Residents of Atlantic and the surrounding area are being invited to attend a Legislative Forum on Health Care Issues. The event takes place 10-a.m. Monday, Nov. 27th, at Atlantic Specialty Care (1300 E. 9th St.), and features Representatives Tom Moore and Tom Shipley, along with other Constituents of the Legislature.

Those planning on attending should let others know about the free event, and come prepared with your questions and concerns with regard to the legislature and long term care. Some topics sure to be brought up that affect long term care include:

• Medicaid under-funding and how much facilities are losing due to reimbursement
• How the loss of 90 day retroactive will affect long-term care facilities, residents and families.
• Listen to stories from staff who have left long term care due to survey issues and what those in the health care field call “over-zealous surveyors.”
• Dementia residents and combative residents – mental health patients that we cannot accept due to survey issues and fear of fine and sites. Difficulties of families finding placements.
• Experiences with MCO’s – difficulties in patients receiving care, being turned down, now access to Medicare or Medicaid services.
• High cost of private pay rates covering the losses for Medicaid rates.

Call Kellie Jimerson If you have questions. 712-243-3952

The Council Bluffs Police Department is asking for help from the community in locating 40 year old Kenny Jay Anderson, of Council Bluffs. Anderson has a valid warrant for Burglary in the 1st Degree stemming from an incident that occurred Saturday at around 11:54-pm, during which Anderson allegedly forced his way into the home of 45-year old Angela Lipinski, of Council Bluffs. The house is owned by Lipinski’s mother, and is located in the vicinity of North 20th Street and Avenue A in Council Bluffs.

Kenny Jay Anderson

While inside the home Anderson assaulted Lipinski and struck her in the head with Garden Shears, causing injury to her head. Anderson fled the area prior to police arrival.

Anderson is also wanted on charges stemming from an incident which occurred on Oct. 20th, in Council Bluffs. There are valid warrants for his arrest stemming from that incident, including Assault to Inflict Serious Injury, Theft 4th and Criminal Trespass.

Authorities warn you should not attempt to confront Anderson. He is considered to be dangerous. Anyone with information on the location of Kenny Jay Anderson can call 911, the Criminal Investigations Division 712-328-4728 or crime stoppers 712-328-7867.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Police say a Dubuque woman has crashed into her second building in less than a week. The Telegraph Herald reports 65-year-old Margie F. Williams, of Dubuque, backed her vehicle into the Eagle Country Market on Monday morning, crashing through the store’s north entrance. Police say a woman inside scrambled out of the way and suffered hip pain but wasn’t hospitalized.

Police say Williams thought the vehicle was in drive but it was in reverse. Store damage was estimated at $10,000. On Wednesday, Williams was cited when she backed a vehicle over a Main Street parking meter and crashed into a building. She told police her foot got stuck between the accelerator and brake.

Police say Williams likely won’t be cited in Monday’s crash because it occurred on private property.

Red Oak Police report a hit and run accident was investigated on Saturday night in Red Oak. Officers were called at 8:00pm to the 300 block of East Prospect Street for damage to the drivers door of a legally parked vehicle. The vehicle was a 2003 Lincoln Aviator owned by Devin Francis Meek of Red Oak and it was legally parked facing westbound. It appeared that someone backed out of a nearby driveway from the South and backed into the side of the vehicle. The owners of the driveway advised officers that a lot of people use the driveway to turn around on that street. Damage to the Lincoln was estimated at $1,500. No further information is known at this time.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest Monday morning of a Red Oak man after an altercation. Officers were dispatched at 7:32am to the intersection of 1st Avenue and North Broadway Street for an altercation between two males. Officers determined that 37-year-old Daniel Bruce Clemons Jr. of Red Oak threatened another man with a knife. Clemons Jr. had left the scene and officers were able to track him down at the intersection of West 2nd Street and West Washington Avenue. He was taken into custody and charged with Assault while Displaying a Dangerous Weapon. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $2,000 cash bond.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials have acknowledged that secret waiting lists for psychotherapy appointments at Omaha’s U.S. Veterans Affairs Department hospital were used far longer than previously reported.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that a VA investigation dated Sept. 30, 2015, says the lists were used as far back as 2006 and were still used after the VA prohibited them in 2010 and after a 2014 scandal that eventually showed chronic delays, false paperwork and secret lists at VA hospitals across the nation.

The World-Herald reported last month the discovery of a separate, unauthorized Omaha list earlier this year. VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System Director Don Burman told the newspaper the VA made changes after the 2015 investigation. But he says some problems weren’t fixed properly, allowing use of a waiting list to recur.

***The Amber Alert was cancelled in the 2:00pm hour after the two youngsters were recovered safe. The Nissan they were driving was spotted by a motorist on I-235 just north of downtown Des Moines and followed until police were able to pull the vehicle over.

An Amber Alert was issued in Iowa this (Monday) afternoon, for the abduction from the Denison Area, of a 12-year old Caucasian female by a 13-year old Caucasian male. The girl was identified as Beyonce Carrasco, 5-feet 8-inches tall, weight 82 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes, and was last known to be wearing gray, UnderArmor shorts and a dark gray Monarch shirt or blouse. She has a mole on her nose.

The suspected abductor is 13-year old Rodolfo Penaflor, Jr., who is 5-feet 4-inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. He also has black hair and brown eyes. They are believed to be traveling in a white 2016 Nissan Sentra with Iowa license plates EYB982.

Beyonce

Rudolpho

Corporate sponsorships are the norm now for sports stadiums and arenas, but the Iowa Department of Transportation says there’s been very little interest in them for state highway rest areas. The director of the D-O-T’s Highway Division, Mitch Dillavou, told the Transportation Commission last week that they tried to gain sponsorships after a federal rule change. “Four or five years ago we were given permission by the Federal Highway Administration to have a sponsorship program at our rest areas…which allowed people to pay for sponsorships and get their name on the sign. They could have some advertising on the sign and we could receive money to offset the cost of our rest area maintenance and upkeep,” Dillavou explains.

But he says they didn’t get a lot of response when they offered sponsorships for the 38 rest stops. “We had eight originally, the second time around we had none, zero — and the ones that had it didn’t show any interest in it,” Dillavou says. Dillavou says the sponsorships of the eight rest stops amounted to around 55-thousand dollars. He says the lack of interest in the sponsorships is due in part to the F-H-A’s restrictions of what can be placed on the signs by the sponsor. The commission discussed the issue as part of a review and update of its rules.

(Radio Iowa)

The Glenwood Police Department reports two arrests took place, Sunday. 47-year old Philip Sales, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Providing False Information, and on Mills County warrants for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Driving Under Suspension, and Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drugs. Bond for the offenses amounted to $4,600 altogether.

And, 29-year-old Seth Peters, of Glenwood, was arrested Sunday, for Public Intoxication. His bond or surety was set at $300.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa foster care officials are leading efforts to recruit and retain foster families as the state deals with a shortage of available homes. The Sioux City Journal reports that over 4,000 children are in need of a foster home in Iowa. Western Iowa has the greatest need for foster families because it has the highest child removal rate in the state. An Iowa Department of Human Services Child Welfare Bureau official says it’s the result of a more active juvenile justice system and a higher rate of drug use in the western part of the state.

Foster care providers say there’s also a demand for African-American, Hispanic and Native American families, as well as families willing to take teenagers, children with special needs and sibling groups of three or more.