Four new cases of bird flu have been found in Iowa including one farm with 2.8 million laying hens. Three of the new cases are at commercial turkey farms in Buena Vista and Cherokee Counties.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture says that 19.4 million birds will be destroyed because of the virus, although that estimate did not include the number birds from the commercial turkey farms.
The farms will be quarantined and all the turkeys destroyed according to officials. Every flock within 6.2 miles of the infected farms will be quarantined and tested to see if the virus has spread beyond the four new infected locations.
Governor Terry Branstad has declared a state of emergency so that state agencies can take strong measures to stop the virus from continuing to spread. Cherokee, Clay, Kossuth, Madison, O’Brien, Osceola, Pocahontas, Sac and Sioux counties have all been impacted by the virus.
Scientists speculate that migratory birds such as ducks and geese have spread the virus through their droppings on the farms. Farm workers then unknowingly spread the virus through dust or bird feathers.
The risk to humans is considered low according to health officials.
The outbreak is also causing concern among grocers because there is only seven months to Thanksgiving and it’s possible the farms will not be able to meet the demand for turkeys on the holiday. The cost of turkey could skyrocket because of short supply.
Saturday, April 11th will be the “Day of the Bible” in Marshalltown, Iowa.
On that day a group of churches will place a Bible at each one of the 12,000 homes in the city.
The pastor of First Baptist Church in Marshalltown said that the move is being done in response to a series of violent crimes in the city. He first suggested the idea in a pastor’s meeting and the idea quickly blossomed into the city-wide event.
“What made the other churches want to join so quickly is that our prayer time had recently focused on what appeared to be a dark cloud of gloom hovering over our community,” Pastor Gerald Robison wrote in a press release.
“There had been a murder, an attempted murder, arson and a shooting death in our area,” he wrote. “With all the bad news around us, the pastors had been praying over the town and we saw this project as a way of delivering hope.”
The event is being called “Hope 4 You – Hope 4 Iowa.” The project was to cost $18,000 and Robison said that they were able to raise that exact amount for the Bibles.
Hundreds of Christians from churches all over the city will be meeting to hand out the Bibles over a three-hour period.
“We agree on the important things—-and the most important is that we all agree Jesus is the source of real hope. And we want to share that with others who may need it the most,” Robison said of the diverse churches taking part in the effort. “And so, the local congregations, all willing, eager, faithful and ready to share, have worked hard to make ‘Hope 4 You—Hope 4 Iowa’ a reality.”
The developers of a Bible-themed park in Sioux City, Iowa have announced they rejected a $140,000 grant from the state after the anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation made harassing complaints.
Vision Iowa, a group aimed at renovating and rehabilitating green spaces within the state, had offered a $140,000 grant to the park’s designers for trees, plants and other non-religious parts of the park. That wasn’t good enough for the anti-Christian group FFRF, who said that any funding given to a public park that might have a religious element is a violation of church and state.
The board of the Shepherd’s Garden told the Des Moines Register they just want to build the park and not be in the middle of frivolous lawsuits.
The FFRF celebrated the decision to harm the Christian park by having the funds withdrawn, claiming it was a “victory for the separation of church and state.”
The good news in the story is that after the word of the anti-Christianists actions hit the news, private donors provided a significant increase in funding that should allow for completion of the park in September.
An anti-Christian group is demanding that the state of Iowa rescind funding for a park in Sioux City that would have a Christian theme.
The virulently anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation has sent a letter demanding the state’s Vision Iowa Board rescind a $140,000 grant awarded to The Shepherd’s Garden. The park with a Christian theme is due to be completed in the downtown Sioux City area by the end of the September.
The park, which will have a stone path with Bible Verses and prayer stations available to visitors, will also have a significant amount of green space, trees and flowers. Vision Iowa authorities say the funding is going to develop the green space and agricultural aspects of the park, not the religious aspect.
Tina Hoffman, the Communications Director for the Iowa Economic Development Authority, which oversees Vision Iowa, said that the contract for the grant has not been drafted but will be written to explicitly prohibit government funds from paying for any of the religious elements of the park.
At least six people are confirmed dead after a Sunday outbreak of tornadoes across the Midwest.
The town of Washington, Illinois was devastated by a massive tornado that tore an 1/8th mile wide track through the entire town. Mayor Gary Manier said that up to 500 homes have been damaged or destroyed and that some neighborhoods are completely destroyed.
“How people survived is beyond me,” Manier said.
The tornadic storms are considered unusual for mid-November. Damaging winds and tornadoes were reported in 12 states: Michigan, Iowa, Illnois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York.
The storms moved so fast at times that weather forecasters were warning people to see shelter even before they could see a change in the weather.
The storm threatened the Chicago area forcing the game between the NFL’s Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens to be delayed for two hours as teams and spectators huddled under the stadium.
Winter Storm “Q,” which has already dumped a layer of snow in Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California, moves with full force into the eastern Plains and Midwest on Thursday, where it could dump a foot and a half of snow in some areas. Continue reading →
Winter Storm “Q,” which has already dumped a layer of snow in Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California, moves with full force into the eastern Plains and Midwest on Thursday, where it could dump a foot and a half of snow in some areas.