Atlantic, IA — Atlantic Medical Center, RHC (AMC) is launching a new Rapid Care service on Monday, February 24. AMC Rapid Care is walk-in care that is open seven days a week for patients of all ages. Tammy Bireline, Chief Clinic Administrator, says “We want to be here for our patients when they need care. This helps bridge that gap between when it’s not an emergency, but you need to be seen and your primary care provider is not available.”  Beginning Monday, February 24rh, AMC Rapid Care will be open Monday through Friday from 9-a.m. to 9-p.m. It will also be open on Saturday and Sunday from 10-a.m. to 6-p.m. AMC Rapid Care does not offer appointments; patients can just walk in, check in at Admissions, and then wait to be seen by the AMC Rapid Care provider. Patients are seen on a first-come, first-served basis.

Bireline says “AMC Rapid Care isn’t a substitute for your regular provider, and it’s also not a substitute for the Emergency Department. This service is really for those minor health issues – ear infections, coughs, minor stitches – that can’t wait.” Similarly, AMC Rapid Care providers will not address chronic conditions or take care of prescription refills because those issues are most appropriate to be discussed during an appointment with a primary care provider. It is also important to note that AMC Rapid Care providers will not prescribe narcotics.

The medical team at AMC Rapid Care includes Rebecca McCann, ARNP, Emily Nadler, PA-C, and Dr. M.A. Johnson. Dr. Johnson will also continue to work in the Emergency Department. The cost of a visit to AMC Rapid Care is the same as office fees for Atlantic Medical Center appointments; regular co-payments still apply and should be paid during the check-in process. Due to the addition of AMC Rapid Care and the extended evening hours, the previous Evening Clinic entrance will no longer be used. All patients coming to Atlantic Medical Center, whether for a scheduled appointment or AMC Rapid Care, should use the Main Entrance.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A driver has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide following a Des Moines collision in which two men died. Police say the crash occurred around 11:45 a.m. Thursday, when a southbound car struck an eastbound car that had just entered the roadway. Two men in the eastbound car died after being rushed to a hospital. Police have identified them as 26-year-old Mauricio Ruiz Quintana and 22-year-old Brayan Martinez Ruiz. The other driver has been identified as 23-year-old Alejandro Contreras.

(Radio Iowa) — Six of seven Republicans on an Iowa Senate committee have endorsed a plan to require more of the Iowans getting health care benefits through Medicaid to work or volunteer in their community. Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, is chairman of the Senate Labor Committee.

“Able-bodied Iowans should work if they’re receiving public benefits,” Schultz says. The bill does have exceptions. The parents of young children and disabled Iowans would not be required to fulfill the requirement, but other adults between the ages of 18 and 64 would have to show state officials they’re working 20 hours a week. Schultz says his constituents want the state’s welfare programs to promote the Iowa work ethic.

“They want to see people work, if they can, and they also support that we are a well-off enough state and country that we can take care of the people who can’t take care of themselves,” Schultz says, “so it’s not mean-spirited what I’m hearing back home, but they are very frustrated when they know of neighbors who could get a job, but are getting public assistance benefits and kind of mocking the system.”

Lana Shope of the Iowa Community Action Association says nearly 80 percent of the working-age adults enrolled in Medicaid already have a job — but many have inconsistent work schedules. “They might be working 20 hours this week, but next week they’re only going to get 10, which is going to make them out of compliance which then jeopardizes their health care coverage through Medicaid,” she says, “not only for them, but for their children.”

