A woman who suffered from an apparent medical condition lost control of the vehicle she was driving, causing an accident Wednesday afternoon about six-miles north of Villisca, in Montgomery County. Sheriff’s officials say 43-year old Nichole King, of Villisca, was traveling north on Highway 71 at around 4:20-p.m., when the 2012 Nissan Titan truck she was driving went off the road to the west and hit a highway road sign.

The pickup continued thru the intersection of 185th Street into the Sciola Cemetery, where it hit a couple of tombstones before striking the remains of the Sciola Church foundation. The truck came to rest with the driver’s side front tire hanging over the opening of the foundation.

Officials say King opened her door and fell 10-feet into the basement floor of the former church. King was treated at the scene by Villisca Fire and Rescue personnel before being transported to the Montgomery County Hospital for further treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The truck, registered to Jeffrey King, sustained $7,500 damage. No citations were issued. The accident remains under investigation.

Governor Terry Branstad says the state will look to other facilities to provide care if his proposal to close the state-run Mental Health Institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant moves forward. The governor’s budget sent to legislators does not include any money to keep the institutions open past June 30.  “We had two mental health centers that were not accredited, we have no psychiatrist in Mt. Pleasant, the one in Clarinda is going to retire. So, we wanted to provide better services, and also we are going to work with the University of Iowa Hospitals. The governor says they want to use facilities that have the proper staffing to help patients.

“We think we can provide better services to people with mental health issues with making this transition and not continuing those facilities where they’re not accredited and where we don’t have psychiatrists,” according to Branstad. The idea is not favored by everyone, including Representative Dave Heaton, a Republican from Mount Pleasant. Heaton is chairman of the subcommittee that writes the budget for the Iowa Department of Human Services, the agency in charge of the Mental Health Institutes, and he’s arranged for the agency’s director to go to Mount Pleasant Saturday (January 24th) to explain the proposed closure to the community.

Five years ago a consulting firm hired by then-Governor Chet Culver recommended that the Mental Health Institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant close, but Heaton and others worked to keep the institutions open. The Mental Health Institutes are routinely the treatment option of last resort for acute care of mentally ill patients. The governor’s budget indicates the state will save 15-and-a-half million dollars by closing the two facilities. The M-H-I at Clarinda opened in 1888 while the Mount Pleasant facility opened the year the Civil War broke out, in 1861.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Education says school districts seeking permission to start classes earlier in the summer must prove that academic achievement is at risk. The Des Moines Register reported Wednesday the department sent the new guidelines to school districts. The guidelines say districts must show students would be affected in a “negative and significant manner” if classes start during the week of Sept. 1. Districts must provide research backing up the claim.

Last month, department Director Brad Buck told districts the state would stop granting automatic waivers to school districts seeking to start classes earlier in the summer. State law requires districts to start school no earlier than the calendar week including Sept. 1 but in the past, most have obtained waivers allowing them to begin classes earlier.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lawmakers in the Republican-majority Iowa House have granted committee-level approval to a small funding increase for schools, but leaders in the Democratic-controlled Senate say they want to provide more dollars. The House education committee Wednesday approved an increase in schools funding for the upcoming academic year. The legislation is based on Gov. Terry Branstad’s budget proposal. It would provide an increase of about $35 million in general support for K-12 public schools.

In all, Branstad’s budget provides about $100 million in new schools funding, much of that earmarked for specific programs. Rep. Ron Jorgensen, a Sioux City Republican who chairs the House education committee, said this was what the state could afford.

But Sen. Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames who chairs the Senate education committee, called the proposal “inadequate.”