(Radio Iowa) – Critics of masking and COVID vaccine mandates testified at a subcommittee hearing at the Iowa Capitol that was livestreamed for three hours, then extended into the nighttime hours. Jason Crawford of Ames told legislators that after the Supreme Court overturned the federal vaccine requirement for large companies, his employer still required workers to be vaccinated before they could return to the office.

“Treat people as people, whether they’re vaccinated or not,” he said. “Do not discriminate. Do not segregate.” Crawford told legislators he was fired Monday for being unproductive to the company’s culture. A bill which would prevent employers from asking if their employees are vaccinated is tentatively scheduled for debate in the House State Government Committee next Wednesday.

The legislation also forbids businesses, educational institutions and government agencies from requiring face coverings.

Atlantic, Iowa— Cass Health announced today it has been recognized as a 2022 Top 100 Critical Access Hospital. Compiled by The Chartis Center for Rural Health, this annual recognition program honors outstanding performance among the nation’s rural hospitals based on the results of the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX™.

“Over the last several years, we’ve faced a pandemic, construction, adding providers, adding services, and more. And yet, despite all of the changes and challenges we’ve worked through, we’ve come away again in the top tier of all critical access hospitals in the country. The only reason this is possible is because of our spectacular team; their resilience and passion for healthcare is unmatched. We are blessed with the best, and we’re proud to celebrate this achievement with the communities that we are privileged to serve,” said Cass Health CEO Brett Altman.

“Despite unprecedented adversity rural providers continue to display resiliency and a steadfast commitment to their communities,” said Michael Topchik, National Leader, The Chartis Center for Rural Health. “Honoring the Top 100 is one of the highpoints of our year. We are delighted to recognize the exceptional performance and innovation of this year’s recipients, particularly in light of the extraordinary challenges facing America’s rural health safety net.”

Over the course of the last 12 years, the INDEX has established itself as the industry’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural hospital performance. Leveraging publicly available data, the INDEX is trusted by rural hospitals, health systems with rural footprints, hospital associations and state offices of rural health across the country to measure and monitor performance across a variety of areas impacting hospital operations and finance.

(Radio Iowa) – A man is facing charges after a standoff in the back of a police car near Sioux City Heelan High School this (Thursday) morning. Sioux City police sergeant Jeremy McClure says the officers had stopped a suspect possibly involved in an armed robbery near the high school around 11:30 and put him in the patrol car.

“He was handcuffed in the back of the squad car and indicated that he had a firearm. Officers checked and it turned out that he did have a firearm in his hand. And so, we backed up and began negotiating with him as he was threatening to do harm to himself,” he says. The sergeant says they tried for an hour to get the man to give up the gun.

He says they reached out to the man’s family members to help with the negotiations, but the man became more agitated, and tactical team officers moved in. “As they were moving up a shot was fired from inside the vehicle…the tactical officers used chemical munitions to make it an environment he did not want to be in anymore. At that point, he surrendered peacefully,” according to McClure. The man was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Bishop Heelan High School was placed on lockdown during the incident. Fourth District Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra was visiting the high school at the time of the incident and remained inside until the man was taken into custody.

(Radio Iowa) – Some major cellular service providers will switch off their 3-G networks on February 22nd and Iowans who have older phones may suddenly find their devices no longer work. Tom Kamber, executive director of Older Adults Technology Services at A-A-R-P, says he’s concerned for Iowa’s significant population of senior citizens, especially those in rural areas, who don’t use their phones very often.

“If you’ve got an old flip phone, you should figure out which provider you’re using and contact them and ask if that phone needs to be upgraded,” Kamber says. “If you have an emergency pendant for people who maybe had a fall and need to get help, you can actually just push the button and they will call you and you can ask if that button needs to be upgraded.” Iowans who have an older loved one should take the initiative and check the status of their phones and other devices, and if necessary, help them with an upgrade.

“About 20% of Americans are still relying on those 3G networks and about 10-to-15-million Americans still have 3G reliant phones, and that’s just on the phone side,” Kamber says. “You’ve got the alarms on top of that. The alarm industry is telling us they have millions of people across the country who may have 3G-reliant alarms.” Getting a new phone can be an expensive venture, but in the case of 3-G phones, the cost may not be an issue.

“Most of the companies that we’re hearing are offering free replacement services for 3G-reliant devices,” Kamber says, “so, there may be a very nominal or no-cost replacement available.” In general, most cell phones made before 2012 are relying on a 3-G network and will need to be replaced. The 3-G systems are being retired to free up the bandwidth for the newer 4-G and 5-G technology.