The bill is now eligible for debate in the full senate.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa Senate committee has advanced a bill that would require convicted felons to pay restitution before they could get their voting rights restored. If passed this year, the bill advanced Wednesday would be effective only if a separate constitutional amendment that would automatically restore felon voting rights upon completion of a sentence also passes. It’s unclear if the restitution requirement would withstand a legal challenge, though. A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled against a similar Florida requirement. Iowa is the only state with a broad revocation of voting rights for felons, requiring restoration of voting rights from the governor.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Officials in Iowa City have approved the construction of two 15-story residential towers near the University of Iowa campus. The City Council approved the buildings Tuesday night and granted special height bonuses that will allow the buildings to reach 15 stories. The Gazette reports the buildings are on the southern fringe of downtown and the university campus. They would house 820 units and 1,575 beds. Opponents of the project had argued it was too large and could disrupt vacancy rates across Iowa City. Construction isn’t expected to begin for more than a year.

SIGOURNEY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a deer sent flying when it was hit by a car in southeast Iowa crashed through the window of a second car, killing its driver. The accident occurred a little after 7 p.m. Wednesday on Iowa Highway 92, just west of Sigourney. The Iowa State Patrol says the deer went onto the roadway from the north ditch and was struck by a westbound car. The deer was knocked into the air and then went through the windshield of an eastbound car. The dead driver was identified as 45-year-old Donald Burdick, who lived in North English.

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — A former Webster City Chamber of Commerce administrative assistant has been accused of stealing more than $149,000 from the organization. The Iowa Department of Public Safety said Wednesday that 40-year-old Leah Mulholland is charged with ongoing criminal conduct, theft, forgery and unauthorized use of a credit card. She was arrested Wednesday. The department says Mulholland had admitted to three chamber officials that she’d misused chamber funds. The department also says investigators discovered that Mulholland had issued 247 unauthorized checks totaling more than $149,000 from March 2015 through June 2018.

(Radio Iowa) — College athletes could earn money from endorsement deals under a bill that’s now eligible for debate in the Iowa House. Representative Ras Smith of Waterloo, says some players struggle as their universities reap the benefits from big-time college sports like football. “While people may be able to make money off of you when you’re wearing that jersey on that field that Saturday, you can’t afford shoes for your siblings or for yourself or groceries for yourself, is an issue that we have,” Smith says.

The bill is getting bipartisan support. Keith Saunders is a lobbyist for board that oversees the three state universities — including Hawkeye, Cyclone and Panther sports. Saunders is urging the legislature to wait for the NCAA to create nationwide guidelines.  “New rules are coming,” Saunders says. “Congress is also working on it and I realize not everyone has the greatest of faith in congress or the NCAA, but that’s where the solution’s going to have to come from.”

Lobbyists for private colleges and universities as well as the state’s community colleges are urging Iowa lawmakers to wait for national standards. The bill, as written, says students in Iowa could earn money based on their likeness as a college athlete as long as it doesn’t conflict with another endorsement in their athletic department. The bill cleared a Senate committee this week. It’s been approved by a SUB-committee in the Iowa House, too.

(By Iowa Public Radio’s Grant Gerlock)

(Radio Iowa) — A bill that would have allowed utilities to charge extra fees to Iowans with solar panels has been changed to simply authorize a study of solar power in the state. The original version passed the Iowa Senate last year, but couldn’t get enough votes in the House. A compromise that has emerged would launch a study within the next seven years of how solar users affect the electric grid. THEN lawmakers could decide whether utilities should be allowed to charge extra fees.

Representative John Forbes has solar panels on the roof of his pharmacy in Urbandale. He says the compromise provides stability for Iowans who’ve installed solar panels on their homes and businesses.  “When I’m doing my budgeting process for my business, I’ll know how much my energy costs will now be going forward,” Forbes says.

Pork producers were among the critics of last year’s bill that would have let utilities assess new fees to customers with solar panels. The Pork Producers Association argued raising livestock is a low-margin business and the new fees would have wiped out the savings farmers were getting from using solar energy.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Katarina Sostaric)

(Radio Iowa) — The State Board of Education today (Thursday) voted unanimously against a plan to bring back a high school in Hamburg. Superintendent Mike Wells proposed a plan to resurrect high school classes under a career academy format, in which students would receive a certificate for special skills, in addition to their high school diploma. The plan included sharing instructors with Essex–where he is also superintendent.

