United Group Insurance

Cass Health Receives Performance Leadership Awards for both Quality and Patient Outcomes

News

December 14th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

ATLANTIC, IOWA – Officials with Cass Health have announced CCHS has been recognized with two 2023 Performance Leadership Awards for excellence in both Quality and Patient Outcomes. Compiled by the Chartis Center for Rural Health, the Performance Leadership Awards honor top quartile performance (i.e., 75th percentile or above) among rural hospitals.

“For seven consecutive years, Cass Health has achieved these two awards. It’s particularly meaningful to us to be recognized for excellence in the areas of quality and positive patient outcomes. What better to be known for than quality and outcomes in healthcare? As a rural hospital, we are deeply connected to this community and our patients—many of whom are neighbors, family, or friends. We strive to do our very best for every patient, every time, and awards like this reflect how we truly care for each individual and their improved health,” noted Brett Altman, CEO.

The Performance Leadership Awards are based on the results of the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX®, the industry’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural hospital performance. INDEX data is relied upon by rural hospitals, health systems with rural footprints, hospital associations and state offices of rural health around the country to measure and monitor performance across several areas impacting hospital operations and finance.

“Wherever we go in rural America, we witness first-hand the commitment, determination, and compassion with which rural hospitals serve their communities. Rural healthcare truly is mission-driven,” said Michael Topchik, National Leader, The Chartis Center for Rural Health. “Let us recognize the efforts of this year’s Performance Leadership Award winners and all those driven to deliver high quality care throughout rural communities.”

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Exira-EHK Basketball is looking to work after two game skid

Sports

December 14th, 2023 by Asa Lucas

The (4-2) Exira-EHK Spartans started the year off strong winning their first four games and have recently found themselves on a two-game losing skid. Their two losses were to IKM-Manning 87-64 and Coon Rapids-Bayard 59-52. Exira-EHK Head Coach Tony Santistaben notes that a part of those two losses was his team not being fully locked in throughout the game.

Two bright spots so far in the early season for the Spartans have been the offensive play from seniors Cash Emgarten and Aiden Flathers. Emgarten has understood his role of being able to score to keep Exira-EHK in the game. Emgarten is the leading scorer for the Spartans with 88 and continues to earn credit from Coach Santistaben.

Another player that stands out and contributes in big ways to the Spartan offense is senior Aiden Flathers. Flathers averages over 50 percent from behind the arc, leads the team in assists with 23, and is second in scoring. Coach Santistaben shared how Flathers is one of those players that does not shy away from putting in the work.

Exira-EHK has a good chance to end their modest losing streak Friday night when they go on the road to face the (2-5) West Harrison Hawkeyes. Coach Santistaben knows that if the Spartans continue to persevere and work hard. They will have no problem getting back to their winning ways.

KJAN will have the coverage Friday night beginning with the girl’s game on the double header. The pregame show begins at 5:50 p.m.

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Iowa State men prepare to host Florida A@M

Sports

December 14th, 2023 by admin

Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger says jugggling finals, the holidays and basketball is a key this time of year. The Cyclones are 8-2 and return from final exams on Sunday by hosting Florida A@M.

Otzelberger says it is his job to keep the players focused.

Otzelberger says there can be a lot of distractions this time of year.

Posted in Sports |

Iowa State Announces 2024 Softball Schedule

Sports

December 14th, 2023 by admin

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State and coach Jamie Pinkerton have announced the 2024 Cyclone softball schedule. The Cyclones are scheduled to host 19 home games, their most home contests since 2016.

The schedule features four early season tournaments, with the Cyclones traveling to Mexico, Las Vegas, Virginia and Colorado before beginning Big 12 play on March 8. ISU will have five home weekend series as well as four home midweeks, highlighted by the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series on April 16.

The Cyclones will play eight teams who qualified for the NCAA Regionals last season, facing both Duke and Washington in Mexico before Long Beach State in Vegas. The remaining five schools – Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor Texas and UCF – are on the Big 12 schedule.

Iowa State will open the season with 23 consecutive games away from the Cyclone Softball Complex, with 19 contests coming from tournaments. After tournament play ends, Iowa State will open the Big 12 slate on the road at defending national champion Oklahoma before facing Tulsa on the way back to Ames.

A midweek trip to Kansas City on March 20 is sandwiched between home weekend series against Houston and Texas Tech. After back-to-back weekends at the CSC, Iowa State will head to Waco for a trio of matchups against Baylor, with action beginning on Thursday to accommodate the Easter holiday.

