Creston Police arrested two women on separate Violation of Protection Order charges, Thursday, 20-year old Tia-Lee Jeanette Ferguson, of Creston, was arrested at around 10:20-a.m. at a residence in the 300 block of N. Pine Street. 32-year old Ashleigh Nicole Shinn, of Creston, was arrested at the same residence five-hours later. Both women were transported to the Adams County Jail and held without bond until seen by the Magistrate.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission recently approved the 2021 racing season for the Iowa Greyhound Park in Dubuque. Racing and Gaming Administrator Brian Ohorilko says the bulk of the financing for the track comes from the fund created to allow the industry to consolidate. “These payments are made shortly after the first of the year. Half of that money can go to the Iowa Greyhound Association (IGA) to be used at Iowa Greyhound park for purses, operating costs, and any capital expenditures that need to be made to keep the facility up. In other words, to keep the racing surface safe, to keep the starting boxes and rails in working order,” Ohorilko says.

The fund created in 2015 allowed the greyhound tracks in Council Bluffs and Dubuque to phase out will the I-G-A took over as the only live race facility. That fund was roughly 72 million dollars but is starting to run out. “There will be adequate money — at least for the next two years for that industry,” he says. But Ohorilko says the final payment will be made in January of 2022. “So at that point in time, unless something changes, the Iowa Greyhound Association would have to support greyhound racing with revenues they receive from simulcast racing,” according to Ohorilko.

Ohorilko says the operators will have to make a decision when simulcast revenue is their only income source. “That revenue that they receive is significantly less than the amount of money that they receive from the cessation payments — so it really would make it difficult unless the demand really increases from the simulcast outlets,” Ohorilko says. The I-G-A was approved for 112 race dates for 2021, which Ohorilko says is eight more than last year.

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — More than three dozen people have been charged in St. Louis County, Minnesota, in connection with a Chicago-based drug trafficking ring that operated throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Duluth police say this week’s coordinated drug bust led to 35 arrests in Minnesota — from Rochester in the southern part of the state to the Iron Range in the north. An additional five men in state prisons were also charged, and more arrests are possible. Police said they seized more than 1,200 grams of meth and 500 grams of heroin and fentanyl.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University researcher has helped show that a new skin test can identify Parkinson’s disease. Anumantha Kanthasamy has been conducting research into Parkinson’s Disease for more than 20 years and he says one of the challenges has been the lack of a test that can detect the disease in early stages. “Even for other neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s, we don’t have one,” he says, “so I think that’s where the excitement is.”

Parkinson’s Disease is currently diagnosed when a patient shows symptoms. However, it’s often mis-diagnosed in its early stages, preventing patients from getting the full benefits of clinical trials. Using the same method as a test that detects mad cow disease, this new skin test can identify clumps of proteins that are the hallmarks of Parkinson’s. Kanthasamy says the research team is getting a federal grant money to conduct another trial with a larger set of patients to validate the findings from its study with 50 patients. “In 3-5 years I’m very confident that we shall have a test that could be approved or at least neurologists could say this can be used or not be in the toolbox,” he says.

The initial study of this skin test for Parkinson’s has been published in a medical journal. Kanthasamy, who is the study’s lead author, says by getting confirmation earlier, patients could benefit from medications that may slow down the progression of the disease. He also says the skin test could be used to monitor how well medications are working — all of which will advance treatment for Parkinson’s.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced the release, Thursday, of a new software program, called Track-Kit, that allows the tracking of rape kits following an assault. “You can track it from the hospital to law enforcement to the testing lab and back to law enforcement,” Miller says. “We think this is really important to add trust and transparency to this system.”

Miller says the state is clearing up a backlog of untested kits and this will ensure the backlog doesn’t happen again as there are an estimated 15-hundred users at medical facilities, law enforcement agencies, crime laboratories, and county attorney’s offices. Shannon Knudsen is a sexual assault nurse examiner with the Mid-Iowa Sexual Assault response team. “This has been really significant for us as medical examiners because we are able to complete the circle as far as assuring patients that their kits are collected appropriately. Letting them know that they can track their kit throughout the process,” Knudsen says.

Shannon Knudsen

She says this gives them confidence they can trust the system. “Prior to this, we were able to tell them that we collected the kit and they may not hear anything further until sometimes a year later as far as where their kit is,” Knudsen says. “And now we are able to tell them that their kits will be processed in a much more timely matter — it’s really critical.” Knudsen says it’s also important to have a way for victims to keep up with the process. “If something isn’t happening with their kit that they thought would be — they can check on that and follow that and say ‘hey, what’s going on?'”

The program provides a secure portal to track the progress of their kit through the collection and analysis process, and also provides local sexual assault resources and contact information. The system allows survivors to contact law enforcement if they change their decision to participate in an investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – State Fire Marshal Dan Wood says there have been fewer fire fatalities in Iowa so far this year compared to 2019. “Fire deaths are down. This time last year, we had 43 fire deaths in Iowa where right now we have 28,” Wood says. “Of course, I’d like to have zero, but having 28 at this time instead of 43 like we did last year, that’s definitely an improvement.”

Wood says the state fire marshal’s office has been called upon to investigate fewer fires this year as well. State law does not require fire departments to report structure fires to the Fire Marshal’s office, but many do. The state fire marshal says most house fires that lead to a fatality are in homes that do not have a working smoke detector.  “With the Daylight Saving Time coming, we always encourage both in the spring and in the fall when you change your clock, change the batteries in your smoke detectors,” Wood says.

Sunday, November 1st is the start of Daylight Saving Time — when clocks “fall back” an hour. The State Fire Marshal’s website indicates the total number of fires has been decreasing nationally, but the rate of fire-caused deaths has not. The State Fire Marshal says that’s partly due to modern trends, like open spaces and the use of building materials that cause fires to spread more quickly.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa hospitals have the resources to manage this month’s surge in Covid patient admissions. On Wednesday evening, the state’s coronavirus tracker indicated 530 Covid patients were being treated in an Iowa hospital. That’s 44 percent more than a month ago and higher than in any previous month of the pandemic. Reynolds says about 10 percent of Iowa hospital patients have Covid and she says hospital executives have assured her they have enough ventilators and space in intensive care units to handle current case loads.

The state tracker indicates there are Covid outbreaks at 69 nursing homes and more than 18-hundred Iowa nursing home residents currently have Covid.