“I have met with the Essex staff, they are willing to do whatever it takes. For Essex, let’s say we have 20 students in our high school, we generate 140-thousand dollars. We cut them a check for a hundred thousand for teaching — it’s a win for them — they have no new expenses except for some travel,” Wells told the board. “And for Hamburg, financially we can make it, we can be solvent with the high school Over the next four years, the high school will grow.”

Wells says the agreement to have Hamburg students attend Sidney for high school forces them to do what Sidney wants them to do. Sidney Superintendent, Tim Hood, spoke out against the move, saying the state study shows it will not work financially. “The feasibility study is clear in its conclusion that Hamburg cannot support a high school. Plus, to complicate the issue, the Army Corps of Engineers is saying it’s going to be another grim spring for us in that area with flooding,” Hood says.

“After experiencing how things have gone with Hamburg students attending Sidney the past four years — we sincerely hope your decision today will allow our students to continue doing great things together.” Hood says taking the Hamburg students away from Sidney will end up impacting both schools financially and could lead to the end of both districts. “My final statement is please do not put both school districts in harms way when you do not have to,” Hood says.

Board member Mary Ellen Miller of Mason City says she supports small districts, but expressed concern about the possible financial ramifications of a Hamburg high school. “I supported this when they came a year ago — because I really felt that the community understood the risk. But now I am not so sure they do,” Miller says. She says the feasibility report helped her make up her mind.

“What I am hearing form all of this data is financially I just don’t see this being viable. And so, you’re putting at risk a school you already have. You have enough students to support — and you are putting that at huge risk,” Miller says. Board member Mike May of Spirit Lake is a former legislator. “I understand how we’ve struggled with issues of small schools for ever and ever, and all we seem to do is nibble at the edges. We don’t seem to be able to solve the problem. And I would guess that that’s probably going to be a problem we are going to be dealing with for years,” May says.

May said he worried about the plan on a couple of levels. “I am very much concerned about the viability of your plan — I think financially and instructionally,” according to May. “This will be a problem in succeeding years. And I think that if we do this now — as others have suggested — and end up in a situation where we have to dissolve the district, you are going to be very unhappy.”

The Hamburg Community School District operated as an independent district until 2011. Hamburg entered into a whole grade sharing agreement in 2011 with Farragut. Hamburg high school students attending Farragut — and middle school students from Farragut went to Hamburg. Hamburg began sending 9-12 students to Sidney after the dissolution of the Farragut district.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (The Gazette) — Officials in Iowa City have approved the construction of two 15-story residential towers near the University of Iowa campus. The City Council approved the buildings Tuesday night and granted special height bonuses that will allow the buildings to reach 15 stories.

The Gazette reports the buildings are on the southern fringe of downtown and the university campus. They would house 820 units and 1,575 beds. Opponents of the project had argued it was too large and could disrupt vacancy rates across Iowa City. Construction isn’t expected to begin for more than a year.

Sheriff’s deputies in Page County, Thursday, arrested 42-year old Jeffrey Wade Bartles, of rural Coin, on four Page County warrants for Probation Violations. Bond on those warrants amounts to $40,000.

Jeffrey Bartles

Bartles was arrested in the 300 block of North 15th Street in Clarinda, without incident. He was transported to the Page County Jail where he was being held pending further court proceedings.

(12-p.m. News) The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office reports a slow period of activity over the past week. On Sunday, 45-year old Reat Koang Panyuan, of Omaha, was arrested following a traffic stop by the Iowa State Patrol, in Shelby County. Panyuan was taken into custody on a valid Woodbury County warrant for Probation Violation. He was brought to the Shelby County Jail and processed, before being turned over to Woodbury County authorities.

And, 39-year old Bryan Christopher Heller, of Avoca, was arrested following a traffic stop at around 10-p.m., Saturday (Feb. 15th). Upon further investigation, Heller was taken into custody for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was released a short time later after posting a $300 cash bond.