DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s insurance commissioner says he needs a commitment from a national insurer before he can release pricing information on policies to be sold on the state’s new health insurance exchange.  The prices were scheduled to be released next week, but that’s been delayed until Sept. 16.

Commissioner Nick Gerhart told The Des Moines Register that he’s awaiting a decision from Coventry on whether it will carry through on its initial plans to offer policies. But Coventry’s new parent company, Aetna, has withdrawn from five other states’ exchanges.   Aetna officials didn’t respond to requests for comment.

If Coventry were to opt out, that would leave Iowans with only one carrier, CoOportunity Health. The state’s dominant health insurer, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, won’t participate in the exchange until 2015.

The Clarinda Police Department reports the escapee from the Clarinda Academy, 16-year old Myriah Thomas has been apprehended near Waukee, by the Iowa State Patrol. Additional information will follow as it becomes available.

M. Thomas (Clarinda P-D provided image)

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers said the teen apparently jumped from a second-story window from a dorm at the Academy, sometime between 12:30- and 1-a.m., today. Authorities had said that at around 4:10-a.m., a black female matching Thomas’ description had stopped at the Casey’s Store in Villisca and asked for directions to the Interstate. The teen was driving a white Ford Ranger,and was by herself.

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson….

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Atlantic Police Chief Steve Green says his department is receiving complaints once again about scams in the area. Green said two recent incidents involved callers saying they are with The Publisher’s Clearing House.

The Publisher’s Clearing House Fraud Protection Division says if you are ever contacted by someone claiming to represent PCH, or claiming to be a PCH employee,  and asked to send or wire money (for any reason whatsoever, including taxes), or send a pre-paid gift card or Green Dot Moneypak card in order to claim a sweepstakes prize – DON’T!  It’s a SCAM. If you are sent a check, told it’s a partial prize award, and asked to cash it and send a portion back to claim the full prize award, DON’T.  The check is fake, but the SCAM is real!

In addition, Steve Green says you should never pay to receive a prize, and never give out personal information over the phone. He says if you any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the Atlantic Police Department at 712-243-3512.

For more information on the PCh scam: http://info.pch.com/consumer-information/fraud-protection

Sheriff’s officials in  Montgomery County report the arrest at around 10:40-p.m. Wednesday, of 20-year old Kyle Robert Danick, of Red Oak. Danick was arrested for Public Intoxication, following an incident at the 40-mile marker of Highway 34, west of Stanton. He was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond.

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers reports a teenager has escaped from the Clarinda Academy, Juvenile Holding Facility in Clarinda. Brothers said in an updated news release at 6-a.m, that at around 4:10-a.m., a black female matching the description of the Clarinda Academy escapee, 16-year old Myriah Maulik Thomas, had stopped at the Casey’s Store in Villisca and asked for directions to the Interstate. The suspect was driving a white Ford Ranger and was by herself. The direction of travel after the female left Casey’s is unknown at this time. Thomas, who is 5-feet 3-inches tall, is from Dallas Texas.

M. Thomas (Clarinda P-D provided image)

Thomas weighs 122-pounds, has short, curly brown hair and brown eyes.  If you see her, DO NOT APPROACH the teen. Instead, you should call your nearest law enforcement agency immediately by the 911 emergency telephone system. There is presently a search underway for Thomas by authorities from the Clarinda Police Department, Page County Sheriff’s Department, Clarinda Academy staff  and the Mercy One Helicopter Unit.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa regulators have declined to give Planned Parenthood of the Heartland a report that discusses the group’s use of a video-conferencing system to distribute abortion-inducing pills. The Iowa Board of Medicine declined to release the 2010 report by a board investigator that was used in 2011 to determine the safety of the video system. The Des Moines Register reports Planned Parenthood requested a copy last week.

EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) — The city of Evansdale plans to end its ambulance service to nearby Poyner Township. Evansdale Fire Chief Kent Smock sent a letter to township trustees stating the service would stop October 1st because trustees have declined to pay for the service. Evansdale had been billing Poyner Township patients through an informal agreement since the early 1970s.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors say they have dismissed charges against two Sioux City residents accused of robbing and torturing a man because they want to build their case. The motion filed Tuesday dismisses first-degree robbery and willful injury charges against 33-year-old Melissa Lowe and 32-year-old Brandon Keleher.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Nothing seems assured for Iowa State after it lost to FCS school Northern Iowa last weekend. The lower-tier Panthers exposed issues on both sides of the ball for the inexperienced Cyclones, who showed that those who picked them to finish ninth in the Big 12 might end up being right.

