Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is co-sponsoring a bill designed to help keep rural hospitals open. Aaron Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, says his group backs the legislation which would create a new “rural emergency hospital” classification under Medicare.

“Rural hospitals are so important to us because they provide trauma services and emergency room services that you can’t replicate,” Lehman says. “We need to do whatever we can to help them make ends meet. By making some simple changes to Medicare, we think that’s a great way to start.”

Lehman says the bill takes on added importance because farming is one of the most lethal occupations. “We know there are risks out there in rural Iowa and rural America and farmers are doing their best to change that,” he says, “but we know there’s a long ways to go and we need to be able to access those trauma services.” A study finds 60-percent of trauma deaths in the U-S occur in rural areas where only 15-percent of the population lives.

Lehman says that’s another big reason to pass the legislation. “If you look at the statistics, the number of injuries due to trauma are significantly higher in rural America,” Lehman says. “It’s very important to our folks out there in rural Iowa and across rural America.”

Under Medicare, many rural hospitals are designated as “critical access hospitals,” meaning, they’re required to maintain a certain amount of inpatient beds as well as an emergency room. However, they’re struggling to attract enough inpatients to keep that status.

(Radio Iowa)

Two people were arrested early this week on separate charges, in Glenwood. The Glenwood P-D says 38-year old Jacquelyn Pratt, of Glenwood, was arrested Monday on a warrant for Possession of a Controlled Substance. Her bond was set at $2,000. And, on Tuesday, 27-year old Jonathan Pleake, of Glenwood, was arrested on a Mills County warrant for Contempt of Court. His bond was set at $1,000.

Glenwood Police said also, that the Glenwood Water Department reported an incident of Theft, Monday. No other information was released.

DETROIT (AP) – Graco Children’s Products is recalling more than 25,000 car seats because the harness webbing can break in a crash and may not keep children restrained. The recall affects certain My Ride 65 convertible seats made on July 22, 2014 with a code of 2014/06 on a tag that’s on the webbing.

Documents posted Wednesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration say that agency tests discovered the webbing strength problem. Graco traced the problem to a single batch of webbing. Graco says in documents that it will notify owners and dealers will provide a replacement harness free of charge. The recall is expected to start on July 17.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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You might want to plan an alternate route of travel this morning if you’re planning on using I-80 westbound just south of the Mall of the Bluffs. The Iowa DOT reports a multi-vehicle crash has occurred near Madison Avenue, involving a semi. A detour is in place. The accident happened at around 7:30-a.m.

IA DOT/CB traffic cam

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey says farmers have been able to catch up quite a bit in their planting with some days of dry weather. But he says some of the corn that’s already emerged may have been in too much water to make it. “They’ll be a little bit of replant where some water has been standing. Most of the rest of the crop it sounds like is up and going,” Northey says. “There’s still some beans to be planted yet….and it is wet enough across Iowa it’s going to take a little while in some places to be able to get back in the field.”

It’s preferred to get the corn all planted by mid-May to avoid any loss in yield. While 92 percent of the corn was planted by the start of this week, Northey says there’s still plenty to be concerned about. “Even just eight percent of the corn means we have a million acres of corn yet to plant — and that’s not in here by the end of May — so we’ll see,” Northey says. “That starts to lose a little yield. Certainly some replants in some bottoms that’ll need to happen, that’ll probably be a little lower yield expectations for producers as well.”

Northey says farmers were busy at the various times when the weather was dry. He says there was one in April, one in early May and then the middle of May, so the planting times have been spread out and it is kind of an experiment in different planting times.

Northey says he’s gotten all his corn planted, but like other farmers, he needs some heat to get it growing. “We do need some warm weather to get it up and going. Most of it has emerged across the state, but it’s still coming yet,” Northey says.

He farms near Spirit Lake and says he still has some beans to get planted.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Creston say two people were arrested Tuesday afternoon for Violating Protection Orders. 34-year old Erin Marie Wallace, and 35-year old Kevin Lee Cottrell, both of Creston, were arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on Union County warrants for Violating the Protective Order. Wallace was being held in the Ringgold County Jail, and Cottrell was being held in the Union County Jail, both while awaiting an appearance before the magistrate.

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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A new survey of rural bankers in Iowa and several other Midwest states suggests the ag economy is improving. Creighton University’s “Rural Mainstreet Index” hit a two-year high in May. Economist Ernie Goss conducts the monthly survey and says lender confidence levels on the rural economy for May inched into positive territory for the first time since August 2015. Farm land prices and ag equipment sales were still negative, but they moved in a positive direction.

“It was still not a great report, but we’re talking about many months, in this case 20 straight months, of the overall index being below growth neutral. Moving above growth neutral was certainly good news,” Goss said.

Survey participants said, over the next five years, rising regulatory costs will be their top challenge. The number of rural bankers reporting farm foreclosures was the biggest risk doubled to one in ten, but Goss says it would take even lower commodity prices for that to be a major concern.

“At this point in time, agricultural commodity prices have at least stabilized. They’re not growing, but what we need to see of course is a good 20-to-25 percent increase in grain prices and livestock prices,” Goss said.

Nearly 90 percent of bankers said low commodity prices were the biggest threat to the rural economy, slightly less than last year. Participants surveyed were located in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

(Radio Iowa)

(Clarifies service is May 27th)

Officials with the Twigg Funeral Home in Guthrie Center have announced Memorial Services will be held this Saturday, May 27th, for two teens who died in a May 15^th arson fire at their home. Services for 16-year old Shakiah Marie Cockerham and 12-year old Melanie “Paige” Exline, of Guthrie Center, will take place in the Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center High School Auditorium in Guthrie Center, beginning 10:30-a.m. Saturday. No visitation is planned.

Shakiah and Paige’s uncle, 54 year old William Long, III suffered severe burns to his upper body and was flown to an Omaha hospital for treatments. Their grandmother, 74 year old Shirley Exline, suffered minor injuries.

The Iowa State Fire Marshal’s Office concluded that the house fire was a result of Arson. No arrests have been made in connection with the ongoing investigation.