Home Care In Tripoli, IA

Special to the Register

Cady Walsh has a genetic bone disease that causes severe pain and limits her mobility. She isn’t able to work, but she has also been denied disability benefits. She lives with her 2-year-old son in an apartment in an outbuilding on her parents' acreage near Tripoli.

Last year, the sewer system backed up and destroyed the apartment’s appliances, including the range. Walsh couldn’t afford to buy a new oven, so she spent $30 on a hot plate that she used to cook her son’s favorite chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.

“It was extremely dangerous and took hours to just boil water for mac and cheese,” she said.

That’s when Embrace Iowa stepped in with a grant to buy her a new oven.

When Walsh was looking at ranges at her local home store, she was thrilled to find an ADA-compliant oven in her price range to accommodate the wheelchair and crutches she sometimes uses.

“I knew about ADA-compliant ranges, but I never thought I’d be able to afford one,” she said. “When I saw that they had one in my price range, I literally broke down crying in the store.”

The Des Moines Register’s annual Embrace Iowa campaign helps Iowans with grants of up to $750 to pay for things that fall outside of standard assistance programs ? like car repairs, beds, working appliances, or medical expenses.

Embrace Iowa applicants apply through 16 local Community Action Agencies serving all 99 counties across the state. First-time applicants are given priority in the review process, and applicants must be at or below 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines.

“I’m so grateful to people who donate to this program,” Walsh said. “When I didn’t have a good, safe way to cook for my son, I was at a low point. My new range has made such a positive impact on our lives. It means more than words can ever express.”

How you can help

This holiday season, you can make a difference in the lives of your Iowa neighbors by helping Embrace Iowa raise $400,000 in the 2022-23 campaign. Embrace Iowa accepts funds year-round, but the official fundraising campaign runs from Thanksgiving through Feb. 1, 2023.

You can donate to Embrace Iowa online at iowacommunityaction.org/about/donate. Or checks can be mailed to Embrace Iowa, P.O. Box 10611, Cedar Rapids, IA 52410-0611.

One-hundred percent of donations are used to help the applicants, not to pay staff or agency costs. Following your donation, a letter will be mailed for tax purposes.

Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

TRIPOLI, Ia. — When wildlife photographer Kip Ladage gets onto the water to capture images of nature, he stays low and quiet in his kayak, covered in camouflaged netting.

“I can get pretty close,” he said.

That sort of stealth isn’t an option when a dozen people hit the water. Ladage and Darrin Siefken lead weekly tours of Sweet Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Bremer County to give people a chance to glimpse migrating water fowl and other wildlife.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Siefken, owner of Crawdaddy Outdoors and a former Bremer County Conservation officer, provides kayaks for the tours. The multiple colors and variety of crafts don’t blend in as well as Ladage’s kayak.

“It’s going to look like a box of floating crayons once everybody gets out there,” Ladage said as people prepared for the float.

Nonetheless, paddlers in the red, yellow, blue and other colors of kayaks got good looks at waterfowl and migratory birds.

The best vantage point is on the water for anyone who wants to catch a glimpse of many of the waterfowl that stopover at the marsh while migrating elsewhere and the birds that call the marsh home.

“You always see something out here,” Ladage said. “The biggest thing is to be observant.”

Pelicans, sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans, hooded mergansers, gadwalls, herons and eagles can be seen every year at Sweet Marsh.

“We see similar species every year,” Ladage said. “But each time you go out, whether you go once a year or multiple times per year, you see something different; it’s ever-changing.”

The group came upon a flock of pelicans grouped near a shoreline. They watched the paddlers from a distance but did not take flight.

“They don’t have enough room to take off without flying into the wind,” Siefken said.

When the group paddles close to a spread out flock of American coots, the birds take off on a short flight low along the water in a cacophony of flapping and splashing.

Some paddlers return every year while first-timers are common too. Brandon Rosburg, who lives in nearby Tripoli, said he frequently hikes around the marsh, takes photos of wildlife and the night sky. His first trip on the water was during the final March marsh tour.

“It was worth it to me just to see Sweet Marsh in a different way,” Rosburg said.

For Dianna Geiger of Cedar Falls, the marsh tour is a sign of spring. She returns every year for multiple tours each year. No trip is the same, she said.

“I just saw some cranes today and I didn’t see any last week,” Geiger said.

“It’s been a good year for viewing waterfowl,” said Jason Auel, wildlife biologist with the Cedar-Wapsi wildlife unit of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

At one point this spring, the marsh had 40 trumpeter swans, Auel said.

It’s not just the wildlife that changes from week to week. The layout of the marsh itself is never exactly the same. Cattail plants that aren’t rooted down can float closing and opening water routes to different parts of the marsh. Even the largest body of water, Martin Lake, where the tours take place, can become crowded with plants in places.

“You can get yourself in some areas it can actually be like a maze,” Auel said. “Occasionally, we’ll have to go out in a boat and physically pull them away.”