Iowa foster care officials say violence between children in foster care is very rare. The Department of Human Services is investigating the case of a 5-year-old foster boy who was killed this weekend, allegedly by a teenager living in the same foster home in western Iowa. Vern Armstrong, an administrator with the Iowa DHS, says children are matched with foster families based on several factors, including the distance from their biological parents, and they’re often placed with other foster kids.

“That’s very common,” Armstrong says. “We actually would probably say the majority of our homes have unrelated kids placed together.” While having unrelated children placed together in foster homes is commonplace, physical aggression between them is not. “Actually, I hear about it more when there are siblings groups placed together. There might be sibling stuff going on and they’re used to each other,” Armstrong says. “It’s rare to hear of a serious assault between one foster child and another. I can’t remember the last time we’ve had something like that.”

More than 10,000 Iowa children are placed in foster care at some point during a typical year. The state currently has around 2,100 licensed foster families. Seventy foster children have died of natural causes in Iowa since 1997, but prior to this week, none had died from abuse. Seventeen-year-old Cody Metzker-Madsen is charged as an adult with killing 5-year-old Dominic Elkins. The boys had lived together since early August with a foster family in a rural area of Harrison County.

(Radio Iowa)

The Atlantic City Council Wednesday evening adopted on the second reading and approved on the third and final reading, an amendment to the Code of Ordinances, with regard to Urban Deer Control. The Community Protection Committee had recommended several changes to the ordinance in order to make it more effective. The changes include allowing hunters who take an anterless deer within the City limits to also take an antlered deer. It also stipulates that once a hunter has qualified to bow hunt deer in Atlantic, that they will remain qualified in future years, as long as the requirements are met.

The Council also passed the first reading of an Ordinance entitled “No Parking Zones,” with regard to U-S Highway 6 (7th Street), on the west side of Atlantic, in front of the KFC Restaurant and Casey’s General Store. Jim Bane, DOT District Maintenance Engineer, had indicated in a letter received last month, that there is a “Reccuring safety and maintenance problem on the shoulder of U-S 6,” when “Vehicles park on that shoulder and interfere with the visibility of vehicles attempting to turn onto U-S 6.” Bain said “In addition, trucks that are parked on (the) shoulder (of the road), are causing damage” to the area, and increasing maintenance costs.

Often times, truck drivers park on the shoulder to grab a quick bite at Casey’s or the other establishments nearby. Councilman Shawn Shouse questioned if establishing a No Parking Zone along the shoulder doesn’t merely transfer the problem of damage caused by trucks to another section of the roadway, and where trucks would pull over. The Council decided it would be better to try and get more input from the public, truckers and others affected by the potential change, before the Ordinance is enacted.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council approved a Grant Agreement with the FAA and related matters, with regard to a just over $1.04-million grant for the Airport Paving and Lighting Project. City Administrator Doug Harris said the City’s share of the project is $156,214. A bond issue for airport improvements was approved in 2006 has helped to pay for grading and other paving projects. There are still funds available to pay for the City’s share of the grant and other possible improvements. The total project cost of about $1.196-million.

And, the Council Wednesday approved a resolution setting Building and Zoning Fees, as recommended by the Finance Committee. The Committee has recommended the lowering of permit fees for unattached garages, gazebos, sheds, decks and similar accessory structures over 100-square feet, from 30-cents per square foot, to 15-cents/psf, but not to exceed $500. In addition, the fee for moving existing dwellings and structures to a new address, would be raised from $100 to $200, due to the number of City services required to assist in making such a move possible.

An adult and a child were transported to the Clarinda Regional Health Center following a collision Tuesday evening in Clarinda. According to Clarinda Police, an SUV driven by 31-year old Dawn Pullen, and a pickup driven by 61-year old Joann Rogers, both of Clarinda, collided at the intersection of 14th and Lincoln Streets at around 5:35-p.m.

Officials say both vehicles entered the intersection at about the same time. Following the impact, the SUV veered north and through the yard at 222 East Lincoln, before coming to rest. The pickup was spun around by the impact and came to rest at the northwest corner of the intersection after driving over two small trees. The pickup lost a rear tire, when it hit the sidewalk. The tire rolled through the yard and hit a stair railing at 222 E. Lincoln, jarring the railing loose.

Joann Rogers was transported to the hospital to be checked for possible injuries. A passenger in the SUV, 10-year old Sander Pullen, was strapped into a child safety seat, but was transported by ambulance to the hospital to be checked for injuries. Rogers was cited by police for Failure to Yield to a vehicle on her right. Damage from the crash amounted to $9,000.