FROM KCCI: Ames police investigating after 4-year-old child dies in shooting. An investigation is underway after a 4-year-old child was shot and killed in an Ames apartment. Ames police say they were called shortly before 2:30 p.m. Monday for a report of an accidental shooting at an apartment in the 200 block of South Sherman Avenue. First responders arrived at the scene and the child was taken by air ambulance to a Des Moines hospital, but the child later died from their injuries. ... READ MORE

FROM WHO-TV: Iowa bill that lowers age to own a handgun advances in Senate. An Iowa Senate judiciary subcommittee voted to unanimously move a bill that lowers the age to own and purchase a handgun to the full committee level on Tuesday morning. The bill was voted through the full Iowa House chamber last week by a vote of 79 to 18. The wording in the legislation changes the age from 21 to 18-years-old to purchase, acquire or carry a pistol or a revolver in the state. ... READ MORE

FROM WOI: Whirlpool in Amana to lay off more than 600 employees. More than 600 Iowans will soon be out of a job as the Whirlpool Corporation announced major layoffs Tuesday. The layoffs affect a total of 651 employees at the Amana plant, according to the Iowa Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) website. That's roughly a third of the plant's workforce, a spokesperson for Whirlpool told Local 5. ... READ MORE

Clear Mortgage meteorology

Early morning storms, then a slight lingering chance into the afternoon. Dry through Friday with a late rain chance Saturday. Temperatures stay cool.

For help with pre-approvals or refinancing, get in touch with Originating Branch Manager Carrie Hansen at carrie.mortgage.

Woebegone Wednesday 
“100-year-old cigars" and high tech cow collars.
Washington Post reports that this new cocktail is becoming popular in the era of smoking bans. It's called “100-year-old cigar" and was created by bartender Maks Pazuniak at Jupiter Disco, a cocktail bar in Brooklyn. Its recipe calls for:
• 1 3/4 ounces aged rum, preferably Ron Zacapa No. 23 
• 1/2 ounce Cynar
• 1/2 ounce Bénédictine
• 1/4 ounce Islay Scotch whisky, preferably Laphroaig 10-Year
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• 1/4 ounce absinthe

Wall Street Journal reports that dairy farmers across the country are turning to internet-connected “smart” collars, ear and leg tags to track the specific movements and patterns of their cows. The goal is to better manage individual animals in a herd without needing as much manual labor. That’s especially important as the country’s demand for dairy has increased, but the number of farms has decreased.

The technology can also help detect irregular patterns that could indicate disease like avian flu which has decimated millions of America’s chickens over the past few years and has spread to the nation’s cows. A second strain of bird flu recently spread from wild birds and poultry to cows in Nevada.

Bargains today

• Wine bottles are half price on Wednesdays at Trostel's Greenbriar (5910 Merle Hay Road, Johnston). 

• Barntown's (9500 S.E. University Ave., West Des Moines) Wednesday specials are a pound of chicken tenders with fries and two sauces for $11.99, plus $13 core pitchers of beer.

• Wednesday is Biryani Festival at Chowrastha (5910 Ashworth Road, West Des Moines). Buy two and a third is free.

• Wednesdays bring steak night to Club 2000 (422 Indianola Road, Des Moines). Steaks are cooked to order with salad, potato and bread, $14.99.

• Angry Goldfish (2301 S.W. Ninth St., Des Moines) offers hot beef sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy for $11.50 on Wednesday. 

• Kids eat free with every paying adult on Wednesdays at Chuck’s (3610 Sixth Ave., Des Moines).

• Rangemasters Training Center (10520 Hickman Road, Clive) has a Wednesday ladies day special of $13 per person for live firing range and one target. $10 handgun rentals or BYOG.

• Price Chopper stores have sales now on red or gold potatoes at $2.99/5-pound bags, Michelina's frozen dinners at $1.25 each and frozen perch at $4.99/pound, through Monday. 

• Bordanaro's (6108 S.W. Ninth St., Des Moines) has a Wednesday-Thursday only special on carryout pizza. They start at $6.50 for a 10-inch cheese pie. Each ingredient added is an extra charge, but this pretty much adds up to half-price pies.

• It's lasagna day at Maxie's Supper Club (1311 Grand Ave., West Des Moines), breaded pork tenderloin day at Eastside Eddie's (3517 E. 26th St.), and barbecue ribs evening at G Migg's (128 Fifth St., Valley Junction).

• Panka Peruvian (2708 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines) has live jazz Wednesday. 

• Jethro's offers breaded pork tenderloins for $9.99 on Wednesdays. 

• Tonight's Wednesday special is halibut at Waterfront.  

• Table 128's (220 S.W. Ninth St., Des Moines) weekly special is pork shoulder Delmonico with quinoa, sweet potato curry, celery and apple slaw. Lunch $19 or $25 at dinner.

• Destination Grille (2491 E. First St., Grimes) offers half-priced wine, all bottles and glasses, on Wednesdays.

• Fresh Thyme (2900 University Ave., West Des Moines) begins a week-long sale today on Gala, Pink Lady, Fuji and Ambrosia apples 99 cents/pound, red and green grapes at same price and whole pork butts at that price, too. Digital coupons are involved. 

— Jim Duncan, jd91446@aol.com

2005: Pope John Paul II dies. On April 2, 2005, John Paul II, history’s most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian to hold the position since the 16th century, dies at his home in the Vatican. Six days later, 2 million people packed Vatican City for his funeral, said to be one of the biggest in history. ... READ MORE

1982: Argentina invades Falklands. On April 2, 1982, Argentina invades the Falklands Islands, a British colony since 1892 and British possession since 1833. Argentine amphibious forces rapidly overcame the small garrison of British marines at the town of Stanley on East Falkland and the next day seized the dependent territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich group. The 1,800 Falkland Islanders, mostly English-speaking sheep farmers, awaited a British response. ... READ MORE

1979: Deadly anthrax poison released from Soviet bio-weapons plant. The world’s first anthrax outbreak begins in Sverdlovsk, Russia (now Ekaterinburg), on April 2, 1979. By the time it ends six weeks later, according to official records, 66 people had died and some 30 more had survived serious illness. Ekaterinburg, as the town was known in Soviet times, also suffered livestock losses from the epidemic. ... READ MORE

 www.history.com