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Skyscan forecast & weather data for Atlantic: 8/30/16

Weather

August 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Today: Areas of fog possible this morning; Partly Cloudy to Cloudy w/scattered showers & thunderstorms. High 80. N @ 5-10.
Tonight: Mo. Cldy w/showers and thunderstorms. Low around 60. N @ 5.
Tuesday: P/Cldy to Cldy & less humid. High near 80
Thursday/Friday: P/Cldy. Highs in the upper 70’s both days.

Monday’s High in Atlantic was 88. We received.8” of rain over the past 24-hours ending today at 7-a.m. Our 24-hour Low was 66. Last year on this date, our High in Atlantic was 75 and the low was 57. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 101 in 1947. The Record Low was 33 in 1893.

Farm Progress Show opens in Boone, drawing thousands

Ag/Outdoor

August 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

The central Iowa town of Boone is gearing up to welcome many thousands of visitors to the 63rd annual Farm Progress Show. Event spokeswoman Dena Morgan says the nation’s largest outdoor farm show is scheduled to open this morning (8 A-M). Morgan says it will feature the latest ag technology, including new products to be unveiled by many of the industry’s largest manufacturers.

“We’ve got a great lineup, of course, lots of things happening out in the demonstration fields,” Morgan says. “We’ve got corn combining at 11 every day, tillage at 1. If you’re a livestock producer and you’re in the market for a chute or some other kind of cattle-handling equipment, we have working cattle demonstrations every day at 10 and at 2.”

The show will host more than 600 exhibitors displaying new farm equipment, seed and crop protection products, farm supplies and services. Since the last day of the 2014 show had to be cancelled due to lightning, Morgan says there are two ways you can be updated, by using the website Farm Progress Show-dot-com, or by using a free smart phone app.

“All you have to enter is ‘Farm Progress Show 2016’ and that should bring up the current year app,” Morgan says. “You can search for exhibitors, you can look at the show fields, all kinds of things.” For about 50 years, the show rotated between locations in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, but now, it’s held every other year in Boone or Decatur, Illinois.

“We started the rotation that we have now in 2005 when we moved the show up into August,” Morgan says. “It used to be later in September and we moved it almost a month earlier and went to the rotation of just two sites and then having permanent sites.” The show runs three days, closing on Thursday.

(Radio Iowa)

Roof of Ottumwa laundromat collapses with customers inside

News, Weather

August 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Monday night’s storms may have been a contributing factor in a building collapse in southeast Iowa. Washers and dryers were still running inside the Ottumwa Laundrette when firefighters arrived minutes after 8-p.m., Monday, to find the roof almost completely caved in. Two people were inside the laundromat when the roof gave way and other bystanders on were on the sidewalk. There were no injuries reported.

Witnesses said that the roof “just all of a sudden came down.” They said that there were no warning signs before the collapse. Firefighters feared a second collapse, closing portions of the nearby sidewalk. The cause of the collapse is under investigation.

(Radio Iowa)

Flash Flood Watch until 4-p.m. for parts of western/s.w. IA, 8/30/16

Weather

August 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

POTTAWATTAMIE-MILLS-MONTGOMERY-FREMONT-and PAGE COUNTIES:

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT THROUGH 4-PM. TODAY.

ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH ADDITIONAL
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY EXPECTED THROUGHOUT MOST OF THIS
MORNING. FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS COULD OCCUR…ALONG WITH
PONDING OF WATER ON ROADWAYS. ALSO…FLASH FLOODING MAY OCCUR
ALONG SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS BE ISSUED.

DONALD W. BORNHOLDT, 79, of Atlantic (Svcs. 9/3/16)

Obituaries

August 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

DONALD W. BORNHOLDT, 79, of Atlantic, died Monday, Aug. 29th, at home. Funeral services for DONALD BORNHOLDT will be held 10:30-a.m. Sat., Sept. 3rd, at the Hockenberry Family Care Funeral Home, in Atlantic.

Visitation with the family will be from 5-until 7-p.m. Friday, Sept. 2nd, at the funeral home.

