The Creston Police Department reports a resident of the 300 block of North Walnut Street, in Creston, told authorities on Monday, that sometime between 11-p.m. Sunday and 8-a.m. Monday, someone stole her push lawnmower from outside of her residence. The mower was valued at $50.

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

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ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say an inmate head-butted a guard at the Anamosa State Penitentiary in eastern Iowa. The attack occurred around 6:40 p.m. Sunday. The Iowa Corrections Department says the inmate also bit one of the officer’s forearms. Other officers soon restrained the inmate. The guard was assessed and returned to duty, but later he was taken to the Jones Regional Medical Center in Anamosa, where he was diagnosed with a concussion. The names of those involved have not been released.

Complaints about state prisons and county jails continue to be at the top of the list for the State Ombudsman Kristie Hirschman. She says from 2016 to 2017 those complaints increased by 24 percent — and she believes it’s a problem that has more to do with mental illness than laws. Hirschman says Bill Angrick the long-time Ombudsman that first brought her into the office first identified the trouble. “He was touting before he retired seven or eight years ago that the prisons and jails are becoming the warehouse for the mentally ill. And I haven’t seen anything that’s changed,” she says.

Hirschman says recent studies confirm the problem. She says the statistics show more than 60 percent of the women in prison have some type of mental illness, while 40 percent or higher of men also have some type of mental health diagnoses. Her conversations with state and local corrections officials confirm this, as she says they attributed many of the problems that arise to mentally ill inmates who are unwilling or unable to abide by rules and accept decisions. Hirschman says the law the governor recently signed to try and get more help for those with mental health issues is a good thing. “I do think it is a big step in the right direction,” Hirschman says. “As with any program, I do think it has to have adequate funding in order for it to be successful.”

Hirschman says another observation she’s made is that prisons and jails are simply understaffed — and says her office has substantiated complaints about inadequate staffing levels at several jails and at least one of the state’s prisons. Hirschman says in her annual report that “inadequate funding and resources may foretell a horror story in the making” when it comes to problems in jails and prisons. She also says funding problems are not unique to prisons and jails as they received complaints last year about delays in autopsies, egregious hold times on the telephone, prolonged decisions on applications, lack of road repairs, a discontinuation of nursing-home visits, and antiquated computer systems, because of a lack of resources. Hirschman encourages Iowans to continue reporting issues with state government and agencies. “If they are unhappy with their city, if they are unhappy with their county, if they are unhappy any aspect of state government. We can look at whether things are not only illegal — but whether the action of the agency was unreasonable, arbitrary or capricious or unfair,” according to Hirschman.

She says they do not look at actions of the governor, legislature or supreme court. And she says it is important that you are sure to exhaust all avenues of trying to work out an issue before you contact here office as they will not take up a complaint if other remedies are still available to you. “We do make exceptions for issues that appear really egregious — or emergent health and safety issues,” Hirschman says.  Hirschman’s annual report is available online at the Ombudsman’s website. The report highlights some of the key complaints and cases they worked on in 2017.

(Radio Iowa)

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Waterloo firefighters have rescued a man who was in a boat that capsized in the ice-cold Cedar River. Firefighters were called to the river a little before 1:15 p.m. Monday to help two people who’d been in the boat. Battalion Chief Troy Luck says the boat hit some rocks and soon filled with water on the west end of Sans Souci Island.

One of the boaters made it to land, but firefighters in a department boat pulled the other from the river and took him to the ramp near the Waterloo Boat House. One of the two was taken to a Waterloo hospital. The boaters’ names haven’t been released.

(Update 5:40-a.m. – Interstate 80 from the I-80/680 split south to Council Bluffs, and I-680 are completely covered with ice. Highway 11 from I-80 north to Earling, Hwy 30 from I-29 to Dunlap, I-29 from the 680 split north, to Little Sioux, are all completely ice covered.)

Interstate 80 from just east of Atlantic westward to near the I-680 split, is partially covered with ice this morning. The Cass County Sheriff’s Department advises motorists to be aware of the slippery conditions, especially on bridges and overpasses, or other, untreated surfaces. Highway 59 from Harlan to Henderson, Highway 6 from near the Lewis turn to I-80, Highway 83 from Highway 59 to Marne, and other roads in southwest Iowa are also partially ice covered this morning, due to freezing mist and drizzle.

