Researchers in Iowa say changes in an Alzheimer’s patients’ brain can occur at least 20 years before they are diagnosed with the disease. They’re calling for more education about early warning signs of dementia during Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month. There are at least seven million people age 65 and older in the U-S living with Alzheimer’s, 62-thousand of them are in Iowa. Abby Miesner with the Alzheimer’s Association of Iowa says despite time and money being spent on research, the risk is going up at a younger age, and the numbers are discouraging.

Miesner says those numbers hold true across the board for Blacks and Latinos as well. She adds now that doctors know signs and symptoms could start to occur at an earlier age they are paying attention to signs sooner. Miesner says occasionally misplacing your keys or forgetting why you went into a room are not always cause for concern, but repeatedly forgetting things that are part of your everyday life could be.

Meisner adds earlier detection gives doctors a chance to intervene sooner in a patient’s life.

All of those things can be controlled by developing healthy habits. But a 2022 Alzheimer’s Association report shows 60-percent of people will put off seeing a doctor if they develop symptoms early on, waiting until the symptoms worsen, or family and friends encourage them to seek treatment. The Association is holding educational events statewide all month.

(Iowa News Service)

It’s been a wet spring in Iowa but water utilities in the Des Moines metro area are asking people to save water because of high nitrate levels in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers. For now, Des Moines Water Works C-E-O Ted Corrigan says tap water is held below the legal limit by running a nitrate removal facility and mixing in low-nitrate water from wells and reservoirs. As people start watering lawns and demand increases, Corrigan says those low-nitrate sources won’t keep up.

The two rivers are a major source of drinking water for around 600-thousand people in central Iowa. The current filtration process simply won’t be able to meet demand, he says, as water use typically rises during the summer months.

Corrigan says Des Moines and other members of the Central Iowa Water Works are asking people to not over-water their lawns. If drinking water comes close to violating the nitrate standard, he says people can expect to see mandatory restrictions.

(Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio via Radio Iowa)

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says there is a good possibility the U-S Supreme Court will review an appeal from Iowa or two other states that have passed immigration enforcement laws.

Earlier this week a federal judge in Des Moines issued an order temporarily blocking enforcement of Iowa’s illegal reentry law. It would let Iowa officials arrest and deport immigrants who’ve previously been deported or were denied entry to the U-S. Bird is appealing that ruling to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

The U-S Justice Department and civil rights groups filed lawsuits arguing the federal government has sole authority to enforce immigration laws and the state law that was to go into effect July 1st is unconstitutional. The lawsuits cite a 2012 U-S Supreme Court ruling that overturned an Arizona law that would have given Arizona police authority to arrest undocumented immigrants suspected of committing any crime that made them eligible for deportation.

The Arizona law that was overturned also sought to make it a state crime for unauthorized immigrants to fail to have some sort of government-issued I-D. Emma Winger, an attorney with the American Immigration Council, says Iowa’s law could lead to deporting people who’ve obtained legal residency or asylum in the U.S. after being deported.

(Radio Iowa) – FEMA has opened up three more Disaster Recovery Centers in Clarke, Polk and Pottawattamie counties. FEMA Spokesman John Mills says these centers add more options for people dealing with storm damage.

Mills says anyone who was hit by a storm in the federal disaster areas should talk to FEMA.

Assistance is available in Adair, Montgomery, Polk and Story County for the May 20th to 31st storms. FEMA funding is also available for homeowners and renters in Clarke, Harrison, Mills, Polk, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby and Union counties for the April 26-27th tornadoes and storms.

Mill says you should take photos of any damage you may have from the storms.

The phone number to call is 800-621-FEMA (3362). You can also go online at DisasterAssistance.gov, or use the FEMA app. Mills says some people hit in the first round of storms may now have information that can lead to assistance.

Recovery specialists from the U-S Small Business Administration will also be at the disaster recovery centers to provide information on available services. The new disaster recovery centers are at the Clarke County Annex Building 109 South Main Street Osceola; the Riley Resource Group in Polk County at 4400 E. University Ave. Pleasant Hil; and in Pottawattamie County at the Charles E. Lakin Human Services Campus North Parking Lot 815 North 16th Street Council Bluffs.