Memorials may be directed to the Cass County 4-H, Atlantic FFA, or Nishna Valley YMCA.

Burial will be in the Brighton Township Cemetery, at Marne.

DONALD BORNHOLDT is survived by:

His children – Renee (Mike) Juza, of Spencer; Dwayne (Janelle) Bornholdt, of Atlantic; Rhonda (Rob) Maidof, of Broomfield, CO., & LaVon (Mick) Sager, of Atlantic.

His brothers – Max (Joan) Bornholdt, of Walnut, and Robert (Judy) Bornholdt, of Kimballton.

His sister – Darlene (Dewey) Hess, of Harlan.

12 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.

KJAN listening area forecast, 8/30/16

Weather

August 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Today: Mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms possible early this morning, and again this afternoon (between 2pm and 5pm). High near 79. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. **FLASH FLOOD WATCH until 4-p.m. for Fremont, Mills, Montgomery, Page and Pottawattamie Counties**
Tonight: Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 9pm. Low around 63. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 80. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 79.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 78.

Massena man files for CCMH Hospital Trustee position

News

August 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Cass County Deputy Auditor Sheri Karns said Monday, another person had filed nomination papers to run for office during the November 8th General Election, here in Cass County. Karns reports Mike Klocke, of Massena, filed papers to run as a Republican for the Cass County Memorial Hospital’s Board of Trustee’s, representing the Southeast District. Earlier this month, Jody Lorence, of Atlantic, filed her nomination papers to run as a Democrat for CCMH Board of Trustee’s, in the Northwest District.

Wednesday is the final day for persons wanting to run for the various County offices, to submit their nomination papers with the required number of signatures.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s report (issued 8/29/16)

News

August 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

The latest Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s report (issued Monday), indicates a man from Cass County was arrested early Saturday morning, following a traffic stop. A pickup driven by 61-year old Ricky Lee Roby, of Atlantic, was pulled over at around 6:50-a.m. on Highway 92, near 440th Street. A routine records check revealed Roby’s driving status was banned. He was placed under arrest for Driving While Barred.

A man from Carson was arrested late Friday night in Pott. County, after his pickup was pulled over for speeding and allegedly showed signs of impairment. 25-year old Colton Jarett Clark was placed under arrest for OWI/2nd offense.

Two men were arrested Friday evening, in Pottawattamie County. Officials say 30-year old Phillip Michael Houston, of Walnut, was arrested on a warrant for Driving While Barred. While serving the warrant at a residence in Walnut, deputies spoke with two other men, one of whom had a warrant out of Crawford County. 22-year old Jacob Dwayne Jens, of Avoca, was subsequently arrest on the warrant and held at the Pott. County Jail, for extradition to Crawford County.

Saturday night, 63-year old Brenda Faye Bornn, of Oakland, was arrested at a residence in Avoca, after a neighbor had called authorities with a complaint. It turns out, Bornn had three warrants issued for her arrest out of Clay County. She was arrested on the warrants for Interfering with Official Acts, Failure to Appear (in court) on a Possession of Controlled Substance/2nd offense charge, Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp and Theft in the 5th Degree. Bornn was brought to the Pott. County Jail and held pending extradition to Clay County.

Early Saturday morning, 36-year old Halie Erin Smith, of Council Bluffs, was pulled over and arrested following a traffic stop for failure to dim her headlights. Smith allegedly displayed signs of impairment, and was taken into custody for OWI/1st Offense, Possession of a Controlled Substance (9.7-grams of marijuana), and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (3 marijuana smoking pipes).

First quarterly report: $22.2 million saved through Medicaid privatization

News

August 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

State officials say the three private companies now managing care for the 560-thousand Medicaid patients in Iowa saved Iowa taxpayers 22 million dollars in April, May and June — but exactly how that savings came about is unclear. Liz Matney, of the Iowa Department of Human Services says there are “pretty wide variances” in how the companies report paid claims.

“We’re investigating as to whether or not that accurately represents the number of claims that they’ve reimbursed or whether we have a data reporting issue,” she says. In the department’s quarterly report on Medicaid spending, there’s a “top 10” list of why claims for prescription drugs were denied. UnitedHealthcare’s number one reason was because of an error. The number two reason AmeriHealth hadn’t paid those claims was because the “claim has not been paid.”

