State officials are now overseeing the operation of a northwest Iowa nursing home and it will be shut down by February 1st. The Abbey in Le Mars has operated for 45 years, but federal officials will not longer make Medicare and Medicaid payments to the nursing home because of a “history of serious quality issues.” Dawn Fisk of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals says records indicate “The Abbey” has been on a federal watch list for some time.

“The Abbey has been a ‘special focus facility’ since August of 2014 and typically the process for a ‘special focus facility’ is over the course of two years as having been identified in that program, the facility will be able to improve the quality of care and be able to graduate from that program,” Fisk says. Fisk says The Abbey, however, failed to make the necessary improvements during that probationary period.

“They’ve had a history of substandard care that’s been identified over the course of those two years,” Fisk says. The nursing home has 52 beds, but currently has only 23 residents. Fisk says staff in two state agencies as well as the private insurance companies that now manage Iowa’s Medicaid program are working to find new homes for them.

“The Department of Inspections and Appeals will continue to have a presence in the facility until all residents have been moved to other suitable residential settings,” Fisk says. “After February 1st or after the facility actually closes — after all residents have been moved, we won’t have an on-site presence anymore.” Staff from the state’s long-term care ombudsman will meet with patients and their families next week at The Abbey to answer questions.

Fisk says it’s been seven years since government officials have ordered that an Iowa nursing home be closed. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services website, The Abbey rated “much below average” on health inspections and had been fined at least 10 times for substandard care.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa Department of Corrections spokesman Fred Scaletta, today (Thursday), said a man serving a 35-year sentence on two-counts of 1st Degree Theft, has died at a prison in Wisconsin. Justin Kestner, who was transferred Nov. 21st to Wisconsin as part of an interstate compact, was serving his sentence from western Iowa’s Woodbury County on the Theft charges, and on charges out of eastern Iowa’s Lee County, for being an Habitual Offender and Operating Motor Vehicle without Owner Consent. His sentence began Jan. 11, 2010.

On December 21, 2016, Kestner was found unresponsive in his assigned cell at Wisconsin Department of Corrections Dodge Correctional Institution. Responding staff initiated lifesaving measures but were unsuccessful.

No additional information is available at this time. The Dodge County (Wisconsin) Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death.

Police in Council Bluffs have arrested a man on numerous charges associated with an alleged sexual assault and kidnapping. 37-year old Dusty Rhodes, of Council Bluffs, was arrested following an investigation that began at around 7:20-a.m. today (Thursday), when Council Bluffs police officers were dispatched to a home in the 2300 block of South 9th Street to check the welfare of an adult female resident.

A 911 caller told dispatchers that the (Unidentified) 35-year old female resident had been sending text messages stating that she had been sexually assaulted and was being held against her will by her live-in boyfriend, Dusty Rhodes.

Dusty Rhodes

Upon arrival officers were able to make contact with the female who managed to escape through a bathroom window. As officers were attempting to make contact with Rhodes, who was still in the residence, he ran out the back door of the home, carrying his eight year old daughter.

Rhodes was taken into custody following a short foot pursuit. The daughter was not harmed during the incident. Detectives from the Criminal Investigation Division responded and assumed responsibility of the investigation.

Dusty Rhodes is currently in police custody at the Pottawattamie County Jail on charges of Kidnapping 1st Degree, Sexual Abuse 3rd Degree, Child Endangerment, Aggravated Domestic Assault and Eluding.

RENWICK, Iowa (AP) – The once-bustling town of Renwick, Iowa, has lost many businesses as its population declined. But when its sole bar closed this year, a group of friends pooled their money to repair and reopen the place as the Blue Moose Saloon. It was an impressive achievement, and one that is becoming more common as population continues to trickle away from rural America.

Residents of more small towns are scrambling to hold onto places where people can still get together. Some are pooling their money to save bars, groceries and cafes. Others are creating co-ops or seeking private or government grants.

In the village of Decatur, Nebraska, a dozen people put up money when the Green Lantern Steakhouse burned down.

More than a thousand licensed plumbers in Iowa will get a “red tape” break on July 1st. State Labor Commissioner Michael Mauro says current regulations require plumbers who work on construction projects to fill out licensing paperwork with both his agency AND the Iowa Department of Public Health. “Currently, there’s like 1290 plumbers who also register as contractors,” Mauro says.

