(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall reminds persons who own property in the County, that your Second-half of real estate and mobile home taxes are now due. Also: 

• You can go online to pay your taxes at www.iowatreasurers.org
• Credit and debit cards are accepted (with a convenience fee)
• Deadline for payments without penalty is Thursday March 31, 2022

(Corning, Iowa) – Adams County Elections Official Nancy Turner, today (Monday), released the list of candidates whose names will appear on the June 7th Primary Election ballots. Three of the candidates (Bobbi J. Baker-Maynes; Scott Akin, & Leland Shipley) are Incumbents.

(Audubon, Iowa) –  The Audubon County Auditor’s Office has released the list of candidates’ names who will appear on the ballot for the June 7th Primary Election. Three of the candidates are Incumbents (I).

Audubon County Board of Supervisors (Elect 1)

Heath Hansen – Republican

Todd M. Nelsen – Republican

Audubon County Attorney

Christopher R. Swensen – Democrat (I)

Audubon County Treasurer

Debra M. Campbell – Democrat (I)

Audubon County Recorder

Miranda J. Bills – Democrat (I)

(Radio Iowa) – An immigrant advocacy organization called Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice will host its first post-citizenship class for new citizens this week. It’s also a chance for immigrants who’ve been here a while to update their civics knowledge. Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz will teach the short course. He says he wants the class to allow for deeper understanding of what it means to be a citizen, outside of an exam, and to truly empower new citizens. Murguia-Ortiz says, “We’re hoping to create a space where we can really dive deeper into, ‘Now that I’m a citizen, or now that I will still be a citizen, what are my rights or how can I be involved as a citizen?’”

The class is called “Citizens 201: Democracy in Action.” Murguia-Ortiz says he’s spoken with people in citizenship classes who are eager to learn more outside of studying for a test. “It’s directly in response to those conversations, those questions, and the fact that there typically isn’t time in those classes to dive deeper into those things,” he says.

While the citizenship exam is more national in scope, participants in the new class will learn how to be active in more local events and elections and know their rights as a U-S citizen. Citizenship 201 will be held Thursday at the North Side Library in Des Moines.

(reporting by Kassidy Arena, Iowa Public Radio)

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Retail Coach, a recruitment firm hired by the City of Atlantic, will be in town Tuesday, April 5th for a site visit of the community as well as to share crucial data they have collected. Bailey Smith, Executive Director at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, said “Austin Farmer, our representative with Retail Coach, has been gathering a lot of amazing data explaining our retail leakage, and areas Atlantic is currently lacking when it comes to retail and restaurants. The data will be shared with current business owners to highlight possible inventory areas they could add to not only grow their business but also provide items consumers are currently leaving town to buy.”

The data is purchased from an outside company and is collected through cell phone data. The data shows where consumers are shopping while they’re in Atlantic, how far they travel to come to Atlantic and where consumers are shopping outside of Atlantic. The data collected from outside Atlantic helps show what retail and restaurant styles to focus on. Smith says “Everyone has ideas and dreams of shopping experiences and restaurants they’d like to see in Atlantic. Getting our hands on this data will help solidify the need and help show potential businesses the community can and will support them if they come.”

Aside from data collection, Retail Coach is also working with individuals who are interested in being a franchisee. Retail Coach has a list compiled of businesses who would be interested in opening up shop in Atlantic if a franchisee came forward. Anyone interested in investing as a franchisee is encouraged to attend the workshop as well.

The workshop will be help April 5th at 6 PM at the Cass County Community Center. Dinner will be provided. Business owners, interested franchisee investors and interested community members are encouraged to attend. To RSVP, contact the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce at 712-243-3017 or email bailey@atlanticiowa.com.

(Iowa City, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Corrections, Sunday, said an inmate serving a 10-year prison sentence for Sex Abuse in the 3rd Degree, died last week. 75-year-old Lloyd Harlan Schlumbaum died March 23rd at the U-Of-I Hospitals and Clinics. His death was listed as being from natural causes. Schlumbaum was serving the sentence from out of Sioux County that began April 25, 2018.

(Radio Iowa) – A study from the University of Iowa Post-COVID Clinic research team shows damage to the small airways in the lungs is a potential long-lasting effect of COVID-19. Doctor Alejandro Comellas says their C-T scans in the study found no difference based on the severity of a person’s COVID-19 case.  “That was the surprising part — that we found the same degree of involvement in the lungs independently of how severe was the acute illness,” he says. Comellas says they are trying to figure out why there’s no difference.  He says they don’t know, but speculate the virus infects and causes similar damage to the airway and the severity of the disease is dependent on how a person’s immune system responds.

Comellas isn’t sure if the lung damage can be treated.”That is the next question we are trying to assess,” according to Comellas. “We are now analyzing and studying what is happening to patients who have this finding and whether many months later some of them are recovering or are they staying the same or progressing.” He says they are trying some treatments such as inhalers that they use with asthma or C-O-P-D. The symptoms can be shortness of breath, a cough, scatter wheezing, sometimes chest tightness, but very nonspecific. Comellas says the lack of specific symptoms can let the problem go unnoticed.He says the regular type of testing could turn out to be normal unless you do the specific test where the patient exhales during the C-T scan to get a lung image.

Comellas says they are trying to find out if this will be a long-term problem following COVID. “We do not know whether the findings are due to lung inflammation in the airway — or whether these are damaged airways like a scar,” he says. He says this may be something you want to have checked out.  Comellas says if you continue to have some of these symptoms two to three months after having COVID, you should see a doctor if you have any type of damage.

Comellas says they hope to have more information as they continue to study COVID patients.