WINTER STORM WARNING
There is a Winter Storm Warning in effect for Plymouth and its surrounding counties today, effective until 6 this evening. Heavy snow is the main concern, accumulating between 4 and 7 inches. The heaviest snows should end after 2 pm, but snow will linger until early Sunday. A cold snap will follow, with high temperatures through next Friday in the single digits and teens. Low temperatures will fall below zero. Wind chills tonight and Sunday night will be -20 to -25.
One other weather note – Floyd Valley Health Care says that due to the impending weather, their Urgent Care is closed today.
JENEARY FOOD PROGRAM
The Iowa House Health and Human Services Committee is working on a bill to modify the state food assistance program. Committee member Tom Jeneary of Le Mars says he wants to change the kinds of foods available under the program. He wants to eliminate unhealthy items from the eligible food list.
The bill will create what’s called Double Up Food Bucks with one million dollars in seed money from the state.
Rep Jeneary says this bill would eliminate participation in the federal Women’s Infants, and Children’s program, and shift beneficiaries to the broader SNAP program. He says SNAP offers a better variety of healthy foods. The bill is a work in progress. It will be several weeks before a final version of the bill emerges from the committee.
IOWA RADON LEVELS
A federal E-P-A report says Iowa’s soil has the nation’s worst concentration of radon, with about seven in every ten Iowa homes containing enough of the gas that action is needed. Liz Orton, outreach coordinator for the Iowa Cancer Consortium, says radon is invisible, tasteless and odorless — and it’s also radioactive. Radon occurs naturally in the soil and it’s given off by radium and uranium. The gas is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in Iowa, behind only tobacco use. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services says radon results in about 400 deaths in the state every year. Orton recommends every Iowa homeowner invest in a radon test kit as radon levels in Iowa are almost seven times higher than the national average. The kits cost around 20-dollars, and while radon mitigation may cost 12-hundred dollars, Orton says it’s definitely lower than the cost of getting lung cancer and being treated for that.
SUPREME COURT RULING
The Iowa Supreme Court has overturned two lower court rulings and will allow statements made to police by a former Simpson College professor accused of killing her husband to be used in court. Gowun (Goon like soon) Park called West Des Moines Police to report her husband Sung Woo Nam was not breathing. She told the officers her husband had tied himself to a chair and she later found him unresponsive. It appeared to officers he had been strangled, and during questioning they did not immediately reveal her husband had died. They also suggested she could tell them if this happened because she had been abused. The Supreme Court ruling says while some tactics used may have been distasteful, officers were only trying to find out what happened, and did not coerce a confession from Park.
IOWA DEMOCRATS
The Iowa Democratic Party’s governing board is scheduled to elect a new party chair Saturday. The new leader will inherit a party reeling from 2022 election losses and dwindling finances. Former Congressman Dave Nagle of Cedar Falls served as party chairman 40 years ago. Nagle says the party’s next leader will also have to decide whether to fight to keep the Iowa Caucuses first in the nation. The Iowa Republican Party’s state central committee re-elected Jeff Kaufmann as their party chair earlier this month. Last summer, the Republican NATIONAL Committee voted to keep the Iowa G-O-P’s Caucuses first as their party chooses a presidential nominee in 2024.
OKOBOJI WINTER GAMES
The institution is fictional but the enthusiasm is genuine as the University of Okoboji Winter Games are underway this weekend in northwest Iowa. Kiley Zankowski (KY-lee zan-COW-skee), with the Iowa Great Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce, says thousands of people are expected through Sunday who will be competing in everything from ping-pong and pickleball to axe throwing and a human foosball tournament. Other events include a chili cookoff, chocolate tasting, a cribbage tournament and a dog show. There’s also a kite festival drawing kite fliers from all over the U-S and at least one foreign country. The Winter Games are expected to have an economic impact of three-million dollars for the region.
