(Des Moines, IA) – Today (Tuesday) Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that $50,000,000 in federal funds allocated through the CARES Act will be invested in Iowa’s mental health care system. (Watch Governor Reynolds’ announcement on Facebook here.)

“We are making meaningful investments into Iowa’s mental health services to help vulnerable Iowans and their families,” said Gov. Reynolds. “Today’s investment is not only about adapting to the challenges we face today, but sustaining a compassionate and coordinated system for the future. I also want to commend Flora Schmidt with the Iowa Behavioral Health Association and Andrew Allen, CEO of Youth and Shelter Services for making a difference in the lives of so many Iowans.”

$50,000,000 in CARES Act will be allocated through the providers: 

Mental Health Providers – $10M

• Will go to Medicaid providers of non-hospital based inpatient and outpatient services to cover increased costs associated with pandemic.

Substance Use Disorder Providers – $10M 

• Will go to Medicaid providers of non-hospital based residential and outpatient services to cover increased costs associated with pandemic.

Mental Health and Disability Services Regions – $30M

• State will distribute an equal per capita amount to each MHDS region to support ongoing adult and children’s mental health services, including to cover increased service need due to the stressors and isolation associated with pandemic.
• With $98-99M of property tax levy dollars going to MHDS regional services, the additional $30M investment brings the overall system funding to nearly $130M.

Gov. Reynolds was joined at her press conference by Flora A. Schmidt, the Executive Director for the Iowa Behavioral Health Association, Andrew Allen, President & CEO of Youth and Shelter Services, Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg, and DHS Director Kelly Garcia.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says she has not given Iowa cities and counties authority to enforce local ordinances that require people to wear face coverings in public. Reynolds says that means the proclamation Muscatine’s mayor issued Sunday requiring face coverings is not appropriate, but the governor says if conditions change dramatically, she may adjust her public health proclamation. “All things are on the table and we’re going to continue to review, manage, mitigate and contain the coronavirus,” Reynolds says. “We can do that in a responsible way.”

The governor says she will elevate the message about the importance of wearing a mask to protect others. “This is the same information that we’ve given to Iowans from the very beginning,” Reynolds says. “People need to practice personal responsibility.” In the past two weeks, 60 percent of the Iowans who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 were adults between the ages of 18 and 40.  “People have been locked down. You know, they’re ready to get outside. They’re ready to get together with friends and family, so I don’t think it’s entirely surprising that we’ve seen a little bit of an uptick,” Reynolds says. “So now, we need to dig into the details. We need to figure out why and then we need to talk about…the next steps that we can do to continue to protect Iowans.”

The governor says there’s a worrisome increase in cases among young adults in Iowa’s college towns and larger cities. Reynolds says she would consider adjusting regulations on bars, perhaps ordering an earlier closing time, if that trend continues. “There’s a perception that because COVID is less serious for younger adults, that an increase in positive cases among this age group isn’t an issue, but that perception is false,” Reynolds says. “The consequences of COVID-19 continuing to spread among young adults increasing the likely the virus will continue to spread…to others, including those that are most vulnerable.”

Reynolds says for the past two weeks, the Test Iowa program has far surpassed its targeted capacity of three-thousand tests per day. From Monday through Thursday of last week, more than 13-thousand-six hundred Iowans were tested through the program. Reynolds says a new Test Iowa site will open tomorrow (Wednesday) in Algona. An estimated 10-thousand motorcyclists from around the state gathered just outside Algona last weekend, raising concerns the virus would be spread in the community.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The amount of water being released into the Missouri River from a dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border is being decreased because less water is expected to flow into the river this year. That means the risk of a repeat of last year’s massive flooding along the river has been reduced. The reduction is possible because the region received less precipitation than expected this spring and the summer is expected to be drier than normal. The corps estimated Tuesday that 31.2 million acre feet of water will flow down the river this year. That is roughly 1 million acre feet lower than the previous forecast.

BOONE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have dismantled a homemade pipe bomb that was set to explode at an Iowa hunting area. The Boone County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that two deputies responded Monday after receiving a report about the device that was found on the lid of a container in the area. The post said the Iowa State Fire Marshalls Office was called and that the device was examined and dismantled. The post said the device was “set to explode in a delayed manor and without any supervision.”

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors in Iowa have filed a rarely used leak charge against a Black Lives Matter protester accused of stealing a confidential police document and another who allegedly displayed it during a TV news broadcast. The two have been charged with unauthorized dissemination of intelligence data. It’s a felony charge that carries up to five years in prison.

The Iowa Judicial Branch says it’s only the second time the charge has been used since 2010. Des Moines police spokesman Paul Parizek says it’s appropriate given the circumstances of the case. The document was a bulletin related to protesters who were under investigation for allegedly destroying a police car.

(Radio Iowa) – The attorney representing the man accused of killing a Fort Dodge pastor last fall is requesting a change of venue for the trial.  Thirty-six-year-old Joshua Pendleton of Fort Dodge is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of 64-year-old Allen Henderson on October 2nd, 2019 outside St. Paul Lutheran Church where Henderson served as pastor. The defense argued in part that the court should grant a change of venue in the case because the degree of prejudice in Webster County creates a substantial likelihood that the defendant cannot obtain a fair and impartial trial.

Court documents filed Monday show the prosecution does not resist the change of venue request and the parties have agreed upon Scott County as the venue. A trial date has yet to be set.

The Harlan Police Department reports three arrests. On Sunday, 33-year old Melissa Suzanne Fuller, of Irwin, was arrested following a traffic stop,for Driving While Suspended. She was also cited for not wearing a seat belt. Last Friday, 29-year old Josephus Carl Jones, of Indianapolis, IN., was arrested following a traffic stop, in Harlan. Jones was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. And, on June 28th, 40-year old Jason Robin Conway Emery, of Harlan, was arrested for Public Intoxication, following a call about a disturbance.

This past Monday, 23-year old Jennifer Nichole Gibson, of Red Oak, was cited in Harlan for Driving While Suspended.