Officials with the Cass County Health System say a new CT scanner will be installed sometime over the next few weeks.  The addition of the Toshiba Aquilion Prime 80 to our facility will offer CCHS patients a multitude of benefits.  During the installation the hospital will have a mobile unit on site to meet patient needs.

Carrie Schmitt, Director of Diagnostic Imaging, says “We are very excited to bring this state-of-the-art CT technology to our patients. We apologize for the short-term inconvenience, but are pleased to be able to provide care without interruption during this important upgrade to our diagnostic imaging services.”

Schmitt says The new Toshiba Prime scanner will offer several key benefits to patients:

·         The speed of the Aquilion Prime 80 enables our clinicians to obtain critical patient information for enhanced diagnoses faster than before.

·         The Aquilion Prime 80 comes standard with industry-leading radiation dose reduction software.

·         The large bore opening offers a more spacious feeling for patients while the higher table weight limit expands the range of patients who can be imaged.

·         Increase in scan coverage results in greatly reduced scan times and much shorter breath holds while producing the high quality images required for accurate diagnoses.

·         Increased ability for staff and patients to communicate throughout the exam.

Diagnostic Imaging staff will escort patients to the temporary CT unit for their exams while the new in-house unit is being installed.  The new unit is expected to be ready for service in early November.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Polk County supervisors have given final approval to raising the minimum wage to $10.75 an hour within the next 30 months. The Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 for the proposal Tuesday in the third of three required readings and approvals. The current $7.25 rate will rise to $8.75 an hour in April, to $9.75 in January 2018 and finally to $10.75 in January 2019.

Polk County becomes the fourth in Iowa to raise the minimum wage, following actions by Johnson, Linn and Wapello counties.  The Polk County measure includes freezing the tipped-worker minimum wage at $5 per hour, rather than keeping the rate at 60 percent of the overall minimum wage. And it includes a lower figure for workers 17 and under: 85 percent of the new minimum wage.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office says two men were arrested on drug charges, Monday afternoon following a traffic stop on Highway 34. 25-year old Joshua Daniel Brumfield, of Glenwood, and 22-year old Christian James Brumfield, of Omaha, were both charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Both men were being held in the Mills County Jail, with their bonds set at $1,300 and $5,300, respectively.

And, 29-year old Amber Rose Truhlicka, of Sidney, was arrested Oct. 7th at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Probation Violation. Her bond was set at $4,000.

The Sheriff’s Office said also, an accident Oct. 7th resulted in two people being transported to Creighton University Medical Center. Officials say 50-year old David Smith, of Glenwood, was driving the vehicle southbound on 221st Street at around 10:50-p.m., when a deer ran out in front of him on a curve in the road. When Smith swerved to miss the deer, his vehicle went out of control and rolled multiple times before coming to rest on its top.  Smith was transported to CUMC by Silver City Rescue, while his passenger, 47-year old Brenda Foster, of Randolph, was transported to the same facility by Glenwood Rescue.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports two recent arrests. This (Tuesday) morning, 20-year old Abel Vasquez, of Lenox, was arrested on an Adams County warrant for felony Attempting to Elude Pursing Law Enforcement. The charge stems from an incident that took place Sept. 9th. Vasquez was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $5,000 cash-only bond.

And, on or about Oct. 6th, Adams County Deputies arrested 31-year old Jose Huerta, of Prescott, on Adams County felony warrants for a controlled substance violation and possession or use of a false drug tax stamp, with regard to a marijuana grow operation that was discovered June 6th, at Huerta’s residence. His bond was set at $5,000.

Vasquez was subsequently charged with Conspiracy to Manufacture on certain real property and Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp. Bond on those offenses was set at $5,000, also.

The Cass County Conservation Board says it’s time once again for the annual Trumpeter Swan arrival contest.  Trumpeter Swans have visited the Schildberg Quarry for, at least, seventeen out of the last eighteen winters. When do you think the first Trumpeter Swan will arrive at the Schildberg Quarry?

You can call in your prediction (by November 11^th) to the Conservation Board at 712-769-2372, leave a message and return phone number if they are not in.  Duplicate dates will not be allowed.  For example, if a caller predicts November 25th, no one else will be allowed to predict that arrival date.  So, call anytime until November 11th to make your prediction!

One prediction per family, please. The sponsors of this contest will determine the official arrival of the swans.  The winner will receive a Trumpeter Swan 8×10 print from the Cass County Conservation Board.  Sorry, this contest is only for residents of Cass County.   

*************************

Previous Arrival and departure dates of the swans have been as follows:

1997/1998    December 18 – January 2

1998/1999    Nothing on record

1999/2000    December 25 – February 15

2000/2001    November 23 – March 6

2001/2002    December 25 – February 24

2002/2003    November 23 – March 15

2003/2004   November 26 – March 21

2004/2005    November 25 – March 18

2005/2006    November 17 – March 5

2006/2007 October 30 – March 9

2007/2008 November 22- February 14

2008/2009 November 18- March 12

2009-2010 November 19 – January 5

2010-2011 November 5 – February 10

2011/2012 November 17 – February 21

2012/2013 November 24– March 4

2013/2014 November 12- April 7

2014/2015 November 11- April 6

2015/2016 November 22- March 24

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says a Council Bluffs man was arrested this (Tuesday) morning, on a Pottawattamie County warrant. 29-year old Adam Milford Souza, was wanted for Probation Revocation. Souza was turned over to Pott. County Deputies and held on a $10,000 bond.

The Sheriff’s Office said also, 46-year old Cody Mark Douglas Berggren, of Red Oak, was arrested late this (Tuesday) morning on a Montgomery County Bench warrant for Driving While License Revoked. Berggren was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,500 bond.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley denounces videotaped comments made by his party’s presidential nominee but won’t waver in his vow to support Republican Donald Trump in next month’s election. Grassley joins others in the G-O-P in saying Trump’s comments about women in a newly-released recording from 2005 are disgusting, but he’ll still back the billionaire in his quest for the White House. Grassley says, “I can’t say much more about my attitude towards the very shameful and unacceptable things and terrible things and obnoxious things about Trump’s words than I said in my statement over the weekend.”

Grassley says the upcoming vote on November 8th isn’t just about who will be president the next four years, but it’s also about the direction of the U-S Supreme Court for the next four decades. “This isn’t a referendum, this is a choice,” Grassley says, “a choice between two people and I have to look at Clinton being far worse, particularly the type of people she would appoint to the Supreme Court.”

Grassley says it’s important to look at the ideological policies the two main party candidates would champion if elected and he says Trump remains his personal choice over Democrat Hillary Clinton. “With her attitude towards things in the Middle East and towards terrorism, Hillary would make our country less safe,” Grassley says. “For sure, pursuing the same economic policies that she’s going to pursue, the same ones that Obama pursued, Iowans are going to be less prosperous.”

Grassley hesitated to urge Iowans to join him in voting for Trump, saying, he doesn’t think Iowans would necessarily heed his advice. “I wish I could tell Iowans that you ought to vote for, uh, uh, I could tell them but I wish I knew I had some influence on enough Iowans to say, ‘I want this person elected or that person elected.'”

Iowa’s other U-S Senator, Joni Ernst, says she will not condone or excuse Trump’s actions, but adds, “This is bigger than Donald Trump and it is about the direction of the country.” Ernst says she “will not advise anybody to vote for Hillary Clinton.”

(Radio Iowa)

Authorities in Mills County say 65-year old Jeffrey Stark, of Glenwood, was arrested today (Tuesday), for possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Stark was being held in the Mills County Jail on a $1,300 cash bond or surety.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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