(Radio Iowa) — A consultant with experience at facilities that care for patients with severe intellectual disabilities is now working at the Glenwood Resource Center — and Governor Kim Reynolds says new hiring procedures already have been put in place for future staff. The Department of Justice is investigating allegations of poor patient care. Reynolds visited the center this week and met with current staff as well as some of the residents. “It was nice to be on site,” Reynolds says. “It was really an opportunity for me to thank the workers there and let them know that…we are making changes. We are going to get it right.”

Reynolds says some of the state’s most vulnerable Iowans are patients at the center. “I got to speak with some of the residents there. We got to speak with some of the employees, some of the nurses there and just really get a sense of what they are doing and providing,” Reynolds says, “but honestly, most importantly I wanted them to hear it from me that I appreciate what they’re doing and it’s not gone unnoticed and we’re going to listen and we’re going to get things turned around.”

Federal investigators plan to be at the Glenwood Resource Center in February and they’ve asked to see the medical charts for all patients who’ve died in the past year. Reynolds says conditions at the facility were “not acceptable” and changes are being made — like bringing in University of Iowa doctors on three different occasions to evaluate the patients. “The DOJ is collecting their information. They’ll report back, but in the interim they’ve been very, I think, impressed with what we’ve already done to start to address the concerns that were raised, so we’re going to keep doing that and we’re going to keep changing policies and procedures and get things turned around and back on track.”

The Department of Justice is also investigating allegations the superintendent at Glenwood Resource Center had been doing human experiments on patients. Reynolds place the superintendent on paid leave in November, then fired him on December 30th.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s unemployment rate increased slightly to 2.7% in December. Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday the unemployment rate rose as both the number of people with and without jobs increased in the state. The December rate was up from a 2.6% in November and 2.4% a year ago. Iowa’s unemployment rate tied with Alabama for the nation’s ninth-lowest. The national unemployment rate in December was 3.5%.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Senate is advancing two bills that would allow Iowans to have loaded firearms on work and school property. One measure would force businesses to allow employees to keep guns locked in their car at work. The other would allow people dropping off kids to have a gun on them while in a school parking lot or driveway. Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, says current policies make it hard for Iowans to keep their guns with them.  “I think these are a very good common sense recognition that Iowans and Americans in general have a right to keep and bear arms,” Schultz says, “and keep and bear arms during their daily routine throughout the day.”

Brad Hartkopf is a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, which opposes the measure about keeping guns at work in the car. Hartkopf says, “This legislation infringes upon an employer’s private property rights by saying that they can’t have a policy prohibiting weapons in their parking lots or on their property.” Representatives from school and religious groups also say these bills infringe on private property rights and pose safety risks. Both proposals have support from some members of both political parties.

(Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Two former officers at a northwest Iowa agriculture cooperative have pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges. The Sioux City Journal reports that Kenneth Ehrp and Calvin Diehl entered the pleas Thursday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City. Prosecutors say the two directed Farmers Cooperative Society workers in Sioux Center to layer higher-value soybeans over oats in grain bins and in trucks and then concealed the scheme from customers and federal inspectors. Prosecutors say the scheme led to the overvaluing of the co-ops grain inventory in order to influence a lender’s action on a loan.

Creston Police say a man from Colorado was cited following a non-injury accident Wednesday morning. 53-year old Raymond Ferrington, of Limon, CO. was cited for Failure to Provide Proof of Financial Liability (Insurance) – accident related, after the 2001 Nissan Maxima he was driving slid through the intersection of Highway 25 and Adams Street in Creston, and collided with a 2005 Dodge Caravan. The driver of the van was identified as 19-year old Kirby Queener, of Creston. The accident happened at around 6:25-a.m., Wednesday.

Authorities say Ferrington was traveling on Highway 25 and tried to stop for the red light at the intersection, but was unable to do so, due to the weather/road conditions. Damage from the collision amounted to $5,000.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City woman has been given 30 months in prison for driving the getaway vehicle after a bank robbery. The Sioux City Journal reports that 36-year-old Karen Merrick was sentenced Thursday. She’d pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact. Prosecutors had charged her with bank robbery but changed the charge in return for her plea. Prosecutors say Merrick drove Phillip White away from Iowa State Bank in Le Mars after he robbed it on Dec. 12, 2018. Officers managed to flatten the vehicle’s tires during a chase and arrest the pair. White’s been sentenced to 12 years.