Upkeep of Sweet Marsh is labor intensive for staff at the Cedar-Wapsi wildlife unit. Although 200 acres are set aside as a wildlife refuge, much of the 3,157 acres are open for hunting. Wildlife officials control and monitor water levels in the other areas of the wildlife area. Most of the other pools of water in the marsh are about a foot deep right now. In mid-May, wildlife officials will drain most of the pools and plant some crops for birds that will stop at the marsh during their autumn migration. In August, the pools will be filled to full levels until about mid-October for the hunting season.

Auel said the tours are a good way to show people the diverse wildlife Iowa supports.

“The more people that get to see what we do and visit these areas, the more they appreciate it,” Auel said.

It also shows paddlers the variety of areas they can enjoy.

“Sometimes people only think about paddling as going out on rivers,” Siefken said. “We have some nice marshes.”

The marsh migration tours are every Tuesday through May 10 and two Sunday events April 17 and May 8. More information may be obtained or tour reservations made by contacting Craw Daddy Outdoors at 319-352-9129.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Marine Corps is offering live, virtual and constructive (LVC) training to Marines ahead of the service’s expected schedule, the top officer for Training and Education Command said Tuesday.

Project Tripoli is the Marine Corps’ new training platform that will allow Marines to train through live and virtual scenarios that are connected, allowing multiple units to train together despite not being physically together.

The Marine Corps did not expect to already offer Marines training opportunities through Project Tripoli, Lt. Gen. Kevin Iiams, commanding general of the Training and Education Command, said at the annual Modern Day Marine conference.

The service used the Navy’s continuous training platform, allowing the service to offer the LVC training earlier, Iiams said, speaking at the Modern Day Marine Conference. The Marine Corps used a Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar with synthetic tracks, one of the first examples Iiams gave of Marines utilizing LVC under Project Tripoli. Then two commanders would have to make decisions as if they were in a real scenario, deciding if they were shooting at a live ship or a synthetic one, Iiams said.

“It’s giving the Marine Corps the opportunity to train to all of these force design concepts and capabilities,” Iiams said of Tripoli.

Project Tripoli also gives the Marine Corps a solution to its lack of range space and training space that some of the platforms require, he said. The virtual aspect can also help the service train on more classified platforms or run more secretive scenarios.

“Our simulators are live force on force training that will occur anywhere from Twentynine Palms to either one of the […] three MEFs on location,” Iiams said. “And then [there] is a computer generating capability to inject Red Force Blue Force, so that we can actually plan and execute across the entire [Marine Air-Ground Tablet] in real time with everyone doing their full fidelity training.”

As an example, Iiams mentioned the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter as a platform that Marines could train for in a simulator, but still participate in an exercise.

In addition to Project Tripoli, the Marine Corps is looking at a number of ways to enhance training and education, including the use of artificial intelligence.

For example, the Army War College had an artificial intelligence student – not a person, but a computer program – go through a course, said Brig. Gen. Maura Hennigan, president of Marine Corps University. It’s something that the Marine Corps University is also considering.

The idea is that having an AI student gives the military colleges the ability to see how students interact with it, which can play into wargaming and the idea of a thinking enemy, she said.

“And so [it] did everything that our students at the War College did, which was go through the exams, go through the writing prompts, go through the war games, and potentially in this instance, even be able to introduce it so that as we began [the] thinking system, or the intelligence Augmentation System, the IA [would] be able to introduce doctrine, pick the adversary or pick the individual, even introduce the papers that they have written, provide them all the analysis, how they would have thought at one time, and they’ll be able to use that individual in that experience,” Hennigan said.

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CEDAR FALLS, Ia. – They never saw Karter Schult coming.

As a defensive end for Northern Iowa making a bee-line to the quarterback, that’s good. But as an unheralded recruit from Tripoli, Iowa, population 1,313, it was frustrating.

“What sets him apart is he knew that he could go play somewhere big,” said Tom Nuss, the football coach at Tripoli High School, located about 30 minutes north of UNI. “I think that kind of added fuel to the fire when nobody else even acted interested.

“It made him want to go prove something.”

The Panthers were the only NCAA Division I program to offer Schult a scholarship, and he returned the favor by developing into a 6-foot-4, 269-pound wrecking ball, on pace to obliterate his own school record when it comes to tackles for loss in a season.

He’s recorded 12 TFLs through three games this season (including 6 ½ sacks), after setting a Northern Iowa mark of 23 last fall. His numbers this season lead all of Division I -- both the FCS and FBS teams.

“It is such an adrenaline rush,” said Schult, whose 15 sacks in 2015 were seventh-most in FCS, “because once you take the quarterback to the ground, I can’t explain it… It’s elation.”

Schult’s passion and power were the primary reasons the Panthers brought him into the program. Under the tutelage of defensive line coach Bryce Paup (who played in the NFL for more than a decade), Schult emerged as potential pro prospect.

“He’s in the same type of mindset and talent set as the guys (from UNI) who are playing today on Sunday afternoon,” Northern Iowa head coach Mark Farley said. “He practices as hard as he plays and trains as hard as he plays.

