Officials with the Cass County Health System invite you to attend the next “Healthy U” session, on Thursday, January 21st, to learn about “Fitness at All Ages ” as presented by Jordan McPheron, Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT).

Dr. McPheron says “There are a number of simple things you can do to improve your overall fitness level. We’ll go over different ways that you can improve strength, balance, and fitness.” McPheron received his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Azusa Pacific University in 2013 and has been working at CCHS for two years.

Jordan McPheron, DPT

McPheron says “As we age it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a level of health that allows us to participate in an active lifestyle.. Fitness and exercise can take on many shapes and forms in order to meet your needs and goals. By participating in an exercise routine regularly, you can reduce the risk of injury and disease in order to increase your longevity and good quality of life.”

The session will be on Thursday, January 21st at noon in Conference Room 2 at Cass County Memorial Hospital. Healthy U is a free educational series offered by Cass County Health System that focuses on a different health topic each month. Attendees receive a healthy sack lunch in addition to an educational program presented by medical professionals.

For more information, or to make a reservation for Healthy U, call 712-243-7479.

School officials in Sioux City say a 12-year-old boy brought a handgun to school this week. Superintendent Paul Gausman credits a tip, which allowed police to be present and meet the 6th grade student before classes started Monday morning. “If there’s one message I’d like to share it’s how thankful we are that someone who saw or heard something, shared something with us so we could take some action,” Gausman said. The unidentified student at Sioux City’s North Middle School is charged with carrying a concealed weapon on school property.

“We detained that student, searched that student, and did find an unloaded weapon with no ammunition,” Gausman said. The student had a preliminary hearing in juvenile court Tuesday and is suspended from school. Classes went on as normal Monday and Gausman says there was never a threat to any individual student or staff member.

Parents were notified of the incident just before 6 p.m. on Monday. Gausman says although the school district took the incident very seriously, since there was no threat, he waited until after the school day was over before releasing information.

(Radio Iowa)

While Iowans typically don’t worry about getting a sunburn during the bitter cold of winter, prom season is approaching and many high school students will be hitting tanning beds, hoping for a perfect tan. A pre-prom event in Cedar Rapids this weekend will feature Krista Barnell, of Walford, a 37-year-old skin cancer survivor who will share her story, starting with her diagnosis in 2009.

“My dermatologist noticed a mole on my back that looked a little funny,” Barnell says. “She removed it and the test came back with melanoma. It was just at the beginning stages of melanoma so I didn’t have to do any treatment. They did have to go back and remove a good-sized chunk from my back.”

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, while melanoma accounted for more than 73,000 new cases nationwide in 2015 and about 10,000 skin cancer deaths a year. A federal study finds people who begin tanning during adolescence or early adulthood have a higher risk of melanoma. Barnell’s grandfather died of melanoma at age 56. Being a survivor herself now, she’s very passionate about spreading the message to young people who may be making the same mistakes she did.

“I loved to be in the tanning beds, ever since I was 14,” Barnell says. “You could never be tan enough back at that age. I loved to lay out and used baby oil and tanning oil and if you got sunburned, you knew you were going to get a really nice tan.” Barnell has two younger nieces who she’s been striving to educate about the potential dangers of using a tanning bed.

“There’s self-tanners, there’s the spray tan,” Barnell says. “They have followed that, for the most part, but I know they had a big celebration, a homecoming or prom, and one of them went to a tanning bed and it just makes me cringe.” Sunday’s pre-prom event at Mercy Medical Center features a fashion show and tips on hair, makeup and sunless tanning from industry experts. The event is aimed at keeping young people out of the sun and away from tanning booths, especially as prom season nears.

(Radio Iowa)

A lottery official says the estimated Powerball jackpot remains at $1.5 billion, still the largest lottery jackpot in the world. Kelly Cripe of the Texas Lottery says 85.8 percent of possible number combinations have been selected ahead of the drawing scheduled for Wednesday evening. The odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

The $1.5 billion prize would be paid in annual payments over 29 years or the winner could opt for a lump-sum payment of $930 million. Cripe says if no one wins the jackpot Wednesday, the estimated jackpot for Saturday’s drawing will increase to $2 billion, with a cash value of $1.24 billion.

Cass County Conservation Dept. personnel are dealing with vandalism that has taken place over the past month. Conservation Director Micah Lee, during his quarterly report, told the Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, that the incidents have taken place along the T-Bone Trail, where people have been run over posts designed to prevent vehicles from entering the trail, at the trail heads.

He says someone is breaking off the two-by-two, 1 ½ inch square tubing. They’re snapped off near the ground, which makes it very difficult for crews to replace. Supervisor Chuck Rieken suggested they use solid railroad-type beams to make it more difficult for vehicles to break the posts. Lee agreed it would cause more damage to the culprits’ vehicle(s) and maybe dissuade them from causing more damage. Micah says other than garbage that’s occasionally being dumped in that area, that’s the first real case of vandalism perpetrated to the T-Bone Trail.

In other news, Lee said the main thing they’re working on during the off-season, is renovating the inside of their offices near Lewis. At the West Nodaway Recreation area near Cumberland, they’ve removed some Cedar Trees in hopes of bringing back some native grasses in the future. And, there are plans for the Outdoor Classroom shelter near Massena to be expanded to include running water, thanks to donations and grants secured from a non-profit Friends group.

