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Creston High School named seniors Jay Wolfe and Natalie Mostek as the 2014-15 CHS Outstanding Male and Female Athletes in SPORTS, page 7A. >>
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Bird flu could cost nearly $1 billion in Minnesota and Iowa 37 $2B 15
DES MOINES (AP) — Bird flu could cost nearly $1 billion in the economies of the two states hardest hit, Minnesota and Iowa, agricultural economists said Monday, and the virus is still spreading. Iowa, the nation’s leading egg producer, has lost about 20 million chickens that lay eggs for food use, more than a third of the total. Minnesota, the top turkey state has lost more than 8 million birds. So far the U. S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed the bird flu has claimed nearly 37 million birds in 15 states but the number is significantly larger because additional farms in Iowa and Minnesota
So far the U. S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed the bird flu has claimed nearly 37 million birds.
recently discovered are not yet on the list. The figures include birds killed by the virus as well as those killed to prevent its spread. On Saturday, Rembrandt Foods announced that chickens at its second farm, an egg facility in Renville, Minnesota, had tested positive for the virus. About 2 million chickens will be euthanized. The
A total of 15 states have been confirmed with the bird flu, but the impact is higher in Iowa and Minnesota.
company, one of the largest egg producers in the U.S., had to destroy 5.5 million chickens on its Rembrandt, Iowa, farm after the flu turned up there last month. Minnesota’s estimated loss of nearly $310 million in poultry production includes sales losses to feed suppliers, trucking companies, and processing plants, said Brigid Tuck,
Egg producers generate more than $2 billion a year in economic activity in Iowa.
a senior economic impact analyst with the University of Minnesota in Mankato. The loss in sales of poultry alone is estimated at $114 million. The estimates were based on the bird losses as of last Monday. In Iowa, the estimated economic loss from egg production is estimated at just over $600 million based on figures
from Iowa State University economists using current estimates of dead chickens. Egg producers generate more than $2 billion a year in economic activity and the estimate is based on a loss of a third of the flock. Additional losses were reported Monday. Other agriculture economists believe the economic losses for those two states could be even higher. The economists said that the estimates are based on annual figures and the exact economic impact won’t be known until it’s determined how long it takes to declare barns virus-free and safe for restocking after birds are cleared out
A bunch of hams
Branstad predicts Iowa Legislature won’t adjourn until June
Southwest Iowa Amateur Radio Association helps during events, severe weather ■
By IAN RICHARDSON CNA staff reporter irichardson@crestonnews. com
“KA0YKC. You around, Martin?” Bob Crawford sat at his dining room table as he spoke his call sign and his question into his handheld radio. There was a pause. Then a voice broke through the speaker. “KC0DUA. I’m here.” It was Martin Shawler, a fellow Creston ham operator. “Yeah, roger,” Crawford said. “I’ve got Ian Richardson, the newspaper guy, at my house, and I’m showing him how our radios work and talking to him about our club and everything.” The two exchanged a few more sentences before Crawford bid Shawler “73,” which is hamspeak for “best regards,” and signed off. Crawford and Shawler are two of several ham, or amateur, radio operators who are members of the Southwest Iowa Amateur Radio Association (SWIARA), an organization that began in the 1970s and remains very active in Creston
today. With about 20 members from Union and the surrounding counties, the group helps during disaster situations, parades and, for the first time this year, the KSIB Tractor Ride.
“Like going fishing” Crawford has personally been operating ham radios for more than four decades. He started as a Military Auxiliary Radio System operator in the Marines during the Vietnam War. Now, the 72-year-old Creston School driver and crossing guard
uses it mainly as a hobby, tinkering with his radio and seeing who might be broadcasting on different frequencies. “It’s kind of like going fishing,” he said. “You don’t know what you’re going to catch.” Over the past 43 years, Crawford has talked with ham operators throughout the world, and he has a scrapbook of postcards they’ve sent him afterward. There are cards from Japan, France, Puerto Rico, Germany, Sweden, Belgium,
Ukraine, Estonia and Italy, to name a few. What does he talk about when he makes contact? “You just talk about what’s going on, what their country’s like, what our country’s like, our freedoms, their freedoms and stuff like that,” he said. Crawford helped restart SWIARA in 1986 and is a former president and vice president of the club. During his first few years Please see RADIO, Page 2A
First senior class: A majority
of the first class of students at Discovery Kids Preschool in Creston — now high school graduates — met for a reunion Friday afternoon. Pictured, from front left: Deborah Benoit, Maddie Skarda, Lillie Wyant, Ericka Abell, Katie Utley, Maria Mostek. Back row, from left: Brittany Ross, Brooke Hague, Brittney Minson, Natalie Mostek, Ashley Harris, Tanna Smallwood, Bryce Briley, Dillon Bailey and Tammy Martin. CNA photo by JAKE WADDINGHAM
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and facilities are disinfected. “They are not going to come back all at once. It’s going to take one to two years for these layer facilities to be back into full production, it’s a gradual process,” said Maro Ibarburu, a business analyst at the Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University. While agriculture economists compute financial losses for states hardest hit, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a monthly report Monday that said national exports of turkey meat will fall 10 percent, eggs about 1.5 percent and even chicken meat exports will fall 6.8 percent this year.
DES MOINES (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad predicts the divided Iowa Legislature will negotiate the overall state budget until early June. B r a n - Branstad stad told reporters Monday he expects lawmakers won’t adjourn until at least the first week of June. Lawmakers’ daily expense payments ended on May 1. The Democratic-controlled Senate and the
Republican-led House are at odds over how much to spend during the fiscal year that begins July 1. Senate Democrats and Branstad have proposed an overall general fund budget of about $7.34 billion. House Republicans are seeking to spend $7.17 billion, arguing the state shouldn’t spend more than is expected in projected revenue. Among key differences is spending on K-12 education. Branstad says his office is working with legislative leaders to reach a consensus, but he didn’t provide specific details.
2015 Freedom Rock nearly complete GREENFIELD — Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II, artist of the Freedom Rock in Adair County, has begun painting for the 17th year. In honor of Memorial Day, Sorensen repaints this 12foot tall, approximately 60 ton boulder to pay tribute to military men and women. Sorensen started painting the original Freedom R o c k the first week of May and plans to be finished by Memorial Day Sorensen 2 0 1 5 . This year’s front (highway facing side) of the Freedom Rock is Sorensen’s expanded version of the Gadsden Flag. It has a soldier shouldering the weight of our country including Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, symbolizing the heavy re-
sponsibility each military person carries and defends during their service. Also on the front is a coiled rattlesnake with a ribbon flowing around his body reading, “Don’t Tread On Me.” The south side features “The Four Chaplains” who were a calming presence after their troop transport ship, the USS Dorchester, was hit by a torpedo in the early morning hours of Feb. 3, 1943, and began to sink. After organizing an orderly evacuation the life vest supply ran out before everyone had. Selflessly, each chaplain removed their own life vests and gave them to others. The chaplains then locked arms, said prayers and sang hymns as the ship sank. The back (east side) is the American flag laying on the rock, in the shape of that side of the rock. Please see FREEDOM ROCK, Page 2A
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