Atlantic, IA – The March session of Healthy U will be held Thursday, March 19, 2020, at Cass County Health System. The program, Five Things Your OB/GYN Wants You to Know will be presented by Emily Chang, DO, OB/GYN. Dr. Chang provides comprehensive obstetrics and gynecological care for women of all ages in the Atlantic Medical Center.

Dr. Emily Chang

She is certified through the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and received her medical degree from Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2003.

Healthy U will be offered at noon on Thursday, March 19th. Healthy U is a free educational series at Cass County Health System held monthly in Conference Room 2. The public is invited and welcome to attend, but reservations are required as a meal is provided for all attendees. Call 712-243-7479 to reserve your seat.

COUNCIL BLUFFS – Pottawattamie County Public Health and their partners have launched a  new website to communicate information regarding COVID‐19 (Coronavirus) with residents,  schools, and other allied partners.   Pottawattamie County Public Health is working with the Iowa Department of Public Health, Pottawattamie County Emergency Management, and other partners to monitor the situation  with COVID‐19.

Maria Sieck, Pottawattamie County Public  Health Administrator, said “We will keep the public informed of safety measures and needed public response efforts  through this website and the local media.” The website will host information such as: current state and local status; preparedness  information for the public, businesses, schools, healthcare facilities; and response actions being  taken by local officials.

Officials want to reiterate that, at this time, the risk to the general public remains low.  However, it is highly encouraged that residents take proactive steps to prepare themselves and  their families for the possible spread of the coronavirus. To help prevent the spread of  respiratory diseases such as the coronavirus or influenza, continue to use every day  preventative actions such as avoiding close contact with people who are sick, covering your  cough or sneeze with a tissue, avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth, and staying home  when you are sick.

For updated coronavirus information, residents are encouraged to visit pcema‐ia.org and click  on the COVID‐19 icon.

GRINNELL, Iowa (AP) — Two central Iowa schools were locked down Tuesday after someone reported spotting a suspicious person near one of them. Superintendent Janet Stutz of the Grinnell district says the district office was notified around 8:40 a.m. that the person was seen outside the high school, not far from a K-2 elementary school. Both schools locked the doors, and students and teachers were told to remain in their classrooms. Stutz says it took until around 9:30 a.m. before the person was found somewhere other than inside the school. It’s unclear where. The Grinnell police chief didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press.

Officials with the West Central Iowa Solid Waste Management Association (SWMA), in Carroll, report contaminated rural recycling trailers are placing an unnecessary financial burden on recycling services. Mary Wittry, Regional Contact for the West Central Iowa Solid Waste Management Association said today (Tuesday), “Rural recycling services face possible elimination of funding due to the vast amount of garbage being dumped into the trailers. The contamination of trash found in our rural recycle trailers places an unnecessary financial burden on the Association to sort and ultimately landfill this material, and could lead to rejection of our recyclables at the mill.”

SWMA covers Carroll, Crawford, Guthrie and Shelby Counties, and 11 communities in west central Iowa. Recycling has been around since the Waste Reduction and Recycling Act of 1989. Fast forward 31 years, and we still face confusion on what goes in the recycling and what goes in the garbage. SWMA says their rural recycling trailers have become a dumping site for many unrecyclable items. Rural recycling trailers are placed throughout their service area to provide easy and accessible recycling opportunities for those who live outside curbside collection zones. Misunderstanding of acceptable materials is putting this service in jeopardy.

Poor recycling basics in the USA has closed the door for recycling exports, placing a toll on domestic mill abilities to handle the amount of materials produced. Domestic mills place high expectations for clean, dry non-contaminated recycling materials. Noncompliance results in rejection of baled materials, sending them into the landfill. Recycling education can be found by visiting the Association website at www.westcentralsolidwaste.com or call your local solid waste office with questions. Help preserve our rural recycling program for generations to come by educating yourself and others on recyclable materials and the proper disposal of trash.

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Responsibly…it’s the right thing to do.

Officials with the Harlan Police Department, today (Tuesday), released a list of persons who were arrested or cited, from Feb. 18th through the 27th. Most recently:

• On Feb. 27th, 46-year old Joseph William Willemsen, of Pella, was arrested on an active Marion County warrant. And, 50-year old Anthony Elwood Rikle, of Harlan, was arrested for domestic abuse assault.
• On Feb. 26th, 55-year old Cynthia Hagar Blank-Pigeon, of Harlan, was cited for driving while suspended following a traffic stop.
• February 18th 41-year old Stephanie Marie Hampton, of Harlan, was arrested by Harlan Police on an active Shelby County warrant. That same day, 51-year old John Anthony Wyatt, of Harlan, was arrested on an assault charge.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says a Creston woman reported Monday, that sometime between November 2019, and March 2nd, 2020, someone broke into her storage unit on Industrial Avenue, and took a Cub Cadet push mower, along with some fans and fishing chairs. The loss was estimate at $450.

