(Radio Iowa) — A proposal approved by the Iowa House would direct a state agency to investigate whether prescription drug industry middlemen are overcharging Iowa’s Medicaid program. Representative John Forbes, Democrat from Urbandale, is a pharmacist. He says the State of Ohio found these pharmacy benefit managers — or P-B-Ms — overcharged that state’s Medicaid program by more than 200-million dollars.

“There is a need for more transparency within the PBM industry and I think the state of Iowa with doing this is taking a lead across the country in making sure that the PBM industry’s not taking advantage of people here in the state of Iowa,” Forbes said. Representative Joel Fry, a Republican from Osceola, says Forbes has unearthed concerning data from Ohio’s experience with prescription benefit managers.

“We look forward to the opportunity to make sure that the payments that he is suggesting are off, that we understand those better and figure out if we need to do something for oversight,” Fry says. The proposal passed the House unanimously. It’s included a larger bill that outlined spending for five state agencies.

A separate bill that cleared the Senate this week calls for an annual report on the fees prescription drug benefit managers charge the state’s Medicaid program. That bill also seeks an accounting to determine if the prescription drug managers pass along all the savings from the rebates offered by manufacturers of prescription medications.

(Radio Iowa) — A 400-million dollar spending plan for one state agency has gotten final approval in the legislature and is headed to the governor for approval. All the money for the Iowa Department of Transportation’s next budgeting year comes from the state’s tax on motor fuels. The House and Senate have approved hiring eight new D-O-T employees who will be based in central Iowa.

Representative Gary Mohr of Bettendorf, the Republican in charge of shepherding the D-O-T’s budget through the House, says “We are establishing, as more people move to the western suburbs of the Des Moines metropolitan area, a new drivers license location in Dallas County.” As Radio Iowa reported earlier this week, the D-O-T’s budget plan includes nearly nine-million dollars extra to restock the road maintenance sheds where salt is stored for NEXT winter.

“Our choice is either use more salt or drive on icy roads,” Mohr says. “I think all of us as legislators, on behalf of the people of Iowa, would prefer to have salt so we’re not driving on ice.” Lawmakers have also approved a 27-million dollar plan to consolidate five D-O-T facilities in the Sioux City area into one location.

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

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A power spring storm system raking the Midwest has left thousands without power in northern Iowa and damaged some homes and businesses. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that nearly 19,000 Alliant Energy customers were without power by midday Thursday in the area, including the communities in and around Brit, Garner, Forest City, Mason City and Northwood. Heavy rain, hail and high winds gusting to 60 mph pummeled the area Wednesday night into Thursday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Johnston woman has been charged two months after a child at her home day care was found unresponsive and later died. The Des Moines Register reports that 47-year-old Trina Mazza was charged Thursday with one count of child endangerment causing death and one count of operating a day care center without a license. She has pleaded not guilty.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris says she owns a gun and called it a “false choice” that the only two gun control options are complete, unrestricted access or a desire to seize everyone’s guns. The California senator revealed after an Iowa campaign event that she is a gun owner. She says, “I own a gun for probably the reason that a lot of people do: for personal safety.” She says she supports “smart gun-safety laws,” such as universal background checks and assault weapon bans.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Iowa and Nebraska transportation officials said Thursday that they’re hoping to have nearly all roads and bridges that were damaged by last month’s flooding repaired by midsummer, but that a wet spring could hamper their efforts. Iowa Department of Transportation Director Mark Lowe and his Nebraska counterpart, Kyle Schneweis, held a joint news conference Thursday in Council Bluffs to update the public on damage in their states and how long it might take to repair.

DES MOINES – Gov. Kim Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg announced Thursday that $2.9 million in Catalyst Grant funding will be awarded to 29 communities across the state. The recipients were recognized during a special ceremony Thursday night at a Rural Summit in Grinnell.

Among the communities receiving an award, was the City of Coon Rapids, which plans to use its Catalyst funding to transform a former seed company building downtown. The community of 1,200 suffered a setback when the business moved out of town, leaving a half-block of vacant property in its wake. New training space for an industrial biotech company and upper story rentals in the space will restore community pride and provide fresh hope for workforce growth.

The Community Catalyst program was initiated in 2018 by the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) to help create fundamental, positive change in Iowa’s downtowns. The grants, $100,000 per community, assist with the redevelopment or rehabilitation of buildings to stimulate economic growth and reinvestment.

The community of Slater, which is home to 1,489 residents, will use its Catalyst grant to revitalize a main street building that has been vacant for 20 years. The future renovated property already has a potential buyer in a tech company that is proposing to add 25 new well-paid jobs. The project is expected to not only improve appearances downtown, but also generate excitement that high-tech is happening in small towns too.

Of the 29 communities awarded during the 2019 application round, 16 have populations of fewer than 1,500. Program rules require at least 40 percent of funds be awarded to cities with fewer than 1,500 people. The Catalyst Grants are awarded annually based on funding availability. IEDA awarded $1.8 million in grants to 18 cities in 2018. Emergency Catalyst grants have also been awarded to the communities of Anamosa, Vinton and Marshalltown since the program’s inception.

For more information on the Community Catalyst program, visit iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/community/catalyst or contact Jim Thompson at 515.348.6183 or catalyst@iowaeda.com.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris says she owns a gun and called it a “false choice” that the only two gun control options are complete, unrestricted access or a desire to seize everyone’s guns.

