Officials with the Southwest Iowa Mental Health Center (SWIMHC) have announced Sarah Herzberg is now a licensed psychologist and health service provider in the state of Iowa. Herzberg has been with Cass County Health System for 19 years, and has been with SWIMHC for the last 11 years.

In a press release, she said “The doctoral degree and licensure allow me to serve the community by doing something I truly love. I will be able to see a broader range of clients, and hopefully cut down on patients’ wait time for first-time appointments.”

Sarah Herzberg graduated from the CAM High School, has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Iowa State University, a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Northwest Missouri State University, and recently completed a PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her background is in Counseling Psychology with training in diagnosing and treating a variety of issues such as depression, anxiety and other chronic mental health issues. Sarah also supervises clinicians who provide care through the SWIMHC school-based mental health program.

Southwest Iowa Mental Health Center (SWIMHC) partners with Cass County Memorial Hospital to meet the mental health needs of children, adolescents and adults. The treatment team includes professionals in the disciplines of psychiatry, social work, psychology and psychiatric nursing.

Many Iowans will be traveling across the state or across the country for Thanksgiving, but a few will be making international trips in the next week. The U-S State Department is issuing a rare global travel alert due to increased terrorist threats. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says America’s intelligence community is keeping closely attuned to any rumblings that may indicate trouble. “CIA, FBI use the word chatter,” Grassley says. “There’s a lot of chatter out there coming from all of the terrorist organizations that you can name, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, ISIS, probably a dozen more you could name, seems to be a lotta’ chatter.”

There are reportedly no specific threats directed at the United States, but officials are warning Americans to be more vigilant after recent multiple attacks around the world. “I think it’s reasonable to take it very serious,” Grassley says. “I hope nothing comes of it. We had the same thing July the 4th, not too much came out of it. That’s because the FBI was on top of things and arrested several people before they had an opportunity to do any damage.”

The alert from the State Department says travelers abroad should avoid large crowds and crowded places, and exercise particular caution during the holiday season and at holiday festivals or events. Grassley says, “We saw what happened in Paris so I think we ought to listen to what the State Department says.”

The November 13th attacks on the French capitol for which ISIS claimed responsibility claimed 130 lives and injured hundreds. Other recent attacks struck in Denmark, Mali, Nigeria and Turkey. The travel alert will remain in place into late February.

(Radio Iowa)

A woman from Madison County was arrested Saturday at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Sheriff’s officials say 39-year old Jaqueliene Juatriene Clabaugh,  of Winterset, was arrested on a Union County Warrant for probation violation. Clabaugh was being held for Union County in the Ringgold County Jail, on $2000 bond.

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

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• 10 to 12 large white potatoes, peeled
• 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 8 oz. carton sour cream
• 1 teaspoon onion flakes
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 cup butter
• Paprika

Boil potatoes in salt water until done.  Drain and mash.  Whip cream cheese and sour cream until fluffy (add milk if necessary).  Spread into buttered 9″ x 12″ baking dish (or 2 smaller dishes), cover and refrigerate or freeze until needed.

When ready to use, drizzle melted butter over top and sprinkle with paprika.  Bake at 350 degrees for one hour (40 minutes covered and 20 minutes uncovered to give nice golden brown top).

(Delores Swope)

The Internal Revenue Service is launching a new campaign with the Iowa Department of Revenue and the state’s private sector tax industry to nudge Iowans into taking more precautions with their sensitive financial information. Christopher Miller, a spokesman for the I-R-S in Iowa, says identity thieves are becoming more sophisticated all the time and taxpayers need to keep up or they may become victims.

“We want to encourage people when they file their taxes at home and whenever they’re working with personal information at home, to use security software to protect their computers,” Miller says. “That includes firewalls and anti-virus protection.” Authorities say I-D thieves are using personal data from real taxpayers to create fake state and federal tax returns to claim real refunds. Miller says Iowans have to be on guard for crooks who are trolling to rip you off using telephone and email “phishing” cons.

“If you get a call from someone posing as an IRS agent and they threaten you with jail or lawsuits, it’s a scam, hang up,” Miller says. “We also want to encourage people to protect their personal information. Do not routinely carry your Social Security number.” Also, oversharing on social media gives identity thieves even more personal details. The new I-R-S campaign is called “Taxes. Security. Together.” and it aims to raise public awareness that even routine actions on the Internet and with personal electronic devices can affect the safety of financial and tax data.

“Your tax returns are sensitive data so you have to treat that information just like you would cash, don’t leave it laying around,” Miller says. “Properly dispose of old tax returns and other sensitive documents by shredding them before you put them in the trash.” The campaign includes several components, including YouTube videos, consumer-friendly Tax Tips each week and local events. Several IRS publications are being added or updated to help taxpayers and tax professionals at IRS.gov, state web sites and platforms used by the tax preparation community.