(Radio Iowa) — Students from a northwest Iowa college are being pulled from a Study Abroad program in Italy over fears about the spread of coronavirus in that country. Twelve Morningside College students and a faculty member will return to Sioux City from Sicily next week. Morningside’s Alden Stout says there’s no evidence any of the students have symptoms of the virus. “The students will be — just like all passengers as we understand who leave Italy — are going to have a screening and when they enter the United States, they’ll be screened by United States Customs,” Alden says. “So they’ll follow that protocol as well.”

The college decided to recall the students after the U.S. State Department issued an advisory urging people to reconsider traveling to Italy. Stout says the school reacted to the travel advisory, quote, “out of an abundance of concern.”  “We do value safety really highly of our students,” Alden says. “If there’s something we’re going to prioritize, we’re going to prioritize their safety.”

The students will finish their coursework online. The respiratory illness has rapidly spread through Italy, killing more than 50 people. There are confirmed cases in more than 60 countries. State health officials say there are no confirmed cases in Iowa, although five people in Iowa are being monitored for the virus, while two others are being tested for COVID-19.

(Reporting by Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)

The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) today (Tuesday) requested Iowans returning from a country where novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is spreading to voluntarily self-isolate for 14 days following their return. Areas in this travel notice currently include: China; Hong Kong; Iran; Italy; Japan; and South Korea

Individuals returning from affected areas are asked to stay home and monitor their symptoms for 14 days and if they become ill and need to seek medical care, they should call ahead to their doctor’s office and inform them of their recent travel. IDPH Medical Director Dr. Caitlin Pedati says “We recognize staying at home for 14 days is an inconvenience, but it is an important way to limit the spread of a variety of illnesses, including COVID-19. The department urges employers to work with staff to consider flexible leave policies and tele-working options.”

Currently, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Iowa; however, experts predict there will eventually be community spread. The proactive actions announced today by the department can help delay and/or control this potential spread. There are things all Iowans can do to help prevent the spread of all viruses, including influenza and COVID-19:

• Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your upper arm/elbow
• Clean your hands frequently with soap and water
• Contain germs by staying home when ill
• Residents should prepare for the potential of COVID-19 in the same way they prepare for severe weather or other events that could disrupt their normal routine. This includes making a plan and discussing it with your family.

Symptoms of the COVID-19 in people who have been exposed can include fever, cough and shortness of breath. The symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as long as 14 days after exposure. Reported illnesses have ranged from people with little to no symptoms to people being severely ill and dying. For information and updates related to COVID-19, visit https://idph.iowa.gov/Emerging-Health-Issues/Novel-Coronavirus and follow IDPH on Facebook (@IowaDepartmentofPublicHealth) and Twitter (@IAPublicHealth).

(Radio Iowa) — Criminal penalties for intentionally or accidentally causing the death of a fetus without the consent of the mother would be increased under a bill advancing in the Iowa House. Iowa Catholic Conference lobbyist Tom Chapman says Iowa should treat the killing of a fetus without the consent of the woman as a form of homicide, as several other states do.  “It protects unborn human life in the criminal code in contexts other than abortion or medical procedures,” Chapman says, “so it deems an unborn baby to actually be a person when offenders attack or otherwise harm a pregnant woman.”

The bill would also declared that life starts at conception, something critics like Jamie Burch Elliott of Planned Parenthood say would insert “personhood” language into the state’s criminal code. Planned Parenthood lobbyist Jamie Burch Elliott opposes the bill.  “It sends Iowa down a dangerous path when you define a fertilized egg as a person,” she says. “These changes could have unintended far-reaching consequences including outlawing certain forms of birth control, outlawing in vitro fertilization.”

Supporters say the proposal isn’t intended to ban abortion or any other medical procedure. The Iowa Senate passed this bill last year, and the House failed to advance it in 2019 ahead of a legislative deadline. Abortion opponents held a rally at the state capitol Monday. Representative Steven Holt of Denison chairs the House Judiciary Committee. He told the group a law passed last year may someday shift the court’s position on the issue because it allows the governor to appoint a majority of the panel that nominates future justices.  “We will now have a court that will likely interpret the law by what is written on the page as opposed to rewriting it to match their agenda,” Holt says.

The Iowa Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit from Democratic legislators claiming the judicial nominating law is unconstitutional. The group plans to appeal that decision to the Iowa Supreme Court.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Katarina Sostarik and Grant Gerlock)

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, today (Tuesday), passed a resolution setting the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Maximum Property Tax Dollars, as follows:

• General County Services at $4,886,788.
• Rural County Services at $2,802,340.

The Maximum Property Tax dollars requested for FY2021 represents an increase from FY 2020 of 2% in General County Services, and 1.98% in Rural County Services. A Public Hearing on the FY 2021 Budget will be held March 24th, during which the budget can be reduced, but not increased. The figures determined today (Tuesday), is the maximum levy, according to Auditor Dale Sunderman.