DRIVE WITH CAUTION! The latest road report can be found at 511ia.org, or by calling 511.

Officers with the Red Oak Police Department, with assistance from Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies, arrested 20-year old Austin Michael Shupe, at around 7-p.m., Monday. Shupe, who is from Red Oak, was taken into custody for Driving While Suspended, with eight withdrawals in effect. He was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a little more than $566 bond.

Atlantic was experiencing patchy drizzle and freezing drizzle early this morning. Sleet and freezing drizzle is possible through 5-a.m., with little or no snow/sleet accumulation expected. Be careful on the sidewalks, bridges and overpasses, where the concrete or pavement is less likely to be affected by the surface temperature. Roads in parts of southwest Iowa were reported to be partially covered with ice, as of 3:25-a.m., including: Highways 34 and 2, west of Highway 59, Highway 275, and the I-29 corridor from Council Bluffs to the Missouri border.

The latest forecast calls for rain, snow, and sleet likely before 11am, then rain and snow likely between 11am and 1pm, then areas of drizzle and snow after 1pm. Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, cloudy & windy, with a high near 36. Winds will be northwest at 10-to 15mph, increasing to 25 this afternoon, with gusts as high as 40 mph. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa House has voted to limit liability for bars and restaurants accused of over-serving a drunk customer. However — unlike the Republican-led Senate — House members have voted to let juries award an unlimited amount of money for “substantial or permanent” damages from a drunk driving accident, like the victim’s death or significant medical bills. Otherwise, “non-economic” damages when bars or restaurants are accused of over-serving a customer would be limited to 250-thousand dollars. Representative Brian Best, a Republican from Glidden, was given the task of managing the bill and he was the only supporter who spoke during debate.

“If someone drives down the road and they’re texting and they t-bone another car or cause an accident that causes a lot of property damage, we never go back on the cell phone company. We don’t go back on where they bought the cell phone.” Representative Clel Baudler, a Republican from Greenfield who’s a retired state trooper, voted against the bill. Baudler says current law works and doesn’t need to be changed.

“I’ve seen so much drunken death on the highways in 32 years as a trooper that I don’t think this is going to do anything to reduce drunk driving,” Baudler said. “Might even make it easier for drunk driving.” Representative Marti Anderson, a Democrat from Des Moines, is the former chief of the state’s Crime Victim Assistance Bureau. A couple Anderson counseled after their five-year-old girl playing in her own front yard was killed by a drunk driver spent well over 150-thousand dollars on counseling and her funeral.

“The grief and loss by her parents was profound,” Anderson said. “…The liability level for these cases should be determined by the courts based on the specific facts for each case.” Best says “bad actors” will still have to pay, but Best says liquor liability insurance for bars and restaurants — called “dram shop” insurance — is a century-old concept that needs to be updated.

“I don’t believe that bars intentionally over serve,” Best said. “I think there’s many times when, I know from personal experience, bar owners will call a spouse or take the person home themselves if they’ve had too much to drink.” The bill passed the House on a 61to 36 vote. It goes back to the Senate, which must consider changes made to the bill in the House.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 2:20 a.m. CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — First, the United States imposed a tax on Chinese steel and aluminum. Then, China counterpunched Monday with tariffs on a host of U.S. products, including apples, pork and ginseng. On Wall Street, the stock market buckled on the prospect of an all-out trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. But it hasn’t come to that _ not yet, anyway.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed into law legislation that will allow people to buy a cheaper form of health insurance that skirts Affordable Care Act rules. The Republican governor said at a bill signing Monday that the law will provide relief for Iowans experiencing increases to their health insurance premiums. The law will allow Iowa’s farm bureau organization to partner with a designated insurance company to offer so-called health plans that technically aren’t defined as insurance.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state court judge has set a hearing to consider whether former Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett was legally tossed off the primary ballot to challenge Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. Corbett filed a lawsuit in Polk County court challenging a state elections panel which rejected his ballot petition last week.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An independent state agency says the number of complaints related to Iowa’s privatized Medicaid program more than doubled in 2017. The Iowa Office of Ombudsman says in an annual report released Monday that its department received more than 225 complaints last year related to private insurance companies that run the state’s Medicaid health program for the poor and disabled. That’s more than double from the nearly 85 related complaints lodged in 2016.