(Radio Iowa) — A new national report card on premature births gives Iowa a letter grade of “B” as nine-point-two percent of births in the state are early, just below the national average of nine-point-nine percent. Stacey Stewart, president of the March of Dimes, says while Iowa’s numbers are improving, they’re still unacceptably high. “When babies are born prematurely, that means their health is really threatened at the time of birth and often these are babies that grow into children and young adults who experience health challenges down the road,” Stewart says. “In fact, prematurity and the consequences of prematurity are the leading causes of death for children between the ages of zero and five and it’s the leading cause of infant mortality.”

There’s an “alarming trend” in the U-S of babies being born too soon, according to Stewart. The preterm birth rate rose for the third year in a row, a trend signaling an urgent health crisis for moms and babies. More than 700 American women die in childbirth each year and some 50-thousand suffer life-threatening complications, making the U-S the most dangerous developed country in which to give birth.  Stewart says, “If we look at all of these outcomes around moms and babies, what we’re finding in the U.S. is that we have unacceptably high outcomes, especially for the wealthiest country in the world, and especially given the sophistication of our health care system.”

This is the 11th year the March of Dimes is releasing the annual Premature Birth Report Card, which grades all 50 states on their rates of preterm birth and reveals racial, ethnic and geographic disparities within each state. In Iowa, the preterm birth rate among black women is 29-percent higher than the rate among all other women.  “We need to make sure we do even more to make sure there’s expanded health care coverage for women, that there’s accessability of that coverage for those women wherever they live,” Stewart says. “Even if they live in rural areas, that shouldn’t mean that they have to be denied the health care coverage they need, especially the prenatal care that they may need.”

To encourage supporters to raise awareness and advocate for policies that protect moms and babies, the March of Dimes launched a nationwide campaign called #BlanketChange. It aims to bring attention to the urgent health crises moms and babies face, including increased rates of maternal mortality and preterm birth. Iowa’s “B” on the report card was shared by 14 other states, and only one state, Vermont, rated an “A.” There were 16 “C” grades, 14 “Ds” and four “Fs” for Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia.
https://www.marchofdimes.org/mission/prematurity-reportcard.aspx

(Radio Iowa) — Thanksgiving celebrates the harvest season and this year the harvest includes a new crop that’ll be legally sold in Iowa for the first time. Medical marijuana products made from the plants grown in Iowa will be available for the first time starting December 1st. MedPharm Iowa’s Joe Kerner is the head cultivator of the crop and says it starts a lot like most gardens in the state. He says one difference is they grow their plants from cuttings and not seeds. “We just grow them up and we allow them to flower out. And with the process that allows us to select certain genetic lines that allows us to target either that T-H-C or the C-D-B (canabis oil) molecule,” Kerner explains.

Kerner has a degree in horticulture from Iowa State University and picked up more specific knowledge about marijuana from those who have been growing the plants in other states. He says a key job is keeping the plants fed. “We have a fertigation process that we use. That means we fertilize and water at the exact same time,” Kerner says. “And that’s going to vary throughout the plant’s life cycle, especially as it gets bigger.” Kerner says the marijuana grows in a highly controlled environment where they don’t have to worry about things like too much rain, or hail and windstorms like the average garden. But there are some things that they have to guard against. “We have to control for pests, whether that’s an insect or a mold or fungus — but due to the very strict environmental controls we have in place — we can really keep a good finger on that,” Kerner says.

The plants reach the flowering stage in 20 to 22 weeks and are then harvested to make the medical marijuana products. “We remove all the flower structures from the stem and then we grind them up and extract them. So, that way we can receive the oil and we can formulate with it,” he says.  Kerner says watching the vivid green plants grow is more interesting than you might think. “You can see changes, this is a really fast-growing plant it being a true annual,” Kerner says, “so it really helps with that visual reward I guess. We get to see our plans really change and develop.”

The processing plant is on the southwest edge of the downtown area of DesMoines and has several security features surrounding it.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 1:40 a.m. CST

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A nonprofit group has won a $5 million grant to bolster its fight against homelessness in east-central Nebraska and southwest Iowa. Heartland Family Service says the grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund grant will let it expand prevention and diversion services; dedicate rapid rehousing resources specifically to families with children; and develop a transition support team.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an Iowa man rescued his dog before other people came to his rescue after he and the dog broke through lake ice in northeast Nebraska. Authorities say the dog, Jake, broke through the ice on a private lake northwest of Dakota City on Wednesday morning. Andrew Sedivy, of Sioux City, Iowa, went after his dog and got him out but also broke through into the frigid water. Rescuers used a canoe to get Sedivy out of the lake and back to dry land.

