Officials with the Atlantic Food Pantry today (Wednesday), issued a heartfelt Thank You to the Atlantic Community and Cass County Area.  Their gratitude is for the enormous support shown by the City and County residents, businesses, clubs, churches, and out of town friends of Atlantic, during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Your response, they say, has been timely and generous and because of that we have been able to continue to provide needed assistance during this time of increased demand.

Since mid-March, the number of families and individuals served by the pantry every week has been consistently around 60% higher than usual. Because the pantry has now distributed the majority of food stored prior to this time, we are now purchasing most of the food every week and current costs are running a little more than twice normal. As you can see, your support is essential to our ability to continue providing food assistance in our area.

Again, thank you!

The Volunteers, Clients, and Board of the Atlantic Food Pantry

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds today (Wednesday), announced a number of upcoming venues, attractions and businesses will realize reduced restrictions in the coming days. Read her full proclamation here. During her weekly Press Conference from the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC), in Johnston, Reynolds said effective this Friday, May 22nd, zoos, Aquariums, museums theaters and wedding venues, with certain appropriate public health measures in-place, with proper social distancing observed and increased hygiene measures, will be allowed to re-open.

(She says swimming pools will re-open for lap swimming and swimming lessons. Next Thursday, May 28th, bars will be permitted to re-open for indoor or outdoor seating, at 50% capacity under the current health guidelines. Also, on June 1st, Iowa schools will be permitted to resume school-sponsored activities and learning, including summer sports. More details about school activities are expected to be released on Thursday.)

The reduced restrictions DO NOT apply to casinos, which will remain closed.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (Iowa City Press-Citizen) — Another suspect is now charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a man in Iowa City in April. Iowa City police say 32-year-old Patrick Bland, of Rockford, Illinois, was arrested Monday in Minneapolis in the death of 21-year-old Kejuan Winters. Bland is awaiting extradition to Johnson County. Police say Winters was shot several times at an Iowa City apartment on April 20. Two other people, 22-year-old Durojaiya Rosa, of Iowa City, and 44-year-old Reginald Little, have also been charged with first-degree murder. A fourth person is charged with helping Little avoid arrest.

The Iowa Department of Public Health has updated the latest COVID-19 information. As of 10-a.m. today (Wednesday), the DPH reported 14 deaths and 257 new positive cases in the last 24 hours, for a statewide total of 15,553 positive cases and 381 deaths. Officials report 110,211 Iowans have been tested for COVID-19, and 8,211 have recovered. There are currently 383 patients in the state, with 126 listed in intensive care. There were 28 patients admitted in the last 24 hours and 83 on ventilators.

In southwest/western Iowa, RMCC Region 4: Seven patients were hospitalized for COVID-19, up 2 from Tuesday. Four patients were in an ICU (up 1 from Tue.), and two were admitted in the past 24-hours. The total number of positive cases, county-by-county, as of the latest report (and recovered): (Counties contiguous to Cass are highlighted)…

• Cass County, 3 (1 recovered)
• Adair County, 6 (2 recovered)
• Adams County, 1
• Audubon County, 11 (8 recovered)
• Dallas County, 800 (472 recovered)
• Guthrie County, 40 cases (26 recovered)
• Fremont County, 4 (1 recovered)
• Harrison County, 18 cases (17 recovered)
• Madison County 20, (11 recovered)
• Mills County, 12 cases (9 recovered)
• Montgomery County, 5 (5 recovered)
• Page County, 10 cases (9 recovered)
• Pottawattamie County 177 cases (88 recovered)
• Ringgold County, 1 case
• Shelby County, 25 cases (19 recovered)
• Taylor County, 4 (1 recovered)
• Union County, 4 (1 recovered)

The IDPH says also, 3,660 inpatient beds are available for COVID-19 patients, with 464 ICU beds available. There are also 734 ventilators available for those patients. The IDPH said there are still COVID-19 outbreaks in 37 of Iowa’s long-term care facilities, which is unchanged from Tuesday. Iowa’s hospitalization data continues to be flat or trending downward for more than a week. Positive cases and deaths are also trending downward.

The Iowa Department of Public Health releases real time COVID-19 data on this website.

The Iowa Aviation Museum/Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame, in Greenfield, has announced Dr. Burns M. Byram and Philip Larry Turner are the 2020 inductees into the Hall of Fame. Biographies are included below. Nominations to the Hall of Fame are made by the public and selection is made by independent judges. Neither the Board nor employees of the Iowa Aviation Museum make nominations or selections.

Burns Maxwell Byram II was born June 1, 1924, near Chariton. After graduation from Toledo High School in 1942, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and participated in 30 missions over France and Germany during WWII as a B-24 navigator/bombardier. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Iowa in 1951. He and his family moved to Marengo where he began medical practice and was instrumental in establishing the hospital. He was named Family Physician of the Year in Iowa in 1961. After obtaining his private pilot’s license in 1954, he attained multiple ratings and acquired several aircraft including a P-51 Mustang, Tangerine.

Dr. Byram became a FAA Airman Medical Examiner and was a member of numerous aviation and professional organizations. He became known in Iowa as the “flying physician.” On June 4, 1978, Dr. Byram was killed, when a P-51 he was ferrying for a friend from Guatemala to the United States, crashed in Mexico. After funeral services at Marengo, his ashes were brought to Spring Hill Cemetery in Lucas County. His tombstone bears the image of a P-51 Mustang.

Philip Larry Turner was born in 1938 at Red Oak and grew up on a farm near Elliott. After graduation from Stennett High School, he attended Iowa State University and University of Nebraska, Omaha. After graduation, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps. He soloed in a T-34 on April 24, 1963 and began rotor wing training, ending with a helicopter solo in a Bell TH-13M on March 5, 1964. He was also trained to fly the Sikorsky UH-34D helicopter that he would eventually fly in Vietnam. He earned his Wings of Gold on April 28, 1964, and was deployed to Vietnam in August 1965.

First Lieutenant Turner flew Sikorsky UH-34D helicopters with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron Three Six Two, “The Ugly Angels,” until December 1966. He was shot down 8 times and awarded 29 Air Medals and a Purple Heart. In July 1967, he retired from the military and moved his family to Elliott. He began Turner Copter Services, Inc. doing crop spraying and later offered heavy-lift operations with a helicopter similar to the one he flew in Vietnam. In 1977, he purchased a Sikorsky S-58J. He did hundreds of jobs lifting equipment all over the Midwest, used his helicopters to transport entertainers and politicians, and flew into local hospitals as Santa Claus to visit sick children.

Larry’s flying continued until 2013 at an Ugly Angel Reunion in Oklahoma when he piloted for the last time in a refurbished Sikorsky UH-34D helicopter that he had flown in Vietnam. Larry Turner logged more than 20,000 flight hours in multiple aircraft and donated time and money to refurbish helicopters to be displayed in museums.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ Wednesday press conference on COVID-19. We will have live audio on KJAN as well with the presser set to begin at approximately 11:00 a.m.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines school officials will join with Drake University to build a $19.5 million stadium for high school and middle school sports. The city’s school board unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday to pay $15 million for construction costs, using sales tax revenue. Drake will donate land, pay remaining costs and be responsible for maintaining the stadium. It will be built near the university’s basketball arena. The 4,000-seat stadium will be the home field for four of the district’s five high school football teams and will be home for all of the district’s soccer teams. It also will be available for other school uses and middle school football and soccer games. Drake also will use the field for its soccer teams.