“Those are the ones who make it when they get their opportunity in the NFL.”

There are some in Schult’s family who feel he was born to play for pay.

Sacks for cash

When Karter began playing football as a fifth-grader, his parents Kristie and Kurt came up with a financial incentive.

“Just to motivate Karter,” Kristie said, “because when he was younger he was kind of stubborn and sometimes didn’t always give 100 percent.

“And he loved money.”

The deal paid off, immediately.

“I think it was $5 a sack,” Kristie recalled, “because his dad and I sat in the stands and it was like $50 we were going to owe him at the end of the day.

“We just looked at each other and laughed.”

While playing eight-man football at Tripoli, Schult earned respect with his versatility. He kicked, caught passes as a tight end and even line up behind center in wildcat formations.

“I threw a couple balls,” Schult said. “That didn’t work out very well.”

He spent much of his time at fullback, serving as the lead blocker for Tyler Lenox, an all-state tailback.

“I had to really make myself known,” Schult said. “I don’t think I really had the attention even from UNI until we made it to the playoffs (at the UNI-Dome) and they saw me.

“My recruiting coach at the time told me one of the main reasons they saw me was because I was playing fullback and just mowing linebackers over.”

Schult arrived at Cedar Falls in 2012, but didn’t begin to blossom until Paup joined Farley’s staff in 2013.

“When I first got here, it was like, ‘Oh my goodness,’’’ Paup said of seeing Schult, then a redshirt freshman. “I called him the Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robot, because you pounded him on the head and his arms flew up.

“The exact opposite of what you want.”

Paup's pupil

Paup altered Schult’s focus.

“When I got here as a freshman, I was still stuck in high-school mode, that I could just look at the quarterback and run him down,” Schult said. “Well, there is 300-pound linemen who are saying otherwise.

“Coach Paup was really instrumental in the process of dealing with what’s in front of you. The offensive tackle, you need to make sure that your focus is on him. You’ve got to beat him first, and then you can worry about where the quarterback is at.”

A Northern Iowa product himself credited with 75 NFL sacks, Paup recognized Schult’s unique skill set.

“He’s got a strong left hand,” Paup explained. “That means he can come off the right side, and some of the kids who are right-handed can’t do some of the stuff he can do.”

Schult has made 25 sacks in his college career, but one became more memorable in recent months.

Two years ago, Schult brought down North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz, who is now a starter for the Philadelphia Eagles.

“That’s pretty special to me, now,” Schult said. “At the time, I just thought it was a sack.”

What about a reunion, with Schult joining Wentz in the NFL?

“We as a family have talked about it very candidly in the last year or so,” Kristie Schult said, “but Karter is very private about it.”

CBSSports.com lists Schult as a likely free agent candidate heading into next spring’s NFL Draft. NFLDraftScout.com ranks him 54th out of 216 defensive ends nationally.

At least now, it appears the kid from Tripoli is being overlooked, again.

“Whether someone will give him the opportunity or not remains to be seen,” said Paup, the 1995 NFL defensive player of the year, “but I think he definitely deserves an opportunity.

“And he would make the most of it if he got it.”

Kristi Ladage's son needs an MRI to fully diagnose his condition. But due to a high volume of other children experiencing similar issues, they'll have to wait.

Credit: WOI

TRIPOLI, Iowa — When Kristi Ladage's 16-year-old son Blake tested positive for COVID-19, she initially wasn't worried. Especially given the fact he's vaccinated and wears a mask while in school.

"He had a couple days where he was coughing," said Ladage. "But really, that was the extent of it, no fever."

Roughly five weeks later, Kristi's worries are now through the roof.

"He has inflammation of his heart muscle as a result of COVID-19," Ladage told Local 5.

Blake started to have significant chest pains weeks after his diagnosis. The family was referred to a pediatric cardiology unit. While his doctor was able to provide an initial diagnosis, he needs an MRI to get a full conclusive picture.

"He told me it would be at least two months, potentially longer, before we could have that cardiac MRI done," Ladage said. "And the reason he gave was because there are so many kids with cardiac complications after COVID-19 in Iowa right now, that that's what the wait time has become for this procedure."

The Mayo Clinic, which is actively studying long-haul symptoms, says its research shows 10% to 30% of people diagnosed with COVID-19 end up with these lingering symptoms. The health system says it's just starting to scratch the surface of learning why these lasting symptoms happen.

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"Let's not focus on curing this right now, but give the patients all of the skills and strategies they need to manage these symptoms so they can stay in control of their conditions," said Dr. Greg Vanichkachorn, medical director for Mayo Clinic's COVID Activity Rehabilitation Program.

For now, Kristi and her family anxiously await her son's turn for an MRI. Until then, they are strictly following orders for Blake to take it easy.

"If there's inflammation in the heart muscle and there's exertion like that, that then increases the likelihood of life threatening arrhythmia that can just cause the heart to stop," Ladage said.

Blake is also wearing a Holter Monitor for 30 days. It monitors his heart's rhythm and will alert him if it should fall into a dangerous zone.

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