DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A judge says he’ll decide within 30 days whether Gov. Terry Branstad violated the law by using a line-item veto to close two state mental health hospitals. A bipartisan plan that Branstad vetoed this summer would have reversed his closing of one mental health institution and temporarily kept open another. Democratic lawmakers and the main state workers’ union sued the governor, arguing that his veto broke a state law requiring Iowa to operate four mental hospitals.

The Des Moines Register reports lawyers for both sides argued in court Thursday. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Thompson, representing Branstad, said the spending bill was the type the governor has the authority to veto. The losing side of the judge’s coming decision would be able to appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.

A fundraising, open house will be held today (Friday) in Atlantic, for the American Legion Memorial Building, located at 201 Poplar Street. The former Armory is owned by ARISE (The Atlantic Rock Island Society Enterprise), which also owns the Rock Island Depot on Chestnut Street, that’s occupied by the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce. The Legion Building Open House takes place from Noon until 6-pm today, and features a tour of the building along with some refreshments.

The building, which is being restored in phases, has already seen a number of recent improvements, including new bathrooms and air conditioning, a Military Museum and Military Library. A future, complete restoration of the area adjacent to the Military Museum and Library will a Memorial Hall, restrooms, and a kitchen to help with private events such as wedding receptions, graduation parties and more. The improvements, which tally close to $200,000, have been made possible through grants, donations and other fundraising events.

American Legion Memorial Bldg. in Atlantic, IA.

During today’s tour, you can shop a fundraiser flea market, for your free-will donation. Some items up for sale include: Kitchen appliances; Books; Office chairs; cabinets and furniture; toys; large Christmas trees and décor; a JennAire downdraft range, and much more. All funds raised will be used for restoration of the American Legion Memorial Building.

For more information, look for the Atlantic Rock Island Society Enterprise on Facebook, or e-mail atlanticrockislandsociety@gmail.com. To book a separate, private tour, or learn more about the Atlantic American Legion Memorial Building by contacting Steve Livengood at 712-243-5445, Bob Boots at 712-243-2694, or the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce at 712-243-3017.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office today (Friday) released the name of the person who died during a house fire at 74566 Boone Road, in Anita. Officials have confirmed the victim was 67-year old Linda M. Barber, of Anita.  Her 73-year old husband Larry, suffered smoke inhalation during the incident and was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

The State Fire Marshal determined the cause of the blaze as an electrical issue. The fire was reported at around 12:45-a.m. today.

THURMAN, Iowa (AP) – Operations at the Thurman Post Office in the southwest corner of Iowa have been suspended over concerns about the structural stability of the building. The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reports that all operations at the Thurman Post Office were moved temporarily to the Sidney Post Office on Sept. 29.

The U.S. Postal Service will use temporary centralized mailboxes outside the Thurman Post Office. Until the mailboxes are installed, Thurman Post Office box customers will need to pick up their mail at the Sidney Post Office. The blue collection box outside of the Thurman Post Office will continue to be picked up as scheduled.

Post Office Operations Manager Wes Gronemyer says the post office will reopen once repairs to the building are made.

The Environmental Protection Commission voted Thursday to move ahead with proposed rules to establish air pollutant emission fees to cover the state’s cost of issuing construction and operating permits. The Department of Natural Resources Air Quality Bureau the air quality bureau is funded with fees based on the amount of pollution generated. The Iowa Legislature approved legislature, and officials say as emissions have gone down, so have the fees. The commission met via conference call and heard from one person who had concerns about the proposed fees. Mick Durham represented Grain Processors Corporation of Muscatine.

“This proposed rule does not reflect any of the recommendations made by the shareholders group, which I participated in and spent numerous hours negotiating a reasonable solution for the Air Quality Bureau’s funding challenges,” Durham says. “The stakeholder committee recommended flat fees for multiple permitting scenarios, limited title five fee increases, and additional funding by the legislature.” He says the rules ask for a 25 percent increase in what are called the Title Five fees for air quality and establishes another fee to renew permits.

“The whole purpose of this rule was to resolve the Title Five fee issue. It is neither fair nor sustainable. This rule does not accomplish that goal, but instead makes it worse,” Durham says. He also questioned the table of potential hours to review a permit. “The estimated hours to issue a construction permit provided by the Air Quality Bureau varies from eight to 200 hours. At a 115 dollars-an-hour, a permit could cost anywhere from one-thousand to 23-thousand dollars. This is too large a range for our budgeting purposes,” Durham says.

The chief of the Air Quality Bureau, Catharine Fitzsimmons, says they hour estimates were put together through the stakeholder groups. She says they found an estimated cost of a major source construction permit to be about 17-hundred dollars and a permit to prevent deterioration in a plant to be at around 27-hundred dollars.
Fitzsimmons says the time it takes to review and approve a permit depends on the number of potential source points for the pollution.

“Typically an average construction permit application took eight to 12 hours to complete — but we have many projects that take less time than that,” Fitzsimmons says. The Environmental Protection Commission approved moving ahead with the proposal and will take a final vote at its December meeting, with the hope the rules will go into place in January.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Creston, Thursday night, arrested a man wanted on a warrant for Failure to Serve his jail sentence. 43-year old Steven Jehn, of Creston, was arrested at around 10:30-p.m. and brought to the Union County Jail where he will serve the remainder of his sentence.

The pilot of an airplane that lost power was forced to try and land the craft in a corn field Thursday afternoon, in Montgomery County. The Sheriff’s Office reports the Communications Center received a call about an aircraft sitting in a field at 2559 I Avenue, at around 3-p.m.

The pilot of the 1975 Cessna was identified as Mike Josephson, of Red Oak. He wasn’t hurt during the incident, and the plane sustained only minor damage. Damage to the corn crop was  undetermined. The FAA will investigate the incident.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, is the lead sponsor on a bill that would ease some of the restrictions on tele-medicine use to help veterans. “Tele-health is one of the V-A’s major transformational initiatives to achieve patient-centered affordable and convenient health care for our veterans. My legislation would build on these improvements for disabled or rural veterans by expanding the tele-health services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Ernst says.

She says the VETS Act would allowing qualified health professionals to operate across state lines and conduct tele-health services, including mental health care treatment for veterans.  “Under current law, the V-A may only waive the state license requirement for tele-health services if both the patient and physician are located in a federally-owned facility. Additionally, the V-A may only perform at-home tele-health care when the patient and the physician are located in the same state,” Ernst says.

She says it’s particularly important for veterans in rural areas. “My legislation works to overcome rural health care challenges and provide easier access to health services for our disabled veterans, so they may lead more independent lives in their own homes and their local communities,” Ernst says. Iowa is a rural state, but Ernst is not sure how many veterans might need the service here.

She says there are some 225-thousand veterans in Iowa, but she does not have exact numbers on how many might benefit from this change. The Veterans Administration health system has had a variety of issues and Ernst says there’s is still a lot to be done to solve them. “I would love to say that I’ve seen great improvement in the V-A, but I can’t say that right now,” according to Ernst. Ernst hopes this bill will pass and help with some of the issues with getting the proper care in a timely manner.

“I think we are blessed in the Midwest to have some great care — however across the nation if you look at the situation with the V-A’s– we are still experiencing delays in treatment for our veterans. So, we still have a number of issues that need to be resolved,” Ernst says. “I am committed to continuing that fight for our veterans.” Ernst says the bill has bipartisan support along with lead co-sponsor, Democrat Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.

Ernst says tele-health reduced the number of days in a hospital for care by 54 percent and saves veterans on average two-thouSand dollars each year.

(Radio Iowa)