DES MOINES, Iowa — In an update to our previous report, Police in West Des Moines have identified a woman who was in the Polk County for allegedly stealing a police vehicle and leading officers on a chase. The incident happened back on July 25^th, when the woman, who police say was 30-year-old Nicole Suzanne Huffey, allegedly stole a West Des Moines squad car and led officers on a chase that ended in Altoona.

Police say they initially responded to a report of a woman with an apparent mental health concern. When police arrived, they found Huffey. The department says during the “chaos” of the initial contact, Huffey was able to get into a squad car and drive away.

Nicole S. Huffey (Polk County Jail photo)

Officers tracked the vehicle using a GPS locator and followed Huffey. They say she drove at speeds reaching up to 125 mph before stop sticks were used. Huffey was forcibly removed from the vehicle and handcuffed. According to authorities, she managed to remove a hand from the handcuffs and swing it toward an officer. She then proceeded to punch a second officer in the face.

Huffey was taken to the hospital for evaluation. She’s now charged with two-counts of assault on persons in certain occupations (1 with bodily injury), felony theft in the 1st degree, felony eluding, and felony criminal mischief in the 2nd degree.  Huffey was released from custody Wednesday afternoon.

(Radio Iowa) –  The official application for a state license to build and operate a casino in Cedar Rapids has been filed with the commission that oversees the state’s gambling industry. Peninsula Pacific Entertainment — which is owned by Churchill Downs — is the developer behind the proposed Cedar Crossing Casino and Entertainment Center. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission will review the plan for a 250-million dollar casino in Cedar Rapids on October 3rd, but will not vote on the project until February. Two previous attempts to secure a casino license for Cedar Rapids have failed.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett, Wednesday, reported on a “Mayor’s Design” workshop she attended last week in Ames, as part of a partnership with Iowa State University College of Design and ISU Extension and Outreach.

Garret was one of six mayors from communities across Iowa chosen to attend the workshop.

Mayor Garrett’s presentation to the ISU Team, she explained her research showed the Bull Creek Project in Atlantic has been a topic of discussion for many years.

Some of the other projects at the workshop, included a piece of ground one community wanted to know could be done with it to enhance the community. Each of the projects, Garrett said, were based around water, in some fashion.

The costs of the projects varied to the extent what they entail moving forward. In a brief Atlantic will receive from ISU following the workshop, the team will provide recommendations and possible resources that will help the City move forward, including access to ISU students who will assist in the process.

There may also be an opportunity, she said, to partnership for a project grant.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Rent across much of Iowa is still on the rise, according to a Washington Post report showing average rent prices across the country. The Washington Post analyzed data from CoStar Group, a provider of information and marketing services to the commercial property industry. Linn, Johnson and Black Hawk counties saw an increase of about 2-4 percent since last year.  However, rent in those counties are up between 13-17 percent since 2019.

Dubuque County saw rent rise 1.7 percent from 2023 and nearly 11 percent since 2019. Counties like Hardin, Poweshiek, and Winneshiek have seen some of the largest increases from a year ago, ranging from nearly six percent to more than eight percent. The survey found rent in Winneshiek County is up almost 99 percent from 2019.

Only Bremer, Sioux, and Webster Counties saw a decrease.

DES MOINES, Iowa [WHO-TV] — DMACC (Des Moines Area Community College) has received a $100,000 Legacy Grant from Prairie Meadows to help fund new DMACC Transportation Institute. DMACC is opening a new Transportation Institute in north Des Moines. It will allow the college to almost double the number of attendees and provide better learning opportunities for students.

The project involves the construction of a three-story inspection bay, 8,600-square-foot facility with classrooms, and student study spaces. The institute currently has a 12-acre concrete training course, which they will be able to repave. DMACC President Rob Denson says this wouldn’t be possible without their generous donors. In a time where Iowa desperately needs more truckers, Denson hopes that this program will allow more people to enter the program.

DMACC’s Transportation Institute is a comprehensive program which guides their students through learning theory, behind-the-wheel driving, and finally, helps them complete their Commerical Driver’s License (CDL). The project is already underway and due to be completed in 2025.

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled a planned appearance at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. The Des Moines Register reports he was set to speak at the Register’s Political Soapbox on Saturday afternoon. However, his campaign canceled the appearance, citing increased security concerns. No other details were provided. The cancellation comes after a gunman shot former President Donald Trump at a campaign event last month.Kennedy was one of ten candidates set to speak at this year’s Soapbox.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Despite stiff industry opposition to the Biden administration’s proposed new mandates for nursing home staffing, federal data shows many facilities already meet the new standards. In April, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published a new rule that over the next five years will establish additional requirements for staffing levels in nursing homes. As expected, the new rule touched off a firestorm of protests from industry officials who have claimed the requirements will drive care facilities into bankruptcy and from senior advocates who have asserted the new requirements are too weak to produce real change.

