MARY JO ELLIS, 82, of Stuart died Saturday, June 17th at Taylor House Hospice in Des Moines. A visitation for MARY JO ELLIS will be held on Thursday, June 22nd from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm with a prayer service at 7:00 pm at the Johnson Family Funeral Home in Stuart.
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Memorial contributions may be made in Mary Jo’s name to Taylor House Hospice or Project Restore Foundation in Stuart.
At least one insurance company is having to bring in agents from out of state to handle all of the claims from severe weather that swept across Iowa last Thursday afternoon and evening. Hundreds of customers report damage to their homes and vehicles from large hail and high winds. Chris Pilcic, a spokesman for State Farm, says a few areas had tennis ball-sized hail and there’s damage from Shenandoah to Dubuque.
“It was really statewide, in different parts of the state geographically, though we are concentrating on some of the metro areas where we’ve had the most claim volume,” Pilcic says. “In addition to the local resources who’ve been working since the day of the storm, we’ve deployed more resources to those areas.” Those include: Des Moines, Cedar Falls, Waterloo and Davenport. The company’s claims specialists report a lot of roof damage, but also dented siding to homes and shattered windows, primarily from hail, but also from wind.
“Since the severe weather in Iowa, we’ve heard from over 1,000 customers reporting damage,” Pilcic says. “The majority of claims we’re hearing about thus far is to automobiles, over 600 claims have been filed. On the homeowners’ side, we’ve heard from nearly 500 customers reporting damage to their homes.” As of this (Monday) morning, State Farm reported a total of 11-hundred-10 hail claims in Iowa from last week’s storms. In all of last year, the company had 27-hundred hail claims in the state. Given the backlog of claims, some customers haven’t yet had a personal visit from their agent and Pilcic says you shouldn’t wait to take action to protect your property.
“If you have broken windows, if you’re missing shingles or there’s a hole in your roof, if there’s really significant damage, you can take steps to make temporary repairs,” Pilcic says. “If you buy tarps or plywood or even if you hire someone to make those temporary repairs, take pictures, save your receipts, save your invoices and tell your insurance company about it. That’s going to be covered by your homeowner’s insurance policy.” If you need to hire help to make repairs, he offers some advice: Don’t pay anything up front, get everything in writing, and get references and a physical business address of the contractor.
(Radio Iowa)
A Sac City man has been airlifted to a Sioux City hospital after falling from a bridge on Sunday afternoon. Sac County Sheriff Ken McClure reports deputies responded to the scene at approximately 5:30 p.m. on a report that a man had fallen into the Raccoon River from a bridge south of Sac City. When they arrived on the scene, they learned that 48-year-old Brad Blum was reported to be sitting on the railing when he fell backwards.
Sac County Emergency Medical Services transported Blum to Loring Hospital in Sac City and he was later airlifted out.
(Radio Iowa)
A fire caused heavy damage to a home in Sioux City this (Monday) morning. Fire Marshal Mark Aesoph says they were called out just before 9 a-m. “The first unit did go on scene and had heavy fire visible at the front of the structure,” Aesoph says. “There were 10 occupants in the home at the time of the fire, as well as several pets. He says the people in the home included the couple who rented it, some friends and six kids ranging in age from one to 12. All got out without any serious injuries.
He says a couple of people were looked at and did not appear to have any issues. Aesoph says the home did have working smoke alarms. Aesoph says the fire traveled quickly through the home and that’s why having smoke alarms is important. “Without that smoke alarm and the early warning to get moving, it could have been a very different situation,” Aesoph says. Investigators are still looking for the cause of the fire.
(Radio Iowa)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A spokesman for health care insurer Medica says it plans to sell insurance in Iowa next year and expects to make an announcement soon. Medica spokesman Larry Bussey confirmed Monday the company has preliminary plans to remain in Iowa but the company seeks clarity on how the Affordable Care Act exchange market in Iowa is going to function.
Iowa last week applied for a federal waiver to allow federal subsidies designed to lower costs for low-income and older participants to be used to entice younger people to buy insurance in hopes of keeping Medica and perhaps attracting others back to Iowa.
Medica is the only statewide insurer left in Iowa. State insurance officials feared the Minnesota-based company might also leave, causing 72,000 people to have no choice next year.
Montgomery County Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Hamman, Monday, said the CodeRED system will be ending county-wide, later this month. Hamman said “For the past several years, Montgomery County has exclusively used CodeRED as our primary emergency mass notification system. In 2015, Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management launched Alert Iowa available to all 99 counties free of charge. With our service contract ending on June 30, 2017 with CodeRED, Montgomery County will switch all emergency mass notification messages along with severe weather alerts to the Montgomery County Alert Iowa system.”
Hammon said also, “To date, approximately 556 users have signed up for the Montgomery County Alert Iowa system and over 1,000 phone calls, text messages and emails receive these notifications. All current CodeRED users must opt in to the new system to continue receiving emergency and weather alerts.”
You can sign up with Montgomery County Alert Iowa by visiting www.montgomerycountyiowa.com/alertiowa or by calling the Montgomery Co EMA office at 712-623-3749.
Sheriff’s officials in Mills County said Monday (Today), 26-year old Laron D’Pree Hampton, of Glenwood, was arrested Friday morning at the Mills County Jail, on a warrant for Sexual Abuse in the 2nd degree/3rd offense. No other information was provided. His bond was set at $75,000.