BLENCOE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a Nebraska woman driving south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 29 in western Iowa collided with an oncoming vehicle, killing both drivers. The Iowa State Patrol says 40-year-old Angela Bender, of Omaha, Nebraska, was driving the southbound minivan Wednesday night when the collision occurred near Blencoe. The other driver killed was identified as 51-year-old Carolyn Klimper, who lived in Fort Morgan, Colorado. Three passengers in Klimper’s vehicle were injured.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Every year, Larry Hutchinson of Council Bluffs delivers hundreds of dictionaries to third-graders in several Iowa schools. The reward for Hutchinson is seeing the students’ reactions and knowing that he is, in a sense, he’s carrying on his wife’s mission since her death in 2006. Hutchinson says she was a reading teacher who she took pride in helping kids with their reading.

One person was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, following a rollover accident Thursday evening, south of Anita. Rescue crews were dispatched to the scene at the intersection of Glendale Road (Cass County Road G-27) and 750th Street (Highway 148), just before 6-p.m.

Dispatch reports indicated the vehicle apparently failed to stop at the t-intersection and went off the road. Initial reports said two people were hurt, but only one was transported to the hospital. Anita Rescue and Wiota 1st Responders, Medivac Ambulance and the Cass County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

No other details are currently available.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an Iowa man rescued his dog before other people came to his rescue after he and the dog broke through lake ice in northeast Nebraska. The Dakota County Sheriff’s Office says the dog, Jake, broke through the ice on a private lake northwest of Dakota City on Wednesday morning. He’d chased after a goose that had been shot. Thirty-year-old Andrew Sedivy, of Sioux City, Iowa, went after his dog and got him out but also broke through into the frigid water.

Sheriff’s deputies, the landowner and other hunters used a canoe to get Sedivy out of the lake and back to dry land, where he and Jake were later treated for their dunking.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A nonprofit group has won a $5 million grant to bolster its fight against homelessness in east-central Nebraska and southwest Iowa. Heartland Family Service says the grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund grant will let it expand prevention and diversion services; dedicate rapid rehousing resources specifically to families with children; and develop a transition support team.

The grant was one of 24 totaling $97.5 million unveiled Tuesday by the Bezos Day One Fund. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos announced in September that he’s giving $2 billion to help open preschools in low-income neighborhoods and aid homeless families.

Heartland Family Service was founded in 1875 and serves more than 52,000 individuals annually from more than 15 locations in east-central Nebraska and southwest Iowa. It is based in Omaha.

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — A trucking company is having a $9 million operations and training center built in Ankeny. The Des Moines Register reports that Ruan Transportation Management Systems says the project will create at least 40 new jobs. The company also plans to relocate more than 100 positions to the Ankeny facility from offices in Des Moines. Ruan President Dan Van Alstine says Ruan has been looking for a place to expand and add training space for drivers and office staff.

City documents say Ankeny will provide Ruan with tax increment financing rebates worth an estimated $262,000 over five years. Construction is expected to begin in early 2019 and conclude in the fall.

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

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MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 6-year-old boy died after he, another child and a man fell through pond ice in central Iowa. The accident occurred around 2:45 p.m. Wednesday at a privately owned pond in Montezuma. First responders were able to get all three out of the frigid water and send them to hospitals. The Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office says the boy was pronounced dead at a Grinnell hospital. The girl was flown to a Des Moines hospital, and the man was hospitalized in Grinnell. Their names and their relationships to each other have not been released.

(Radio Iowa) — A state law passed in 2012 called on Iowa schools to identify struggling readers and improve the quality of reading instruction. In one central Iowa elementary school, reading aloud is being emphasized. Brian Vaughn, principal of Cornell Elementary in the Saydel Community School District, says  “Our staff has spent multiple weeks teaching, modeling, observing, conferring, self-reflecting on what fluent readers look and sound like in our classrooms.”

“Cornell students,” according to Vaughn, “now know that to be a fluent reader, they need to pay attention to their automaticity — reading quick, smooth and accurate; phrasing — making sure that my group of words sound like talking — and monitoring of expression, “to make sure their voice matches the punctuation.”

Vaughn says his teaching staff is building a “community of readers” with these strategies. “Our work here was to get students to start thinking about themselves as a reader,” Vaughn says, “because knowing one’s self as a reader has empowered them to take charge of their own learning and reach those fluency goals.”

The most recent STATEWIDE data found about 70 percent of kindergarten through third grade students in Iowa’s public and private schools are reading at or above grade level.