One of the Iowans who doesn’t think they’ll be able to afford health insurance next year went to a statehouse event Friday to ask legislators for help — and some answers. “I don’t care who gets it done. I just need it done.” Fifty-seven-year-old Bill Zook, of Ankeny earns too much to qualify for subsidies to buy insurance on the individual market.

On Monday, Governor Reynolds said ObamaCare’s complicated rules don’t allow states to innovate and she withdrew Iowa’s “stopgap” plan that aimed to reduce premium hikes. Medica is the only insurance company left that will sell 2018 policies to the 22-thousand Iowans who must buy on the individual market. Zook says Medica will charge him 24-hundred a month, with a deductible of nearly 14-thousand dollars.

Adding on co-payments for office visits, Zook estimates he’d spend nearly 40-thousand dollars next year if he buys a Medica policy. “I don’t know. You know there’s these Christian organizations, MediShare, those sorts of things that I’m researching,” Zook says. “Here we are almost at November 1st and I was waiting for the ‘stopgap’, I was waiting for people like these senators and representatives here for some solutions and I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Zook, who says he has voted Republican, had hoped President Trump’s recent executive order allowing companies to sell insurance across state lines might help. But Zook can’t find any companies willing to sell him a policy. “I’m confused where to go next,” Zook says. “My insurance agent, I talked to him, and he said: ‘Move out of state.'”

Zook says it’s “not fair” that public employees in Iowa get health care benefits, while he may have to self-insure next year. Zook retired at the age of 55 after working in the retail industry. Six months after he retired, Zook’s former employer cancelled health insurance benefits for all retirees. Zook says he was told by his former company that policies sold on the “ObamaCare” exchange would be cheaper, but he says the Wellmark policies he bought were not cheap.

Wellmark is not selling individual policies for 2018.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former University of Iowa wrestler has been arrested on computer-hacking charges after allegedly carrying out a high-tech cheating scheme. An FBI affidavit says Trevor Graves repeatedly hacked into the university’s grading system to give himself and others higher grades on tests and quizzes. The FBI says the 22-year-old also repeatedly obtained advanced copies of exams in his classes that he shared with others. He was arrested in Colorado this week.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Records show that an Iowa State Patrol commander started a consulting firm prior to receiving state approval for outside work and is using photos of himself at government-funded training events to promote the venture. A review by The Associated Press is raising questions about the captain’s involvement as a founding partner of a company that advertises police litigation and recruitment services. The patrol insists his outside work is limited to a single research project.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two Democratic lawmakers have proposed legislation creating a Medicaid-style health insurance plan for Iowans, but the proposal has virtually no chance in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Sen. Matt McCoy of Des Moines and Rep. John Forbes of Urbandale released details Friday on a plan that targets people in the individual insurance market of the Affordable Care Act. It offers an additional insurance option in the marketplace and would reverse Iowa’s privatized Medicaid program.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police believe the stabbing death of a Des Moines man earlier this week was the result of a dispute over a $50 debt. Television station KCCI reports that court documents say 39-year-old Michael Lee Bell Jr., of Des Moines, told police investigators he had several weapons with him Wednesday evening when he confronted 42-year-old Jerry Lavelle Martin over the debt.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says a Shannon City man reported on Thursday, that sometime over the last three weeks, someone entered his property and took a 2009 blue Big Bear 4-Wheeler. The loss was estimated at $4,000.

And, a Creston man reported to the Sheriff’s Office today (Friday), that someone had entered a building on his property, and in the process caused $20 damage.

Both incidents remained under investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two Democratic lawmakers have proposed legislation creating a Medicaid-style health insurance plan for Iowans, but the proposal has virtually no chance in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Sen. Matt McCoy of Des Moines and Rep. John Forbes of Urbandale released details Friday of a so-called public option for people in the individual insurance market of the Affordable Care Act. It offers an additional subsidized insurance option in the marketplace. Separately, the legislation would return Iowa’s privatized Medicaid program to a state-run system.

McCoy and Forbes estimate about $200 million in savings but didn’t provide specifics to justify the estimate. The lawmakers say they expect changes to the bill, which they emphasized is an attempt to limit growing health care costs. The new plan wouldn’t start until 2019 at the earliest. A spokeswoman for GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds dismissed the plan, saying it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and not help people in need.

CLARINDA—Staff from DNR’s Atlantic field office confirmed that cleanup is complete from a manure spill that occurred Oct. 24 northwest of Clarinda. Contractors worked Wednesday and Thursday to remove approximately 236 tons of manure-contaminated soil from a ditch near the Lee Brooke confinement site. The mix was land applied to crop fields. Commercial manure applicator Jason Sickles will continue to work with Page County to restore the ditch.

A stuck pump valve Tuesday evening caused about 7,000 gallons of manure to pool at the confinement site, and in roadside and drainage ditches that flow into an unnamed tributary of East Tarkio Creek. The DNR says it will consider appropriate enforcement action.

(12:40-p.m. News)

Council Bluffs Police report a convenience store was robbed this (Thursday) morning. Officers responded just before 9-a.m. to the CB Quick Stop at 3500 Avenue A, for a report of a robbery. The clerk told officers that a black male entered the convenience store and displayed a handgun. The suspect pointed the firearm at the clerk and demanded money from the cash register. After receiving the money the suspect fled the business in an unknown direction.

The suspect is described as a black male, approximately 25 years old, 5-feet 8-inches tall with a thin build.  The incident is under investigation by the Council Bluffs Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division. Anyone possibly having information on the Robbery is encouraged to call CID at (712) 328-4728 or Crime Stoppers at (712) 328-7867.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports a man was arrested Thursday on a felony Sheriff’s warrant for Fraudulent Practices 1st Degree. 57-year old Gregory Eugene Weppler, of Lewis, was taken to the Cass County Jail where he was released later that day on $10,000 bond. Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Ayers told KJAN News the charge was with regard to Weppler allegedly receiving unemployment compensation, while still earning wages from his place of employment.

The Council Bluffs Police Department reports two students at the Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln High School died this (Friday) morning, when the vehicle they were in crashed into Lake Manawa, on the south side of Council Bluffs. The victims were identified as 18-year old Efren Lemus and 17-year old Christian Renteria-Perez, both of Council Bluffs. Lemus was identified as the driver of the vehicle.

Council Bluffs emergency personnel were dispatched to accident scene on the west shore of Lake Manawa at around 6:13-a.m. Upon arrival, they found the vehicle was upside down and partially submerged. Council Bluffs Fire Department personnel entered the water and located victims inside the vehicle.

Authorities say alcohol and/or speeding may have been factors in the crash, which remains under investigation by the Council Bluffs Police Department Traffic Unit.

The Texas senator who won Iowa’s 2016 presidential caucuses has placed a hold on Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey’s nomination for a federal job. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is blocking a vote in the senate on Northey’s nomination to be an undersecretary in the U.S.D.A. Cruz is reportedly irked with the way Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst pressured the E-P-A Administrator to back off on a plan to reduce the federal biofuels mandate.

Cruz and eight other senators from states that have oil refineries are now asking for a meeting with President Trump. They want to discuss an overhaul of the Renewable Fuels Standard. This group of senators charge the R-F-S hurts jobs in their states. Thirty senators — including the two Republican senators from Iowa — were part of the coalition that pressed the Trump Administration to favor ethanol and biodiesel.

(Radio Iowa)

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office reports one-person was injured during a rollover accident that occurred at around 6-p.m., Wednesday. A 1998 Chevy driven by 66-year old Paul Dennis Knudsen, of Exira, was traveling south on Littlefield Drive about one-mile east of Exira, when the vehicle left the road, came back onto the road, and then went out of control before entering the north ditch. The vehicle then rolled several times before coming to rest on its roof. Knudsen was injured and transported by Exira Rescue to the Audubon County Memorial Hospital. Damage from the crash was estimated at $15,000. The accident remains under investigation.

And, the Audubon County Sheriff’s Office says 46-year old Gregory Jacob Mansfield, of Carroll was arrested following a traffic strop at around 8:30-p.m. Thursday, in Audubon. Mansfield was taken into custody for Driving While Barred. He was brought to the Audubon County Jail and later released after appearing before a magistrate.