NewsTracker Answers for week of May 04, 2015

Q: A state of emergency was declared by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad with nearly 17 million chickens and turkeys dead, dying or scheduled to be euthanized due to a widening bird flu outbreak. Where is Iowa?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Iowa's declaration of a state of emergency follows one issued earlier last week by the state's northern neighbor . . .

A. Kansas

B. Minnesota

C. Montana

D. Nebraska

B. Minnesota has lost about 4 million birds so far this spring, less than Iowa which is the nation’s leading egg producer, providing one of every five consumed in the country.

Q: Most of the outbreak was located in northwestern Iowa, but the disease also was found in Madison County south of the state's capital . . .

A. Des Moines

B. Des Plaines

C. Lincoln

D. Saint Paul

A. With a little more than 200,000 people, Des Moines also is the most populous city in Iowa. Des Plaines is a city in Iowa's eastern neighbor Illinois. Lincoln is the capital of Iowa's western neighbor Nebraska, and Saint Paul is the capital of Minnesota.

Q: What Atlanta-based federal agency is developing a human vaccine for the H5N2 influenza virus that is killing the birds?

A. FAA

B. USDA

C. FTC

D. CDC

D. The federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is taking steps to create a human vaccine for the bird flu virus that’s slammed the Midwest poultry industry, though officials still consider the danger humans to be low and the food supply not at risk.

Q: In addition to eggs, Iowa is the the nation’s largest producer of . . .

A. Artichokes

B. Beets

C. Corn

D. All of the above

C. Iowa is the nation's top corn producer, and corn has been the state's dominant crop for more than 150 years.