The senator from California told reporters after a campaign event in Iowa that she is a gun owner. She says, “I own a gun for probably the reason that a lot of people do: for personal safety.”

The 2020 White House hopeful says that Americans “are being offered a false choice, which suggests you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away.” She says she supports “smart gun-safety laws,” such as universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons.

Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle said Thursday, that Presidential hopeful Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–NY) will be at the Atlantic campus of Iowa Western Community College on Thursday, April 18th.

Doors will open at 4:05 PM with Senator Gillibrand delivering remarks and conversing with caucus-goers from 4:20 PM until about 5:20 PM. Prior to the event, she will tour IWCC. “Conversations with Kirsten” will focus on the topics of education and national public service.

Senator Gillbrand is the junior senator from New York. She was born and raised in upstate New York, where she, her husband, and their two sons still reside. Prior to being elected to the US Senate, she served as a law clerk and as a lawyer in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton administration. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2006 and was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2009, where she has since won reelection twice.

Her campaign would appreciate an RSVP from those who plan to attend the event. You can do so by going to https://www.mobilize.us/kirstengillibrand/event/90257/ Of course, you can attend without signing in but the numbers will determine in what room the event will take place.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested a woman this (Thursday) afternoon on an arson charge. 19-year old Jessice Lynn Dickerson, of rural Emerson, was arrested at around 2-p.m. for Arson in the 1st Degree, following an investigation into fires set in a restroom trash can and in the stairwell of the Stanton Viking Center at around 9:45-a.m. (Thursday) morning. Red Oak Fire and the State Fire Marshals Office assisted in the investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The latest Census of Agriculture shows the number of farms and ranches in the U.S. has fallen but the remaining operations are larger and are responsible for a higher percentage of agricultural sales.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the 2017 Census of Agriculture on Thursday, marking the 29th release of the report since the government began collecting the data in 1840. Since 1982, it has been released every five years.

The census shows there were 2.04 million farms and ranches in 2017, down 3.2 percent from 2012. The average size of those operations was 441 acres, an increase of 1.6 percent.

About 75 percent of all sales came from only 105,453 of those farms, down more than 14,000 from 2012. The average age of producers was 57.5.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Iowa and Nebraska transportation officials said Thursday that they’re hoping to have nearly all roads and bridges that were damaged by last month’s flooding repaired by midsummer, but that a wet spring could hamper their efforts.

Iowa Department of Transportation Director Mark Lowe and his Nebraska counterpart, Kyle Schneweis, held a joint news conference in Council Bluffs to update the public on the damage in their states and how long it might take to repair.

In Iowa, the damage is concentrated in the west along Interstate 29 and the Missouri River. “The work to get traffic moving again has been nonstop,” Lowe said. “We have people who don’t know what day it is anymore because they’ve been working day and night.”

Lowe said many repairs have been made and some roads have been opened along the interstate north of Council Bluffs, which is just across the river from Omaha, Nebraska. The damage is heavier farther south, where twin bridges along the interstate south of Nebraska City and north of Hamburg, Iowa, were heavily damaged. The state hopes to have traffic moving in that area again by June.

“The complicating factor is that the flooding threat is not over,” he said. “Because of damage to the levee system, we will have to balance how future flooding might affect repair efforts.”

There were 50 levee breaks along the Missouri River during March flooding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday. Several of them span more than a football field in length, and at least one near the Missouri state line on the Iowa side stretches 1,140 feet. Crews are working to repair those levees, but the Corps has been unable to begin repairs on some areas — mostly in southwestern Iowa — that are still underwater.

Weather experts say this spring could bring major flooding for much of the U.S, as the ground in the Midwest and South is already saturated and northern snowmelt is expected to be significant. The extent of the flooding will largely depend on how much rain falls over the next few months. Thursday’s news conference was held as the second “bomb cyclone ” in as many months dropped heavy snow from Colorado to Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota.

In all, Iowa had nearly 50 miles along the I-29 corridor that are damaged, nearly half of that categorized as severe. Lowe said damage estimates are between $70 million to $90 million. Officials were hoping the latest big storm wouldn’t exacerbate flooding along already swollen rivers.

An attempt to stop a vehicle in Adair County this (Thursday) morning, resulted in a pursuit that ended near Massena. Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports he attempted a traffic stop in Bridgewater at around 9:40-a.m. The male driver, later identified as 36 year old Daniel Floyd Edwards of Tingley, failed to yield to the emergency lights and tried to elude law enforcement.

The high speed pursuit that followed lasted for the next 41 minutes, traveling mostly on rock and level “B” low maintenance roadways.  The pursuit exited Adair County, initially entering Cass County.

The pursuit continued south into Adams County, came back into Adair County and then entered into Cass County once again.  Tire deflation devices were deployed and contributed to a successful end to the pursuit approximately 2.5 miles southeast of Massena. Edwards was arrested on multiple, outstanding arrest warrant issued out of Adams County and a Parole Violation arrest warrant issued out of Ringgold County. Charges relating to the pursuit are pending.

The Adair County Sheriff was assisted by the Iowa State Patrol, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa DNR-Law Enforcement, the office of the State Fire Marshal, and the Fontanelle Police Department.