Officials say the state-run database tracking available hospital beds for psychiatric patients soon will be “closer to accurate” with twice-daily updates. Theresa Armstrong is with the Department of Human Services — the state agency that created the database after two of the state’s four Mental Health Institutes were closed in 2015. “The software we use is called ‘Care Match’ and it tracks the available inpatient psychiatric beds at the MHIs as well as the 26 hospitals that have psychiatric services,” Armstrong says.

Those 26 hospitals and the Mental Health Institutes in Cherokee and Independence have been reporting openings. However, there was no state rule for how often the updates were to be made. A new state regulation will require the facilities to update their list of openings for patients who need in-patient psychiatric care twice a day. “It would assure that the information in the system would be closer to accurate,” she says. “Folks, on average, probably stay in a bed for about two days, maybe three days, so there is a lot of turnover and we do see if from morning to afternoon.”

Armstrong says “most” Iowa hospitals with in-patient psychiatric care have been updating the list regularly. “At least, probably, 90 to 95 percent of the hospitals on a daily basis are updating it,” Armstrong says.

The state database is being used by hospital staff as well as local officials helping police and sheriffs’ departments find in-patient care for someone suffering from an acute mental health crisis. Critics have complained the database hasn’t been offering “real time” information about available hospital beds for psychiatric patients. A bill passed by the Iowa legislature LAST YEAR called for twice-a-day updates to this database. A rule implementing that requirement was approved Friday, by a legislative review panel.

(Radio Iowa)

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — It’s time to spring forward again, as the country makes the switch to daylight-saving time. Like those in almost all other states, residents in Nebraska and Iowa will trade an hour of sleep starting Sunday morning for an extra hour of sunlight in the evening. The government expanded daylight-saving time in 2007 in an effort to save energy. It now begins on the second Sunday in March and continues until the first Sunday in November.

The official change occurs at 2 a.m. Sunday, local time, although people often change their clocks before going to bed Saturday night. Daylight-saving time ends Nov. 4.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Nine Iowa cities are splitting more than three-MILLION dollars in federal funding to help finance updates to city sewers and water-related systems. Clinton is getting 600-thousand dollars for its project. Hamburg and Central City are each getting half a million dollars. Portsmouth is planning to dig a new well and install new water mains and is receiving 195-thousand dollars in federal funds for the project. Three-hundred thousand dollar grants are going to Armstrong, Scranton and Shelby.

The communities of Lehigh and Smithland will each receive 242-thousand dollars.

(Radio Iowa)

A traffic stop Friday night on Highway 25 in Adams County, resulted in the arrest on drug charges, of Carlos Miranda Gutierrez, of Lenox. He was taken into custody at around 10:30-p.m., for Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, OWI/1st offense, and Driving Under Suspension.

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report a Pottawattamie County man was arrested Friday evening on warrants out of Council Bluffs. 29-year old Zachary Clay Younts, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 5:50-p.m. on valid arrest warrants for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Younts was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,300 cash bond. Red Oak Police assisted with the arrest.

A woman who fell out of a pickup truck Friday night and was struck by a car in Webster County, died from her injuries at a hospital. The Iowa State Patrol says 29-year old Sarah Jensen, of Newell, who was not wearing a seat belt, fell out of a 2006 Chevy Silverado pickup as the vehicle was traveling north on Highway 169, north of County Road D-14. The accident happened at around 8:45-p.m.

After she fell, Jensen was struck by a 2010 Mazda driven by 31-year old Cynthia Andrews, of Joplin, MO.  Jensen was transported to Trinity Regional Hospital in Ft. Dodge, where she was pronounced dead. The accident remains under investigation.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office reported on Friday, the arrest on Tuesday, of 53-year old Mitchell Thompson, from of Atlantic. Thompson was taken into custody a little after 11:30-a.m., on an outstanding warrant for Violation of Probation. He was arrested in Cass County and then transported to Audubon County, where he was being held in the Audubon County Jail, while awaiting an appearance before the District Judge.

Audubon County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 22-year old Brady Dennis-Drees, of Exira on Friday (March 9), at around 1:47 am. Dennis-Drees was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession of Cannabidoil (THC Wax). The charges stem into the investigation of a suspicious vehicle in which K-9 Axel alerted to the presence of the odor of a narcotic.

And, 24-year old Justin Cannon, of Des Moines, was arrested Friday at around 12:30- pm, on an outstanding warrant for Failure to Appear. Cannon was arrested in Polk County and then transported to Audubon County. He is currently being held in the Audubon County Jail awaiting an appearance before the District Judge.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court is allowing a woman to sue her boss and the small insurance agency company he led for sex discrimination and emotional distress. The decision released Friday lets Joanne Cote take her case to a jury, but it’s more broadly significant because it means incorporated small businesses in Iowa cannot avoid compliance with the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — A Burlington man has been charged with felony child endangerment after police say he intentionally knocked his son from a car seat because the infant would not stop crying. The Hawk Eye reports that 30-year-old Joseph Michael Hartman was arrested Thursday night on a warrant. Police say Hartman admitted knocking the car seat holding his 5-month-old son off a kitchen table, causing the infant to fall head-first onto the floor.

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — Police say a 16-year-old who took a loaded handgun into Ottumwa High School has been charged with a felony. The Ottumwa Courier reports that the school resource officer and a school administrator found the gun and a knife blade in the student’s backpack Thursday morning. He’d shown the gun to another student, who then notified a teacher.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have charged a Council Bluffs woman who they say tried to help her daughter fraudulently claim a lottery scratch-off ticket prize of $50,000. Court records say 61-year-old Michelle Lett is charged with lottery theft or forgery _ the same charge her 19-year-old daughter faces. Lett’s lawyer said Friday that Lett intends to plead not guilty.