The Iowa Insurance Commissioner has approved double-digit rate increases for the insurance policies held by about a quarter of a million Iowans. Individual health insurance polices from Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield will increase an average of 14-and-a-half percent on January 1st. The rates for the Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa will go up an average of 11-point-nine percent.

State Insurance Commissioner Nick Gearhart says he found “no evidence” Wellmark’s rate hikes were “discriminatory or excessive.” Gearheart says due to the Affordable Care Act, Wellmark faces higher costs partly because insurers can’t deny coverage to applicants with pre-existing conditions, plus new rules restrict how much a client’s age, potential health risks or gender can factor into rates.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is set to visit Iowa this weekend to help Democratic candidates. An O’Malley spokeswoman says he will be in the state Saturday and Sunday. This is the fourth trip the potential 2016 presidential candidate has made to the kickoff caucus state this year.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — The owner of a building in Cedar Rapids where posters appeared promoting the opening of a marijuana dispensary says the advertisement is a hoax. John Wasta says two posters appeared Tuesday on the outside of his empty storefront that implied a business known as the Iowa Marijuana Company would open in October 2015. Wasta tells KCRG TV in Cedar Rapids he took down the posters and is not taking the apparent prank too seriously.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The former Argosy riverboat casino has pulled away from its dock in Sioux City and started a long journey to a shipyard in Illinois, where it will be sold or salvaged. The Sioux City Journal reports the floating casino closed this summer after the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission ordered it stop its operations.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man has dropped off a newborn baby at a family medicine clinic in Des Moines. KCCI TV reports the baby was later taken to Blank Children’s Hospital.

CORRECTIONVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a construction worker killed after he was pinned under a piece of equipment in northwest Iowa. Maj. Todd Wieck with the Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office says 49-year-old Daniel Lewis Uhl, of Anthon, was killed Tuesday at a construction site near Correctionville.

Uhl was at the site when a large piece of “earth-moving equipment” pinned him. He was airlifted to a Sioux City hospital but was pronounced dead before the helicopter landed. The Sioux City Journal reports the circumstances of the death are under investigation.

An Omaha man’s admission to robbing a Sioux City bank was his last strike and he’ll spend the rest of his life in a federal prison. Fifty-four-year-old Richard Allen Shaffer admitted to walking into a Sioux City bank on October 12th and handing a teller a note that said he had a gun and wanted money. He fled with around 37-hundred dollars and the clothes he wore and the note were later found at his girlfriend’s home.

Shaffer robbed the Sioux City bank after he was released from federal prison for six 2004 bank robbery convictions. Those were all considered one felony crime, but a review found Shaffer had convicted in a United States Army General court-martial in 1979 of unpremeditated murder and served 18 years in prison. The Sioux City robbery made it the third felony and triggered the three-strikes law and the life sentence.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Democratic Party is asking the county attorney in Red Oak to review whether Joni Ernst had an alleged conflict of interest in the 215-thousand dollars worth of county contracts awarded to her father’s company when Ernst was a county official. Ernst is the Iowa Republican Party’s 2014 nominee for the U.S. Senate, facing Democrat Bruce Braley in one of the closest senate races in the country. Former Iowa Attorney General Bonnie Campbell — who was chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party in the late 1980s — says according to state law, a county officer like Ernst “shall not” have a “direct or indirect interest” in a county contract.

“Iowans expect their public officials whether they’re running for local office or the United States Senate, to do never use the power of their office to benefit themselves, their friends or their families,” Campbell says. A spokeswoman for Ernst says the construction contracts were subject to a public competitive bidding process and it was the county supervisors who voted to award the contracts, not Ernst — plus Ernst does not have a financial stake in her father’s company. Campbell, a lawyer who served one term as Iowa’s attorney general, says by her reading of Iowa law, a county official’s “immediate family members” — including their parents — are not to get county contracts.

“Despite that I think pretty clear statement in the Iowa Code, Senator Ernst’s father, Richard Culver, received $215,000-plus dollars in county contracts for his construction company, Culver Construction,” Campbell says. “This was of course the same time his daughter was auditor.” Last Friday, a Washington, D.C.-based group called the “American Democracy Legal Fund” asked Iowa’s current attorney general to issue an opinion as to whether Ernst had a conflict of interest when her father’s company got those contracts while she served as Montgomery County Auditor. The Ernst campaign says Braley’s “liberal Washington allies” are making “frivolous” allegations to “prop up Braley’s desperate campaign.”

The state’s attorney general this week said the dispute falls under the jurisdiction of the Montgomery County Attorney. Today (Wednesday) Iowa Democratic Party officials asked the county attorney to rule on the matter. Staff in Montgomery County Attorney Bruce Swanson’s office say he won’t be in the office until late Friday. Swanson, a Republican from Red Oak, is seeking reelection this year and does not have a Democratic opponent.

(Radio Iowa)

Authorities in Harlan are asking the public’s help in finding counterfeit money circulating in the community. A counterfeit $20 bill was passed at a Harlan business Wednesday. The serial number was BF28462799B.

If you or your business receives a $20 bill that appears to be counterfeit, or has the same serial number on it mentioned above, contact the Harlan Police Department at 755-5151.

Police in Red Oak arrested a Pottawattamie County man early Wednesday afternoon. 26-year old Jason Rolfe Ahrens was taken into custody on a Montgomery County warrant for Failure To Appear in court on a Possession of a Controlled Substance charge. Ahrens was transported to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center, and held on $5,000 bond.

As part of its ongoing search, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is asking for the public’s help to locate 17-year old’s Michelle Goetz and Damian Gonzalez who went missing from Rogers, Arkansas on Sept. 26, 2014. It is believed that the pair may traveling to southwest Iowa.

Michelle Goetz – Damian Gonzales – selfie

Michelle she has blonde hair that may have been dyed blond with black underneath. and green eyes. Michelle is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. She has a tribal tattoo in a triangular design on her neck and an anchor tattoo on her torso. Michelle may be wearing glasses.

Damian has brown hair and brown eyes. He is 6 feet tall and weighs 225 pounds. Damian has a cross tattooed on his right shoulder. The pair is traveling in a white pick-up truck with Arkansas license plate.

The public is urged to call 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) with any information concerning the disappearance or current whereabouts of Michelle and Damian. Calls may be made anonymously.

Michelle Goetz – Damian Gonzales

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is investigating manure released from a cattle feedlot about 10 miles west of Guthrie Center to a tributary to David’s Creek last week.

Owner of the 14,000-head-capacity beef feedlot, Matt Van Meter, reported the manure release at 3:34 p.m. Oct. 2, about eight hours after discovering a break in an irrigation pipe. Van Meter estimates 200,000 gallons of liquids from a solids settling basin were released, but the amount is uncertain because he’s unsure when the pipe broke.

A DNR environmental specialist tested ammonia levels in the runoff and water quality in the stream Thursday night and Friday. Field tests showed ammonia levels of at least 10 parts per million in the runoff from the feedlot, which is high enough to cause a fish kill. However, it was raining Wednesday night, stream levels were high and field tests did not show elevated ammonia levels in the stream.

Friday, the DNR checked the stream for 10 miles below the feedlot and did not find any dead fish. The Van Meter feedlot has a national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit which allows facilities to discharge pollutants under certain conditions, such as heavy rainfall, if the permit conditions are followed.

The DNR is checking records and investigating the incident to determine if the facility was operating according to NPDES permit conditions. However, the DNR expects to take enforcement action on failing to report the manure release within six hours of discovery. DNR may take additional enforcement action depending upon results of the investigation and laboratory results from stream samples.