The campaign will continue through the April tax deadline. Learn more on the web at https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Taxes-Security-Together

(Radio Iowa)

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Motorists in Iowa are reminded to buckle-up, slow down and make sure they obey all traffic laws during the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. Officials with the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Bureau say a Special Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) will be in effect, with law enforcement officers from various agencies on the lookout for motorists who are not wearing their seat belts, speeders, erratic drivers, and persons with defective vehicle equipment (Such as tail lights out, expired license plates, etc.).

Authorities say the holiday period (6-p.m. Wednesday, November 25th – to 6-a.m. Monday, November 30th) is the busiest travel time of the year for American motorists. Unfortunately, more motorists on the roads increase the likelihood of traffic crashes. Wearing a seat belt is the single most effective way to prevent injury or death in a crash. The risk of a fatal injury goes down by 45% when seat-belted in a passenger car and 60% when in a light truck.

During the 2013 Thanksgiving weekend (the last year in which information is available), there were 301 people, nationwide, lost their lives on roadways (two in Iowa), in which a staggering 58%were not wearing seat belts. Preliminary numbers indicate that there were three fatalities in Iowa during the same period in 2014. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 12,584 lives were saved by seat belts in 2013 and an additional 2,800 more could have been saved if everyone had worn seat belts.

Iowa has one of the highest seat belt compliance rates in the nation at 92.96 percent but the unbuckled 7.04 percent represent 46 percent of the fatalities. The Iowa Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB) Chief Patrick Hoye stated, “This is really troubling, almost half of the passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes were not wearing their seat belts; we see way too many preventable fatalities in crashes.”

The Iowa DPS and the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau reminds you that whether you are traveling near or far take a moment to simply buckle your seat belt.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad has issued a disaster proclamation for Sioux County following recent severe weather. Branstad said in a news release Monday the proclamation will allow state officials to better assist the northwest Iowa county, which was affected by a winter storm that began Saturday.

Issues in the area included the explosion of an electrical distribution transformer box, a water main break and other electrical failures. It resulted in damage to public property and power outages throughout the city of Sioux Center.

The number of students taking courses at Iowa’s community colleges this fall is down. The Department of Education’s Community College administrator, Jeremy Varner, says this report gives a quick look at what’s happening at the school’s. “This is really just a slice of those credit students who are enrolled in fall. And essentially what we’re seeing, is that at Iowa’s 15 community colleges, enrollment this fall has slipped about point-six percent, to just over 93-thousand students statewide,” Varner says.

He says the report that they’ll put out in January will look at the entire school year enrollment, but this gives an early look of what is happening. “Iowa’s community college enrollment throughout its history is generally a history of growth. There aren’t too many years where we’ve seen declines,” Varner explains. “We had such tremendous growth during the recession we’re seeing that correction — and now it appears to be sort of leveling off.”

Varner says the overall drop in the fall came as there has been an increase in high school students taking community college courses. “That was up over five percent. Over the past several years we continue to see year-over-year growth in that area. Students graduating from high school today have many more opportunities to pursue college credit course work than students did ten years ago,” Varner says.
Varner says you need to look at the individual community colleges to get a clearer picture of the enrollment.

“We had about six see enrollment gains, while eight saw declines this past year. And there is a variety of different factors and you have to kind of look at the trend lines to really see what is going on there,” according to Varner. “You know there is a lot of different reasons for that variability, but some saw declines as much as eight percent this fall, and some saw growth as much as eight percent.”

He says keeping enrollment steady is important to these schools. “Community colleges are more tuition dependent than they were 15 years ago. So, when institutions see declines in enrollment, they really feel it,” Varner says.  Iowa Valley saw the largest drop in fall enrollment at seven-point-six percent, Des Moines Area Community College dropped five-point-two percent, Western Iowa Tech last three-point-eight percent, Northeast Iowa one-point-four percent, Iowa Lakes lost one percent of its enrollment, while Iowa Central and Iowa Western lost nine-tenths of a percent. North Iowa Area lost one-tenth of one percent. Indian Hills saw the biggest gain of eight-point-two percent, followed by Kirkwood at three-point-eight percent, Southwestern at three-point-five, Northwest was up three-point-one, Eastern Iowa had a three percent increase and Hawkeye Community College saw a one-point-five percent increase.

Varner says each school has some key things that impact their enrollment. “Each institution has its own context, it has its own labor market conditions, they have their own recruitment efforts, they have their own competitors, all these things sort of bleed over each other.”  The community college enrollment is made up of 90 percent Iowans, and around 40 percent are full time students.

(Radio Iowa)