CRESTON, Iowa — A former Greater Regional Health employee in Creston is charged with stealing medications. KCCI-TV reports 47-year-old Brian Gutmann, of Creston, worked at the Greater Regional Health center as a nurse anesthetist. Court records show Gutmann is accused of stealing Fentanyl, Dilaudid and Morphine.

According to investigators, he pulled the medications in a patient’s name, administered some of them, and kept the rest for himself. Kayla Hoffman, director of marketing communications for Greater Regional Health, said in a statement to KCCI:

“Greater Regional Health is aware of the charges. These are the unfortunate actions of a former employee. As an organization, we cooperated with investigating agencies to ensure patient care and safety were never at risk. The agencies validated no patients were harmed or at risk from the findings of this investigation. Actions moving forward are under the direction of charging agencies.”

(Radio Iowa) – U-S Senator Joni Ernst says it’s been difficult for Iowans trying to recover from this year’s floods and tornadoes to navigate federal disaster programs. “FEMA and SBA did quickly set up recovery centers and I want to thank them for that,” Ernst says, “but business owners were left frustrated by the two agencies’ lack of coordination and incompetence.” Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, says some Iowans initially got bad information about whether they were eligible for Small Business Administration loans.

“In Shelby County, which was hit by tornadoes in the spring, SBA provided outdated and completely wrong information including sending disaster victims to a dead website,” Ernst says. “They didn’t even realize this until my staff members brought this to their attention.” Ernst says she’s heard from small business owners in rural Iowa hit by this year’s severe weather that they got better loans from their local community bank than were offered by the S-B-A.

“Small business owners who lose their livelihoods in a natural disaster have no time to spare,” Ernst said. “It’s incredibly frustrating to repeatedly hear from those seeking SBA assistance that they thought it was a waste of time, so much so that many walked away and didn’t complete applications.” S-B-A Economic Injury Disaster Loans were made available to Iowans hit by historic flooding and devastating tornadoes in counties that have been declared presidential disaster areas. The loans have an interest rate of four percent for businesses.

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Red Oak) speaks at Senate Committee on Small Business hearing on Sept. 18, 2024.

Ernst has accused the S-B-A of misusing its loan authority, picking winners and losers with investments in firms working with artificial intelligence or “green” companies focused on environmental projects. She’s also critical of the agency’s TOTAL loan portfolio. “SBA’s lending in rural areas is abysmal, at just around 15% in the agency’s two main programs,” Ernst says.

Nearly 18 percent of U-S residents live in rural areas. Ernst suggests if S-B-A lending were in line with the population, another one-point-three BILLION dollars worth of loans would be made to rural entrepreneurs.

The Griswold Football Team will face a tough test on Friday when the Fremont Mills Knights visit the Tigers. Despite coming off a 20-point loss to the Sidney Cowboys last week, the game was closer than the final score implied. The Tigers put up a season-high 24 points and were only down by six points heading into the fourth quarter. Head Coach Seth Lembke appreciated his team’s intensity to start the ballgame.

Senior Wyatt Peterson has been a marque player for the Tigers’ defense this season. Peterson plays with a physicality that tows the line and more times than not it helps his team. He currently leads the Corner conference with 20 solo tackles and ranks second in total tackles with 29.  Lembke says he doesn’t need much guidance to be the leader of the defense.

Offensively, the Tigers are led by senior quarterback Bode Wyman and the senior receiver trio of Auden Wilson, Holden Jensen, and Connor Bowers. Wyman is second in the conference in completions and third in passing yards. As far as receivers, Wilson, Jensen, and Bowers all rank in the top ten in receptions and are in the top 12 in receiving yards. Lembke knows and appreciates the importance of having senior leaders that are capable of running the offense.

Fremont Mills will be a tough opponent for the Tigers as they look to pick up their first win of the season. Knights’ quarterback Sawyer Forney is second in the conference in both passing yards and passing touchdowns. Fremont Mills also has two rushers with over 220 yards in Jonathan Epkai and JW Linkenhoker. Lembke says the key for the Tigers will be to play responsible football and limit their explosive plays.

Kickoff in Griswold will be at 7 pm.

(Radio Iowa) – Attempts to keep Sioux City’s warming shelter open have failed and the shelter will close on October 1st.
Shelter board treasurer, Joe Tidewell, says they are making the announcement now to give other local agencies time to prepare to deal with the homeless. “The shelter during the wintertime houses on the average of about one hundred men, women and children per night. And last year, in the most severe Blizzard, we had 151 people here in the shelter. And those people are going to now need to find another place,” Tidewell says.

He says the shelter has a half million dollar shortfall in funding for this year, and says the Siouxland Community in general has not supported the shelter.  “It’s not just 500-thousand for this year. What we have made a decision is, if the if the shelter is truly going to be able to be part of the fabric of serving the poor and homeless in the community, we need five year commitments for the funding,” he says. “We’re very disappointed, because both the city and the county and area churches, not all of them, but some area churches support us. ”

Tidewell says the shelter has been hurt by misinformation spread in the community — including the idea that the shelter is a magnet for homeless from other areas of the Tri-state regions. “Approximately 80 percent of the people were born or raised here in Siouxland. So when we close or a shelter closes, where are they going to go?,” Tidewell asks. :They’re not going to go to some other city. They’re not going to just disappear. They’re going to stay where the remnants of their family might be, or the people that they went to school with.”

City leaders say they have spent four million dollars this year trying to address a complicated issue.