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Skyscan Forecast for Atlantic & the Nishna Valley: Friday, December 1st, 2023

Weather

December 1st, 2023 by Ric Hanson

Today: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 39. North northeast wind 5 to 15 mph.
Tonight: Cloudy to partly cloudy, with a low around 24. N/NE @ 5.
Saturday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. S @ 5-10 mph.
Saturday Night: Mo. Cloudy w/a 20% chance of rain before midnight. Low around 24. South wind around 5 mph.
Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 40.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 19.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 44.

Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 49. The Low was 25. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 49 and the Low was 23. The Record High on December 1st in Atlantic, was 67, in 1998. The Record Low was -10 in 1892. Sunrise is at 7:26. Sunset at 4:51.

Quad Cities’ dog parks close due to local cases of mysterious respiratory illness

News

December 1st, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Three dog parks in the Quad Cities have been closed after a few cases of a mysterious respiratory illness have been diagnosed in local dogs. The illness has been reported in 14 states, leads to pneumonia in some dogs and, in rare cases, has been fatal. Dr. April Blong, a veterinarian, is a professor at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. She says there have been no known cases at the university’s Small Animal Hospital and researchers do not yet have a definitive answer about what may be causing some dogs to get seriously ill.

“Until we have some idea or a better idea of exactly what we’re dealing with, it’s a little hard to track,” Dr. Blong says. Dr. Blong says just like when humans catch the flu, some dogs are getting far sicker from whatever virus this may be. “Just like with regular kennel cough that dogs get all the time, in certain individuals for whatever reason it seems to become more serious and can progress to an overt pneumonia that can be very serious,” she says. As with kennel cough, puppies and dogs with underlying health conditions like diabetes may be at higher risk.

“An animal with a chronic disease, you should just be more mindful of where you’re taking them, what they’re potentially being exposed to and the same with the young dogs,” Dr. Blong says. “There’s a lot of things younger animals can contract besides a respiratory illness, just by being in contact with other dogs.” That’s because it takes a while for the immune system in a young animal to fully develop. Coughing, difficulty breathing and lethargy are symptoms of respiratory disease in dogs. Dr. Blong says if your dog is healthy, though, being around other health dogs is a good activity.

“Dogs are social animals,” she says, “so if we keep them by themselves or don’t let them play with anyone or do anything, that actually could be detrimental from a behavior standpoint.” The American Veterinary Medical Association says dog owners should take their pet to a vet as soon as coughing or other respiratory symptoms appear. The medical group says researchers haven’t determined if recent cases of serious respiratory distress in dogs were caused by a virus or bacteria. There’s no indication the illness can spread to humans.

Thursday Night Girls High School Basketball Scores

Sports

November 30th, 2023 by admin

Hawkeye Ten Conference:
#7 St. Albert 70, Logan-Magnolia 21
Storm Lake @ Denison-Schleswig
Shenandoah @ #8 Harlan Community

Western Iowa Conference:
Tri-Center 60, Boyer Valley 42

Rolling Valley Conference:
West Harrison @ West Monona

Corner Conference:
Lenox 54, East Mills 32
Southwest Valley 53, Griswold 34
Hamburg @ Sidney

Pride of Iowa Conference:
Bedford 67, Murray 32
Pleasantville 68, Wayne 53
Melcher-Dallas @ Southeast Warren

West Central Conference:
Ankeny Christian 46, Madrid 40
Ogden 52, Perry 38
#3 Panorama 62 @ IKM-Manning 34

Thursday Night High School Boys Basketball Scores

Sports

November 30th, 2023 by admin

Hawkeye Ten Conference:
Storm Lake 61, Denison-Schleswig 56
Harlan Community 63, Shenandoah 39
Logan-Magnolia  @ St. Albert

Western Iowa Conference:
Panorama 78 @ IKM-Manning 50

Rolling Valley Conference:
West Harrison 59, West Monona 41

Corner Conference:
Hamburg @ Sidney
Lenox @ East Mills
Southwest Valley 77 @ Griswold 27

Pride of Iowa Conference:
Bedford 68, Murray 35
Melcher-Dallas 71, Southeast Warren 31

West Central Conference:
Madrid 78, Ankeny Christian 47
Ogden 62, Perry 50
Woodward Granger 46, Martensdale-St. Mary’s 30

Griswold basketball struggles to find the rim in season opener

Sports

November 30th, 2023 by Asa Lucas

Thursday night the Griswold basketball team struggled to consistently score and lost by a wide margin to the Southwest Valley Timberwolves 77-27.

