Governor Terry Branstad is defending the way his Department of Human Services estimated the amount of savings the state would get from hiring four private companies to manage the Medicaid program. The chairman of the Iowa Senate Oversight Committee has asked Branstad to turn over the documents used to make that estimate. Reporters asked the governor about that request during his weekly news conference.

First of all, I don’t have any,” Branstad says. “This is the information that the Department…of Human Services has done forever. Michael, I don’t know if you have any more on this.” Michael Bousselot is Branstad’s chief of staff and he says the department worked with actuaries “who have been under contract for many years” to come up with a “prudent” savings estimate.

“Our office does not administer or oversee the Medicaid projections,” Bousselot says. “Rather that is handled by the Department of Human Services.” Bousselot promised to “work with” legislators and reporters who’ve asked for any Department of Human Services documents used to make the savings estimate. Democrats in the legislature and advocates for the 560-thousand Medicaid patients in Iowa as well as Iowa hospitals and health care providers have been raising concerns about Branstad’s decision to hire managed care companies to run the state’s Medicaid program.

(Radio Iowa)

Governor Terry Branstad is not confirming he told a lawyer in “The Family Leader” organization to “call off your attack dogs.” The Christian conservative group has been criticizing Branstad for not fully “defunding” Planned Parenthood in Iowa. “I was leaving a restaurant and had a conversation with an old friend,” Branstad says. “And I’m not going to comment on a private conversation with an old friend.”

The Family Leader sent out an email last Friday to report on the conversation. The email said Branstad asked the group to stop criticizing him for not taking executive action to cancel Medicaid contracts that reimburse Planned Parenthood for cancer screenings and tests for Medicaid patients. Branstad says the courts have ruled against states that have tried to do that, including the ruling this weekend striking down Governor Bobby Jindal’s attempt to “defund” Planned Parenthood in Louisiana.

“Listen, I’m pro-life and I want to do what we realistically can do, but I also feel an obligation to act within the law,” Branstad says. As for what Branstad may have said to Chuck Hurley, who is The Family Leader’s chief counsel, the governor’s not talking. And he’s not revealing which Des Moines-area restaurant the conversation took place either.

“There are some things that are private, even in my life,” Branstad told reporters this morning. The Family Leader’s Friday afternoon email message encouraged supporters to call and email Branstad, to “keep up the pressure” until he “defunds” Planned Parenthood in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa)

State officials are fielding complaints from Iowans who say they can’t get the five-cent deposit back on their empty cans and bottles. Stores that sell beverages in containers that are subject to the deposit law must accept the empties and pay back the deposit — or send customers to a local redemption center. But redemption centers are cutting back hours and some have closed. Bill Blum, of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says stores can’t tell customers “no” if there’s no redemption center to take their cans and bottles.

“That’s where local law enforcement is supposed to come in,” Blum says. “That kind of violation is a simple misdemeanor, a minimum $65 fine for every violation.” But Blum says police tell him they’re reluctant to file charges in these cases. “If you don’t want to cite these stores, at least go and talk to them and get them straight on the law so people can get their money back,” Blum says.

An interim statehouse committee is studying possible changes to Iowa’s “bottle bill” which went into effect in 1979. Retailers complain the empty cans and bottles are a health hazard in their stores. Redemption centers complain that the penny-per-container handling fee hasn’t been raised in 36 years. Iowa is one of 10 states that have a “bottle bill” that calls for refundable deposits on cans and bottles.

(Radio Iowa)

(Update 4:20-p.m.) Firefighters from Atlantic were called to a reported field fire east of Wickman Chemical Monday afternoon. The blaze was said to be east of Highway 71. The blaze was quickly brought under control.

Elsewhere, fire departments in Shelby and Harrison County kept busy Monday afternoon battling separate, large field fires. The first was reported near 170th and Apple Road in Harrison County, just across the Shelby County line. Crews from Earling, Kirkman, Westphalia, Woodbine, Panama, and Portsmouth were on the scene. The second field fire was occurring between 700th and 800th Street off of Oak Road, in Shelby County. Crews from Harlan, Avoca and Walnut were among those on the scene.

There was no immediate word on what might have caused those blazes. A Red Flag Warning is in effect for extreme fire danger Monday afternoon and evening.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Western Community College is offering a pilot housing program that aims to help transgender students feel more comfortable. The Des Moines Register reports students were given the option this year of joining the program, which assigns them to a roommate based on their gender identity or expression rather than their legal sex.

This housing option appealed to Mikey Fletcher. The 23-year-old student at the college lives in the community with a male roommate. Fletcher says he wishes “other schools would recognize that they would get a larger student base” by becoming more gender-inclusive.

The U.S. Department of Education issued a guidance last year that clarifies that transgender students are protected from discrimination under federal civil rights legislation Title IX.