(Radio Iowa) – A University of Iowa student from western Ukraine has been watching the war from afar and decided she wanted to do something in Iowa City to answer questions about her home country and explain its history. Oksana Hirchak says the university’s language center staff offered immediate support when she approached them with her idea for a “Ukrainian Conversation Hour” on campus. “I thought it would be nice to have, like, especially right now when people hear a lot about Ukraine — and maybe there will be students who would be interested in the Ukrainian language and core culture,” she says, “and I want them to have where to come and who to talk who could help them.”

Hirchak, who is psychology student at the University of Iowa, says she’s ready for any questions students may have for her. “It’s just like Ukraine is far — it’s like really really far…and they might not know a lot about this country,” she says, “so I want to make it closer to them.”

She’ll host her first “Ukrainian Conversation Hour” next Tuesday night on the University of Iowa campus.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Kassidy Arena)

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne says it’s now up to the Senate to pass a bill Axne co-sponsored that would force insurance companies to cover dental procedures and oral surgeries needed to treat rare birth defects. The bill cleared the U.S. House this week with bipartisan support. “The Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act literally came from two moms from Dallas County who visited me and inspired this legislation,” Axne says. “Jennifer Steele and Sarah Ward — their children were born with rare genetic disorders that affect their ability to eat because their teeth don’t grow in properly.”

Axne says there are medical procedures that help, but insurance companies are classifying the surgeries as cosmetic procedures and denying coverage. “That’s not acceptable whatsoever,” Axne says. “These children can’t eat properly because their teeth aren’t fully in, that leads to digestive problems, digestive problems lead to internal problems. We can help them with this and that’s why this needs to get done.”

Children with this condition may have missing teeth or teeth that are shaped differently and have defective enamel. The condition often makes it difficult to chew, swallow and even speak. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has introduced an identical bill in the Senate and Axne says she hopes that means the Senate will be able to pass it soon and send it to the president. The bill passed the U.S. House this week on a 310-to-110 vote.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Thursday, that Navy Storekeeper 3rd Class, 21-year-old Harry E. Nichols, of Sioux City, Iowa, who died during an attack on Pearl Habor in World War II, was accounted for May 30, 2019. On Dec. 7, 1941, Nichols was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Nichols. From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Nichols.

USS Oklahoma Storekeeper 3rd Class, Harry E. Nichols.

Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis. To identify Nichols’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

Nichols’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for. Nichols will be buried May 13, 2022, in his hometown, more than 80-years after his death.

(Chicago, IL) – A package being shipped to Iowa from the Netherlands, was found to have two human skills inside. The package was intercepted March 29th, after x-rays showed anomalies inside. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agriculture Specialists (CBPAS) at the International Mail Facility (IMF) at O’Hare International Airport inspected the parcel and found two skulls. Authorities say it was the first of three shipments coming from the same sender (six skulls total). It’s not clear what the skulls were intended for.

Each package had two skulls a piece for a total of six. The skulls were referred to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further disposition. Officials say to-date, CBPAS have intercepted 1,667 agriculture shipments containing prohibited items to include live moss bathmats, live snails, and human skulls. The most common items CBPAS have seized are pork and beef sausages, plants, plant materials, seeds for planting, and live snails. These shipments may spike during the holidays and during certain seasons.