DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa is tweaking its new state-funded family planning program that excludes abortion providers like Planned Parenthood by restoring some eligibility to a large hospital system that performs abortions in some cases. UnityPoint Health could soon participate again in the family planning program under a budget bill passed this month. It needs approval from Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds.
UnityPoint performs abortions in cases where a fetus is not expected to be viable. After Iowa Republicans passed legislation to launch a state-funded family planning program last July, UnityPoint representatives argued some of its health care providers should still participate in the program because those stand-alone facilities don’t perform abortions.

Republican Sen. Mark Costello says the change comes because some within his caucus initially believed the new law wouldn’t impact UnityPoint affiliates. State documents show Republican lawmakers were warned last spring it would. Planned Parenthood says it’s all legislative backpedaling that highlights GOP lawmakers’ intention to defund its organization.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Officials say the clinic serving veterans in Dubuque will be moved from Mercy Medical Center to a former Kmart store. The owners of the Plaza 20 center said Thursday that construction will begin immediately to transform part of the former retail space. The store closed in spring 2017. The Department of Veterans Affairs clinic is expected to offer X-rays, audiology, mental health and physical therapy services and a primary care team. It will have more than four times the space of the hospital-based clinic.

Clinic manager Ann Fessler says it serves about 5,000 veterans a year from seven counties that are home to an estimated 25,000 veterans. Fessler says the number served annually is going up.

Atlantic, IA – Officials with the Cass County Health System report Jessica Jackson, Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner, Certified Nurse Practitioner,  will present on “The Mind/Body Connection” at the next session of Healthy U, scheduled for noon on May 17th at Cass County Health System. Jackson says “Your mind can have a really profound effect on your overall health. And vice versa. When you are dealing with illness, it can take a toll on your mental well being.”

Jessica Jackson, ARNP, FNP-C

Jackson has worked as a family nurse practitioner at the Atlantic Medical Cente,r since March 2017. She provides the full scope of family medicine care for patients of all ages. Jessica grew up in Griswold and has worked at Cass County Memorial Hospital previously as a nurse. She received her Family Nurse Practitioner master’s degree from Frontier Nursing University. She is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and Iowa Nurse Practitioner Society.

Healthy U is a free educational lunch series at Cass County Health System held monthly in Conference Room 2. The public is invited and welcome to attend, but reservations are required as lunch is provided for all attendees. Call 712-243-7479 to reserve your seat.

CLARKSVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a boy died after an accidental shooting in northeastern Iowa. Butler County Sheriff Jason Johnson says in a news release that the shooting was reported around 4:45 p.m. Thursday in rural Clarksville. Officers and medics sent to the scene found three people, all under 18. The names of the boy, the others involved and how the shooting occurred have not been released. The shooting is being investigated.

Officials with the Creston Police Department said today (Friday), that a man residing in the 300 block of N. Division Street in Creston, reported late Thursday morning, that someone had broken out the back window of his vehicle. The incident happened while the vehicle was parked in a parking lot overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning. The damage was estimated at $300.

(7-a.m. News)

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS

PLYMOUTH, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a man killed in northern Iowa after a train struck a chemical sprayer being towed by the tractor he was driving. The accident occurred around 8 a.m. Tuesday at a spot northeast of Plymouth, in Worth County. The Iowa State Patrol says 59-year-old Brian Nack didn’t stop the tractor at a rail crossing that’s marked by a crossing sign and a stop sign. The train hit the sprayer and dragged it and the tractor several yards. Nack died after being ejected. The patrol says he lived in Grafton.

Davenport police say child abuse caused the death of a five-year-old boy. A family member says JaShawn Bussell had numerous injuries and died Tuesday after being taken off of life support in Iowa City. She says the boy was beaten to death. Police are looking for 26-year-old Tre Henderson, the live-in boyfriend of JaShawn’s mother. A police affidavit says the little boy was not taken in for medical attention for four days in spite of signs that something was wrong.

(Radio Iowa)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Cedar Rapids police say a man died after a car rolled over him. Officers and medics were sent to the accident site around 6 p.m. Thursday. They found the man trapped under the car in a driveway. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police say there was no one in the car when it rolled. The man’s name and other details haven’t been released.

In these pictures, students in the after school STEM class discuss and begin work on a container that will hopefully allow their single potato chip to be mailed and arrive in one piece. (Ric Hanson/photos) [Click on each image to enlarge]

MS Science Teacher Kara Martin (right) explains the rules to students before they begin working on their shipping containers.

Advanced students with the Atlantic Middle School are involved in an after school STEM Excellence and Leadership Program. Stem stands for Science Technology Engineering and Math. The program, which is fairly new to Iowa, offers science tutoring to support 6^th through 8^th grade, gifted science and math students, in some of the state’s smallest communities. The program is funded through a two-million dollar National Science Foundation grant, and is administered by the University of Iowa College of Education’s Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development. About a dozen or so students are involved in the Atlantic Middle School Program. School Principal Josh Rasmussen said the after school program expands on an industrial technology program the school had going prior to the grant.

He says the program offers valuable lessons in critical thinking.

Kara Martin is the Middle School Science Teacher who has assigned the STEM students a project that challenges their organizational, cooperative and creative capabilities.

Students have an hour to design and test a package to safely ship a single potato chip through the USPS to another school. Upon receipt, the chip will be evaluated and scored. The goal is to engineer a package to have the smallest mass and volume, while at the same time protecting the chip. The package can be no larger than 3×5″, and there must be no writing on the package, such as fragile, or handle with care. A perfect chips scores 100 points, slightly damaged 50 pts, split chip 10 pts, major damage 5 points, dust 1 pt. Overall scores = Intactness score/(mass in kg x volume in cc).,

Andrea Reilly is the Middle School Talented and Gifted Program Coordinator. She says the grant provided by the UI Belkin Center allowed some of the eighth-grade students the opportunity to take field trips to witness real world applications of STEM. 

One of the students tasked with shipping the single potato chip in hopes it will come back in one piece, is 6^th grader Mary McCurdy, the daughter of John and Ann McCurdy, of Atlantic, who says she is really enjoying the experience.

Mary talked about what she hopes to learn from the experiment, outside the engineering principals.

Mary McCurdy talks w/reporters about the STEM experiment & experience. MS Science Teacher Kara Martin is in the background.

In addition to Atlantic, the STEM Excellence and Leadership Program, involves students with the: Adel DeSoto Minburn Middle School; Cardinal Middle School; Davis County Middle School; Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont Junior/Senior High School; Ford Dodge Middle School; Graettinger-Terril Middle School; Mount Pleasant Community Middle School; Spencer Middle School, and the Starmont Middle School.