IOWA CITY — U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley sent a letter Tuesday to the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Health Care System with questions about allegations of improperly canceled diagnostic exams. “Iowa veterans rightly expect the VA to properly manage crucial medical appointments, especially with follow-ups, lab or imaging tests,” Ernst said in a prepared statement. “I remain concerned about the level of care that our veterans are receiving.”

The letter follows news reports about the Iowa City VA being audited, along with eight other VA hospitals nationwide, to determine whether radiology requests were processed in a timely manner and canceled appropriately. The U.S. senators also asked hospital staff to detail the process the VA used to follow up with veterans to make sure they are receiving proper imaging care.

“While we are glad to see corrective action by the Iowa City VA, this and similar issues over the past few years continue to raise questions regarding the level of care our veterans in Iowa are receiving,” the letter states.

Did you know, 4-H offers over 30 interest areas for youth to learn, grow and excel in? Interest areas include STEM, Outdoor Adventures, Photography, Food & Nutrition and much, much more!  Cass County Extension will be celebrating all things 4-H during National 4-H Week October 7-13. Now is the time of year for youth to join and participate in 4-H, the youth development program of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Keep an eye out for Cass County 4-H members, volunteers, and supporters showing their 4-H pride during National 4-H Week. Many community clubs will be creating window displays in local businesses to showcase their 4-H pride. Other clubs will be doing special events and activities during the week such as wearing 4-H shirts to school to show their 4-H pride. Some clubs are even doing service projects during this celebration week!

To kick off National 4-H Week, Cass County 4-H will be hosting a Fall Fest on Sunday, October 7 from 4-6 PM at the Cass County Fairgrounds, to celebrate 4-H as well as invite new/potential 4-Hers to join in the fun and see what 4-H is all about.  “We have a variety of fun activities planned which will showcase some of the project areas with hands-on activities, games and fun! We will have youth members providing activities, a photo booth, a giant game of twister, corn hole, and much more. Also a 4-H information booth and a potluck meal will be available,” says Shelby Van Horn, County Youth Coordinator for ISU Cass County Extension and Outreach. “It will be a fun evening for all to come out and celebrate National 4-H Week!”

4-H is a year round program for youth in grades kindergarten through 12. National 4-H Week is a great time to show all the wonderful things 4-H offers to youth,” stated Van Horn. “ In fact, research has shown that young people in 4-H are nearly four times as likely to contribute to their communities and are twice as likely to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs during after school time.” 4-H is active in each of Iowa’s 99 counties and empowers youth to reach their full potential through many different types of experiences experiences including photography, music, woodworking, sewing, archery, livestock and horticulture. Youth have fun while gaining valuable skills in communication and the arts, citizenship and leadership, science, technology, engineering and math, as well as healthy living and personal life management by being involved in 4-H.

4-H grows confidence, creativity, curiosity, courage, character and much more in youth. 4-H allows youth to use the skills that they learn to go out and make a positive difference in their communities. Cass County 4-H has more than 320 4-H youth and 100 volunteers involved in the program. Interested in joining 4-H? Contact the Cass County Extension Office at 712-243-1132 or visit the Cass County Extension website at www.extension.iastate.edu/cass.

(Press release from Cass County Extension)

(Radio Iowa) — As mentioned earlier this week, President Trump is due to speak at a rally in Council Bluffs next Tuesday and is expected to announce the E-P-A will allow year-round sales of gasoline with a higher blend of ethanol. Republican Congressman Steve King says the E-P-A shouldn’t set any blending limits.  “Let’s not say E15. Let’s go beyond that. I don’t want to create another blend wall at E15. There’s no reason we would do that except it’s just got stuck in our vernacular,” King says. “You know how (if) you control the language, you control the policy.”

The federal Clean Air Act requires gasoline be blended with products like ethanol to reduce carbon emissions. King says it’s time to let market forces determine how much ethanol is added. “Then the consumers can choose,” King says. “And with gas prices going up and ethanol prices going down, we need to open this up.”

King met with President Trump in the White House this past Tuesday and this was among the topics they discussed.

Sheriff’s officials in Union County report 28-year old Tyree Jermaine Millsap, of Afton, was arrested at around 8:30-a.m., Thursday, in Afton. Millsap was taken into custody for false imprisonment. He was later released from the Union County Jail on his own recognizance before being transferred to Madison County authorities, where Millsap was to be held on warrants out of their county.

