friday takeout
February 1, 2019
CUPPA JOE | straight up news.
College teams up with workforce agencies and community organizations to launch innovative childcare assistance initiative for students in training programs ... news
Winneshiek County law enforcement personnel sharpen their skills in professional development program at Wilder Business Center ... news
Businesses and employees gain through "Earn and Learn" model ... news
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WEEKLY FEATURE | good to know.
Support The American Cancer Society through Daffodil Days Campaign
Daffodil Days is an opportunity for everyone to join the American Cancer Society in saving lives, celebrating lives and leading the fight for a world without cancer. Dollars raised through Daffodil Days support groundbreaking research, patient services, and other lifesaving programs. Through the daffodil, the first flower of spring, this campaign brings a symbol of hope to cancer patients and those affected by the disease.
Funds from daffodil sales will be donated to cancer patients to provide assistance with lodging, transportation and food while they are undergoing treatment. The bouquets are $10 each, and the money is due by Wednesday, Feb. 6. Checks can be made out to The
American Cancer Society and dropped off at Room 216, Peosta campus Counselor Kathy Davis's office. Flowers will arrive March 5.
JUST DESSERTS | let's celebrate.
Welcome World!
It’s a girl! Khloe Galloway Gragert made her grand entrance 6.5 weeks early, proving she’s the boss on Jan. 24. James and Hallie Gragert, and baby, are all doing well! Hallie is an administrative assistant at the Cresco Center.
APPETIZER | something for your appetite.
Winter in the Midwest and the Dreaded Polar Vortex
This past week, The New York Times devoted great news attention to the polar vortex descending on the upper Midwest US. In a Jan. 29 article, New England journalist Kate Taylor wrote a story that helped to put into perspective exactly how cold this week in Iowa really was.
Taylor offered some jaw-dropping facts about the brutal cold front Midwesterners endured:
The Midwest was colder on Wednesday than parts of Antarctica and Alaska.
The high on Wednesday in Des Moines was a bitter minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Wednesday’s high at McMurdo Station in Antarctica was a comparatively mild 17 degrees, according to weather.com. Fairbanks, Alaska, was also warmer during the day on Wednesday than Des Moines, with a high of 4 degrees.
More than 50 million people were affected.
A large expanse of states, from the Dakotas to western Pennsylvania, were under wind chill warnings or advisories from the National Weather Service.
The potential for frostbite in five minutes.
With wind chills in Minneapolis-St. Paul as low as -45 to -65 degrees from Tuesday night through Thursday morning, the National Weather Service
warned people that any exposed skin could get frostbite in as little as five minutes.
Government action.
The governors of Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin declared state of emergencies in anticipation of this week’s historic, dangerous cold temperatures.
The upside.
Starting this weekend in northeast Iowa, temperatures will rise to the upper 30s and lower 40s, with rain expected in the forecast this Sunday!
BIG FISH | be amazed.
Punxsutawney Phil
Gobbler’s Knob | Punxsutawney, Penn.
(Editor’s note: Northeast Iowa Community College was granted an exclusive interview, via Zoom from Punxsutawney, Penn., with the famous groundhog – or at least, with a gifted young interpreter. After posting a request for someone fluent in groundhog on the Moonlighting website, the College received a response from a local girl who said she could act as our interpreter. The following is a verbatim exchange between our interpreter and the editors of Friday Takeout, who spent the better half of the week inside at home, freezing.)
So, Puxatawney Phil. We have to ask: Why is your name Phil, and not Jake or Andy or Abby?
'Cause I was Phil, a dill. I’m glad you asked! I like to eat bugs. Bugs. Leaves. Plants. Milkweed, and then that's mostly all.
Why do you have special powers that tell you how long the Winter will be or when Spring will arrive?
'Cause when I see my shadow, I go back in my hole! My favorite veggie is carrots.
Can you give us a little hint about tomorrow's prediction? Are we going to have an early Spring or six more weeks of Winter?
We are gonna have an extra winter. Because it's so cold out, I think we're gonna have an extra winter.
Other than Groundhog Day morning, what do you do the other 364 days of the year?
I collect food. Um, we don't usually have hobbies, but we would normally sleep for the whole entire winter. You think I’m lazy. Well, we groundhogs don't usually do traveling. We just go hole to hole.
What do you do for exercise during the Winter months? Your living quarters seem kinda cramped.
We just sleep. I can stand up sleeping. We just like staying in fields and safe places. I also like to eat grass, hay and apples.
If you have input on a upcoming feature, Big Fish, something to celebrate or a suggestion, email us at news@nicc.edu!