Des Moines, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today (Wednesday), confirmed a positive case of highly pathogenic bird flu in Pottawattamie County. The Iowa Department of Ag reports the virus was found in a non-commercial, backyard poultry flock.

The recent bird flu detections in birds do not present an immediate public health concern, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a news release, Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig said “We recognize the threat HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) and other foreign animal diseases pose to Iowa agriculture. We have been working with USDA, livestock producers and other stakeholders to develop, test and strengthen our foreign animal disease preparedness and response plans since the 2015 HPAI outbreak. While a case like this is not unexpected, we are working with USDA and other partners to implement our plans and protect the health of poultry flocks in Iowa.”

The Ag department said biosecurity resources and best practices are available at iowaagriculture.gov/biosecurity.

(Radio Iowa) – The union that represents park rangers is calling on the governor and the legislature to overrule the eviction notices sent to state employees who live in state-owned homes inside 23 state parks. Iowa Department of Natural Resources officials say it’s too expensive to do repairs and maintenance on the housing where park rangers and some other park staff have been living, so the employees have been told they must move out by November 30th. The Iowa State Police Officers Council is the union that represents park rangers and, according to the union, the D-N-R has ended negotiations over the evictions. The union’s president says it’s ironic that the D-N-R decided there’s a “business need” to maintain state-owned housing for staff who work at the state fisheries, but is on the verge of doing just the opposite for park rangers.

According to a timeline released by the union, on March3rd of last year the affected staff were told they had to start paying rent or find a document showing the D-N-R required them to live in the home. The union says that’s a violation of the workers’ contracts, because that housing subsidy was part of their pay. A spokesperson for the agency has said the decision to evict the park rangers is about the future of the state park system and two-thirds of the state parks, forests and preserves do not have staff living on the property.

[Here’s the list of area parks where on-site housing is to be vacated by DNR staffers by November 30th: Green Valley (Creston); Lake Manawa (Council Bluffs); Lake of Three Fires (Bedford); and Viking Lake (Stanton).]

(Radio Iowa) – The Sioux City metro area ranks as the nation’s top spot for economic development for populations under 200-thousand, according to Site Selection magazine’s annual rankings. Chris McGowan, of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, says it’s the third straight year and the tenth time overall Siouxland has ranked first in the nation since 2007. “This is a manifestation of the commitment that business has to the tri-state region of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota,” McGowan says. “Clearly, these results speak to local companies who have options to go anywhere in the country but they make the determination to grow right here in Siouxland.”

McGowan says Siouxland hopes to keep that streak going in 2022. Multiple companies have recently pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars on opening new facilities or expanding existing ones, bringing hundreds of jobs. McGowan says, “If we can maintain the momentum that we’ve had in the past, it’s certainly possible that we could repeat.”

Adam Bruns, managing editor of Site Selection magazine, says Siouxland continues to attract new development. “I’ve had the pleasure of coming here, it must be half a dozen times by now,” Bruns says. “It’s just an amazingly consistent track record of facility investment by your employers.”

The announcement followed an event on the riverfront in South Sioux City which was keynoted by Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts.

Police in Glenwood report the arrest on Tuesday, of 28-year-old Joshua Humphrey, of Glenwood. He was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense. Bond was set at $1,000.

(Lewis, Iowa) – As a reminder to local beef producers, the Iowa Beef Center and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach are hosting a “Beef Feedlot Marketing and Economics” meeting this afternoon, Wednesday, March 2. The meeting is free to attend and walk-in registrations are welcome. The meeting will be held at the Wallace Learning Center on the ISU Armstrong Research Farm located at 53020 Hitchcock Ave, Lewis.

Dr. Lee Schulz, ISU Extension livestock economist, will discuss market outlook and risk management, beef pricing from the producer to the consumer, competitive and transparent market proposals, and new USDA price reports.  Tim Christensen, ISU Extension farm management specialist, will address options for managing risk in the cattle industry, and Dr. Dan Loy, director of the Iowa Beef Center, will review Iowa feedlot performance and benchmarking data.

The meeting will begin at 1:30 PM and conclude at 4:00 PM and is free to attend.  Walk-In registrations are welcome. With questions, contact the Cass County Extension Office at 712-243-1132 or the East Pottawattamie County Extension Office at 712-482-6449.  For more information, please visit www.iowabeefcenter.org or email Dan Loy at dloy@iastate.edu.

