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THE GLUTIDE HAS TURNED New findings from a long-running Gallup study also showed a rapid increase in the number of Americans using GLP-1s.

Millie Giles

Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic have long had a significant impact on pharma companies’ financials. Now, we’re starting to see GLP-1s affecting America’s health statistics in real time.

On Tuesday, Gallup published updated 2025 figures for obesity and diabetes rates, as part of its ongoing National Health and Well-Being Index. According to the study, the obesity rate among US adults has fallen to 37% in 2025 — down from the record high seen in 2022, when the share sat at 39.9%.

For context, this is the equivalent of there being approximately 7.6 million fewer obese adults (measured by the federal standard of having a BMI of 30 or higher) in America over the course of just three years.

This tracks with another finding: per Gallup, the share of US adults reporting using weight-loss injectable drugs, including semaglutide, has more than doubled to 12.4% since 2024. Underscoring the influence of these drugs, a higher proportion of women taking weight-loss injectables translated to the obesity rate for females falling faster than that seen for male counterparts.

However, the study also found that the rate of diabetes cases for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes hit an all-time high of 13.8% of US adults, up from the 11.4% recorded only a decade before.

Because obesity rates typically correspond with diabetes diagnoses, the discrepancy observed between these indicators could exemplify the shortfalls of GLP-1s. While weight-loss drugs have lowered BMI scores, they “should not be considered a cure-all for overall health,” as Gallup states. Still, despite the continued decline, America’s obesity levels remain among the most severe in the world.

St. Anthony Regional Hospital is preparing to begin a multi-year, $32.6 million campus overhaul that will streamline patient services and bring new diagnostic and treatment options to one of the state’s largest rural hospitals. St. Anthony President and CEO Allen Anderson says projects of this scale take years of planning, but the initiative began after staff noted increased patient volume in the emergency department. Anderson adds they started looking at just the trauma center, but scope creep and the donation of the former American Home Shield building to the hospital nearly two years ago opened up other possibilities. Several of the hospital’s less patient-focused offices have since moved to the administrative building, opening those spaces for other uses. Chief Financial Officer Eric Salmonson says construction is also underway at the annex to open a St. Anthony-owned childcare center. Once open, the center will create 104 additional childcare slots. That piece of the project was facilitated by a $1.5 million grant from Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) earlier this year to address the region’s long-standing childcare shortage. Salmonson says the overall project is split into phases, with the first section centered on the hospital’s emergency department and improved treatment and diagnostic centers. Other phases of the project include consolidating the hospital’s entrances into a single central location on the south side of the main facility, revamping the parking deck to better serve patients, and other smaller but no less important renovations. Salmonson says the $32.6 million project will have no impact on patients’ costs, and he and Anderson credit the redesignation as a critical access hospital (CAH) and years of sound fiscal management by their predecessors for making this possible. Anderson adds that there will obviously be some disruptions on campus while construction is underway, but the hospital’s staff is prepared to maintain patient services throughout. Construction is slated to begin in December and conclude by March 2028. Anderson and Salmonson made their comments this (Thursday) morning on KCIM. A link to the full conversation is included with this story on our podcast network.

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👻 Lake View Community Club (LVCC) organizers are saying “there is no place like Lake View for Halloween,” gearing up for the annual Spook Trail this upcoming Friday evening. LVCC Club Event Coordinator Emily Meyer says this Halloween event will be a thrill with the “Flick or Treat” movie-theme. Meyer says the Spook Trail started years ago as a way to bring visitors to downtown Lake View, to visit what she calls the heartbeat of the community. She says some roads in downtown Lake View will be closed on 4 p.m. Friday, but it’s all about making sure everyone stays safe as individuals roam around from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Besides the date being moved to a Friday to coincide with residential trick or treating, Meyer says the voting for best decorated business will be happening in person at the event instead of online like years past. Again, everyone is welcome to “follow the yellow brick road” to downtown Lake View for the annual Spook Trail and Trunk ‘R Treat with local businesses from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. this Friday evening.

🏗 Administration and staff from the Denison Community School District are welcoming the public to a grand opening and ribbon cutting on Friday for the addition and renovations to the Broadway Elementary building. The district’s board of education approved to move forward with the new two-story 33,300 square foot addition with 9,600 square feet of interior renovations back in 2023. Kingery Construction Company was selected as the general contractor and began working on the $19.9 million project in 2024, which was paid for through the district’s sale tax revenue. The building now serves students third through fifth grade and had some significant changes made, including the auditorium transformed into the library, offices into classrooms, and the main office while originally planned to move to the second floor, will remain in the first level on the east side by the main entrance door. A decision that came a little later after construction was started was to add a drop-off loop off 16^th Street on the east side of the building, which will allow for parents to get off the roadway to swing through and grab their students. While the building did open in August for the first day of school, construction was wrapping up and the district is now ready to welcome the public to see the new space. A grand opening and ribbon cutting will be held tomorrow (Friday) with tours beginning at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., with the ribbon cutting at 12 p.m., followed by a final tour. Attendees are asked to park in the lot on the west side of the building and enter through the east side, or the main entrance doors, for the ceremony and tours.

