ROCK VALLEY, Iowa (AP) — Evacuations have been ordered for a northwest Iowa community along the swollen Rock River. Churches have been designated as emergency shelters in Rock Valley, a Sioux County community of about 3,300 residents. The National Weather Service says the Rock River is expected to crest later Friday about a foot below the 2014 record of nearly 23 feet, when several Rock Valley homes were damaged by the floodwater. Flood stage is 16 feet.

The service has issued flood warnings for several other rivers and creeks in the area, including the Big and Little Sioux rivers, the Floyd River and the Ocheyedan River near Spencer.

Contrary to some published reports, the Boil Water Advisory in Audubon remains in effect until further notice. Audubon City Clerk Joe Foran said today (Friday), that local newspaper reported the Advisory had been lifted. That is NOT true.  One of two test results on the City’s water supply came back clear, he said, but they are awaiting the second set of tests before the Advisory is lifted. A water main break early Wednesday resulted the precautionary BOIL WATER ADVISORY for any water that might otherwise be ingested through drinking, cooking and brushing teeth.

Foran said the problem was with a fractured or broke water main under Tracy Street, near South Division Street. When the line broke, it lowered the level of water in the City’s water tower. When that occurs, a Boil Order or Advisory is issued as a precautionary measure, over concerns bacteria may enter the system.

Currently, all water used for consumption should be boiled before use or you can choose to use bottled water. Showering and bathing is okay during a boil advisory but you need to be careful not to ingest water while doing so.

The highly-popular Broadway musical “Hamilton” opens next week in Des Moines and the three-week run is nearly sold out. Denise Smithson Green, director of ticketing for the Des Moines Civic Center, says devoted fans can take part in a digital ticket lottery for every show. The first of the daily lotteries starts Monday for opening night, which is next Wednesday. “The lottery will open at 11 AM and then it’ll close at 9 AM the next day,” Smithson Green says. “The show will do their drawing, notify the winners, and they can purchase up to two tickets. Those tickets will be $10 each.”

That’s an extremely discounted price, as the “Hamilton” tickets still for sale range from around 200 to 375-dollars each, before fees. The ticket lottery, like the show, is expected to be a big hit. “For most of our performances, the first week, the seats are a little bit scattered but they’re still fantastic seats,” Smithson Green says. “The second and third week, they are the second and third row. There’s 40 seats available and to get a ticket for $10 for one of the hottest shows on Broadway is pretty amazing.”

“Hamilton” won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2008. It’s the story of America’s founding father Alexander Hamilton who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation’s first Treasury Secretary. The civic center has hosted several major touring Broadway shows over the years, including “Wicked,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “The Lion King,” but Smithson Green stops short of saying “Hamilton” will be the venue’s biggest-ever draw. “We only have a certain number of tickets, so if you sell out, you sell out. The excitement around this one is fantastic, but it’s a different show so to compare it to any other Broadway show isn’t really fair,” she says, laughing. “It is a really big deal to have Hamilton here on its first tour out.”

A sales event was held back in November that sold out all available tickets, tens of thousands of them, but more tickets were “released” recently for sale through Des Moines Performing Arts (desmoinesperformingarts.org). The show runs June 27th through July 15th.

(Radio Iowa)

An Iowa State University psychology professor is praising the World Health Organization’s recent classification of video game addiction as a mental health disorder. Doug Gentile started studying video games, and their impact on players, in the late 1990s. Gentile admits he was initially skeptical of parents who claimed their children were “addicted” to video games. “The more I studied it, the more I realized I was wrong,” Gentile said. “In fact, there are some kids who take serious damage to their lives because of the way in which they are gaming.”

Research conducted by Gentile estimates just over 8-percent of youth gamers are addicted at a clinical level. According to Gentile, the World Health Organization’s action is a critical step toward getting gaming addicts the help they need. “Until it’s recognized as a real problem by the medical community, you can’t really get help – no one is treating it, insurance won’t pay for it,” Gentile said. “So, now that it’s being recognized as a bonafide problem, hopefully treatments will become more available and we can start studying what types of treatments are most effective.”

Video game addiction can have long-term, damaging consequences, according to Gentile. One research study he led involved some 3,000 kids – who’s gaming habits were monitored over a two-year period. “In fact, when kids became addicted to games, their depression increased, their anxiety increased, their social phobias increased, and their grades got worse,” Gentile said. “If they stopped being addicted over the years of this study, then we saw the opposite pattern – their depression lifted, their anxiety lifted, their social phobias lifted.”

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Ankeny couple accused of physically abusing their adopted children have been given probation. The Des Moines Register reports that 56-year-old John Bell and 58-year-old Joyce Bell were sentenced Thursday to two years of probation. They’d both pleaded guilty in May to two counts of misdemeanor child endangerment. Prosecutors had lowered the charges from felony counts.
John Bell admitted to disciplining two of his children “in an inappropriate and harsh manner, both physically and verbally.” Joyce Bell admitted using harsh language and being “verbally aggressive” with two of the children. The couple had adopted nine disabled children from foster care.

Two men from South Carolina were arrested Thursday evening, in Creston. According to Creston Police,Jarrod Douglas Taylor, of West Columbia, SC, and Roger Ansel Harmon, of Gaston, SC, were arrested at the Creston Super 8 Hotel. Both were charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and released on promise to appear later, in court.