DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds isn’t commenting on accusations made against state officials in a federal lawsuit involving sexual arousal experiments performed on residents at the Glenwood Resource Center, a state care center for people with intellectual disabilities. Two doctors and other former employees of the facility sued a state agency and several officials Monday alleging conspiracy to silence complaints about sexual arousal research conducted by Jerry Rea. Rea is the former superintendent of the center. Reynolds says she can’t comment on the lawsuit. She wouldn’t answer questions about when she learned of experimentation on patients and how much of Rea’s background was checked before he was hired.

Atlantic, IA — Cass County Health System has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in mammography as the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology (ACR). Mammography is a specific type of imaging test that uses a low-dose X-ray system to examine breasts. A mammography exam, called a mammogram, is used to aid in the early detection and diagnosis of breast diseases in women. The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Parameters and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field.

CCHS Mammography Staff picture left to right: Jessica Sandbothe, Carrie Schmitt, Mindi Macha, Sarah Olsen, Stephanie Drogo, and Stephanie Drees. (Photo submitted)

Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report that can be used for continuous practice improvement. The ACR, founded in 1924, is a professional medical society dedicated to serving patients and society by empowering radiology professionals to advance the practice, science and professions of radiological care.

The College serves more than 37,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services. ###

MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) – City officials plan to ask residents to enroll in a program to monitor vapor contamination from a carcinogenic chemical that’s spread from a factory site in the eastern Iowa city of Maquoketa. The Telegraph Herald reported that the contamination stems from the operations of Clinton Machine Co., which built small engines in Maquoketa from 1950 into the 1990s. The factory used trichloroethene, commonly known as TCE, as a degreasing agent. Federal authorities have since determined that TCE is carcinogenic. Shelly Nellesen with the Iowa Natural Resources Department says the TCE in groundwater also creates the potential for indoor contamination.

If you notice an unusual number of marked and unmarked law enforcement vehicles in Atlantic this week, it’s because about two dozen people employed by nearly a dozen different agencies from across Iowa and the Midwest, are in town taking part in a Crime Scene Processing class held at the Atlantic Fire Station.

The class is presented by Forensic Education, based in Londonderry, NH. They also provide classes in Social Media, Right-to-Know, Interviews and Interrogations, and Credit Card Fraud, depending on the need of a law enforcement agency or agencies.

The three-day course in Atlantic began Tuesday, and concludes Thursday. The class is designed to teach law enforcement officers how to handle any crime scene, including a vehicle break-in, burglary, or a suspicious death.

Crime Scene Process pictures from Forensic Education’s website.

Topics covered include:

• Crime Scene Documentation and Photography
• Fingerprinting for All Surfaces
• Footwear, Tire and Tool Marks
• Trace Evidence – Light Sources, DNA Evidence, Blood Evidence

Attendees are offered hands-on training through practice exercises, with all instructional materials provided. The next classes on the topic will be presented Feb. 25th through the 27th, at the Maricopa Police Department, in Arizona, and April 21-23 in Pratt, Kansas.

(Radio Iowa) — Morningside College President John Reynders has announced he’ll retire in the summer of 2021 — after a record 22 years at the helm of the Sioux City school. Reynders and his wife will move to Florida. “We love Sioux City. I’ve never lived anywhere, nor has Robin, that we have felt is more home than Sioux City, Iowa,” Reynders says. “…But I’ve got to give the next president space.” Reynders just led a 70-million dollar fundraising campaign for the school and is launching a new effort to raise even more over the next seven to 10 years. “So the commitment for the next president isn’t just a year or two — it’s a seven-to-ten year commitment. My goodness, I wish I was 45 because I’d want this challenge in the worst way,” Reynders said, laughing, “but I’m not.”

When Reynders arrived in Sioux City in 1999, Morningside facilities were outdated, enrollment was dropping and the college had been operating in the red. With 15 months left in the job, Reynders plans to keep raising money for the college. “There’s the last piece to this remarkable transformation of the physical space of the campus, which involves creating an entrance off of Morningside Avenue…that I would love to see happen,” he says.

About two-thousand full-time students are enrolled at Morningside today. Its board of directors will immediately begin searching for a new president and the board hopes to announce Reynders’ successor early next year. Morningside College was founded in 1894 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has ruled incompetent for trial a woman accused of hate crimes in the Des Moines area, including intentionally running over a girl she thought was Mexican. Nicole Poole is charged with assault in violation of individual rights for an incident at a convenience store and with attempted murder. Police have said she intentionally ran over two children with her sport utility vehicle. Both children survived. The judge ruled Tuesday after hearing evidence and arguments on the matter that Poole is suffering from a mental disorder. She ordered state treatment for Poole so she can be restored to competency.

Police in Creston report 35-year old Michael J. Davis, of Creston, was arrested Tuesday morning, on a Buchanan County, Mo., warrant for Non-Support/Neglect of a Child. Davis was being held in the Union County Jail, while awaiting extradition to Missouri.