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The annual report from the state Ombudsman shows the office received almost 45-hundred complaints in 2012, around the same amount as 2011. Ombudsman, Ruth Cooperider, found that just over three-thousand of the complaints fell under the jurisdiction of her office.
She says “Probably about a third of those would dealing with matters concerning the correctional system, whether it’s prisons or jails or community-based facilities. Because we do have jurisdiction to investigate complaints regarding those facilities, so we do get contacts from offenders or inmates.”

Second on the list for common complaints are human services concerns. “The wide range of issues dealing with child support, public assistance programs, Medicaid, just anything dealing with human services programs,” Cooperider says. Cooperider says complaints about local and county governments rounds out the top three when it comes to the type of complaints they receive. About half of the complaints don’t move ahead to be investigated. “It’s not necessarily that we don’t think they have merit, but under our statute we do have the ability to refer people maybe to an existing process,” Cooperider says. “For instance, if an inmate has a grieveable issue and they have not filed a grievance on that issue, we typically will refer them to that grievance process to try and seek a remedy there first. And if they are still not satisfied, they can come back to us.”

Cooperider says her annual report includes eight steps for people to resolve their own complaints before calling her office. She says that’s sometimes called “coaching” in the ombudsman community, where they give tips and information on where to go and how to present the issue. “And I think in some ways we are doing a services to them in how to negotiate government, not only on that issue, but in the future,” according to Cooperider.

You can see the Ombudsman’s 2012 Annual Report online at: www.legis.iowa.gov/Ombudsman. You can call the Ombudsman’s office with a compliant at:1-888-426-6283.

(Radio Iowa)

The Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic says the facility’s west entrance and parking lot (along 10^th Street) will be closing Monday, April 8th, as demolition begins on the old patient wings.  Patients and visitors are asked to use the north atrium or east parking lots and entrances. CCMH CEO Pat Markham says “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but it is important we take every precaution to keep our patients, visitors and staff safe during the demolition.” The area is expected to be closed for about four to six weeks.

(8-a.m. News)

Officials with Prudential Financial report a Red Oak eighth-grader will be recognized this (Friday) afternoon, as one of Iowa’s top two youth volunteers for 2013. Samantha Dilocker of Red Oak, Iowa, a student at the Red Oak Middle School, will be presented with an engraved silver medallion, as part of the “Prudential Spirit of Community Awards” program.

Samantha is being honored for initiating an annual auction of baked goods and crafts at her local Elks Lodge that has raised more than $14,000 over the past six years for a local food pantry, a scholarship fund, a community toy drive and a child with cancer.

As a State Honoree, Samantha also will receive $1,000 and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where she will join other State Honorees from across the country for several days of national recognition events. During the trip, 10 of the 102 State Honorees will be named America’s top youth volunteers for 2013.

She will receive her silver medallion during an awards presentation in the Red Oak Middle School’s 3^rd floor auditorium, beginning at around 2:55-p.m. The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), represent the United States’ largest youth recognition program based exclusively on volunteer community service.

Two State Honorees-one middle and one high school student-plus a select number of Distinguished Finalists from each state and the District of Columbia were selected based on criteria such as personal initiative, effort, impact and personal growth. For more information on Samantha and her volunteering, click here: http://bit.ly/Xf5sRp

One person was injured when a motorcycle and car collided on Atlantic’s west side, Thursday afternoon. According to dispatch reports, the accident at 2nd Street and Sunnyside lane (near the Wastewater Treatment Plant), happened at around 1:45-p.m.  The driver of the motorcycle was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital with what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries. He was said to be conscious and talking when authorities arrived on the scene.

No other details are immediately available. The Iowa State Patrol assisted at the scene with the accident investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Officials say nearly 7 percent of Iowa is no longer in drought.    The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says in a report issued Thursday that conditions have returned to normal in a swath of southeast Iowa. The U.S. Drought Monitor map from the National Drought Mitigation Center shows the drought conditions are worse to the northwest, culminating in extreme drought in portions of northwest Iowa.

The drought center says that a year ago nearly 61 percent of Iowa had no drought.  March rain in Iowa was a drop or two higher than the historical normal of 2.15 inches. It was the fourth consecutive month for higher-than-normal rainfall in the state.

Police in Red Oak are investigating three incidents of theft which were reported to authorities Thursday afternoon. At around 2:15-p.m., officers were notified of a burglary which occurred at a residence in the 700 block of East Reed Street. On the scene, the found pry marks and about $150 damage to the back door of the residence. Several items were missing from inside the home, and while the list was still being compiled late Thursday evening, the loss was estimated to be around $2,300.

At around 4:50-p.m. Thursday, Red Oak Police received a report from a woman who lives on East Nuckols Street, that someone had entered her vehicle and stolen a set of keys, along with a picture book. The items were valued at $15.

About 20-minutes later, police officers in Red Oak received a report about prescription narcotics having been stolen from another vehicle on East Nuckols Street. No damage was done to the vehicle in the process. All three incidents remain under investigation, and anyone with information about the crimes is asked to contact the Red Oak Police Department, or Crimestoppers, at 1-800-432-1001.

The full details are out about the governor’s “Healthy Iowa Plan” to cover nearly 90-thousand low-income Iowans who have a job, but still live just below the poverty line. Representative Walt Rogers, a Republican from Cedar Falls, says the bill that’s been drafted calls for giving those Iowans access to a “medical home” that’s nearby.  “There may be some rural areas that we run into some issues,” Rogers says. “But our goal is to go within 30 minutes/30 miles of everybody.” The current state program that provides health care coverage to nearly 70-thousand low-income Iowans forces them to go to hospitals in Des Moines or Iowa City for treatment. The governor’s new plan would require participants to make a 10-dollar a month co-payment.

“There’s an element in there — it’s called ‘My Reward Plan,’ so every person has kind of their own plan that they take charge of,” Rogers says, “and they can do things to reduce their own premiums, to reduce their own co-pays, like smoking cessation things.” A combination of property taxes collected at the county level and 23 million dollars in state tax dollars would be used to finance the new “Healthy Iowa Plan.” Rogers has been designated as the lead Republican to deal with this issue.

This is not necessarily the plan that’s going to pass out of the House,” Rogers says. “What we want to do is look at it. We want to look at any ideas that Democrats have.” This “Healthy Iowa Plan” is Republican Governor Terry Branstad’s alternative to what Democrats have proposed — to expand Medicaid to cover as many as 150-thousand more Iowans. The top Democrat in the Senate accuses the governor of “dereliction of duty” for just now getting details of his plan released at the end of week 12 of the 2013 legislative session.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

After four decades of history, a highly-popular annual air show in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area is being cancelled due to federal budget cuts. There will be no “Defenders of Freedom” Air Show at Offutt Air Force Base this year, in fact, there will be no air shows there until further notice. Colonel John Rauch, the 55th Wing Commander, says cancelling this much-loved event wasn’t an easy call but it may be revived, some year.  “We hope to be able to do it in the future if the fiscal situation lets us do it,” Colonel Rauch says. “It’s our apology that we can’t open up the base like we’d like to because we do know that the community provides a lot of support and a lot of welcome to the military members here.”

Rauch says the air show cost about 200-thousand dollars to put on last year. Due to the across-the-board federal budget cuts, known as sequestration, that money needs to go elsewhere. “There is a lot of things that go towards readiness,” Rauch says. “Just maintaining the base and that sort of thing the money will be used for rather than things that we would do on the weekend.” The air show and base open house were originally scheduled for late August.

The event has drawn tens of thousands of spectators every summer since 1975.

(Radio Iowa)