Representative Lisa Heddens, a Democrat from Ames, says it makes no sense for the report to label a processed claim as “clean” if the doctor, hospital or other health care provider hadn’t been paid correctly or hadn’t been paid at all. “I don’t feel like I’ve got an accurate picture here in a number of areas in the report,” Heddens said. Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, says she’s getting nothing but complaints from constituents.

“What I wish is that one day, someone would come to the mic and say: ‘I love the new system. It’s working for me and this is the best thing that’s ever happened to the state of Iowa,'” Mascher said. “I have heard that from no one.” Kim Foltz is C-E-O of the UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Iowa. It’s one of the three managed care companies for Iowa Medicaid patients. “We’re serving approximately 190,000 members today and we actually do have a very large number of positive stories,” Foltz says. “…I would say that we have those positive stories. Those folks don’t come to these sessions.”

Cynthia MacDonald is president of the Amerigroup plan for Iowa Medicaid patients. “The depth of the kinds of work and process that we do as managed care organizations is profound,” MacDonald told legislators.” Cheryl Harding is Iowa market president for AmeriHealth. “We have lots of really heart-warming stories and I wish those were the people who came to these meetings to talk to you, but they aren’t,” Harding said, with a laugh.

Last week, Republican Governor Terry Branstad said the companies are preventing “significant” fraud, waste and abuse. State officials told legislators yesterday that there are now four software systems in place to track fraud and data will be available later on how much fraud’s being caught. The state of Iowa spent more than 332 million dollars on the Medicaid program during April, May and June.

The three companies were fined 44-hundred dollars for errors found in claim information submitted in June. Senator David Johnson of Ocheyedan says the Branstad Administration made a “unilateral decision” not to fine the three companies for failing to meet performance standards in April and May. “What are we going to do to improve communications between the administration and the legislature?” Johnson asked DHS administrators. “Because I think you get about a D+ on that.” Johnson recently changed his party registration from Republican to “no party” in protest of having Donald Trump as the G-O-P’s presidential nominee.

Republican Representative Dave Heaton of Mount Pleasant says there had been a “few hiccups” for Medicaid patients and health care providers since April 1st, but he said “the time for partisanship is over.””Transitions are hard and we know we’ve encountered some issues,” Heaton said. Heaton is co-chair of the legislature’s Health Policy Oversight Committee. Two dozen Medicaid patients and Iowa health care providers with complaints about the new system spoke out during a two-hour public hearing on Monday morning at the statehouse.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa early News Headlines: Tue., Aug. 30th 2016

News

August 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Life insurance companies are setting up “shadow insurers” to take on some of their liabilities and free up some of their reserves. Critics say the practice allows the companies to mask their true financial positions and poses a long-term risk to policyholders. Now one critic is seeking to force the release of records related to the deals in Iowa, which has encouraged the practice.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad has issued disaster proclamations for two northeast Iowa counties that endured severe storms and flooding. Branstad Monday issued the proclamations for Bremer and Chickasaw counties, allowing state resources to be used to aid in recovery efforts from storms Aug. 23. Branstad’s action also activates the Individual Assistance Program for residents of the two counties, providing grants of up to $5,000 for certain households for car repairs, clothing, food and temporary housing.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Board of Psychology is explaining why it declined earlier this month to adopt a rule that would have prohibited Iowa-licensed psychologists from trying to reverse a patient’s sexual orientation with a practice known as conversion therapy. Gay rights advocates petitioned the board in February to consider the rule. The board says it knows of no licensed Iowa psychologist engaging in conversion therapy and will investigate reports of those employing a therapy deemed harmful or unethical.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A representative for one of the insurance companies overseeing Iowa’s newly privatized Medicaid program says it has lost money during the system’s implementation. Kim Foltz, CEO for UnitedHealthcare’s Iowa operations, cited information in a new quarterly report in telling a legislative oversight committee on Monday at the Iowa Capitol that the company has lost money. She later declined to provide specific information on a dollar figure.