A 37-year old Avoca woman told authorities in Pottawattamie County, Thursday night, that her husband had allegedly assaulted her at their home during a domestic disturbance, but no injuries were reported. The Pott. Couty Sheriff’s Department says following an investigation, 40-year old Leo K. Hanson, of Avoca, was taken into custody for aggravated Domestic Assault. He was being held in without bond in the Pott. County Jail.

And, a Jasper County woman was arrested early this (Friday) morning, in Pott. County, following a traffic stop on her SUV on Interstate 80, near Magnolia Road. 21-year old Bayli Diane Vanmanen, of Sully, was taken into custody at around 1:30-a.m., on an OWI/1st offense charge. Her bond was set at $1,000.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — The11th annual Iowa Mission of Mercy (IMOM) free dental clinic is on the western side of the state this year in Sioux City. Dentist Richard Hettinger says all the patients will be treated in the Tyson Events Center. “We’ve got a hundred dental chairs set up on the surface that normally has ice on it for hockey this time of year,” Hettinger says.

Doctor Hettinger practices in Sioux City and says they will treat patients on a first-come, first-serve basis.”We can do fillings and extractions and cleanings and root canals. We’ll be able to do some partial dentures for people who have missing front teeth.” He says the dentures are something he particularly enjoys making because of the impact they can have. “Those are the kinds of things that allow people to go apply for a better job or maybe get a promotion in the job that they’ve got, according to Hettinger. “When they can have the confidence that they can smile and talk to somebody and not look like a picket fence.”

He says it is important to treat dental issues people have to avoid longer term problems. “Infections that can reside in the mouth can be kind of long-term and chronic. And then flare up into something that can be life-threatening if it happens to invade into the brain or something like that,” Doctor Hettinger says. “And it’s not something that happens every week — but it does happen someplace every month in this country.”

Hettinger says they are able to get a lot done in their makeshift dental office. “We will probably take care of about a thousand people in the next two days. We’ll do about 900-thousand dollars worth of dental care,” Hettinger says. All of the care is donated. He says they’ll have around 900 volunteers who are dentists, dental assistants, hygienists and other doctors to clear the patients to have the dental care.

Hettinger says people already had started lining up Thursday to get in when the doors opened at 6:30 in the morning today (Friday). The free dental clinic continues Saturday from 6:30 a-m until 5 p-m in Sioux City. This is the second time the free clinic has stopped in Sioux City.

WEST UNION, Iowa (AP) — Owners of three eastern Iowa wind energy turbines are fighting a court order to tear them down. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that attorneys asked Judge John Bauercamper on Wednesday to put a hold on his previous order to remove the turbines by Dec. 9th. The turbine owners are appealing a decision by the Fayette County Board of Adjustment to deny a variance that would have legalized their towers. The wind towers built in 2015 drew opposition from housing developers and homeowners in nearby Fairbank who believed they would be detrimental to the town.

The city and housing developers filed a lawsuit claiming the county issued construction permits for the turbines without following zoning ordinances. Bauercamper sided with the city in 2016, and the Iowa Supreme Court upheld that ruling.

Authorities in Central Iowa are investigating two reported incidents of strangers allegedly trying to pick up students outside schools. According to KCCI-TV in Des Moines, Des Moines Public School District parents received an email from school officials, claiming a man tried to convince a middle school student to get into his vehicle near Moulton Elementary School.

The school district said the vehicle was a black Range Rover with tinted windows and described the man as being heavyset with dark skin and a nearly-shaved head. The man appeared to be in his early 30s and had facial hair, according to the school district.

Parents of students in the Prairie City-Monroe Community School District said they received an e-mail about an incident that allegedly happened Wednesday afternoon, outside the Monroe Elementary School. During the incident, a woman and two men in a silver car approached a female student and claimed the girls’ parent asked them to pick her up and take her home from school.

The driver of the car was a woman with red, bushy hair. The men were wearing T-shirts with cut-off sleeves.

BLAIRSTOWN, Iowa (AP) — The state Department of Transportation is looking to expand U.S. Highway 30 from two lanes to four on a stretch in eastern Iowa. KWWL-TV in Waterloo reports that the DOT wants to do the work on a 14-mile stretch of highway near Blairstown and Van Horne in Benton County. Catherine Cutler, a district transportation planner, says the idea has been in the works since the early 2000s.

Culter says it’s the last segment between Cedar Rapids and Ames to become a four-lane highway, and the project is driven by additional capacity needs for passenger cars and semitrailers. Cutler says expanding the road’s capacity will also improve safety by giving drivers better passing opportunities. The first stages of construction could take place next summer.