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Great American Smokeout offers encouragement to quit

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cigaretteIowans who want to kick the cigarette habit can get plenty of encouragement today .

The annual Great American Smokeout is getting underway, according to Caroline Clark, with the Iowa chapter of the American Cancer Society.

“We’re encouraging everyone to put up your cigarettes, your chewing tobacco and quit smoking for a day forever,” Clark says. “We have some great tools to help you do that.”

The rationale is, if you can quit for one day, you can quit for good. For help, call the agency’s toll-free number, 800-227-2345, or visit the website: cancer.org/smokeout.

Clark says, “We have some great materials, lots of brochures, different ways to keep their mind off smoking, different tips and tricks to help them stay motivated and a great tool kit and a plan to help them quit smoking and stay smokefree.”

A survey released earlier this year found around 18 percent of Iowans over age 18 smoke. That’s down from just over 20 percent in 2011.

(Thanks to Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)

Most of Iowa could see its first frost

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frost-warningA cold front has pushed into Iowa and will soon bring the season’s first widespread frost and possibly freeze.

National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Fillbach says temperatures will plummet tonight after highs this afternoon reach the upper 40s to mid-50s.

“Overnight lows tonight are going to be in the mid-20s to mid-30s,” Fillbach says. “We have a freeze warning for much of Iowa for late tonight and early Thursday morning and we have a frost advisory for the far southeast counties.” Freeze warnings and frost advisories are typically only issued once, at this time of year, as a courtesy to people who have outdoor plants or gardens.

“That would be the main thing…you’re going to have sensitive vegetation that needs to be covered up or brought inside,” Fillbach says. The cool temperatures will persist Thursday before a gradual warmup into the weekend.

“By Friday, highs warm back up into the middle and upper 60s and by Sunday, we’ll see highs around 70 and into the upper 70s,” Fillbach says.

Crop duster believed to be involved in second southeast Iowa fish kill

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DNR-sign-300x203Another fish kill is under investigation in southeast Iowa — the second one in the past week in Des Moines County.

The latest case involves Big Creek about a mile west of Yarmouth. Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Kevin Baskins says dead fish have been found over a one mile stretch of the waterway, but it’s expected the fish kill will extend further downstream.

“So far, our people who are on the scene have seen a number of different species of dead and stressed fish including catfish, bullheads, bass, suckers and creek chubs,” Baskins says. The discovery in Big Creek follows an earlier fish kill near Mediapolis. Baskins has an update on the damage in Cedar Fork Creek.

“It looks like approximately 7.3 miles of Cedar Fork Creek were affected and about 53,500 fish were killed. The value of those fish was placed at just shy of $8,400,” Baskins says. It is believed a crop duster dropping farm chemicals is to blame in both incidents. The Iowa Department of Agriculture is helping with the investigation.

“We feel that we do have some information that points us in some directions and we’ll continue to investigate to see if we can determine who is responsible for this,” Baskins says. The DNR was first notified of the fish kill in Cedar Fork Creek last Friday.