linked accounts. An ombudsman was hired who turned up evidence, who Grassley says was then fired. The bank has rehired the ombudsman so he can, in Grassley’s words, dig deeper into the “troubling details” of the bank’s history.