Officials with the Cass County Health System (CCHS) remind area residents that the Atlantic Medical Center and the satellite clinics in Anita, Griswold, and Massena will be closed for Thanksgiving. The Atlantic Medical Center will be open on Friday, however, the satellite clinics will remain closed until Monday, the 27th.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa City man charged with sexually assaulting numerous students and employees on the University of Iowa campus has taken a plea deal. Court records say 34-year-old Adam Weinstein entered an Alford plea Tuesday to assault with intent to commit injury and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse. In an Alford plea, a person doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a likely conviction.

Prosecutors dropped several other charges in exchange for Weinstein’s pleas. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 12. Police say Weinstein sexually assaulted, groped and harassed at least eight women on the campus during a 15-hour period on Nov. 10, 2015. Police say the incidents took place at the university hospital, near residence halls and the law school.

A New Vienna native who has been the state’s drug czar has been appointed by Governor Kim Reynolds to take over as the executive director for the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs. Steve Lukan replaces Jodi Tymeson who announced her retirement last month. “I am very excited for the opportunity, we have a great team here and I’m looking forward to helping veterans here in Iowa and to working with people and hopefully we can do some good things,” Lukan says.

Lukan is a veteran who joined the U-S Navy after graduating from Dyersville Beckman High School. He served four years, earning four promotions and obtaining the rank of Petty Officer Second Class. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal and Navy Achievement Medal. Lukan says appreciation for the military has always been important to him and his family. “I’ve come from several generations where we’ve all served in the military and extended family has served in the military,” Lukan says. “I think it’s just a wonderful opportunity to help those people who have served out country, and I like to think of them as some of the finest men and women out there, and I’m just thankful for the opportunity to do it.”

While serving as a state representative for Delaware and Dubuque counties, Lukan championed the creation of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and enacted legislation to help disabled veterans through the establishment of the Veterans Trust Fund. Lukan says he is looking into proposing a few changes to some of the existing laws, but wants to get settled in to his new position before releasing details.

(Radio Iowa)

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

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LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have charged a northwest Iowa man with forgery and insurance fraud totaling nearly $29,000. Court records say 39-year-old Scott Leininger is scheduled to be in court Dec. 4. He didn’t immediately return a call Wednesday at a number listed for him in Le Mars.

Authorities say Leininger submitted false paperwork to back his claim to Homesite Insurance for damage he said his disability equipment sustained during a lightning storm. Court documents say the company discovered that the paperwork was bogus and didn’t pay the claim.

Iowa Congressman Rod Blum voted for the tax package that cleared the U.S. House last week. However, Blum is hoping senators make at least two big changes in the bill. Under the House plan, the wind production tax credit would be reduced. “Keep those incentives in the tax code because Iowa is a leader nationwide. I think a third of our electricity is generated by the wind here in Iowa, which is great,” Blum says. “I’ve talked to MidAmerican Energy and Alliant Energy and, obviously, they’re concerned.”

Blum, a Republican from Dubuque, says federal tax credits for renovating historic properties should be maintained as well. “Here in Dubuque, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, a lot of the warehouse districts that are being rehabilitated –these old buildings — just wouldn’t be economically feasible if it wasn’t for the historic tax credit,” Blum says, “Because we just can’t charge high enough rents in towns in Iowa to make these projects cash-flow out for the developers.”

The credit is currently worth 20 percent of the cost of fixing up a dilapidated property. “And it pays for itself,” Blum says. “Rutgers University did a study showing that tax credit returns more money to the treasury than it costs.”  Blum says “most deductions had to go” though in order to get a bill that reduces rates and simplifies the tax-filing process.

(Radio Iowa)

The head of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the state park system is “heavily used” and D-N-R director Chuck Gipp says it’s time for lawmakers to consider raising fees to boost the D-N-R’s budget for outdoor recreation. “The visitation and use of state parks is growing immensely,” Gipp says. “State park usage has changed. People no just longer want to have a sleeping bag they throw on hte ground. They want to have a cabin or they want updated equipment so they can pull in with their ‘fifth-wheel’ (recreational vehicle). Well, in order to allow that to happen, you have to have electrical upgrades.”

Nearly 340-thousand overnight guests have checked into state park facilities so far this year. Gipp wants new authority to set different prices for camping spaces and cabin rentals based on demand. That means he could raise rental rates during high-demand periods, like holiday weekends, or reduce park camping fees during slow periods to attract more visitors. “We’re not trying to price ourself out because no motel rents rooms if they’re overpriced,” Gipp says. “We want to have heads in beds, but we also have to have the flexibility to get the dollars necessary.”

Under existing law, Gipp’s agency must go through a lengthy process to establish rules that limit rental rates for camp sites, R-V hook-ups and cabin rentals within the state park system. There’s a growing reliance on fees to run the D-N-R, since the agency’s allocation of GENERAL state tax dollars is half of what it was a decade ago. “We know what drives the budget in Iowa,” Gipp says. “It’s education and it’s Medicaid and health care, so the rest of the people, the entities, make the sacrifices we can, do the reorganization that we have, but I think it’s important to note.”

Gipp’s department manages 68 state parks and recreation areas along with four state forests and 600 miles of trails for hiking, biking, snowmobiling and horseback riding. “For the initiative of ‘Let’s have a healthier Iowa,’ that’s incredibly important,” Gipp says. In addition to the fees WITHIN the state parks, state fees for hunting, fishing and trapping licenses haven’t been raised for 14 years. The Iowa House overwhelmingly voted in April to give Gipp’s agency the authority to raise those fees. The proposal is eligible for consideration in the Iowa Senate in 2018. The money raised from THOSE fees is reserved to improve habitat and pay conservation officer salaries.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:12 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than a third of patients in Iowa’s privatized Medicaid program will be unable to switch into one of two remaining insurance companies as originally announced because the company doesn’t have the capacity to add more people. The Iowa Department of Human Services made the announcement Tuesday. It means UnitedHealthcare will keep about 215,000 patients being sent to it after a third company, AmeriHealth Caritas, said it was leaving the program over failed negotiations regarding money.

KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors want to move out of Lee County the trial of a boarding school owner on sex abuse and other charges. A motion filed Friday in Lee County South District Court cited pretrial publicity in seeking a new location for the trial of Ben Trane. He’s pleaded not guilty. Investigators allege Trane used his position at the for-profit Midwest Academy in Keokuk to pursue sexual relationships with teenage students.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Top Iowa Senate Republicans announced Tuesday they will release a document related to an internal investigation into alleged sexual harassment in their caucus, following pressure from within the party to provide findings. Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix says he will provide, by the end of the week, an “internal review document” related to the investigation. The shift came on the same day he announced a former GOP state lawmaker will advise their Senate office on “workplace culture.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say five more people from the Dubuque area have pleaded guilty to participation in a phone call scam. The five entered the wire fraud pleas in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Prosecutors say the scheme consisted of phone calls to elderly people across the country, telling victims that relatives were jailed and that money should be wired to free them. Earlier this year five other people pleaded guilty to similar or related charges.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — City officials in western Iowa are moving forward with an ordinance that would require massage therapy businesses to obtain a license through the city and undergo annual reviews.

The Sioux City Council unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance designed to fight prostitution, human trafficking and drug dealing on Monday. The Sioux City Journal reports that the proposal follows the Iowa Legislature’s removal of a state code that forbid cities from regulating massage businesses.

Businesses would be required to submit identification and information on their employees. Licenses could be withheld based on background checks into any owners, managers, employees or business agents. The city would prosecute violations as a misdemeanor.

City officials have agreed to work with local massage therapists to finalize the drafted regulation and gather feedback.