🧺 Thomas Rest Haven’s (TRH) basket auction, being held in conjunction with their annual soup luncheon, is now live on Facebook for individuals to bid on. A wide variety of 41 baskets were donated by local individuals and businesses to help the nursing home and assisted living facility raise money to support day to day operations of the center. Interested buyers will comment under the photo of the basket of their choice with their bid, and are encouraged to check back daily to see if they could have been outbid. The auction will close at 1 p.m. on Sunday after TRH’s Soup Luncheon, inviting all residents’ families and friends for a warm meal at the nursing home starting at 11 a.m. A link to view all the basket items can be found here.

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At the start of each week the Carroll Broadcasting Sports Network Crew catches up with area high school coaches to recap their previous weeks events and preview the match ups that are happening for the week ahead. Listen here and subscribe.

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Iowa Public Radio | By Sheila Brummer

The five GOP candidates running in the 4th Congressional District appealed to conservative Christian voters during their first forum in western Iowa Monday night.

Chris McGowan, state Rep. Matt Windschitl, Ryan Rhodes, Douglas Jensen and Christian Schlaefer are competing for the Republican nomination for the seat held by Rep. Randy Feenstra, who officially announced his candidacy for governor Tuesday.

They spoke at an event hosted by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, a conservative Christian group. It was held at a community center in Treynor, outside of Council Bluffs, before a group of about 100 people.

Jensen, a veteran from Silver City, said Congress is broken and lawmakers need to work together to get things done.

“I'm not talking flat tire, dented rim, broken. I'm talking about driving the car off a cliff, hitting every boulder on the way down, crashing into a fiery inferno and then sinking into the swamp of D.C., only to be covered by decades of dysfunction — rotting — putrid. That's what's getting me off the sideline,” Jensen said.

Schlaefer, a farmer and lay preacher from Lakota, said the country is at a crossroads.

“Donald Trump has done an amazing job in Washington, D.C., but the swamp that he's trying to drain is far deeper and more dangerous than any of us could have imagined,” Schlaefer said. “And if we allow Democrats, progressives, or woke ideology individuals to take control of this country again, they will turn against us with a vengeance for the great things that we've been able to accomplish.”

The candidates all responded to questions about the national debt, abortion and property rights.

Former Iowa House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley admitted that the debate over using eminent domain to build a pipeline that would transport CO2 captured from ethanol plant emissions was one of the most controversial issues he dealt with in his time in the Iowa Legislature.

“Corn growers say, ‘We need this to help support our ethanol industry.’ The Farm Bureau members are saying, 'Not in my ground, not in my dirt.' That's why my caucus and I have fought tirelessly over the past four-plus years to pass legislation over to the Senate. And the Senate has not taken action until this year, and then the governor vetoed the bill that we passed," Windschitl said. "I'm not trying to denigrate my colleagues in the state Senate — they had their own reasons — but we passed private property protections."

Ryan Rhodes of Ames, who founded the Iowa Tea Party, recently stepped down as CEO of the conservative social media platform Parler. He said he approves of the current government shutdown.

"I'm glad we actually have a Congress that is finally standing against an extra $1.3 trillion of communist Obamacare, period,” Rhodes said. "The Democrats like to use all of these entitlements as something to terrify people. But you know what? There's millions of refugees and foreign people we've brought into our country on food stamps, OK?”

At the end of the night, Rhodes appeared even more fired up when telling those in attendance that being transgender should be illegal in the U.S.

“Transgenderism is evil to its core, period. It should be stopped 100%, not around the edges, all of it, period. Not allowed whatsoever in this country,” Rhodes said.

Chris McGowan touted his military experience and work with the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, where he serves as president. He said he helped the Iowa Poison Center and the Siouxland Medical Education Foundation stay in operation. The organization helps teach future doctors and provides health care to the community.

“Republicans are compassionate, caring, concerned people. We always have been. That's why we fight for life. We fight for the downtrodden — we always have and we always will,” McGowan said.

McGowan also said he plans to advocate to solve problems that would help restore families and relationships.

“You heard committed, passionate candidates tonight talk about issues that are very important to us. We also have to bring new ideas to Washington,” McGowan said. "An idea that I will be proud to champion is to end the scourge of pornography that haunts our children and our families.”

Schlaefer added that words like faith and freedom are good concepts, but not enough for a political platform.

“You have to mean something behind them. They have to translate into actual policy and that policy has to lead towards the restoration of this country," Schlaefer said. "It doesn't just need to happen in the presidency. It needs to happen at every single level because you better believe that the left is trying to do it at every single level, and if they are able to do it, they will tear this country down." full story

More State News:

✅LEFTOVERS: Here’s what to do with the abundance of candy your kids bring home after trick or treating.
✅THROW IT ON: 160 easy, last-minute halloween costumes.
✅READ: Why DO we go trick or treating on Halloween?
✅PUMPKIN GUTS: 7 ways to make the most use of your scraps after carving.
✅ADD TO CALENDAR: Jingle & Mingle is coming up quick… Join the fun next Thursday!
✅SUNDAY: Ladies Night at Bomgaars!

Crossword: For those of you that wake up each morning wanting a challenge - how fast can you complete this crossword puzzle. Ready, set, go.

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