(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who resolved to lose weight in the new year might need a little help to reach their goal. Rebecca Cripe, a registered dietician and nutritionist with Emplify Health by Gundersen, says it’s not an easy task to change our eating habits and consulting with a professional will increase the chances for success.

If you want to make a change and drop some pounds, Cripe says don’t wait until March, find a registered dietician now, as she says their primary goals are education and problem solving.

Especially with the new year, there’s a lot of messaging with fad diets that there’s a problem with the individual if weight loss goals aren’t met, and that’s not right, according to Cripe. She says we need to go into the process with realistic expectations.

Emplify Health by Gundersen properties include clinics in Fayette, Decorah, Waukon, Lansing, Postville and Calmar, and a hospital in West Union.

(Radio Iowa) – NASA has provided grants to support robotics teams at four Iowa high schools. Chris Stevens is the Industrial Tech teacher at North Union High School in Armstrong where students are building robots.

North Union received a 63-hundred dollar NASA grant. Stevens says North Union is one of the smaller schools to have a team at robotics competitions.

Members of the North Union Robotics team fill a variety of roles.

The other NASA grants went to the “Tech Tiger” robotics team at Grinnell High School, the “Wild Wires” robotics team at Earlham High School and the B-C-L-U-W robotics team.

(Radio Iowa) – New Year’s Day is a time for reflection, resolutions and renewal, but for some Iowans, it’s just another blah, boring winter day to hole up inside, which could be a sign of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. Christie Harris, wellness education specialist at Emplify Health by Gundersen, says some of us will feel depressed, low on energy, having no interest in anything, with a worst-case scenario being thoughts of death or suicide. In many cases, Harris says it’s a relatively easy cure.

That light therapy involves sitting under a special, high-intensity lamp for a period of time daily. Studies find between 35- and 50-million Americans suffer from SAD, and those who were susceptible to it one winter are likely to see it return. Harris says if you think you may have SAD, there are several questions to ask yourself.

Another indicator could be difficulty concentrating, or a change in sleeping patterns, where you’re tired all the time and find it hard to get out of bed in the morning, or just the opposite, having a difficult time falling or staying asleep. If any of the symptoms sound familiar, Harris says to seek professional help.

Some people can overcome SAD by engaging in physical activity which can boost their mood and energy levels, while others may benefit from practices like yoga, meditation, tai chi (ty CHEE), and deep breathing exercises.

Emplify Healthy by Gundersen has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.

(Radio Iowa) – Senate Majority Leader Mike Klimesh (KLEH-mish) says he’ll have a conversation with his fellow Republicans about whether vaping products — the liquid pods or cartridges used in e-cigarettes — should be taxed in Iowa, just like cigarettes.

That would hurt retailers in Iowa’s border areas, Klimesh says, as Iowans who vape might start going to a neighboring state to buy their supplies. Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois all tax vaping products. South Dakota and Missouri don’t. Klimesh is a former smoker who says he’s tried to wean himself off nicotine for the past 20 years and he introduced a bill this past year that would have taxed vaping liquid as well as nicotine pouches which are wedged inside a person’s bottom lip like smokeless tobacco.

This fall, Senate Republicans chose Klimesh to be their new leader and he says that means he has a different role in the lawmaking process.

According to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, the cigarette smoking rate among Iowa adults has dropped to five-point-six percent, but the use of e-cigarettes continues to rise — with 23-and-a-half percent of 18 and 24 year olds vaping regularly.

HIAWATHA, Iowa (KCRG) – UPDATED Jan. 2nd – A carjacking suspect is in custody and hospitalized with critical injuries after exchanging gunfire with law enforcement Wednesday morning following a high-speed chase on I-380. KCRG reports that at approximately 8:30 a.m., officers were dispatched to a robbery in progress at the Marine Recruitment Office on Brandilynn Boulevard, where they learned a vehicle was stolen.

A Linn County Deputy located the suspect’s vehicle at 9:30 a.m. southbound on I-380 near Center Point. The adult male driver – later identified as 32-year-old Samuel Reese III, of Center Point, Alabama – took off southbound at high speed and officers chased him from Cedar Falls on I-380. Reese exited onto County Home Road and lost control, hitting a road sign. He then allegedly opened fire at officers out the driver’s side window. The chase continued southbound on I-380 until the vehicle came to a stop in the median ditch in Hiawatha near the Tower Terrace exit.

Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner told KCRG Reese fired several rounds at officers. As officers returned fire, Reese was shot by an officer and was taken into custody. He was taken to a local hospital and later transferred to University of Iowa Health Care for critical injuries. The sheriff said Reese used a rifle to shoot at officers and may have had more guns. No officers were reported injured and the officers directly involved have been placed on critical incident leave, which is standard procedure in this type of incident, which remains under investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies.