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Iowa early News Headlines: Friday, 12/7/2018

News

December 7th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — After a major provider agreed to stay in Iowa’s troubled Medicaid program, state officials quietly let its hospitals and clinics keep $2.4 million in mistaken overpayments. UnityPoint Health threatened to quit Iowa’s Medicaid program a year ago, which would have disrupted health care for 54,000 Medicaid recipients. But it reached an agreement to stay. Weeks later, the Iowa Department of Human Services signed a deal allowing UnityPoint to keep $2.4 million in overpayments for electronic records.

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — A northwestern Iowa religious activist who burned four LGBTQ children’s books he’d checked out of an Orange City library has been charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief. The Sioux City Journal reports 62-year-old Paul Dorr is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 22.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a north-central Iowa woman who threw away her employer’s mail in an effort to avoid having her wages garnished has been sentenced to 90 days in prison. Prosecutors say 55-year-old Terri Cosgrove, of Badger, was sentenced Tuesday in Cedar Rapids’ federal court. She had pleaded guilty in August to one count of obstruction of correspondence.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have announced an arrest in the September shooting death of a Des Moines man. Police Sgt. Paul Parizek says 28-year-old Tyrone Hughes Jr. was arrested Tuesday in Chicago by Des Moines detectives and members of the Chicago Police Fugitive Apprehension Unit. Police say he’s been charged with first-degree murder for the death of 28-year-old Aaron Ross.

IFB official grateful Mexico didn’t start food fight over tariffs

Ag/Outdoor, News

December 6th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa/Brownfield Ag News) — A top Iowa Farm Bureau official says he’s thankful Mexico didn’t start a food fight during the renegotiation of NAFTA. David Miller, the IFB’s director of research, notes – unlike other countries – Mexican trade officials did not target agricultural products when retaliating to U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs. “I’ll call it normal course relative to corn imports, and pork and beef trade with Mexico has remained solid,” Miller said. “So, Mexico has remained a very good agricultural product importer and trade partner with us, and I think us with them.”

Speaking this week to Brownfield Ag News at the Iowa Farm Bureau’s annual meeting in Des Moines, Miller said he wishes that would’ve been the model for other countries involved in trade disputes with the U.S.  “That you would not be moved to use food and agriculture products as the retaliatory products,” Miller said.

Miller was quick to point out China did retaliate on U.S. food and ag products and that Mexico has done so in the past. He added it’s “refreshing” that, for the most part, the U.S., Canada and Mexico have kept food out of the tariff dispute.

Iowa woman gets prison time for tossing employer’s mail

News

December 6th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a north-central Iowa woman who threw away her employer’s mail in an effort to avoid having her wages garnished has been sentenced to 90 days in prison. Prosecutors say 55-year-old Terri Cosgrove, of Badger, was sentenced Tuesday in Cedar Rapids’ federal court. She had pleaded guilty in August to one count of obstruction of correspondence.

Officials say Cosgrove was supposed to be paying toward an order for nearly $190,000 in restitution for a 2004 bank fraud conviction. After repeated attempts to collect, the federal government sent a garnishment letter to Cosgrove’s employer. When the employer didn’t respond, police questioned Cosgrove. She told investigators she had destroyed the garnishment paperwork sent to her employer because she did not want her wages garnished.

20th Annual Shop with the Sheriff set for Saturday, in Pott. County

News

December 6th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker, Thursday, said in a Press Release, that the Pott. County Sheriff’s Office will be holding the 20th Annual Shop with the Sheriff Saturday morning, at the Council Bluffs Target Store.

Danker said “There are 42 children scheduled to participate in the event. Another 23 families with infants will pick up gifts, food and necessities from Target that morning.” He said also, that “During the 23-years of this event, the Sheriff’s Office has provided gifts and necessities to approximately 620 children with over $100,000 in donated funds.”

No injuries reported after pickup lands on its top in a Shelby County ditch

News

December 6th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

Elk Horn Fire and Rescue along with Marne Fire and Rescue were called to a single-vehicle rollover accident with entrapment this (Thursday) evening, on Shelby County Road M-56, just south of 400th Street. The accident, involving a pickup truck, was reported at around 4:14-p.m. Deputies arriving on the scene reported there were no injuries, but the two occupants of the vehicle were unable to get out without mechanical extraction. Marne Fire was told to disregard by authority of Elk Horn Fire.

No other details are currently available.

(Update) Eastern IA trucker involved in Fatal IL school bus

News

December 6th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

DOWNS, Ill. (AP) — A semitrailer heading the wrong way on an interstate crashed into a school bus carrying an Illinois high school girls’ basketball team, killing the truck driver and an adult on the bus, authorities said Thursday. Illinois State Police said eight girls were injured when the truck collided head-on with their bus Wednesday night along Interstate 74 near Downs, a village in central Illinois about 115 miles southwest of Chicago. Police said the bus driver and a coach also were injured.

Normal West High School Principal Dave Johnson said five girls had been treated and released from the hospital as of mid-morning Thursday. Police said none of the girls’ injuries was considered life threatening. Johnson said the coach, Steve Price, suffered “multiple broken bones that will require surgery,” but that he was also expected to recover. Johnson said he didn’t know the condition of the bus driver.

Police identified the bus passenger who died as 72-year-old Charles Crabtree, a volunteer with the high school. Preliminary reports indicate the truck driver, identified by the Peoria County Coroner as Ryan E. Hute, 34, of Delmar, Iowa, was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes, authorities said. The westbound lanes were closed following the crash.

The girls’ team was returning from a game at Champaign Central, Normal West athletic director Stan Lewis told The (Bloomington) Pantagraph. Lewis said the bus was carrying the school’s freshman team and some members of the junior varsity team. Parents and friends of the injured students gathered at the school for updates as word of the crash spread on social media. The school opened Thursday with counselors on hand, said Dayna Brown, a spokeswoman for the McLean County Unit 5 school district. The girls’ varsity team also voted to play their scheduled Thursday night game, Johnson said.

JEAN CHARLOTTE LUNDGREN ANDERSON, 85, of Stanton (12-8-2018)

Obituaries

December 6th, 2018 by Jim Field

JEAN CHARLOTTE LUNDGREN ANDERSON, 85, of Stanton died Wednesday, December 5th at Accura Healthcare in Stanton.  Funeral services for JEAN CHARLOTTE LUNDGREN ANDERSON will be held on Saturday, December 8th at 10:00 am at Mamrelund Lutheran Church in Stanton.  Sellergren-Lindell-DeMarce Funeral Home has the arrangements.

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Visitation will be held on Friday from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the funeral home.

Burial in the Mamre Cemetery in Stanton.

Memorials to the Mamrelund Lutheran Church or Stanton Swedish Heritage Cultural Center.

Remembrances and condolences may be made at www.sldfuneralhome.com.

JEAN CHARLOTTE LUNDGREN ANDERSON is survived by:

Husband:  Robert C. Anderson of Stanton.

Children:  Douglas (Peg) Lundgren of Stanton; Michael (Gaye) Lundgren of Stanton; Julie (Bob) Kixmiller of Walnut.

Step-Son:  Eric (Shelley) Anderson of Stanton.

7 Grandchildren

7 Great-Grandchildren

3 Step-Grandchildren

4 Step-Great-Grandchildren

Nieces, nephews and other relatives and friends.

 

Iowa let major Medicaid provider keep $2.4M in overpayments

News

December 6th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — After a major provider agreed to stay in Iowa’s troubled Medicaid program, state officials quietly let its hospitals and clinics keep $2.4 million in mistaken overpayments. UnityPoint Health threatened to quit Iowa’s Medicaid program a year ago, saying that it had reached an impasse in contract negotiations with the managed care organization AmeriGroup. Its departure would have disrupted health care for 54,000 Medicaid recipients beginning April 1. But UnityPoint and AmeriGroup reached a last-minute agreement to keep its provider network in the program, a victory for Gov. Kim Reynolds.

In April, Iowa Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven signed a settlement that allowed UnityPoint to keep $2.4 million in overpayments for electronic health records incentives that had been identified by auditors. The Associated Press obtained a copy under the open records law. Democratic Sen. Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City says the deal “looks fishy” and that lawmakers were never informed about it.
UnityPoint says the agreement was unrelated to its continued participation in Medicaid.

Postal scan shows 29 ballots timely mailed in House race

News

December 6th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A northeast Iowa county election official says U.S. Postal Service officials have scanned postal bar codes on 33 ballots that have not been counted in an Iowa House race and found 29 were mailed in time to be counted. A Democratic candidate the Iowa House district 55 seat who is trailing by nine votes won a court ruling Monday that gave her the right to determine whether the absentee ballots were mailed on time. Further court action will now take place to decide whether they will be counted.

Counting the ballots could flip the results of the race where incumbent Republican Michael Bergan leads Democrat Kayla Koether by just nine votes in the three-county district. Koether sued election officials who refused to count the ballots because they lacked a postmark. The ballots contain a postal bar code that Koether says can prove the mailing date. State and county election officials say Iowa law doesn’t allow postal bar codes to be used to authenticate ballots but a judge ordered them scanned.

Winneshiek County Auditor Ben Steines says in court documents that a scan revealed 29 ballots were mailed on Nov. 5, the state-mandated deadline. One was mailed Nov. 6 and no information was obtained for three.

Montgomery County elected Officials Retirement Reception

News

December 6th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

A reception to recognize outgoing Montgomery County elected officials will take place Tuesday, December 18th, from 10-a.m. until Noon, at the Montgomery County Courthouse. Montgomery County Attorney, Bruce Swanson, has served for 27 years. Montgomery County Supervisor, Steve Ratcliff, has served 11 years. Montgomery County Treasurer, Carol Strovers, has also served for 11 years. The public is invited to extend their gratitude and best wishes to these elected officials.