(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa chapter of the American Heart Association is hosting a live webinar this (Wednesday) afternoon to discuss the vaping epidemic in Iowa’s schools and efforts to make all schools tobacco- and vape-free. Wesley Franklin, the association’s community impact director, says they’ll offer an in-depth look at the “alarming” trends in youth tobacco use. All are welcome to attend. “We’re looking at school officials, school directors, administrators and educators, who will be our main audience,” Franklin says. “Of course, we’ll have some parents who are passionate about reducing or eliminating vaping and tobacco in schools.”

Virtually all Iowa schools are required to be tobacco-free and smoke-free, but vaping doesn’t involve tobacco or smoke — it’s a chemical vapor — so in some schools, vaping is still permitted as the rules are written. “There is still a discrepancy about how is vaping not part of it,” Franklin says, “and a lot of our school officials are not updating their tobacco policies to make sure that vaping products and all of those elements of vaping are updated within their policy.” Recent polls find about one in four Iowa high schoolers say they vape daily. The workshop is free and starts at noon.

Register here:
https://heart.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Xr6i0eVwTJqm8wz0P-mHXA

Police in Des Moines are investigating a crash that took place a little after 8:30-p.m. Tuesday, and that resulted in two fatalities. Authorities say 51-year-old Jerry Coles and 47-year-old Kristy Hyde were killed in the crash. Police said 46-year-old Stacey Coles-Behle was injured in the crash and remains hospitalized in serious condition. In a news release, Police said “Witness statements, and preliminary examination of evidence at the scene, indicates that the passenger car, a 2016 Mercedes Benz, involved was traveling northbound on E. 14th Street at what appeared to be a high rate of speed. The two motorcycles involved were southbound on E. 14th Street and turning eastbound on Washington Avenue. The Mercedes Benz struck the motorcycles within the intersection. The Mercedes Benz continued northbound until it crashed into a utility pole, shearing it off at the ground, and came to a stop. Witnesses reported that multiple persons got out of the crashed Mercedes Benz and ran from the scene.”

Police said no arrests have been made.

Police in Red Oak report two people were arrested on separate charges, Tuesday. At around 9:35-p.m., Officers responded to a possible domestic disturbance in the 1600 block of E. Summit Street. Upon further investigation, 54-year-old Barbara Darlene Wilson, of Red Oak, was taken into custody for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. Wilson was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held without bond. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies assisted in handling the arrest.

And, 29-year-old Dylan James Humbright, of Red Oak, was arrested on an OWI/2nd offense charge, Tuesday, after Red Oak Police investigated an accident in the 1000 block of Senate Avenue, Authorities say a 2000 Chevy garbage truck owned by Batten Sanitation and driven by 58-year-old Curtis Clark of Stanton was eastbound and making a stop, when a 2003 Chevy Silverado driven by Humbright backed into the front of the garbage truck. Police say Humbright left the scene of the accident and was immediately located at the BP gas station at 1715 Broadway. No injuries were reported.

Humbright was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Sam Clovis, a former Republican candidate for the U-S Senate, is suing a Sioux City hospital and its affiliates for alleged medical malpractice. The Iowa Capital Dispatch says the 71-year-old Clovis is suing UnityPoint Health and St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center of Sioux City, along with Regency Square Center and Family Health Care of Siouxland. The lawsuit also names four doctors as defendants.

The lawsuit states the defendants were responsible for Clovis’ medical care for three months up to June 2019, when he awakened to discover that he was a paraplegic. Clovis, who is from Hinton, claims the defendants missed multiple opportunities to diagnose and intervene with regard to a thoracic spinal cord abscess that has resulted in permanent spinal cord damage.

Clovis, according to the lawsuit, is now wheelchair-bound as a paraplegic, requiring significant round-the-clock care. He is suing the defendants for negligence and is seeking unspecified damages for medical expenses; loss of function of the mind and body; physical pain and mental anguish; and lost earning capacity.

The Hinton resident served in 2016 as one of the national co-chairs of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and later became a senior White House adviser to the U-S Department of Agriculture.