No County funds will be used for the upgrades. The Conservation Board gave its blessing to the project, which will include a mini-kitchen and wildlife/nature-related resource library. The improvement’s he said, will add somewhere from 300-to 500-feet to the shelter.

Area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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If the end of the year came up too fast and you didn’t put any money in your child’s College Savings Iowa account, you can still do so and get a break when you file your state taxes. State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald says the rules that required you to get the contributions to the state program by the end of the year have changed.

“It was a made scramble, December 31st was the cutoff, had to be done by that date. But the legislature changed it just this past year — so now Iowans have the benefit of being able to wait until May 2nd this year when the tax filing deadline ends,” Fitzgerald says. “They can still make a contribution to their College Savings Iowa account and take that off their 2015 taxes.”

You don’t have to have an existing account to take advantage of the tax break. You can open a new account before the May 2nd deadline and deduct whatever you put in on your 2015 taxes. “It only takes 25 dollars to start a College Savings Iowa account. So, you can put money in and deduct it from your taxes this year,” Fitzgerald says. The maximum tax break for 2015 is three-thousand-163 dollars. Fitzgerald says you can double that if both parents have an account for their kids.

“A married couple with two children putting in the maximum amount could put in 12-thousand-752 dollars for their children and deduct that from their Iowa taxes this year,” Fitzgerald says. “So, it’s just a phenomenal tax break to help families send these kids to college.” The maximum amount you can deduct is adjust each year based on inflation — so you will be able to deduct a little more from your 2016 taxes.

)”Next year it will be three-thousand-188 dollars. It’s not much, but inflation hasn’t been much,” Fitzgerald says. Fitzgerald says you can easily create an account online. “Just log on to College Savings Iowa-dot-com. It’s very simple, just your name, your Social Security number, the child’s name the child’s Social Security number that you are saving for, and you’re in,” according to Fitzgerald.

He says you can start an account for a child as soon as they are born and let it build until they are ready for college. You can withdraw the funds from the account for qualified college expenses, such as tuition, books, supplies and room and board at any eligible college, university, community college or accredited technical training school in the United States or abroad.

(Radio Iowa)

The family of Kerrie Orozco, a native of Walnut who served as an Omaha police officer and who died in the line of duty last year, are scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama during the president’s visit to Omaha, today. The Omaha World-Herald reports Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer contacted Nebraska Democrat Rep. Brad Ashford last week to see if he could arrange the meeting. Ashford’s office then contacted the White House, which set up the meeting between Obama and Hector Orozco and his children, Natalia, Santiago and Olivia Ruth.

An attorney for Hector Orozco says Orozco hasn’t been told many details, but was looking forward to talking with the president. Orozco plans to hand the president a letter asking him to support the Kerrie Orozco Act. The bill, sponsored by Ashford, would speed the naturalization process for spouses, children and parents of first responders killed in the line of duty.

Current law allows an individual with a green card to immediately apply for citizenship if a spouse was a member of the military who died while in service. Ashford’s bill basically would offer first responders the same benefit. Representative David Young, a Republican who represents southwest and central Iowa, is one of the bill’s sponsors.

Hector Orozco came to the United States illegally in 1999 but has legal work status today, because of a visa issued in 2012. He was named a legal, permanent U.S. resident late last year. Absent a change in U.S. law, he now must wait five years to apply for citizenship. Ashford said Hector would have become a citizen quicker, had his wife lived.

Kerrie Orozco was 29 when she was shot and killed May 20th by a felon whom she and fellow fugitive task force officers were trying to arrest. She was killed on her last day of work before taking the remainder of her maternity leave to spend with Olivia Ruth. Her daughter had been born prematurely and was ready to be released from the hospital.

The letter to the president also will express Hector Orozco’s disappointment that the woman convicted of buying the gun that killed his wife was sentenced to one year probation instead of prison. In November, a federal judge in Atlanta sentenced 26-year old Jalita Johnson to one year of probation for lying when she bought the gun in April. Prosecutors said Johnson’s boyfriend, 26-year old Marcus Wheeler, a felon, gave her money and told her what to buy.

Wheeler fired nine rounds from the handgun. One shot struck Kerrie Orozco. Wheeler was killed when Sgt. Jeff Kopietz returned fire.

Two teenagers from Creston face burglary charges. Creston Police say 14-year old Jeremiah Whitney and 13-year old Michael Morgan, were referred Tuesday, to Juvenile Authorities. The teens face charges of 3rd Degree Burglary. They were subsequently released to the custody of their mothers.

And, Creston Police report a resident of an apartment in the 600 block of N. Maple Street told authorities Tuesday someone broke into his apartment sometime Sunday night or early Monday morning. An 8-inch tablet and sword in a leather case were reported missing, but later recovered by police. The initial loss was estimate at $135.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A 25-year-old woman has been given three years of probation for setting fires in Council Bluffs. Court records say Rebecca Myers pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of arson and two of child endangerment after making a deal with prosecutors. On Tuesday a judge sentenced Myers to a total of 10 years in prison but suspended them in favor of probation.

The Daily Nonpareil reports that Myers was charged with child endangerment because her two children were nearby when she set a fire Oct. 11 in a basement near Myers’ home.  Investigators say Myers set six fires between Oct. 4 and Oct. 20. No injuries have been reported.