(Radio Iowa) — Iowa is seeing a slight upturn in the number of uninsured children but the Hawkeye State still has one of the lowest rates in the country. Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, says there are many reasons more children are falling into the ranks of the uninsured. “We’re seeing more red tape that states are requiring families to provide more pay stubs more frequently,” Alker says. “Some families are simply getting cut off because they never got a piece of mail saying it was time to renew their coverage.”

A report finds more than 20-thousand Iowa children, or about two-point-seven percent, were listed as uninsured in 2017, the most recent year the figures were released. That’s a modest increase from two-point-two percent uninsured Iowa children in 2016. Nationwide, the rate of uninsured children increased from four-point-seven percent in 2016 to five-percent in 2017, almost twice Iowa’s rate.

“These results are so troubling because they are occurring during a period of relatively low unemployment and economic growth — when you think children should be gaining health coverage, but they’re not,” Alker says. “That really reflects the high cost of dependent coverage for low-wage families.”

The report finds more than four-million children nationwide have no health insurance. “It’s really, frankly, a high cost for many families, regardless of income,” Alker says. “Because of this, we believe the uninsured child rate may increase even more rapidly should an economic downturn occur, which we know it will, eventually.”

The Georgetown report finds more than half of all uninsured children live in the South. More than one in five uninsured kids in the nation live in Texas, where the rate in 2017 was 835-thousand children or ten-point-seven percent, almost four times Iowa’s rate.

Police in Creston say a man was arrested Wednesday afternoon on an assault charge. 34-year old Steven Bochniak, of Creston, was arrested at the Law Enforcement Center on the charges of Domestic Assault – Simple, and Obstruction of Emergency Communications. He was being held in the Union County Jail while awaiting a  bond hearing.

FAIRPORT, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a one person has died in a house fire in a community along the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa. The blaze was reported around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Fairport, which sits about 7 miles east of Muscatine. The victim’s name, the fire cause and other details have not been released.

An Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Conference will be held January 3rd through the 5th, in Shelby County. Assistant Shelby County Emergency Manager Jason Wickizer reports the classes will be held: from 6-until 10-p.m., Jan. 3rd; 8-a.m. to 4-p.m., Jan. 4th, and 8-a.m. to 1-p.m. January 5th, at 706 Victoria Street, in Harlan. Topics to be covered include:

• Friday – A review of Multi-Casualty vs. Multi-Patient incidents, Incident Command, and EMS Documentation to set those incidents apart for legal considerations.
• Saturday – EMS Skills: 12 Lead; Automatic CPR Devices; King Airway; CPR Code/Mega Code (ALS); EMS Documentation off-scenario; Trauma/Medical Assessment; Tourniquet/Quick Clot/Trauma Dressing Station; C-Spine immobilization after traction splint application.
• Sunday – EMS & Law Enforcement Driving Policies, Driving Course.

The classes and meals are free. Vendors have been invited to attend. For more information, call Jason Wickizer at 712-755-2124.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – A Davenport man has been charged with murder months after the death of his wife. Court records say Casey Klemme is charged with second-degree murder and domestic abuse assault. The records don’t list an attorney for him. Officers sent to the home July 26 found Tiffany Klemme lying on a floor. Police say she had bruising on her left eye, a bloody nose and other injuries. Her husband acknowledged only grabbing and pushing her. She was found dead in the home the next day. Authorities say the wait for autopsy and toxicology results delayed the filing of the murder charge.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports the Adams County Sheriff’s Department K9 Unit conducted a traffic stop early Wednesday afternoon, on a vehicle traveling 80-mph in a 55-mph zone. Upon further investigation, Rashawn Larone Hardy and Mattek Daquan Scott, of Flint, MI., were arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

Just before 3-p.m. Wednesday, a vehicle was reported to have been stolen from the area of 150th and Corning Carl Road. The vehicle was recovered and returned to its owner. On Tuesday, a separate vehicle was stolen from the same area. It was later recovered in the parking lot of the Greater Regional Hospital, in Creston.

Authorities say the incidents should serve as a reminder to citizens about removing items of value from their vehicles, and to keep their vehicles and homes LOCKED UP.