Congressman David Young is a member of a task force in the U.S. House that’s been assembled to come up with a Republican alternative to President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. “You can’t just be a party of opposition,” Young says. “You have to be proposing solutions and hopefully we can put something out there that also helps solve the problem.”

About 16-and-a-half million Americans have gotten insurance coverage through the government-run health care exchanges. Young, a first term congressman, has joined with the other Republicans in the U.S. House in voting seven times for bills that would repeal the Affordable Care Act. Young says the “mandate” that penalizes those who do not obtain insurance is a problem. “I don’t necessarily know if I subscribe to that, that the federal government should be making you buy things ’cause if they can make you buy one thing, they can make you buy another,” Young says. “I want to make it very attractive on a person’s own initiative to purchase health care and when people can’t we need to provide that safety net and be able to pool some of the high-risk populations together to try to provide that care for them.”

Republican leaders have said Young and the other task force members need to come up with a “patient-centered” alternative to the Affordable Care Act that increases quality and reduces costs. “It’s not going to be a top-down, kind of big government approach to it,” Young says. “It’ll be taking into consideration and recognizing the strengths and innovations that states have because New York is not Iowa. Our populations are different and health care delivery is different as well as we want to make sure that we empower consumers with their dollars to make decisions on their own and create transparency, knowing what prices are. When you have transparency out there, you’re going to have some competition and have better health care delivery and products as well.”

The Kaiser Foundation estimates that by 2015 about 38-thousand Iowans have gotten health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act and about 20-thousand young adults in Iowa are currently covered on their parents’ health plans. The law allows parents to cover their children up to the age of 26.

(Radio Iowa)

A public hearing is set to take place Wednesday, here in Atlantic, on an application for Voluntary Annexation of Territory located at 56988 635th Street (Outfitter Plus). The hearing will be held as part of a regular meeting of the Atlantic City Council, which takes place at City Hall, beginning at 5:30-p.m.

Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones has previously explained the hearing is merely a formality, as the infrastructure for the Atlantic Wastewater Treatment Plant is already in place. Jones said Outfitters Plus hooked-up to the City’s sewer system after the businesses’ septic system failed, and they requested the annexation take place.

Following the Public Hearing, the Council will vote on a Resolution approving the application for annexation. If the application is approved, the City could collect the extra penny sales tax for both the land mentioned and any future, adjacent annexations in the same area. The Council will also act on approving a Resolution “Endorsing the Use of City Funds for Matching Funds for [a] Vision Iowa Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) Grant.

If approved by Vision Iowa, the grant monies will be used for the development of the campground, restroom/shower/shelter facility, an ADA compliant fishing pier and playground, at the Schildberg Recreation Area. City Administrator John Lund says the $100,000 match may need to occur either in this year’s revised estimate or next year’s budget. The grant match will come from the Schildberg Rec Area Fund, drawing down the fund balance and helping move the capital project fund towards a closeout for the FY 2017 City of Atlantic budget.

Medivac Ambulance and Atlantic Police responded to an accident at 7th and Linn Streets, this morning. The two-vehicle collision was reported at around 7:30-a.m. A male subject was complaining of chest pains following the collision. No other details are currently available.

The Creston Police Department reports six, recent arrests. Early this (Monday) morning, 33-year old Warren Logan Davis, of Lenox, was arrested at Highway 34 and Lincoln Street in Creston, for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession with the Intent to Sell or manufacture, Methamphetamine. Davis was being held in the Union County Jail on $100,000 bond.

Arrested Sunday night, in Creston, was 28-year old Julian Albert Rex Allison, and 36-year old Ronnee Colleen Abel, both of Creston. Allison and Abel were both charged with Violation of a Protective Order. Allison was being held in the Union County Jail, while Abel was being held in the Ringgold County Jail, both were held pending an appearance before a magistrate.

On Saturday, Creston Police arrested 35-year old Garrett Ashley Harper, of Creston, for OWI/3rd offense. He was later released on $1,000 bond. Last Friday, Creston Police arrested 54-year old Clifford Mark Williams, of Creston, for OWI/1st offense, and 28-year old Jeffrey Michael Hoffman, of Creston, for Violating a Protective Order. Hoffman was transferred to Adams County where a warrant had been issued for his arrest. Williams was later released on $1,000 bond.

And, Creston Police are investigating two incidents of vandalism. A resident in the 600 block of W. Montgomery Street reported Friday that his vehicles’ driver’s side window was broken out sometime between 7-a.m. and 7:30-a.m., Friday. The loss was estimated at $500. Officials with Iwireless in Creston reported Friday, that sometime between 5-p.m. Feb. 25th, and 8:55-p.m. Feb. 26th, someone shot at their store window. The damage was estimated at $400.

The Clarinda Community School District has hired a search firm to help find a replacement for departing Superintendent Paul Honnold. Honnold announced Feb. 8th he would be resigning at the end of June. He’s worked in Clarinda for 35 years, including the past 21 years as superintendent. The Daily NonPareil says the Clarinda School Board hired an Ankeny firm to conduct the search. The cost of their services was pegged at $5,750.

In addition, a superintendent search is underway in Riverside, which serves Oakland and Carson. Woodbine resolved its superintendent questions by entering into an agreement with Boyer Valley, while Tri-Center acted quickly to find a replacement for its outgoing school chief.

In other school district news, after nearly a month of opposing continuing to share a superintendent, Boyer Valley had a change of heart the day after Valentine’s Day. The school board for the Boyer Valley Community School District reversed its early decision and approved a sharing agreement that includes a 50-50 split of Superintendent Doug Gee’s time with the Woodbine Community School District. At the Feb. 15 meeting, Boyer Valley also decided to share a principal on a 50-50 basis with Woodbine.

Woodbine’s school board met Feb. 16, its first full meeting since the sharing issue surfaced, and agreed to Boyer Valley’s proposal from the previous evening. The two districts haven’t decided if sharing will be at the elementary or secondary level yet.
By moving to a 50-50 share, the sharing agreement approved by Boyer Valley and Woodbine moves away from the current 60-40 split, where Woodbine only pays for 30 percent of Gee’s salary.

By having a sharing agreement, both districts will receive about $51,500 from the state in incentive payments, easing finances in both districts. Prior to this school year, Woodbine had its own interim superintendent who resigned, followed by an emergency interim sharing agreement with Harlan. Boyer Valley and Woodbine used to share Tom Vint, who left in 2014, when Boyer Valley opted to hire Gee as a combination principal and superintendent. Woodbine and Boyer Valley have moved closer as sharing partners beyond administration, too.

The boards have talked about sharing teachers and classes next year as they operate under a joint grant for the state’s Teacher Leadership and Compensation system for professional development.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The nearly 1,600 people who were overpaid a total of nearly $434,000 in unemployment benefits won’t have to return the money. The Iowa Workforce Development Board voted Friday to let the recipients keep the money, which was paid in 2014 as a result of a faulty phone system.

The Des Moines Register reports that state officials said Friday that several of the Iowans were told to keep the money, under the advice of the agency’s former director. The current director, Beth Townsend, says the state didn’t keep a list of people who tried to return the money, so, theoretically, anyone could argue the state waived its collection rights.

An audit shows the overpayments were part of more than $909,000 the state lost to scams and errors over three years.