(Radio Iowa) – Keokuk’s hospital will close October 1st. Quincy, Illinois-based Blessing Health Systems bought the hospital in March of last year from UnityPoint Health. The Keokuk hospital needs millions of dollars in repairs and it averages just two inpatients per day and less than one emergency visit per hour.

The hospital’s 147 employees will continue to be paid until November 4th, some working on site and others on administrative leave. They’ll be offered jobs in other Blessing Health facilities.

The hospital has 49 in-patient beds and has been operating a round the clock emergency room. Blessing Health plans to put the building up for sale.

(Radio Iowa) – The grounds of the Farm Progress Show near Boone are quiet today (Friday) after three days of demonstrations, machinery displays and everything about agriculture. The 2020 show was canceled by the pandemic making it the first time in four years that the exhibitors and visitors came to Boone Show spokesperson, Don Tormey, who says attendance numbers appeared to be good.

The show rotates between Boone and Dekalb, Illinois every other year. Tormey says people turn out in both places.

Tormey says they are already planning the next Farm Progress Show in Decatur next year and the show returns to Iowa again in 2024.

(Radio Iowa) – Police are investigating the theft of vehicles and thousands of dollars worth of pork from the J-B-S plant in Ottumwa.  Lieutenant Jason Bell says the Ottumwa Police Department received a call around 7:00 Thursday morning regarding three semi-trailers full of pork products that were stolen from the JBS plant. Bell believes a semi was also taken from the plant and used to carry off the three trailers. Authorities later found the missing trailers but the pork inside was removed.

The estimated value of the pilfered pork is $100,000. Officials are encouraging anyone with information pertaining to the case to contact the police department.

(Radio Iowa) – The first set of residents with profound intellectual disabilities moved out of the state-run Glenwood Resource Center last week. The facility, where over 150 adults were living this spring, is scheduled to close in 2024. Iowa Health and Human Services director Kelly Garcia says 27 community providers have stepped forward as options for Glenwood residents.

Providers have been meeting on the Glenwood campus with the legal guardians for residents to discuss their options for care elsewhere. The state will host another “provider fair” at the state-run Woodward Resource Center this fall.

Garcia says decisions need to be made, to ensure residents get the care and services they need when they leave the facility. Glenwood’s closure follows a federal investigation of allegations that residents were being mistreated and were not getting adequate medical care. The Department of Justice concluded that with the right support services, nearly all residents could live in community-based settings. Garcia says very few Glenwood residents will be transferred to nursing homes.

Garcia is now the director of an expanded agency, renamed the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. Plans are underway to fold the Department on Aging into the agency. And the state is hiring a Califoria company to join two other private firms managing Iowa Medicaid, which Garcia says now provides health care services for one-third of the state’s residents.

Garcia made her comments during an interview with Radio Iowa.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Post Office Customer Service Supervisor Mark McNees has issued a warning about a package tracking text scam that has hit multiple text users. It’s called “Smishing.” You are likely to receive an unsolicited text message with an unfamiliar or strange web link that indicates a USPS delivery requires a response from you. If you have never signed-up for a USPS tracking request for a specific package, McNees says “Don’t click that link!”

This type of text message is a scam called “Smishing”, which is a form of phishing that is intended to get you to provide your personal or financial information. The scammers often attempt to disguise themselves as a government agency, bank or other company, to lend legitimacy to their claims. The criminals want to receive personally identifiable information (PFI) about the victim (Message recipient), such as: account user names and passwords; Social Security Number; Date of birth; PIN number (personal identification number); or other sensitive information. That information is then used to carry out other crimes, such as financial fraud. 

The Postal Service offers tools to track specific packages, but customers are required to either register online, or initiate a text message, and provide a tracking number. USPS will NOT send customers at text message or e-mail without a customer first requesting the service with a tracking number, and the message WILL NOT contain a link. If you did not initiate the tracking request for a specific package directly from USPS, and it contains a link, don’t click on the link!

For more information about these services and other products, please visit USPS Text Tracking FAQS at https://www.usps.com/text-tracking/welcome.htm.    To protect yourself from consumer frauds, visit https://www.uspis.gov/tips-prevention/mail-fraud

And, to report USPS related SMISHING, e-mail spam@usps.gov.  Without clicking on the web link you received, copy the body of the suspicious text message and paste into a new email. Provide your name in the email, and attach a screenshot of the text message showing the phone number of the sender and the date sent. Include any relevant details in your email, such as if you clicked on the link, of you lost money, if you provided any personal information, or if you experienced any impacts to your credit or person. The Postal Service will contact you if more information is needed.

Complains about Non-USPS related smishing can be sent to any of the following law enforcement partners of the U.S Postal Inspection Service:

The Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov/complaint

The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, at https://www.ic3.gov/complaint

Friday, September 2, 2022 at Guthrie Center

Breeding Gilts:  Champion – Presley Buttler, Reserve – Ty Ganzer

Market Gilts:  Champion – Tessa Slaybaugh, Reseve:  Rylee Robson

Market Barrow:  Champion – Presley Buttler, Reserve – Blake Hodges

Overall Market Hog:  Champion – Tessa Slaybaugh, Reserve – Presley Buttler

Pen of 3:  Champion – Reagan Carney, Reserve:  Ryan Cogil

Senior Showmanship Champion:  Chase Slaybaugh

Intermediate Showmanship Champion:  Rylee Robson

Junior Showmanship Champion:  Blake Ganzer

Master Showmanship Champion:  Rylee Robson

Thousands of fans are expected to head to Ames for the first Iowa State home football game Saturday. I-S-U Police Chief Michael Newton says a new pedestrian bridge on the east side of Jack Trice Stadium should help with all the extra traffic.

