(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa National Guard, say “As anticipated, the Director of the Air National Guard (ANG) has released a Force Structure announcement that divests the 133rd Test Squadron’s mission located in Fort Dodge. We anticipate that this will result in the eventual closure of the unit and Air Guard facility in Fort Dodge.” The statement went on to says “The Iowa National Guard is among a handful of states impacted by Air Force and ANG’s force-restructuring decisions which are driven in large part by the need to modernize and reprioritize our national defense capabilities and redefine mission sets. There is no official timeline with this confirmation from the ANG, but we are working with the community of Fort Dodge to honor the history of the 133rd and to prioritize the care of our people with future opportunities within the Iowa National Guard.”

The National Guard will maintain its presence in Fort Dodge with 107 Soldiers of the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion 194th Field Artillery and a full-time force of seven employees at the Field Maintenance Shop (FMS).

Full deactivation of the 133rd may take years to complete and is dependent on Department of Defense resources to fully execute and comply with all related regulations and polices. Officials say “Our priority currently is to ensure that all affected Air Guardsmen/women are afforded options to continue their careers with the Iowa Air National Guard. This diverse team brings a wide range of skills and views to the table enhancing the overall unit capabilities as a test squadron.”

(Radio Iowa) – State officials say about 233-thousand Iowans are no longer receiving Medicaid coverage after a year-long review. Federal guidelines established at the start of the COVID pandemic prevented states from removing most recipients from the Medicaid program, but that rule ended a year ago. Elizabeth Matney is the state Medicaid director. She says about 50-thousand Iowans who were notified they’d be removed from the Medicaid program in the past year are still enrolled after officials confirmed they qualified for the benefit.  “There is a fairly expedited process to get back on and those are the individuals that, you know, we see reinstated.”

Kelly Huntsman is the C-E-O of Primary Health Care, a federally qualified health center that operates clinics in central Iowa. She says some of their patients missed state notifications and didn’t realize they had lost coverage until they showed up for an appointment.  “When the state sends out, you know, the letters, sometimes they’ve changed addresses once or twice since then,” she said. “And many of our patients are non-English speaking.”

State officials say based on recent state and federal data, they believe most of the 233-thousand Iowans who are no longer enrolled in Medicaid were eligible for other types of health coverage.

(Radio Iowa) – A new policy going into effect this summer clarifies the prosecution of cases when illegal drugs acquired in one county lead to a person’s overdose in another county. Representative Jon Dunwell of Newton said one of his constituents has personal experience with this kind of situation. “This mother lost her 24 year old daughter. Her daughter was heading back into getting some treatment (but)…she was going to take her last little bit of drugs,” Dunwell told Radio Iowa. “She bought some drugs in one county, but she died in another county.”

The law, which goes into effect July 1, says a person who supplies drugs that cause an overdose can be charged in the county where the drugs were obtained or in the county where the death or serious injury occurred. If both county attorneys are building a case, the county in which the drugs were obtained would have the primary right to proceed with a prosecution Dunwell said in his constituent’s case, it wasn’t clear that either county could bring charges and, in the end, no one was charged. “The one county had some concerns about the case and the other county thought they could get it through,” Dunwell said, “so this would allow either county to do it.”

The bill passed the Iowa House and Senate unanimously. Dunwell and his constituent were at the Capitol this week to watch the governor sign the bill into law in a private event. “She’s sitting there with the governor. The governor has her granddaughter on her lap and she says: ‘I never thought I could make a difference,’” Dunwell said.

The child was four years old when her mother overdosed.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department say a woman was arrested Thursday evening on a Theft charge. 40-year-old Judy Kay Gunter, of Creston, was taken into custody at the Creston Wal-Mart Store, at around 6:40-p.m., for Theft in the 5th Degree. She was cited, and released at the scene on a Promise To Appear in court.

(Rockwell City, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Calhoun County, Thursday, issued an arrest report for April. Among those arrested was a man from Audubon County. Authorities say on April 3^rd, 53-year-old Lynn Allen Frolich, of Audubon, was arrested on an outstanding warrant out of Calhoun County for failure to appear, on an original charge of driving while barred, an aggravated misdemeanor. The charge had been filed by the Lake City Police Department.

“CRIMINAL CHARGES ARE MERELY ACCUSATIONS AND DEFENDANTS ARE PRESUMED INNOCENT UNTIL AND UNLESS PROVEN GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW.”