The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat warning for the weekend and since these are the dog days of summer with the expected highs to be in the 90’s and heat index readings may be in the 100 degree mark health officials are warning us to be careful.
Floyd Valley Trauma Coordinator, Mary Jo Clark says prevention is the best medicine for summertime hazards, so take precautions to protect yourself. She says people often times confuse heat stroke with heat exhaustion. Clark says heat exhaustion will always precede heat stroke.
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Clark says the best remedy is to stay cool, take frequent breaks, seek shade or shelter, and stay hydrated. Water is best and she suggests to drink before, during, and after an activity. She suggests to keep drinking water even if you are not thirsty, and stay away from soda drinks and alcholol.
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The heat combined with high humidity levels can be especially troublesome for those people suffering from asthma. She says if you are particularly affected with asthma, or know of someone that is, you should pay even closer attention to your body and try to avoid being outdoors for extended periods of time.
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Clark says another way to remain cool and comfortable is to wear light colored and loose clothing. The heat and humidity not only creates problems for humans, but for our pets as well.
(LeMars) –The Plymouth County Historical Museum along with representatives from the Akron Museum and the Remsen Museum and other interested people met with the Plymouth County Fairboard Thursday evening to ask the fairboard to consider moving a house from rural Union township to the fairgrounds. The home is that of the late Cherry Cliff, a devoted volunteer to the Plymouth County fair, and historical preservationist. The three museum organizations believe there should be a Plymouth County Fair museum located at the fairgrounds and they believe the home would make for the ideal structure. The fairboard heard many presentations on the proposed project, but decided not to take any action at this time. The next fairboard meeting is scheduled for September.
(LeMars) — Speaking of Cherry Cliff, the Plymouth County Historical Museum has scheduled Monday, July 18th as “Cherry Cliff Day.” Although the museum is normally closed on Mondays, People are urged to visit the museum between three and five p.m. and enjoy cherry tea, cherry floats, and other cherry refreshments. Its all part of a way to honor the late Cherry Cliff who passed away this last May. Cherry Cliff was a devoted volunteer to the Plymouth county Historical Museum.
MAPLETON, Iowa (AP) More than three months after a tornado leveled much of Mapleton in western Iowa, volunteers are still coming to the rescue.
A Sioux City television station reports that vans full of people are still pulling into town to clean, build or paint buildings and other property damaged by the twister. No deaths were reported. The tornado was among at least 18 twisters in Iowa on April 9.
Pastor Katie Newman says her church has been working hard on recruiting and has lined up almost 200 volunteers over the next six weeks.
Some are coming from across the country, including Devon Anderson. He came from Massachusetts to lend a hand.
Anderson says he’s “just helping with the tornado `cause I felt bad and I thought we could help.”
Homecoming in Dubuque for Iowa soldiers
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Another homecoming ceremony is set for more Iowa National Guard soldiers returning from a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan.
The guard says about 220 soldiers will be welcomed home on Sunday in Dubuque. The soldiers are with Companies A and D, 1st Battalion of the 133rd Infantry. The homecoming is 11 a.m. at the Grand River Center.
Homecoming ceremonies were held Thursday in Cedar Rapids, Boone and Johnson. Another homecoming is being held today in Cedar Falls.
Nearly 3,000 Iowa soldiers were sent to Afghanistan last year. It was the largest single deployment of Iowa National Guard troops since World War II.
Funeral set for Iowa soldier killed in Afghanistan
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Funeral services are on Monday in Cedar Rapids for an Iowa National Guard soldier killed in Afghanistan.
Thirty-nine-year-old Sgt. 1st Class Terryl Pasker, of Cedar Rapids, was killed July 9. The guard says Pasker was going through a routine security checkpoint in an armored vehicle when an Afghan National Directorate security officer opened fire. A fellow guardsman, who fired back and killed the security guard, was injured.
The guard says Pasker’s funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. at the River of Life Ministries, with burial at Mount Calvary Cemetery, also in Cedar Rapids. Visitation is Sunday at Murdoch Funeral Home in Marion.
