A new report shows 62-thousand (62,000) Iowans have Alzheimer’s Disease and that number is expected to grow to 73,000 in just over a decade. Carol Sipfle, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Iowa, says the annual report has more disturbing facts about the disease’s impact in the state. “We have the third highest death rate from Alzheimer’s Disease in the country. I think that’s pretty startling,” Sipfle says. “In Iowa, it’s the fifth leading cause of death, while nationally it’s the sixth leading cause of death.”

Iowa has one of highest percentages of residents 65 and older in the country, but Sipfle is quick to point out that Alzheimer’s isn’t just a disease that strikes the elderly. Sipfle says the disease remains widely misunderstood, as many people mistakenly believe it’s simply about memory loss. “It’s so much more than just memory loss, it’s something that kills people,” Sipfle says. “As the brain deteriorates from Alzheimer’s Disease, yes, people do lose their memory, but it impacts their personality, their ability to think, it has a physical impact, and ultimately people will die either from Alzheimer’s Disease or with Alzheimer’s Disease.”

The report from the Alzheimer’s Association (2014 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures) features information about how the disease impacts primarily women. Sipfle is calling on the federal government to invest in Alzheimer’s research as heavily as it does breast cancer. “You know, women are afraid of breast cancer, and rightly so, but what this report tells us is that by the time women are in their 60s, they’re almost twice as likely to get Alzheimer’s as they are to get breast cancer,” Sipfle said.

The report states a woman’s estimated lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer’s at age 65 is 1 in 6, compared with nearly 1 in 11 for a man. For more information:  www.alz.org/greateriowa.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Woodbury County in western Iowa has approved repair plans for part of a two-lane highway that will eventually be widened. The county board agreed Tuesday to grade part of U.S. Highway 20 in 2016. The paving process will close the road west of Correctionville, and is part of a bigger plan to widen a 12-mile section of the two-lane roadway.

The Sioux City Journal reports the plans will require a detour onto eight miles of County Road D22, also known as Old Highway 20. That county road will be widened and repaired in 2015 in preparation for the extra traffic. The state Department of Transportation says the current widening project, between two miles east of Moville through Correctionville, is scheduled to be completed in 2017.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press …

Five people from Audubon and Cass Counties were charged with Minor In Possession (MIP) of Alcohol, following a traffic stop Tuesday in Cass County. The Sheriff’s Office reports the driver of the vehicle, 19-year old Kelsey Ann Muhr, of Exira, was arrested on charges of OWI/1st offense, MIP and Reckless Driving. She was brought to the Cass County Jail and released Wednesday, on her own recognizance.

Four passengers in her car: 20-year old Dillon Gene Linn, and Madeline Joanne Binter, both of Atlantic; 19-year old Gary Allen Carter, of Exira, and 18-year old Abigail Louise Bintner, of Brayton, were each charged with Minor In Possession.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office report the arrest on Wednesday of a Massena man on a trio of charges. 24-year old Michael Russell Robinson, was taken into custodty on charges of Criminal Mischief 2^nd Degree, Domestic Abuse Assault 2^nd Offense, and Violation of No Contact Order. Robinson was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $7300 bond.

And on Monday, Cass County deputies arrested 21-year old Jorge Ariel Perez Adams, of Muscatine, on a charge of Driving While Barred. Adams was taken to the Cass County Jail where he was released the following day on $2000 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa House has passed a bill intended to keep sexually violent predators off the streets. Lawmakers unanimously approved the measure 97-0 Wednesday. It now returns to the Senate for final review. The bill would allow people convicted of a violent sexual offense as a juvenile to be sent to a civil containment unit for sexually violent predators upon release from prison.

Republican Rep. Greg Heartsill, from Melcher-Dallas, says taking this step is needed to ensure the safety of all Iowans. Democratic Rep. Mary Lynn Wolfe, from Clinton, says predators like Michael Klunder, who authorities say abducted and killed 15-year-old Kathlynn Shepard last year, would have been kept in civil containment instead of being freed. Wolfe says the Shepard case may have been different had the legislation been in place.

SAC CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sac City man has been accused of multiple sex crimes involving minors. The Sac City Police Department says they received a report Sunday from a 15-year-old girl who claims she was sexually assaulted by 35-year-old Christopher Carnine. The girl told police she was assaulted Saturday at Carnine’s residence. She claims Carnine gave alcohol to minors and drove them around the Sac City area.

The Fort Dodge Messenger reports Carnine has been arrested and faces multiple charges, including third-degree sexual assault. He is also charged with two counts of lascivious acts with a child, in connection to allegations that he had sexual contact with two other underage teenagers over several years.

Carnine remains at the Sac County Jail.

Officials with the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn (formerly known as the Danish Immigrant Museum) report the Museum has received a $50,000 grant from the Iowa West Foundation, for the purpose of installing a green roof on the Curatorial Center addition, currently under construction.

Artist’s rendition of the Curatorial Center’s Green Roof.

The green roof is expected to maximize energy efficiency and the thermal barrier between the outdoor environment and artifact storage areas, as well as incorporate the addition into the visitor experience of the surrounding Jens Jensen Prairie Landscape Park. The addition is being built into the western hillside of the museum and connects in the basement level, bringing the top of the structure at nearly ground-level.

The green roof will serve as an elevated continuation of the Jens Jensen Prairie Landscape Park space. Museum visitors will be able to walk on a pathway atop the roof, view the native plantings, and read interpretive panels about green roofs and native plantings. The museum’s green roof will be unusual in that it will incorporate prairie grasses and forbs instead of sedums, which are most commonly used on green roofs.

The planting plan, developed by landscapers at Midwest Groundcovers of St. Charles, IL, is based on research done by the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plant Conservation Science Center. The roof will comprised of 20 different, native plants. Under the roof, the Curatorial Center addition will add 8,000 square feet of artifact storage area and staff workspaces. Construction began on the project in September 2013 and is expected to reach completion in the summer of 2014.

The Iowa West Foundation grant was included in their 2013 fourth quarter grant awards to 32 non-profit organizations in the region. Museum officials say the foundation will be recognized for its grant upon completion of the addition and the green roof on an educational, outdoor panel specifically highlighting green roofs.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest today (Wednesday), of an Emerson man. Officials say 51-year old Brent Douglas Vestal was taken into custody at around 1-a.m. on a charge of OWI/2nd offense. His bond was set at $2,000.

And, there were two accidents in Mills County Monday afternoon, neither of which resulted in any injuries. The first happened at around 2-p.m. on Hilman Road, when Draven Ray, of Glenwood,  lost control of the pickup he was driving. The accident happened at the vehicle was rounding a curve. The 1992 Chevy went off the road and hit a utility pole.

The second accident happened at around 3:10-p.m., Monday, on Main Street, near Malvern. Sheriff’s officials say a 2002 Ford driven by John David Prokop, of Malvern, was traveling south on 315th Street and entering a speed zone in Malvern, when he became distracted while reaching for his sunglasses. Prokop’s vehicle crossed the center line of the road and northbound lane of traffic before hitting a culvert sign. The vehicle continued south on the northbound shoulder and hit another driveway culvert before coming to rest.