Verbio Nevada Biorefinery begins making renewable natural gas from corn residue
One of the state’s most abundant resources – corn “stover” – is being used to create renewable natural gas that heats Iowa homes and businesses.
As of December 7, the Verbio North America plant in Nevada, Iowa, has been converting chopped cornstalks into natural gas that enters an Alliant Energy pipeline that traverses central Iowa.
Using anaerobic digestion, eight large digesters combine the corn stover with the bacteria of livestock manure, which results in the conversion of corn residue into biomethane gas that is equivalent to the natural gas found in fossil fuels.
12 local food experts make suggestions on how to improve sales to institutional buyers
A diverse group of local food experts from across the state submitted a set of recommendations to the Iowa Legislature that are intended to improve the farm to table supply chain.
The Farm to Table Task Force commissioned during the 2021 state legislative session and led by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach met over the last several months.
The charge was to identify strategies to improve the farm to table supply chain in Iowa, with a special focus on increasing sales to institutional purchasers, including schools. The task force consisted of 12 local food experts representing farmers, distributors, food pantries, small scale processors and customers.
Our earth has been warmer than it is now, so why worry? Past warming was caused by either well-understood variations in earth’s orbit around the sun and/or wobbles in earth’s tilt, or by emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, usually from widespread volcanism.
Today’s temperature rise comes at a time when the cycles in earth’s orbit and tilt should not be warming earth, and there is no widespread volcanism. Scientists of all sorts have considered all these possibilities and agree that man’s activities, since the industrial revolution, are causing the warming. They are more certain of this than they were that cigarettes can cause lung cancer.
There are a lot of myths surrounding depression, the two most common being that depression is triggered by a negative life event, and that people who are depressed should find something that makes them happy so they can “snap out of it.” Neither misconception accurately portrays the condition, and both feed into its stigmatization.
Depression is a serious medical condition that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, affects approximately eight percent of the U.S. population over age 12. Although there is effective treatment available, less than 35 percent of those living with depression seek professional help.
Individuals may be reluctant to get help for a variety of reasons - maybe they think they can overcome depression on their own, or they believe that no one will understand how they feel.
The Waukon West Elementary School, from Preschool through second grade, recently donated over 200 gift items to Veterans Memorial Hospital in lieu of a gift exchange this year. Donations included stuffed animals, picture books, fleece blankets and puzzle books. These items were all given by the students and their families to be handed out to the patients at the hospital in the ‘spirit of giving’ to help brighten their stay and keep them entertained and comfortable. All of these gifts have been made available in a variety of departments around the hospital such as the patient floor, Surgery, Emergency Room, Maternity and Ambulance. Pictured above are the West Elementary students and their teachers with some of the Veterans Memorial Hospital Nurse Managers accepting their boxes of donations. Submitted photo.
Veterans Memorial Hospital’s Urgent Care is held every Monday-Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., and each Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Urgent Care will not be available on New Year’s Day, Saturday, January 1.
This week, the Urgent Care will be offered at the following times and days: December 31, New Years Eve - 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
January 1, New Years Day - Closed, no Urgent Care available.
Urgent Care is designed for treating injuries or illnesses requiring immediate care, but not serious enough to require an emergency department visit.
Veterans Memorial Hospital is once again able to allow visitors but with some restrictions. All visitors to the hospital must wear a mask at all times, even when in the room with the patient. Patients will be allowed up to three visitors in one day.
Only visitors who are feeling well and not experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19 or been diagnosed with COVID-19 within the last 14 days will be allowed to visit.
The Veterans Memorial Hospital Birthing Center will continue to only allow the significant other and siblings of the infant in to visit, again remaining masked at all times.
All visitors to the hospital must enter through the main front entrance of the hospital and complete the screening before visiting.
The next LifeServe Blood Center blood drive will be held Thursday, January 6, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon. Blood drives are held every month in Waukon. The LifeServe Blood Center of Iowa supplies Veterans Memorial Hospital with its blood and blood products.
The LifeServe Blood Center of Iowa is seeking donors to ensure a safe and plentiful blood supply in Iowa. Because there is no substitute for human blood, the need for donors is continuous. Many Iowans are encouraged to make donating blood on a regular basis their New Year’s resolution this year.
Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care/Allamakee County Public Health will be offering another walk-in clinic for the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Wednesday, December 29, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the ICN Conference Room located on the southeast side of the hospital. Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be available. Park along the orange cones along the golf course for easy access to the vaccine location.
Flu shots will also be available and can be safely administered at the same time as the COVID-19 vaccine.
The family of Mike and Diane Quillin of Waterville is celebrating the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary with a card shower. The couple was united in marriage January 3, 1972 at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Waukon.
Their family includes one child, Kerry (Mike) Brennan. They also have three grandchildren, Quinn, Danny and Katie.
In honor of the occasion, cards and well wishes may be sent to 1539 Drake Road Waterville, IA 52170.
