(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) – 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