Red Oak Police report making two arrests late Wednesday morning. 37-year old Rose Amber Lopez, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 11:16-a.m., after Red Oak Police, assisted by Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies, responded to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, where Lopez was allegedly making “A loud and raucous noise,” causing hospital occupants “unreasonable distress.” She was charged with Disorderly Conduct and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where bond was set at $300.

While on that call, and at about the same time, Red Oak Police and Montgomery County Deputies could hear a male yelling. The noise lead officers and deputies to the 300 block of E. Valley Street, where 24-year old Jesse Dean Uhlmann, of Red Oak, was located, and subsequently arrested for Serious Domestic Abuse Assault. Uhlmann was being held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond.

Groups and individuals calling for improvements in Iowa’s mental health care system say it appears some progress may be near. On Tuesday, the Iowa House passed a comprehensive plan to improve access to mental health care services in Iowa. Marion County Sheriff Jason Sandholdt was among advocates who were at the statehouse Wednesday to lobby SENATORS to approve that bill.

“Our goal, with the Iowa Sheriffs and Deputies Association, is for when people have a mental health crisis, it’s just as important as somebody having a heart attack or a stroke,” he said. “The people need the care and this bill will help do that.”

Mary Neubauer of Clive began “speaking out for change” after her son, Sergei, took his life in September. She says her son’s story “shows those with mental illnesses don’t have time to wait.” “It’s too late for us and for Sergei,” Neubauer said. “…We have the opportunity to save lives. I want us to do better and I am not alone.”

More than five-thousand people have signed an on-line petition that calls for urgent action to address deficiencies in Iowa’s mental health care system. Steve Baumert the president and C-E-O of Jennie Edmonson Hospital in Council Bluffs is chairman of the Iowa Hospital Association’s board of directors. He was at the statehouse yesterday (Wednesday) to deliver that message to state policymakers.”You have a chance to change lives and save lives,” he said, “and what a tremendous legacy that would be.”

Peggy Huppert of the National Alliance on Mental Illness says Iowa has reached a “tipping point.”  “Mental illness affects tens of thousands of Iowans and they’ve raised their voices in unison to say: ‘More must be done,'” Huppert said.

Preliminary discussions also continued at the statehouse yesterday (Wednesday) over a plan to improve mental health care services for children.

(Radio Iowa)

Republicans in the Iowa Senate last (Wednesday) night cast their “yes” votes for legislation that would ultimately cut state taxes by more than a billion dollars a year. The vote came after what Republican Senator Randy Feenstra described as a “lively” debate. “The one thing this talk or this discussion truly showed tonight, I mean…in black and white, it showed the difference between our politial parties,” Feenstra said.

There was a sharp exchange when Democratic Senator Herman Quirmbac asked Republican Senator Charles Schneider where the G-O-P planned to cut the state budget to make up for the tax reductions. “I think this shows a fundamental difference in approaches between your side of the aisle and mine,” Schneider said. Quirmbach interjected: “Yeah, we believe in facts and you believe in fantasy.” Schneider said: “We believe in keeping money in taxpayers’ pockets.”

Democrats like Senator Pam Jochum of Dubuque cited a report indicating Iowans who earn less than 250-thousand dollars a year will get a tax cut worth about 10 dollars a week — about the price of a McDonald’s Happy Meal.  “So in exchange for that Happy Meal, Iowans are going to see increases in tuition at our universities and colleges,” Jochum said. “We may see further consolidation of rural school districts. We will have fewer state troopers.”

Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, says it was the “height of fiscal irresponsibility” to cut taxes by a billion dollars a year. “Senator Feenstra, I know you mean well, but you are about to pilot a bobsled to bankruptcy for the state of Iowa,” McCoy said.

Feenstra, the chief Republican architect of the plan, responded at the close of the debate.  “We want to carry the Olympic torch for the hard-working Iowans and inside every one of our Happy Meals, the toy will be $1000,” Feenstra said.

Last night’s debate may be the final airing for Feenstra’s plan, however. Late this (Thursday) morning, Republicans in the HOUSE will hold a hearing for a bill that would implement Governor Kim Reynolds’ tax cut plan instead.

(Radio Iowa)