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State softball tourney begins

July 31, 2006 By

The state high school softball tournament begins a week-long run in Fort Dodge tonight. Action begins with the opening round in class 1A,. At five a pair of rated teams collide as second rated Charter Oak-Ute goes up against 8th ranked New London, which enters the tournament with a mark of 32-8.

The other game finds 33-13 Earlham against 27-11 Newell-Fonda. Also in 1A, sixth ranked Don Bosco makes a second straight appearance at state against Madrid and after winning the 2A title in 2005 Alron-Westfield bids for the 1A crown this week. The top ranked team plays north Mahaska.

Half of the 2A field is in action tonight. 4th ranked Carroll Kuemper is 47-4 and opens against Sgt. Bluff Luton while second rated North Polk at 47-4 matches up with fort dodge St. Edmond. The rest of the 2A opening round and the first round in class 3A is Tueasday night. Action begins in 4A on Wednesday night. This will be the third straight year the tournament has had four classes. One change for this year. All the championship games will be held on the same diamond on Friday beginning with the 1A title contest at one o’clock.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:

State to purchase stockpile of flu drugs

July 31, 2006 By

The state’s executive council is being asked to approve spending nearly five million dollars to stockpile anti-viral drugs that would be used if there’s a massive flu outbreak. The request was made today. A decision’s expected in two weeks.

Iowa Department of Public Health director Mary Mincer-Hansen says there were three world-wide “pandemics” in the last century. “We have an opportunity now to prepare that we didn’t have previously in history, so we’re taking full advantage of that opportunity,” Mincer-Hansen says. The four-point-eight million dollars will buy three-hundred-10 courses of two common medications — one’s a pill, the other a mist — that are used to guard against the flu.

The federal government arranged to pay 25 percent of the cost for those medications, if states buy during a designated period. “So we want to take advantage of that federal subsidy,” Mincer-Hansen says. “They’ve given us a window in which to purchase (the drugs). When you put your purchase in, then we get in line to get them so we want to make sure that we’re in line to get them.”

The medications have a five-year shelf life, but Mincer-Hansen says that’s no indication she expects a pandemic flu outbreak in the next five years. She says there’s no way to predict when a new flu virus will mutate from affecting swine or birds to people.

“We are not able to predict when this would happen but again, we always want to be prepared,” Mincer-Hansen says. The last major flu pandemic occurred in 1918. Two others in the 1950s and 1960s were not as severe.

“We want to be very clear. We have no idea how severe it will be when it occurs,” Mincer-Hanson says. The state will stockpile enough anti-viral medication to treat 25 percent of the state’s population.

The public health director says the federal government is drafting guidelines for who should get the medication, but she expects it to be similar to the dispensing rules for the flu vaccine — putting the very young, the very old and health care professionals who come into contact with the sick at the head of the list.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government

Heat advisory continues today

July 31, 2006 By

The hot weather continues today with the entire state under a heat advisory through seven o’clock tonight. National Weather Service forecaster Chuck Meyers says it’ll be hard to find a cool spot in Iowa.

Meyers says we’re looking at heat indexes into the 100′s today over most of the state. Meyer says there is some relief on its way, as he says there’s a cold front inching its way across Minnesota and South Dakota, and it should bring some relief to Iowa around midweek. Meyers says the cold front will bring cooler weather and a chance of showers by Wednesday.

Filed Under: Weather

Cedar Falls couple charged after kids wander off

July 31, 2006 By

A Cedar Falls couple is charged with four counts of child endangerment and one count of drug possession after their toddler children were found by police earlier this morning (Monday).

Twenty-seven-year-old David Nissen and 26-year-old Lindsay Anne Koffler were arrested in the incident. Authorities say a Cedar Falls police officer found a 5-year-old boy at 2 o’clock this morning near the Cedar River and the train tracks near West First Street and Washington Street. The boy told the officer he was looking for his brothers.

A passerby located the two other boys on the train tracks near West First and Center Streets. A follow-up investigation by police and the Iowa Department of Human Services revealed where the boys lived and went to the home. Officers found an infant in the home and the couple unaware of the boys whereabouts. The four children were turned over to a family member by D-H-S. Nissen and Koffler are both being held at the Black Hawk County Jail.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Otho man dies in accident

July 31, 2006 By

A 23-year-old Otho man died early Sunday after a crash in Fort Dodge on Highway 169. Troopers identify him as Clinton Pringle. He was the passenger of a pickup truck driven by 25-year-old Lance Deal of Fort Dodge. The truck hit a culvert, went airborne and came down on its wheels, ejecting Pringle. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Deal was taken to a Fort Dodge hospital for treatment.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Child drowns in backyard pool in Council Bluffs

July 31, 2006 By

Authorities in western Iowa say a child who was nearly two-years old drowned last night (Sunday) in a backyard swimming pool. According to Council Bluffs police, family members found 23-month-old Jonathan D. Swigart floating in an above-ground, backyard pool, just after nine p.m. Sunday.

After pulling the boy from the water, one of his relatives began C-P-R, but the child was not breathing when rescue crews arrived on the scene. The boy was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The incident is under investigation by members of the Council Bluffs Police Criminal Investigation Division.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Florida men face charges afer hotel fracas

July 31, 2006 By

A half-dozen men from Florida are facing numerous charges after an incident last night (Sunday) at a hotel in the Tama County town of Toledo. Officers got a 9-1-1 call about a man being chased by another man with a knife near the Budget Inn Motel. Officers responded and found one motel guest reported a wallet stolen from his room and witnesses identified several intoxicated men as suspects.

A room search found a box containing a half-pound of marijuana. Six men are being held for questioning in the case with charges pending that range from robbery to possession of a controlled substance to public intoxication.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts
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