A new study finds Iowa children face more Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs than kids in many other states. ACEs might include the death of a parent, being a victim of violence, or living with someone with a drug or alcohol problem. Martha Davis, a senior program officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, says ACEs can have a far-reaching impact. “They have implications for schools, for families and communities, for health care systems,” Davis says. “What it says is, we need to all be thinking about what are the policies that can help families raise healthy children and how can we support parents to be those consistent people in the lives of their kids and how do we reduce the impact of trauma.”

The report found around 38-percent of children nationwide had at least one adverse childhood experience, while the rate is almost 44-percent for Iowa children. Twenty-percent of Iowa children had two or more ACEs.  “We know kids are resilient, we know kids can thrive and survive but it take collective action to do that and I think that’s what we make of these numbers,” Davis says. “They’re very high.”

ACEs can have serious, long-term impacts on a child’s health and well-being, Davis says, by contributing to high levels of toxic stress that derail healthy physical, social and emotional development. ACEs can increase the long-term risk for smoking, alcoholism, depression, heart and liver diseases and dozens of other illnesses and unhealthy behaviors. Davis says there are avenues that can help lessen the effects of traumatic experiences by building supportive relationships. “Think about paid family leave, think about policies that promote home visiting that give parents and caregivers knowledge, resources to support them when their kids are very little,” Davis says. “We know that improving access to health care, we know that access to high-quality child care and early education. A lot of our kids are spending a lot of time in these early learning settings and we want those to be high quality.”

Research shows 33-percent of children with two or more ACEs have a chronic health condition involving a special health care need, compared to almost 14-percent of children who have not had ACEs.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Creston report 19-year old Kessler Tomas, of Creston, was arrested early Saturday morning. Tomas was booked into the Union County Jail for OWI’1st offense and later released on $1,000 bond. A Corning resident reported to Creston Police Thursday night, that someone stole $25 in cash and change from her vehicle while it was parked in the Creston Wal-Mart parking lot. The loss was estimated at $30 And, Sunday afternoon, a Creston man reported that sometime between 1:30-am and 6-am Sunday, someone slashed two tires on his vehicle that was parked at his residence. The damage was estimated at $ 250.

The Iowa Department of Transportation is considering seeking out sponsors for the Highway Helper trucks which operate on the interstates in the Des Moines, Council Bluffs and Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area. The D-O-T’s Scott Marler says half of the 40 states which have the program do some sort of sponsorship for the trucks.”Typically with a sponsorship of a program like this, the third-party sponsor will typically put a logo at a space on the side of the vehicle,” Marler says. “And in exchange they provide safety wrapping for the vehicle and they also provide some revenue back to the department for the opportunity to put those logos on the side of those trucks.” The program has come under some fire for its cost — which Marler says it around one million dollars for each of the three areas where they operate. The D-O-T hires an outside company to provide the service and he says the sponsorships would help offset those costs. He says they would include the third-party sponsorship as part of their request for proposal when they bid out the service when the current contract expires in 2018.

Marler says from what they’ve seen in other states, the sponsorship would cover a small portion of the cost of operation. “It varies a lot depending on the specifics of your state and the traffic volumes and things like that,” according to Marler. “We’re thinking that it’s in the range of 10 to 12 percent of the of the cost of program, would be kind of a reasonable expectation.” Marler says companies which are interested in promoting safe driving — such as insurance companies — are some of the potential sponsors. Marler says they provided more than 17-thousand services to people in the three operating areas in 2016. He says they hand survey cards to the motorists who were helped, and they have had a 94-percent excellence rating. “You can imagine when you are on the side of a busy interstate and if it’s your son or daughter or parent or grandparent and they have a flat tire or a problem — and there is a service there that can help them safely and quickly get out of harm’s way and get back on their way — that has been tremendously effective,” according to Marler. “Really in keeping traffic flowing and in keeping both our traveling public and those who might have challenges on the side of the road — to keep everyone safe.”

Marler says they haven’t made a final decision on the sponsorships. He says they are evaluating the idea now and trying to determine if they want to move ahead with a sponsorship program and should have a decision by early in 2018. The Highway Helper trucks run in the three areas from five a-m until eight p-m Monday through Friday. Marler says they also run during some holidays when there is going to be heavy traffic on the roadways.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say law enforcement officers descended on the Des Moines International Airport for what turned out to be a false alarm about a shooting. The officers headed to the airport around 8 p.m. Sunday. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that the call that spurred the quick response was made by a woman with mental health issues. Police say she reported shots being fired at a van.

The officers found no evidence of a shooting. The woman was taken to a hospital.