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With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A western Iowa mother who posted comments about her bullied son possibly shooting up a school has been given a year of probation. Omaha television station KETV says Teri Pallat made a plea deal that includes community service. In December Pallat was arrested after posting a message on her Facebook page that talked about why “people shoot up schools.”

Pallat told the station that she regretted her comments but was only trying to draw attention to the bullying of her son, Collin, at Lewis Central High School in Council Bluffs. The school principal denied there was a problem.

Collin now attends another school, but he says he still gets bullied by Lewis Central students on social media.

A district court judge in Council Bluffs says the trial for a physician accused of sexual abuse will stay in Pottawattamie County. The Omaha World-Herald reports Judge Richard Davidson  denied a motion by prosecutors to move the trial of Dr. Dennis Jones outside Council Bluffs. Earlier this month the Iowa Attorney General’s Office requested a change of venue in the case of Jones, a pediatrician accused of sexual abuse of a 5-year-old girl.

The A-G’s office said in court documents, that it would be hard to find a fair or impartial jury due to extensive media coverage and Jones’ 35 years as a doctor in the Pottawattamie County.  Judge Davidson rejected that argument in a court document filed last week.

Jones’ trial is scheduled to begin on Tuesday (May 65th). If convicted on the charge of second-degree sexual abuse, a Class B felony, he faces up to 50 years in prison.

A Special Education teacher at the Underwood Middle School has entered a plea of not guilty to charges of Pharmacy Prohibited Acts. The Omaha World-Herald reports 34-year old Samantha Telleen appeared in Pottawattamie County District Court on Monday. Telleen is accused of using stolen prescription pads to obtain pain medication. If convicted of the nine counts against her, the woman faces up to 90 years in prison and a maximum $90,000 fine.

Charges were dropped on April 4th against Telleen’s husband Heath, who teaches at the Underwood High School. Assistant Pottawattamie County Attorney Shelly Sedlak said an investigation revealed that Samantha Telleen, not her husband, took prescription pads from Underwood Family Practice.

Prosecutors say Samantha Telleen was given the key to the building last year to check mail and faxes while the owners were away.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Some live just a stone’s throw away from each other, but how much people have to pay for basically the same health insurance policies varies widely across the banks of the Missouri River.
For the platinum level, Iowa border counties had higher average premiums, but Bailey noted that the silver and gold plans under the Affordable Care Act are the most common by far – and also the most important for low- and middle-income families.

Bailey said the differences in premiums can be attributed largely to the Medicaid expansion option under the Affordable Care Act. Nebraska has not expanded its program, while Iowa has decided to cover more of the working poor. That difference changes each state’s pool of people eligible for the marketplace.

“So now in Nebraska, you’ve included those lower-income – and on average, sicker – people in the pool, whereas in Iowa you now have taken them out of the pool and put them in their own program.”

In the last two legislative sessions, there have been efforts to expand Nebraska’s Medicaid program similarly to those in Iowa, but filibusters have kept the measure from getting to the Senate floor for a vote.

(Iowa News Service)

A legislator who’s been pushing to raise the state gas tax made a passionate pitch on the topic Tuesday night, but the top Republican in the House used his authority to table the idea. Representative Josh Byrnes, a Republican from Osage, expressed his frustration during a speech on the House floor.  “You know I hear a lot of: ‘Now’s not the right time,'” Byrnes said. “…I guess I’m curious to know — when is the right time? Are we going to circle a date on the calendar next session and say: ‘That’s the day’?”

The state fuel tax hasn’t been hiked since 1989. Byrnes and other supporters say Iowa’s roads and bridges, especially in rural areas, are crumbling because the state’s road fund is woefully short to meet current demands.  “I’d like to know. When is the right time? Is the right time going to be a reaction?” Byrnes asked. “Is it going to be when we have something fall through a bridge and we have a failure or a death, God forbid?” Byrnes, who is chairman of the House Transportation Committee, could not get enough votes in his committee this year to pass a bill that would have raised the state fuel tax by a dime.

Byrnes crafted an alternative that called for lowering the state tax to 16 cents per gallon, but charging a five percent tax on retail fuel sales.  “The reason that we will not move a fuel tax this session is ’cause we’re in a re-election year and I think that’s disappointing,” Byrnes said. “I think it’s disappointing to Iowans. I think we’re letting Iowans down.” Republican House Speaker Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha has often said over the past two years that Iowans aren’t asking him to raise the gas tax. Last night (Tuesday) Paulsen ruled the gas tax was not within the scope of the bill being debated. That meant the proposal from Byrnes was tabled and no vote was taken on his amendment.

(Radio Iowa)

State health officials have spent the last month working to raise awareness about the dangers of binge drinking. April is Alcohol Awareness Month. Julie Hibben, Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator at the Iowa Department of Public Health, says there are a few different definitions for what constitutes “binge” drinking. “The source we tend to site is four or more drinks for a woman and five or more for a man. That’s in one setting or occasion,” Hibben says. In recent years, there’s been a decline in the percentage of Iowa teenagers who drink alcohol. However, Hibben says too many teens are still putting their health at risk.

“According to our Iowa Youth Survey data, 21-percent of 11th-grade boys and 18-percent of 11th-grade girls reported they binge drank in the last 30 days,” Hibben says. Studies show that youth who drink alcohol are more likely to use other drugs, experience higher absences from school, and have poor or failing grades, according to Hibben. She’s encouraging parents to talk with their children about the dangers of alcohol. Hibben says many adults may need to change their habits if they hope to lead by example.

“Iowa is one of seven states in the nation with the highest rates of adults who binge drink,” Hibben says.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa man accused of placing hidden video recording devices in a girls’ school bathroom has pleaded not guilty to charges. Twenty-nine-year-old Ian Dishon is charged with sexual exploitation of a child and producing child pornography. Isabel is a former coordinator for an after-school program at Hayes Elementary School in Davenport.

CLARION, Iowa (AP) — Officials in the northern Iowa city of Clarion say they’ve stopped the discharge of untreated wastewater into a nearby creek. The state Department of Natural Resources says Clarion officials replaced a pump Monday. The city’s wastewater treatment system began discharging Sunday after one of two pumps failed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A scaled-back bill defining elder abuse for the first time in Iowa has been approved by the Senate and House. Both chambers gave unanimous support for the measure Tuesday after it came through a conference committee. It now goes to Gov. Terry Branstad. The bill provides a definition of elder abuse, identifies the elder population as anyone aged 60 or older, and creates a process for elders to obtain protective orders in instances of abuse.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A nearly $1.9 billion health and human services budget bill has been approved by the Legislature and sent to Gov. Terry Branstad without a provision to reopen the Iowa Juvenile Home, effectively ending Democrats’ attempts this session to reopen the facility closed by Branstad in January. Before its doors closed, the Iowa Juvenile Home in Toledo housed some of Iowa’s most troubled girls.