Information about the program is also available on the Cass County Extension website at www.extension.iastate.edu/cass or by stopping into the Extension office at 805 West 10th Street in Atlantic.

(Des Moines, IA)  – Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Health, Wednesday (today) said Abbott is recalling one lot of Similac PM 60/40 (Lot # 27032K80 (can) / Lot # 27032K800 (case)) manufactured in Sturgis, Michigan. This is in addition to lots of Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare powder formula that were recalled on February 17. The FDA’s investigation related to powder infant formula produced in Abbott’s Sturgis, Michigan facility related to Cronobacter and Salmonella infections in infants is ongoing.

Affected products are in circulation in Iowa retail locations and have been distributed in small numbers through the Iowa Department of Public Health’s (IDPH) WIC program. If Iowans possess any of the affected products, it should not be fed to infants. Similac PM 60/40 is specialized formula for infants with impaired renal function, so the number of Iowans impacted will be relatively low.

Products affected by the formula recall can be exchanged with retailers for an identical authorized supplemental food item. WIC authorized retailers should follow their store policy for exchange and substitutes (which may include, but are not limited to, the same product, a substitute product, store credit, or a cash refund.) IDPH is providing more flexibility to participants, allowing them to purchase an alternative formula for the rest of February and March. If WIC participants have questions, they should contact their local WIC clinic: https://www.signupwic.com/

At this time, this is the only type and lot of this specialty formula being recalled. Abbott is disseminating recall letters directly to customers.

Iowans can check to see if they have recalled infant formula by:

• • Review the codes on the bottom of their formula packages.
  • Visiting the company’s website.
  • Calling the company at 1-800-986-8540.

For additional details and future updates related to the infant formula recall visit the FNS Infant Formula Safety webpage, the FDA’s advisory, or the CDC’s advisory.

(8-a.m. News, 3/2/22) – The Red Oak Police Department reports two separate arrests took place, Tuesday: 63-year-old Ronald Edward Borden, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 2:10-a.m., for Simple Assault. He was taken into custody in the 300 block of W. 2nd Street. Borden was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond. And, 44-year-old Brian Keith Shaver, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 11:28-a.m., Tuesday, for Theft in the 5th Degree (Shoplifting). He was taken into custody at the Red Oak Fareway store and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where bond was set at $300.

The Creston Police Department reports 29-year-old Steven Douglas Brinker, of Creston, was arrested Tuesday night. Brinker was taken into custody for Child Endangerment resulting in serious injury. He was transported to the Union County Jail and later released on bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s economy showed clear signs of improvement during February, according to the monthly Creighton University survey, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine pushed the survey’s business confidence index to its lowest level since the survey began in 1994. Creighton economist Ernie Goss says the Midwest economy is “up briskly” but business leaders are still dealing with familiar challenges. “More than four out of ten of the supply managers ranked supply disruptions,” Goss says. “Of course, with what’s going on in Ukraine now, you’d have to double that, I think, with big concerns. More than one-third indicated that finding and hiring qualified workers was their biggest challenge.”

Also, nearly one in five respondents listed “rising input prices” as their top challenge. While employment figures were up for February for the region, Goss says they’re still down about two-percent compared to pre-pandemic levels, dating back to February of 2020. “We asked the supply managers about what they expect in terms of a raise for this year — how much of a change in pay do you expect this year? On average, about 3%,” Goss says. “That’s very, very, I would call it modest or even weak, given what’s going on in terms of the overall demand for labor.”

A big issue for the region and nation remains the droves of people leaving the workforce, according to Goss, and he adds, inflation remains very high. “I don’t expect it to cool anytime soon. The earliest would be Quarter 3 of 2022,” Goss says. “It would depend a lot on what happens in Ukraine. You’ve got the Russian invasion of Ukraine pushing up commodity prices overall and that’s really going to push up inflationary pressures.”

On a zero-to-100 scale with 50 being growth neutral, Goss says Iowa’s Business Conditions Index for February climbed to 60.6 from 56.7 in January. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Goss says Iowa’s nondurable goods manufacturers, including food processors, have expanded at a solid pace, while durable goods producers, including metal manufacturers, have experienced pullbacks in economic activity.