Also arrested Friday morning, was 25-year old Justin Lewis Marsden, of Red Oak. He was already at the Montgomery County Jail when he was arrested on a warrant for Revoked Pre-trial Release. Bond was set at $12,000. And, 27-year old Million Jonathan Lee, of Emerson, was arrested Friday night for Domestic Abuse Assault. He was being held in the Mills County Jail without bond.
Saturday morning, Mills County Deputies arrested 43-year old Kimberly Michelle Streit, of Glenwood, for OWI/1stoffense. Her bond was set at $1,000. She was taken into custody following a traffic stop on Highway 34 at around 4-a.m., Saturday.
Sunday morning, 26-year old Lucas Craig Farmer, of Red Oak, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant for Arson in the 2nd degree. And, Sunday night, 40-year old Joseph Lee Hastie, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension.
The Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association released their latest Baseball rankings late Sunday. Here is a look a the full top ten in each class with local teams highlighted:
Class 1A
1. Newman Catholic 17-1
2. North Linn 22-1
3. Martensdale-St. Marys 23-2
4. Akron-Westfield 16-1
5. Don Bosco 16-2
6. Exira/EHK 13-0
7. Lisbon 15-3
8. Saint Ansgar 14-4
9. CAM 14-2
10. West Sioux 12-4
Class 2A
1. New Hampton 19-1
2. Wilton 15-3
3. Cascade 16-2
4. Treynor 16-2
5. Beckman Catholic 15-6
6. Dike-New Hartford 15-3
7. Woodward-Granger 18-0
8. Estherville-Lincoln Central 14-4
9. Van Meter 16-1
10. Iowa City Regina 14-6
Class 3A
1. Harlan 16-0
2. Davenport Assumption 21-2
3. Vinton-Shellsburg 17-2
4. Sergeant Bluff-Luton 16-4
5. Marion 15-4
6. Carlisle 13-5
7. Saydel 17-3
8. Waverly-Shell Rock 13-3
9. Gilbert 16-3
10. Dubuque Wahlert 13-8
Class 4A
1. Johnston 16-1
2. Dowling Catholic 19-3
3. Waukee 15-4
4. Iowa City West 16-5
5. Iowa City High 17-5
6. Ankeny Centennial 14-6
7. Indianola 17-4
8. Cedar Rapids Prairie 14-7
9. Southeast Polk 13-8
10. Western Dubuque 16-3
Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater released details Monday on a few recent arrests.
On Sunday, June 11th Deputies arrested 32-year-old Derik Wayne Bud Pickrell, of Fontanelle on a charge of Driving While Revoked. Pickrell was arrested at 1st and Maple Streets in Fontanelle and later released on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.
Also on Sunday, June 11th at 5:47pm Deputies arrested 37-year-old Michael Lynn Huddleson, of Fontanelle, on multiple charges. Huddleson was arrested at 12th and Main Streets in Fontanelle just before 3-a.m., for OWI 2nd Offense, Carrying Weapons, and Theft 3rd Degree.The weapons charge stems from a Glock 19, .9mm handgun Huddleson had on his lap when the Deputy Wedemeyer approached Huddleson’s pickup truck, which he had pulled over for a broken taillight.
Seeing that the Glock was pointed in the Deputy’s direction, Wedemeyer drew his duty weapon and ordered Huddleson out of the vehicle. One the man was placed in handcuffs, the Deputy secured the weapon, which was fully loaded, with one round in the chamber. The gun was determined to have been stolen out of Clarke County. Huddleson was taken to the Adair County Jail and released later that released on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.
On Thursday, June 15th Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 38-year-old Laura Kay Welsch, of Greenfield, for Simple Assault. Welsch was taken into custody and held on $300 cash or surety bond.
DES MOINES – Last week over 60 federal, state and local agency, academic and industry professionals met to participate in a mock animal disease emergency response exercise. The exercise was hosted by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship with the support of Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
“Unfortunately, Iowa saw firsthand how devastating an animal health emergency can be with the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreak that severely impacted our poultry industry in 2015. The Department has made it a priority to take the lessons learned from that disaster and help us be better prepared should we have to deal with another event in the future. This exercise was another step in that process and I greatly appreciate all the stakeholders from across the state that participated,” Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said.
The tabletop exercise was designed to help test response capabilities and review the Department’s updated Foot-and-Mouth Disease Response Plan that was completed this spring. Foot and Mouth Disease is a highly contagious viral disease of livestock that affects cattle, swine, sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed ruminants. This disease is not transmissible to humans and there are not food safety concerns with the disease.
This all-day exercise allowed leaders in industry, academia and government to talk through the plan and process of preventing, detecting, and responding to various scenarios involving an outbreak response.
“We greatly appreciate the leadership by the Department to develop this plan and continue the process by holding this exercise so we can continue to learn and improve,” said Pat McGonegle, CEO of the Iowa Pork Producers Association who participated in the exercise.
A Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak has the potential to be devastating to the Iowa and national economy. Iowa is the number one pork producing state in the nation and 4th in beef production. Iowa 3rd in milk goat inventory and 9th in all sheep and lamb inventory. Our state also has over 200,000 dairy cows and is in the top 15 nationally for milk production. Livestock feed is the top customer of both corn and soybeans, so grain farmers would also be significantly impacted if the disease is found.
The Center for Food Safety and Public Health at Iowa State coordinated the development of the updated response plan. The exercise was organized/conducted by SES, Inc. out of Merriam, Kansas, who provided facilitators and evaluators to document discussion, resolve questions, and advise on plans, policies, and procedures.
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