Starting July 1st, there will be a “one-stop” point of state licensing for those nearly 13-hundred Iowa plumbers who work in the construction industry. “Get that license. It’ll be for three years,” Mauro says. “We think it’s a good thing.”

Currently, the Iowa Department of Public Health issues licenses to plumbers and the Iowa Workforce Development agency’s labor division issues licenses to contractors — so people who do both have to get two licenses. A person must register as a “contractor” in Iowa if they earn at least two-thousand dollars a year from work on construction projects.

Governor Branstad and Republican legislators have been pushing agencies to state government streamline licensing procedures. State agencies issue licenses to a wide range of professionals — including accountants and even interior designers.

(Radio Iowa)

A man is wanted for assaulting a police officer in Urbandale early this (Thursday) morning. Urbandale Police Sergeant Chad Underwood says the officer responded to the report of a possible traffic accident just after 5 a.m. and located a vehicle that matched the description given by the caller. “The officer stopped the car, approached and began talking to the driver, at which time the driver pepper sprayed the officer in the face and fled the scene,” Underwood said.

Police Officer body cam image of Bordinat

The suspect is 25-year-old Brandon Bordinat, a convicted sex offender. While police are asking for help in locating Bordinat, Underwood warns he should be considered armed and dangerous. “It appears that this was something he maybe planned out in order to get away and that obviously makes us fearful of what he could possibly do if we try to apprehend him again,” Underwood said.

Bordinat is approximately 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds. He is white, with brown eyes, brown hair, and this morning he had a beard. Bordinat’s vehicle license plate is ERX822. “It’s a black, 1998 Toyota Camry with heavy damage to the trunk area and rear passenger lights,” Underwood said.

Suspect’s vehicle

The name of the officer who was pepper sprayed has not been released.

(Radio Iowa)

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a 22-year-old man has died after a barbell slipped from his grasp and crushed him at a gym in Ankeny. The accident occurred Monday morning at Elite Edge Transformation Center. A spokesman for the center, Mark Yontz, said Thursday that Kyle Thomson was lifting 315 pounds on a bench press when the barbell slipped. Yontz says there were spotters watching Thomson on the bench.

Ankeny Fire Chief James Clack says the barbell fell on Thomson’s neck. Clack says a fire ambulance took Thomson to a Des Moines hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Iowa State University spokeswoman Annette Hacker says Thomson was a student there and lived in Pleasant Hill.

Iowans who shop online using Amazon will have to pay more, starting Sunday. The popular website will begin charging the six-percent Iowa sales tax as of January 1st. Victoria Daniels, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Revenue, says Iowans who buy items for themselves will be charged that tax, but not necessarily if they’re buying a gift for someone who lives out-of-state. “It depends on where the item is being shipped,” Daniels says. “For example, if you purchase something online but it’s being delivered to Illinois. Illinois law will then dictate what sales tax is charged, or not charged, to the person who is receiving the gift.”

Daniels says the change was not an effort by the state to make money. She says officials at Amazon approached the state first. It’s unclear how much money Iowa may rake in from the tax via Amazon purchases. “What we do know is, a couple of years ago, we did an estimate about what would come in potentially if the federal government were to pass legislation requiring remote retailers to collect the sales tax,” Daniels says. “We estimated at that time it would be anywhere between $18- to 24-million.”

Online retailers that don’t have “brick and mortar” stores in the state typically haven’t forced customers to pay the sales tax. “Target and Walmart and other stores that have a physical presence here, yes, they are required to collect the state sales tax from Iowa customers.”

Amazon already charges sales tax in about 30 other states. Amazon revenues in 2015 reportedly exceeded 100-billion dollars.

(Radio Iowa)

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Creston Police Department took reports about a theft and incident of vandalism, Wednesday. A resident told Police that sometime between 10-p.m. Saturday and 9:30-a.m. Wednesday, someone took a black 2010 R&W trailer from the 200 block of N. Cedar Street. The loss was estimated at $2,500.

And, a Creston resident living in the 200 block of N. Oak Street, said someone broke out a window in the rear of her home. The incident, which happened at around 8:50-p.m., Wednesday, resulted in a loss of about $100.