Griswold was up 10-7 halfway through the first quarter, but lost steam at the end with a 22-10 Timberwolves at the end of the first. The pressure and missed shots continued for Griswold and they were down 43-18 at half. The Tigers only scored 9 more points in the second half and the Timberwolves shots kept pouring in.

Alex Morgan had a strong night for the Timberwolves with 24 points. His 5 baskets in the second half  helped solidify the Southwest Valley win. Roman Keefe added 19 as Southwest Valley improved to 2-0 on the season. They stay on the road and head to Mount Ayr Friday night.

Peyton Cook was the leading scorer for the Tigers with 13 points. Griswold starts the season 0-1 and Head Coach Matthew Spunaugle told his players to keep their head up despite the loss.

Griswold will stay at home for a blue out game on Friday and face a tough Riverside team on Monday.

Tipoff for the Riverside matchup is set for 7:30 p.m.

 

Griswold girls basketball start the year with a loss

Sports

November 30th, 2023 by Asa Lucas

The Griswold Tigers lost their opening game of the season to Southwest Valley 53-34 Thursday night. The Timberwolves used tight defense to take the early lead and never looked back after leading 15-9 by the end of the first quarter. Foul trouble and missed free throws were a big issue for the Tigers through much of the game. The Tigers had 15 fouls called on them.

Southwest Valley led 22-16 at halftime and had a 39-28 advantage by the end of the third. The Timberwolves got 21 points from sophomore Hailey Randall and Mackenzie Fast also scored 12. The Timberwolves improved to 1-1 and will head to Mount Ayr on Friday.

The Tigers got 7 points from Addison Adams and Abby Gohlinghorst had 7 points. Head Coach Ryan Lockwood noted that the sluggish offensive, hindered his team’s ability to score.

With the loss the Tigers are 0-1 to start the year and coach Lockwood is already focused on Griswold’s next matchup against Riverside.

Tip off for the Riverside game is set at 6:00 p.m.

Iowa Completes Day 1 of Hawkeye Invitational

Sports

November 30th, 2023 by admin

IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa swimming and diving concluded day one of the Hawkeye Invitational on Thursday. Through the first six events, the Hawkeyes lead the team scoring with 229.

“It was an excellent start for our team to come out and expect to perform well on the first day,” Iowa head coach Nathan Mundt said. “That’s the standard they’ve been setting all season and to come into our home pool and continue to raise the bar even more, was a lot of fun. Seeing so many of our program’s top-10 performances is exciting momentum going into tomorrow. We want to continue to push and get better each day.”

Iowa posted six marks that rank on Iowa’s top 10 all-time lists. Freshman Jenna Kerr started it off, posting the eighth-fastest 500 free with a time of 4:48.63. Three Hawkeyes broke their all-time records, including freshman Olivia Swalley climbing five spots to rank third in the 200 IM (1.59.15), while sophomore Scarlet Martin and fifth year Kennedy Gilbertson followed up in the 50 free. Gilbertson tied for third all-time with a 22.70 and Martin posted a 22.91 to rank sixth all-time.

Gilbertson, Kerr, Swalley, and Martin combined to post new all-time marks for both relays on the night. The squad posted a time of 1:31.46 in the 200 free relay to become sixth at Iowa and ended the day in the 400 medley relay (3:38.28) to rank seventh in the record books.

The Hawkeyes return to action on Friday, Dec. 1 for day two of the Hawkeye Invitational. The meet will be live streamed on B1G+ (subscription required).

Cyclones Fall To Hawaii, 3-1, In First Round

Sports

November 30th, 2023 by admin

EUGENE, Ore. – Hawaii (24-8) had 13 blocks as it turned back No. 7 seed Iowa State (20-10), 3-1 (16-25, 26-24, 25-18, 25-23), Thursday evening in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Matthew Knight Arena on the campus of the University of Oregon.

The Cyclones claimed the first set behind a 15-1 run and led much of the second set before relinquishing the lead late. ISU could never regain momentum as the Rainbow Wahine easily won the third set and held the Cyclones off in the fourth to advance.

The Cyclones were paced by senior Alexis Engelbrecht, who finished with 13 kills while hitting .478. Maya Duckworth posted her seventh double-double of the season, finishing with 15 kills and 11 digs to go along with a career-high matching five services aces. The Cyclones notched eight aces as a team.

Freshman Nayeli Gonzalez was in double figures with 12 kills and 14 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. She broke Rachel Hockaday’s freshman point record, finishing her first season at ISU with 409.5 points.

Setter Morgan Brandt dished out 43 assists and now has 83 assists in her NCAA Tournament career, the fourth-most by any Cyclone in tournament play.