A recent analysis by KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation, shows that while only 19% of all nursing facilities nationwide currently meet all three of the rule’s new staffing minimums, almost 60% of the homes already meet the overall requirement of providing every resident with 3.48 hours of care each day. In Iowa, where care facilities are cited for insufficient staffing at a much higher rate than the national average, 54% of homes already meet the overall requirement of providing every resident with 3.48 hours of care each day.

The KFF analysis shows many Iowa homes currently meet the other new standards as well:

• 71% of the Iowa nursing homes now meet the requirement for .55 hours of care, per resident, per day, by a registered nurse.
• 39% of the Iowa homes now meet the requirement for 2.45 hours of care, per resident, per day, by a certified nurse aide.
• 32% of Iowa’s nursing homes meet all three of the new requirements – a significantly higher percentage than the national average of 19%.

The KFF study also shows that while only 11% of the nation’s for-profit facilities currently meet all requirements in the final rule, 41% of the nonprofit homes meet all of the standards – suggesting profit motives may be a factor in suppressing staffing levels. One finding in the study challenges the notion that rural facilities, which must draw from a smaller pool of available labor, will have a harder time meeting the new standards. The study shows that rural nursing homes are just as likely as urban facilities to meet the requirements – although the rule will give them much more time to come into compliance. In May, the Long-Term Care Community Coalition issued its own detailed report outlining the staffing levels at every Medicare-certified nursing home in the nation during the fourth quarter of 2023. The findings in that study are similar to those in the KFF report.

The coalition’s report indicated the Iowa homes with the lowest nurse staffing levels in the fourth quarter of 2023 were Arbor Springs of West Des Moines, Midlands Living Center of Council Bluffs, Linn Haven Rehab & Health Care of New Hampton, Pleasant Acres Care Center of Hull, Northbrook Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Cedar Rapids, Crest Haven Care Centre of Creston and Aspire of Perry. All of those homes reported less than 2.5 hours of total nursing care per resident, per day, according to the report.

A separate set of data published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicates that 14% of Iowa’s nursing facilities were cited for insufficient staffing in fiscal year 2023. That’s more than double the national average, which was 5.9%. The new staffing rule is expected to be phased in over time. The first phase calls for staffing assessments that take into account the needs of each resident, and that takes effect today (Thursday).

The second phase will require homes to have a registered nurse on duty 24 hours per day, seven days a week, and will ultimately require homes to provide an overall total of 3.48 hours of care, per resident, per day. This phase will take effect at urban facilities in May 2026, and at rural facilities in May 2027. Homes will be able to apply for a “hardship exemption” from the 24/7 registered-nurse requirement.

The third phase, which will require nursing homes to deliver a minimum of .55 hours of care, per resident, per day, by a registered nurse, and 2.45 hours of care each day by a certified nurse aide, will take effect at urban facilities in May 2027, and at rural facilities in May 2029.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Red Oak Police, Wednesday evening, arrested 33-year-old Matthew Lee Golden, of Red Oak. Golden faces charges that include one-count each of Domestic Assault Abuse, Criminal Mischief in the 3rd Degree, and Obstruction of Emergency Communications. He was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

(Woodbury County, Iowa) – A collision in western Iowa between Kingsley and Moville, Wednesday afternoon, resulted in two people  transported to a hospital in Sioux City. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the accident happened at around 12:45-p.m., at the intersection of Highway 140 and 11th Street, in Woodbury County.

The Patrol says a 2007 Lexus SUV driven by 31-year-old Deiler Reyes Pena, of Storm Lake, was traveling east on 110th Street, when Pena failed to yield from the stop  sign. The SUV struck the left side of a northbound 2018 GMC pickup, driven by 42-year-old Corey Lias, of Sioux City.

A northbound 1999 Peterbilt semi driven by 72-year-old Steven French, of Moville, was traveling behind the pickup. The semi struck the left side of the Lexus.

Deiler Reyes Pena, and a passenger in the SUV, 29-year-old Yanisleydis Perez Hechavarria, of Storm Lake, suffered serious injuries in the crash and transported by ambulance to MercyOne Hospital in Sioux City.