(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Cancer Registry is marking its 50th year and celebrating the fact cancer is much less deadly in Iowa today than in 1973 when the first report was published. Registry director Mary Charlton, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa, credits decades of advances in medicine, treatment and early screening technology.

“Cancer mortality is declining, and survival among people who are diagnosed with cancer is getting better as the years go by,” Charlton says. “So what used to be kind of a death sentence back in the ’70s versus now, we have over 160,000 Iowans living with a history of cancer and doing great.” Early detection is the best defense against cancer, she says. Fifty years ago, about ten-thousand cancer cases were being diagnosed each year statewide, while today, it’s more than 20-thousand.

While more Iowans are being told they have cancer than five decades ago, many more are now surviving the fight. “So things like breast cancer or prostate cancer, back in the 1970s, less than 75% of people diagnosed with those types of cancers survived at least five years,” Charlton says, “but now over 90% survive at least five years.” There was troubling news in the report, as new national rankings now show Iowa has the second highest rate of new cancer cases in the U-S.

“I was really surprised to see that we had climbed that high,” Charlton says. “We’re only behind Kentucky, which is down in the Tobacco Belt. They’ve been number-one for a long time and have a very high smoking rate. We do not have as high as smoking rate, but it does seem like we’re just high. We have high rates of lots of different types of cancers in our population and we’re really trying to figure out why that is and what we can do to address that.”

The annual report allows doctors and researchers to focus on how to prevent and treat cancer, she says, and it provides Iowans with the knowledge they need to get advance screening and improve survival rates across the board. “Breast, prostate, lung and colorectal cancers continue to make up almost half of all cancer cases in Iowa,” Charlton says. “In terms of cancer deaths, lung cancer continues to be the most common cause of cancer deaths, accounting for one out of every four cancer deaths in Iowa, with colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer also in the top three.”

The report projects 20-thousand-800 Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer this year, an increase of 800 from last year. It also forecasts 62-hundred Iowans will die from cancer this year, a drop of 100 from a year ago. See the full report here: https://shri.public-health.uiowa.edu/

(Radio Iowa)- Republican lawmakers are proposing a ban on gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy for transgender youth. Senator Jeff Edler, a Republican from State Center, says if the state can make it illegal for minors to use tobacco or alcohol, it can ban body altering procedures. “What they’re feeling today may not be the same that they’re feeling when they’re 18 or older and some of these procedures are non-reversible,” Elder says. “I mean, the damage that is being done. It is very new technology and techniques.”

Subcommittees in the Iowa House AND Senate approved the same bill on Tuesday afternoon. A woman who said her name was Angie testified at the subcommittee hearing in the Senate. “It is irresponsible to lead children down this path at such a young and vulnerable age,” she said. Samantha Fett of Carlisle, a member of the conservative Moms for Liberty group, says the bill protects the children of today and future generations.

“We need to allow children to grow normally because puberty is important to human development,” she said. “Pausing it has life-altering consensuses forever.” Doctors and parents pushed back on the idea children are being manipulated. Karen Butler of Iowa City told lawmakers her child is non-binary and the family spent years meeting with specialists and mental health professionals.

“What makes you think you are in a better position than I to make decisions about my child?” Butler asked lawmakers. “…I want you to understand the gender affirming surgery my child received was medically necessary, potentially life saving care.” Dr. Kaaren Olesen, an O-B/G-Y-N at Broadlawns Hospital in Des Moines, cares for L-G-B-T-Q youth. “We are not going about willy nilly just doing surgeries on young children,” she said. “There are processes and procedures to follow.” Aime Wichtendahl, a member of the Hiawatha City Council, told lawmakers she knew at the age of nine — as a student at a Christian school — that she was trans.

“Being trans is a condition of the human race,” she said. “You can’t erase us, no matter books you ban…no matter how many rules and regulations you put in front of us.” South Dakota lawmakers recently passed a ban on gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy for minors. Similar legislation has been proposed this year in 26 other states.

(Bedford, Iowa – DNR News) – A contractor for the city of Bedford accidentally hit a private sewer line while doing work on a water line Tuesday, causing wastewater to spill between 405 North and 102 Central Street.

City officials estimated 100 gallons of sewage reached the city storm sewer, which drains approximately one mile before outletting into the East Fork of the One Hundred Two River.

The city’s contractor immediately made the necessary repairs to the private sewer line.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – In an update to our report earlier this month, officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department, today (Tuesday), said that a woman who was reported missing to Council Bluffs Police on Feb. 14th, was found deceased Sunday, in an area outside the Council Bluffs City Limits. 60-year-old Illene Gowen was found by Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputies.

Illene Gowan

Her death is considered suspicious. Anyone with information on her whereabouts on or after Feb. 13, 2023, is asked to contact the Council Bluffs P-D at 712-890-5400, Option 3