ISU hit just .186 in the match while playing without libero Brooke Stonestreet and right side hitter Lilly Wachholz, who missed the match due to injury.

This was ISU’s 17th NCAA Tournament appearance in school history and the 16th under the direction of Christy Johnson-Lynch.

 Set One

The Rainbow Wahine jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead before a timeout was called by Johnson-Lynch. The timeout was just what the Cyclones needed as it propelled them to nine-straight points and an 11-7 lead before UH could score another point. The Cyclones extended the run to 15-1 and cruised to a 25-16 opening set victory and a 1-0 lead.

The Cyclones hit .480 in the opening frame and had four service aces as a team, including three from Duckworth.

Set Two

Iowa State scored the first three points in set two and held Hawaii at arm’s length throughout the first half of the set until the Rainbow Wahine were able to close the Cyclone lead to just one at 21-20, forcing a timeout. The Wahine kept rolling and went on top 22-21, but Gonzalez and Engelbrecht stopped the 5-0 run with a block. Hawaii would extend the lead back to two (24-22) before the Cyclones fought off a pair of set points. Ultimately, the Cyclones dropped the set on a service ace by Talia Edmonds, evening the match 1-1.

Hawaii controlled the net in the second set, notching five blocks and holding the Cyclones to a .000 hitting percentage on its way to the 26-24 win.

Set Three

The Cyclones never led in the third set as Hawaii hit .533 on its way to a 25-18 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match. The Wahine had 16 kills and no errors on 30 attacks in the frame, while ISU hit just .179 as a team. An Annie Hatch kill trimmed the deficit to 16-13, but UH closed it out with a 9-5 run.

 Set Four

What appeared to be a pivotal replay put Hawaii up 13-11, but the Cyclones took it in stride and rattled off the next five points to gain control of the set and go ahead 16-13. Hawaii quickly rallied back and knotted it up at 18-18. The set went back-and-forth the rest of the way until Hawaii was able to gain some separation and eventually won the match on Iowa State’s eighth service error of the match.

No. 1 Northwestern hosts No. 10 Saint Xavier in NAIA quarterfinals on Saturday

Sports

November 30th, 2023 by admin

Top ranked Northwestern hosts 10th ranked Saint Xavier of Illinois on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the NAIA playoffs. Northwestern coach Matt McCarty.

In an upset of fifth ranked Marian last week, Saint Xavier had 15 tackles for a loss and 10 sacks. McCarty says the Raiders will need to take advantage of man coverage.

Saint Xavier leans on its passing game but McCarty says the defensive game plan begins with stopping the run.

McCarty says advancing in the playoffs requires playing at a high level.

Largest US book publishing house sues Iowa school book policy

News

November 30th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The country’s largest book publisher, four authors and the state teachers union have filed a lawsuit challenging part of a new Iowa law that requires schools to remove books that describe or depict sex acts. Dan Novack is the Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Penguin Random House. “Senate File 496 is a book ban, plain and simple,” Novack says. “…It’s also created the paradox that under Iowa law a 16 year old student is old enough to consent to sex, but not old enough to read about it in school.”

Novack says Penguin Random House has filed a similar lawsuit against a Florida school district. “We are prepared for a drawn out battle to restore sanity in the way that we are approaching public education and literature,” Novack said. Melinda Lo — author of “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” — is another best-selling author who’s part of the lawsuit. “In the two years since it won the National Book Award it has been banned, challenged or restricted in over40 school districts and communities across the country, including six in Iowa,” Lo said. “…I am so grateful to have this opportunity to stand up for my readers and the First Amendment.”

Laurie Hulse Anderson is the author of SPEAK, a story about a 13 year old girl who struggles with the trauma of rape during her first year of high school.  “The families of Iowa have the right to supervise and choose what their own children are reading, of course,” Hulse Anderson said, “but no one group of parents or politicians has the right to limit the books available to other citizens.” Iowa State Education Association president Mike Beranek, a retired third grade teacher, says Iowa educators are trained in what are age-appropriate materials for classrooms and library shelves.

“This is an incredibly important issue not only for us here in Iowa, but for the country as a whole,” Beranek says. Earlier this week Governor Kim Reynolds said protecting children from pornography and sexually explicit content should not be controversial — and books with graphic depictions of sex acts have absolutely no place in Iowa schools.

There are now two lawsuits challenged new state education policies. A lawsuit filed by the A-C-L-U of Iowa on behalf of a group of parents and students also addresses a part of the law banning instruction about sexual orientation in elementary classrooms.