Gov. Terry Branstad has ordered all flags in Iowa be flown at half-staff on Monday in Pasker’s honor.
Slow-starting GOP ad race about to begin in Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Presidential candidates have been slow to begin the television ad wars, but that may be about to change.
Republican media trackers report that Tim Pawlenty has reserved an estimated $200,000 of television advertising in the Des Moines media market to begin Monday and carry through the closely watched Iowa GOP straw poll in mid-August.
The former Minnesota governor is aggressively competing in the straw poll. Recent polls have shown Pawlenty polling in the single digits in his neighboring state, while his Waterloo-born rival Michele Bachmann is near the top in Iowa.
Pawlenty is on pace to spend more than $430,000 in Iowa through mid-August. It’s much more than any of his rivals but a far cry from the $1.5 million Mitt Romney spent in Iowa ahead of the 2007 straw poll.
Roberts Dairy closing Iowa City plant
(Information in the following story is from: Iowa City Press-Citizen, https://www.press-citizen.com/)
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Roberts Dairy says it’s closing its plant in Iowa City immediately and moving operations to Dubuque and Omaha.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen says the company sent a letter to the mayor, saying the closure is effective Friday. Forty-seven workers will be affected. Roberts Dairy will continue to employ 30 workers as drivers and support personnel. In the letter, the company says the closure is the result of lower volumes and the need to consolidate operations.
The dairy says it will continue to employ 250 people in Iowa.
Iowa farmer sent to prison for stealing corn
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) An Iowa farmer who pleaded guilty to selling 32,000 bushels of corn that were mortgaged to a government-owned agriculture lender has been sentenced to 6 months in prison.
Federal prosecutors say 49-year-old Chris Wessels, of Earlville, was sentenced on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Wessels also was fined $10,000.
He pleaded guilty in January to one count of stealing corn mortgaged by the Commodity Credit Corporation.
Prosecutors say the corn was mortgaged in 2007 as a security for a $61,000 loan, but Wessels sold the corn to pay other bills.
Police close thoroughfare for march to mansion
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Organizers say police will close a 10-block section of a downtown Des Moines thoroughfare to accommodate hundreds of demonstrators who plan to march to the governor’s mansion.
This Saturday’s afternoon protest was organized by the group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, which plans a rally on the grounds near the mansion. The group claims Republican Gov. Terry Branstad has supported pro-business policies that hurt workers.
Police will close a 10-block section of Grand Avenue, allowing protesters to march to the mansion located just west of downtown.
Aides say Branstad will be in Salt Lake City at a meeting of the National Governors Association during the protest.
Father of slain toddler pleads not guilty
(Information in the following story is from: The Gazette, https://www.gazetteonline.com/)
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A Cedar Rapids man charged in the beating death of his 17-month daughter has pleaded not guilty.
The Gazette says 24-year-old Zyriah Schlitter pleaded not guilty Friday to first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death in the March 2010 death of his daughter Kamryn.
Schlitter’s attorney also asked that his client’s $500,000 bond be reduced but the judge did not immediately rule on that request.
Schlitter and his ex-girlfriend, 27-year-old Amy Parmer, were arrested last month. Parmer, who is not Kamryn’s mother, faces the same charges.
She was released from jail Monday after a judge lowered her bond last week to $100,000.
Kamryn’s mother had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Schlitter and Parmer accusing them of abuse that led to Kamryn’s death, but the lawsuit was later dropped.
Muslim woman makes history at weightlifting event
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) Kulsoom Abdullah has become the first woman to compete in the U.S. weightlifting championships while wearing clothing that covers her legs, arms and head.
Abdullah was cleared to compete in accordance with her Muslim faith after the International Weightlifting Federation ruled two weeks ago that athletes could wear a full-body “unitard” under the customary weightlifting uniform.
Abdullah, a 35-year-old from Atlanta who weighs roughly 105 pounds, lifted before a small crowd Friday in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Wearing a flowing black hijab and matching top with a tan, long-sleeved undershirt, Abdullah cleared a snatch of 41 kilograms, or just over 90 pounds, and 57 kilograms in the clean and jerk.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
