If you’ve been sick and get up ready to head out to a family Thanksgiving celebration, you might want to think about staying home. Iowa Department of Health State Medical Director, Patricia Quinlisk, says you could be taking more than your favorite pie to relatives. Quinlisk says if you have the flu you could spread it to family members, especially if you are inside with them all day.

“When it is cold out we tend shut our windows — therefore the ventilation factor just goes down — and our air is more stagnant. So if somebody coughs in the air, it sticks around longer, and you are more likely to breathe it in,” Quinlisk says. Doctor Quinlisk says the cold weather adds another factor that may help the spread of the flu.
She says the amount of humidity in the air goes down when it is cold and our nasal membranes and throats get dry. “And the drier they are, the more susceptible they are for the influenza virus invading into our body,” Quinlisk explains. You may love the closeness of family during the holiday, but the closeness can put you at a greater risk.

“Once you are closer to people, well then you are more likely to be within three to five feet of somebody when they’ve got the flu,” Quinlisk says. Being that close means you are in the perfect range of a flu laden cough. Quinlisk says the best advice is to stay home if you are sick. You might miss out on the holiday, but you will keep your friends and relatives from picking up your sickness. If you got a flu shot early this week, you may still not be safe from getting the flu.

“Basically you start getting immunity as soon as you get vaccinated, but it could take up to two weeks to have full immunity,” Quinlisk says. If you got the flu shot beyond that two-week window, Quinlisk says this year’s shot should do a good job of protecting you. And she says continued good personal hygiene that includes washing your hands will help you keep from attracting or spreading the flu.

(Radio Iowa)

A traffic stop Tuesday night in Clarinda resulted in charges filed against the driver, with additional charges pending against a passenger in the vehicle. Police Chief Keith Brothers reported Wednesday, that around around 10-p.m. Tuesday, his officers arrested 19-year old Kai Jacob Ballinger-Knoke, of Clarinda, for 1st offense OWI/drug-related.

Plant material believed to be marijuana and paraphernalia used for ingesting marijuana were found in the vehicle. Ballinger-Knoke was processed and released on recognizance with a promise to appear in court at a later date. A passenger in the vehicle, 19-year old Rodney Joe Baldwin, also of Clarinda, is also facing pending charges for possession of a substance believed to be marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

An Atlantic man arrested in June, 2015, on a charge of Indecent Contact with a Child, Lascivious Acts with a Child and one count of Second Degree Sexual abuse, has plead guilty to a lesser charge. According to online court records, 30-year old Tad Haskins plead guilty, Monday, to an amended Count of Lascivious Acts with a child. The remaining counts were summarily dismissed.

Judge Mark Eveloff also suspended a 5-year prison sentence and $750 fine, and instead required Haskins to serve 2-years of supervised probation. He’ll have to: Live at the Residential Corrections Facility in Council Bluffs until maximum benefits are reached; Pay restitution in the amount of $172 within 30-days; Complete a Sex Offender Treatment Program; Submit a DNA sample, and, have no contact with his step-children for a period of two-years.

A highway stop in which Iowa police officers pointed weapons at an innocent dark-skinned man and his 6-year-old son has prompted a federal lawsuit and racial profiling claims. Details of the September 2014 incident in northwest Iowa have emerged in a lawsuit filed by the driver, 32-year-old Levi Wilson of Orange City. He alleges the stop and search were illegal.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says officers acted appropriately because they were searching for Wilson’s brother, David Wilson, a sex offender who was wanted on outstanding warrants. Officers say the brothers sometimes drove the same truck. Levi Wilson denies that.

U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett refused to dismiss the case this month, ruling that claims of unreasonable search and seizure, excessive force and invasion of privacy could proceed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A Council Bluffs man has been indicted on one count of bank robbery in federal court in Des Moines. Documents filed Tuesday say Jesse Daniel Specht took by force, violence and intimidation money from Farmers & Merchants State Bank in Neola on Oct. 14. Specht was arrested five days later in Omaha.

The bank was robbed by a man wearing a mask who told employees and customers to get down on the floor before he ran away with an undisclosed amount of cash.