Officials with the American Red Cross’ Midwest Blood Services Region based in Omaha, are putting out an emergency call for blood donors. Tricia Quinn, CEO of the organization’s Midwest Blood Services Region says the blood supply has reached emergency levels, with fewer than 50,000 donations than expected so far this month. The shortfall, she says, leaves the Red Cross with half the readily available blood products on-hand now, than this same time last year.

All eligible blood donors, especially those with “O Positive” “O” Negative, “B and A Negative” types of blood, are encouraged to roll-up their sleeves and give the gift of life. Even though those are the most needed types, all blood types will be accepted, especially in preparation for the upcoming 4th of July holiday.

Call 1-800-Red Cross or visit redcrossblood.org to make an appointment or for more information. Upcoming area blood donation opportunities include:

In Pottawattamie County, at the Loess Hills Chapter Donation Center (705 N. 16th St., in Council Bluffs), from 12:30-6:15-pm. today (June 25th); tomorrow (June 26th), from 11am-5pm; and June 30th 6:30-a.m. to Noon.  Other dates are available as well, in July.

In Cass County on June 28th at the Wesley Heritage House, from 11am-4pm.

In Shelby County, on June 27th from Noon-6pm at St. Mary’s School in Panama, and on Julu 10th, from 11:30-a.m.-5:30pm, at the Veteran’s Memorial Building.

Donation opportunities are also available late this month through mid-July in Carroll, Harrison, and Page Counties. Those who donate blood between now and September 5th, will automatically be entered into the Life Life, Give Life promotion, for a chance to win prize packages from GiftCertificates.com. Those donating between June 29th and July 8th will be entered to win additional prize certificates, to thank them for giving blood around the Independence Day holiday.

The Secretary of the Navy was in Sioux City this weekend for the naming ceremony for the first ship to ever carry the western Iowa city’s name. Secretary Ray Maybus spoke at a city hall ceremony paid tribute to the actions of Sioux City Medal of Honor recipient, Colonel Bud Day. “That’s the kind of character that the people of this city, that Sioux City has exemplified, and that’s the kind of character that will sail in the U-S-S Sioux City,” Maybus said. The U-S-S Sioux City is what’s called a littoral combat ship, and is designed to be able to switch its setup to do many things.

“Right now we’ve to three mission modules, we’ve got an anti-surface, anti-submarine and an anti-mine. But a lot more are in development and a lot more are on the way,” Maybus explained. “So when the mission changes, all she has to do is pull in, you take out one module and put in another, and she’ll be ready to go.” The new ship will be fast, with a top speed of 40 knots. Construction is set to begin next year with completion by 2016. Maybus said the U-S-S Sioux City is part of an effort to build the fleet back to levels that were seen around 9-11.

“We’re going to grow the fleet to 300 ships by 2019. Since December of 2010 we have put 40 ships under contract, and that compares to three in 2008. This is gonna allow us to protect America,” Maybus said. Maybus said the fleet had shrunk to 283 ships since 9-11, and they are able to rebuild it using fixed-price contracts and better competition from bidders. Another ship in the same class as the U-S-S Sioux city will be named the U-S-S Omaha.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Atlantic report the arrest on Friday of 31-year old Steve Pedersen, of Atlantic. Pederson was taken into custody on a charge of assault. He was booked into the Cass County Jail pending an appearance before the magistrate.

An Anita woman is lucky to alive after a fire occurred at her home this (Monday) morning. Firefighters from Anita and Wiota responded to the call about smoke and flames coming from the home at 306 Elm Street just before 8:30-a.m.

Fire at 306 Elm St. in Anita (Ric Hanson photo)

Anita Fire Chief Duane Murphy says when they arrived there was a large amount of smoke venting from the windows on the north side of the building and up in the attic. Murphy says firefighters were able to get control of the situation “pretty quick.” He said while the cause remains under investigation, there was a report of a “boom” or a “bang” ahead of their arrival. He says they suspect the air conditioner may have burned through and vented into the home, but natural gas was not immediately thought to have been to blame. The initial investigation leads them to believe that it started on the inside of the home in the attic area, which is where most of the damage occurred. The Chief said there was extensive damage to the home.

306 Elm St. Fire (Ric Hanson photo)

A woman believed to be in her 50’s was in the home, along with her dog. Murphy said the woman had some injuries, but is “very lucky.” She showed indications she had taken in a lot of smoke and soot. She was transported by Anita Rescue to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic for treatment, before being flown by helicopter to a burn unti in Nebraska for additional treatment. Chief Murphy said her refusal leave the home to try and find the dog, could have cost her her life. He says it’s hard to get across to people that their health is more important than their pets. He says they spent 25-minutes trying to convince her to go to the hospital. He says if a human’s health is in jeopardy, the health of the animal isn’t going to matter if there’s no one around to take care if it. Firefighters and neighbors were still searching for the animal late this morning.