Officers have had to stop cars to let pedestrians cross the street safely, and now they can just walk across the bridge.

There is a new R-V parking lot that will feed into the bridge too. Newton says there are not a lot of changes for those who attend the game.

Newton reminds everyone to park legally for the game.

Newton says to give yourself extra time to get to your parking area, as there will be lots of traffic for the game. The Cyclones face Southeast Missouri State at 1 p-m.

(Radio Iowa) – Retail giant Walmart bought a minority share in a Nebraska beef packing plant on Wednesday, what an Iowa cattleman says is a “seismic shift” in the beef processing industry.

Chad Tentinger, principal developer of Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Company, says the move is historic — and it was inevitable. “We’ve already seen it in other avenues, in pork and we’ve seen it in chicken, I think beef is just the next natural progression of that,” Tentinger says. “It also is going to be another playing field. I think anytime you can bring the farmer’s product closer to the end user — to retail — is a good thing long-term.” 

Cattlemen’s Heritage is planning to build a $325 million beef packing plant in southwest Iowa’s Mills County. Tentinger says Walmart’s move this week is what he sees for the future, which he says represents a “massive, fundamental change” to the beef industry. “It started out as stockyards and stockyards sold to packing plants, and then the stockyards went away and then farmers sold directly to the packing plant. Packing plants got consolidated into what we call the Big Four today and for the first time in a very long time, now there’s other industry that’s getting into this process,” Tentinger says. “So to have retailers enter the processing business is a drastic shift than what we’ve ever seen before.”

Tentinger sees Walmart’s investment in the North Platte property as the first step by retail into beef production, which he predicts will be good for the consumer and good for the cattle producer. “Retailers, at the end of the day, they want to know where their meat’s coming from. They want to know exactly, down to what farm it came off of, potentially, where it came from, animal health, wellbeing, all these things are becoming more and more important to the consumer,” Tentinger says. “And when you have that, it automatically draws off smaller producer farms and smaller family farms.”

It may only be a matter of time, he says, before Iowa-based grocery chains like Hy-Vee or Fareway make a similar move to Walmart by investing in localized meat processing. “I think every retailer nationwide today is taking note of this and looking at the opportunities going forward in the processing business, for sure,” he says.

Tentinger is founder and owner of TenCorp, a cattle industry construction firm with offices in Des Moines and Marcus. The planned beef plant in Mills County is on target to begin construction late this fall, Tentinger says, with the opening scheduled for late 2024. It will employ up to 750 workers and at capacity, will be able to process up to 1,500 head of cattle per day.

(Radio Iowa) – A former northeast Iowa policeman has been arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor. According to the Iowa Department of Public Safety, a minor told local law enforcement in early March that Clarksville police officer Mike Tobin had shown them sexually explicit photos and videos, including nude images of minors. The material was evidence in a pending criminal case.

Tobin was fired the next day, but in May, KWWL reported that the Clarksville City Council voted to rescind Tobin’s firing and accepted his resignation instead. Tobin was arrested today (Thursday), and charged with three felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and eight aggravated misdemeanors related to sexual exploitation of a minor.

Council Bluffs, Iowa – Mark Shoemaker, Executive Director of Pottawattamie County Conservation, was recently appointed President of the Council Bluffs Convention & Visitors Bureau (CBCVB) Board of Directors. Shoemaker, who’s been a Pottawattamie County employee since 1993, has served as a CBCVB Board Member since July 2016. Following a brief absence from the board, he’s been the Vice President since August 2020. “This is a very exciting opportunity,” said Shoemaker. “The CBCVB has an outstanding staff and to be able to continue to work with them in this capacity is truly an honor.”

The mission of the Council Bluffs Convention & Visitors Bureau is to serve as a catalyst to grow Pottawattamie County’s visitor economy through collaborative sales and marketing, destination advocacy, and sustainable placemaking activities in order to enhance the region’s quality of life. Shoemaker sees obvious cross-over with his work for Pottawattamie County Conservation.

“When you talk about highlighting the great things Council Bluffs and Pottawattamie County have to offer, some of that appeal starts with our natural landscape and what we’re able to do with Conservation,” he said. “There are so many things in place to allow us to be leaders in tourism in the state of Iowa and across the Midwest.”

Mark Shoemaker

As CBCVB Board President, Shoemaker will now chair monthly board meetings and provide direction and assistance to staff. Mark Eckman, Executive Director for CBCVB, says Shoemaker displays passion and offers a wealth of experience, having led Pottawattamie Conservation since 1997. “As a board member, Mark has helped lead the CBCVB as it has achieved its most significant accomplishments,” said Eckman. “These include the purchase of its office building, being designated as an Iowa Welcome Center, and receiving seven Iowa Tourism Awards during the past six years”

Shoemaker’s appointment came during the CBCVB Board of Directors meeting Thursday, August 25th. He says his primary goal is to keep things moving in a positive direction. “I just want to see us continue to grow and compete with CVB’s across the state,” said Shoemaker. “The board and staff are already making that a reality but continuing to market Council Bluffs by attracting high quality and meaningful events to the area is important.”

For more information on the Council Bluffs Convention & Visitors Bureau visit UNleashCB.com. To learn more about Pottawattamie County Conservation visit PottConservation.com