The Glenwood (Iowa) Police Department reports seven arrests covering the period from Jan. 25th through Feb. 5th. Most recently:

• On Saturday (Feb. 5), 22-year-old Eh Soe, of Omaha, was arrested for Burglary/2nd offense. Bond was set at $10,000.
• On Feb. 3rd, 43-year-old Deirdre Anderson, of Silver City, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. Bond $1,000.
• On Jan. 29th, Glenwood Police arrested 36-year-old Atanacio Arrelin, of Bellevue, NE., for OWI/1st offense. ($1,000 bond)
• On Jan. 26th, 40-year-old Matthew Baucom, of Pacific Junction, was arrested in Glenwood for Disorderly Conduct. (Bond $300); and, 59-year-old Mark Uebele, of Glenwood, was arrested for Assault with a dangerous weapon and Violation of a No Contact Order. (Bond $2,000)
• On the 25th, Glenwood Police arrested 45-year-old Veronica George, of Glenwood.  She was taken into custody on a Douglas County, NE warrant, with no bond set; And, 24-year-old Michaela Goodman, of Glenwood, was arrested for Driving While Barred, with bond set at $2,000.

Unless otherwise mentioned, all bonds are cash or surety. And, “A Criminal charge is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.”

• The century-old Warnock (Benson) Building in Sioux City, formerly a car dealership and furniture company headquarters, will be rehabilitated to include commercial space on the ground floor, with 83 apartments on upper five floors. 
• And in Madison County, the former Winterset High School building will be converted into 27 affordable housing units. The 101-year-old school is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• • Des Moines: Where the vacant Howard Johnson Motor Lodge building will be turned into an 81-room hotel. Work will include full rehabilitation of the interior, new window and mechanical systems, and improvements to patios and the parking lot.
  • Dubuque: For the historic Roshek Brothers building, originally home to a department store, will be renovated to expand office space. This includes a meeting area, fitness room, mail room, storage and space for new office tenants.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa Auditor of State Rob Sand’s Office has announced Sand recently opened a special investigation into the Southern Iowa Council of Governments (SICOG). The Auditor of State Office is assisting in safeguarding SICOG records and will be working with Iowa Economic Development Authority to assure appropriate testing procedures are
performed.

As previously mentioned on KJAN Creston Police Wednesday evening arrested SICOG executive director Timothy J. Ostroski. He is charged with four counts of forgery and one count of first-degree theft. Authorities say Ostroski fraudulently obtained an excess of $10,000 from SICOG by creating multiple checks made payable to another individual for cleaning services that were never provided. He then deposited these checks into a personal checking account.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City of Atlantic is looking for people to serve as Lifeguards the upcoming pool season. Parks and Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen said this year, “We have increased the wage this year to $9.50/hour with a head lifeguard making $9.75/hour.  Anyone interested in getting certified to be a lifeguard at Sunnyside Pool, will get their classes reimbursed at the end of the summer. ”

Rasmussen said also, “There is plenty of fun in the sun, with an opportunity to lead, meet new people, and of course make a little money.”

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – The driver of a 2010 Mazda suffered suspected minor/non-incapacitating injuries, during a single-vehicle accident Wednesday night, in Guthrie County. The Sheriff’s Office says 35-year-old Joel E. Medrano, of Clive, was traveling east on Iowa Highway 44 at around 8-p.m., when he swerved to avoid a deer that had just been hit by another eastbound vehicle. Medrano’s car went into the south ditch and spun before the rear of the vehicle hit a Cedar Tree. Damage to the car was estimated at $15,000. Medrano was not transported to the hospital.

The earlier accident involved a vehicle driven by 42-year-old Angela Marie Netser, of Hills, Iowa. She was not injured when her 2016 Honda Civic collided with the deer. Damage to her vehicle was estimated at $3,000.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University study delved into what people are actually looking at during Zoom and Webex meetings. Joey George, an I-S-U professor of information systems and business analytics, says they used eye-tracking technology to find participants -did- pay attention to whoever was speaking during video conferences, but they looked off-screen frequently and for long periods.  “We don’t know exactly what was going on in their heads,” George says. “We just know that for whatever reason they were disengaged from looking at the screen for about a third of the time.”

Anyone who’s been on a video conference knows they can use the camera like a mirror, but shouldn’t do so during a call. Still, the study found women looked at themselves during video conferences -twice- as often as men. “Women are much more conscious of how they look and they actually use that image of themselves in the meetings to make sure that their hair is right and their makeup is right and the clothing is all right,” George says, “and men apparently just don’t care as much.”

One of George’s personal pet peeves is people eating during a video call, so one of the distractions they used in the study was people munching on snacks or moving the camera to change the background.  “We found that everybody noticed the distractions but they really didn’t pay attention to them for very long,” George says. “They saw them, they registered them and within a couple of seconds, they went back to the meeting. I guess that’s kind of good news that the distractions are noticed but they just don’t become something that’s a major concern.”

The technology for video calling was around long before the pandemic, but George believes Zoom and similar programs will most certainly continue to be popular well after COVID is a distant memory. “It’s not going to be the only game in town anymore,” George says. “People really like the personal contact, but I think it’s here to stay.” He says one goal of the study was to help people avoid distractions and to inform the future design of video conferencing. George is launching another study this spring using the same eye-tracking tech to discover what aspects of social media posts people focus on when they are trying to determine if a post is true or contains disinformation.