After returning from Texas, the Cyclones will face five straight opponents at home, beginning with UNI on April 2. Kansas then visits Ames for the weekend before the DePaul Blue Demons come to town for a midweek matchup. College World Series qualifier Oklahoma State follows DePaul for a weekend series before Iowa caps the homestand with the Cy-Hawk game on April 16.

Iowa State then heads to Big 12 newcomer BYU and will play Utah Valley a second time – the two teams will meet in Mexico – before leaving Utah. A home midweek match against St. Thomas leads into a road trip to Austin for a matchup with the Longhorns to close the month of April.

May begins with a trip to Des Moines to face Drake before the regular season concludes at the Cyclone Sports Complex as ISU will welcome Big 12 newcomer and regional qualifier UCF to Ames.

Big 12 Tournament play starts on May 8 in Oklahoma City.

Posted in Sports |

Hawkeyes Announce 2024 Schedule

Sports

December 14th, 2023 by admin

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa head softball coach Renee Gillispie released details of the Hawkeyes’ 52-game regular season schedule on Wednesday. The Hawkeye’s 2024 slate features 14 games at Bob Pearl Field. Iowa will begin its season at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida, from Feb. 9-11. The Hawkeyes are set to host Wisconsin in their home opener on Friday March 22.

SCHEDULE NOTES 

— The Hawkeyes will travel to the Florida for the first three weekends of the season. They open in Clearwater (Feb. 9-11), the following weekend they will be in Leesburg for The Spring Games (Feb. 16-18) and close out at the UNF-JU Invitational in Jacksonville (Feb. 23-25).

— Iowa will travel to California for an 11-game spring break trip Mar. 8-16. They will travel to San Jose, Santa Clara, Stanford, Moraga and Sacramento.

— The Hawkeyes host Wisconsin (March 22-24), Michigan State (March 29-31), Indiana (April 19-21) and Minnesota (April 26-28) in league play and travel for road conference series at Purdue (April 5-7), Michigan (April 12-14), Nebraska (April 23) and Illinois (May 3-5).

— Iowa hosts two nonconference games at Bob Pearl Field. They welcome Drake on April 2 and Illinois State on April 30.

— The Hawkeyes hit the road for midweek game at Iowa State on April 16.

— Iowa will host the Big Ten Tournament at Bob Pearl Field, from May 8-11. The top eight teams in the Big Ten regular season standings qualify for the single-elimination tournament. This is the first time that Iowa has hosted the conference tournament since 2003.

— The Hawkeyes will face 10 teams that were 2023 NCAA Tournament participants, including Stanford who advanced to the Women’s College World Series.

Iowa is coming off of a 2023 season where they won 35 games and captured the National Invitational Softball Championship title. The Hawkeyes have 26 student-athletes on their roster with nine newcomers. They return Big Ten All-Freshman selection Jalen Adams in the circle.

Posted in Sports |

DeJean, Taylor Unanimous Consensus All-America

Sports

December 14th, 2023 by admin

IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa junior Cooper DeJean, and senior Tory Taylor are 2023 unanimous consensus All-Americans after being voted to the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-America First Team. The announcement was made on Thursday by the AFCA.

In addition, senior lineback Jay Higgins was recognized as a second-team All-America honoree by the AFCA. DeJean and Taylor are unanimous consensus All-Americans after each being recognized as first-team All-America by Walter Camp, FWAA, Associated Press, AFCA and Sporting News. Iowa now has 31 consensus All-Americans in program history, including 16 in the Kirk Ferentz era.

DeJean was one of top defensive players in the nation before going down with a season-ending injury on Nov. 15. The Odebolt, Iowa, native finished the season with 41 tackles, two TFL, two interceptions and five pass break-ups in 10 games. DeJean did not allow a touchdown pass in 388 snaps in coverage in 2023. As a punt returner, DeJean was one of the nation’s best. He had a 70-yard punt return for a game-winning score against Michigan State and he had a second touchdown return for the game-winning score negated because of an “invalid fair catch signal” against Minnesota. DeJean is second in the Big Ten and ranks 14th nationally, averaging 11.5 yards per return.

DeJean was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe and Bronko Nagurski awards and a semifinalist for the Lott IMPACT Trophy. He was previously named the Tatum-Woodson Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year and the Rodgers-Dwight Big Ten Return Specialist of the Year last month. DeJean was also a first-team all-conference honoree by the Associated Press and league coaches and media.

Taylor, the 2023 Ray Guy Punter of the Year, broke Iowa’s single season punting yardage record for a third consecutive season. He has an NCAA-best 86 punts for 4,119 yards with his 47.9 average leading the Big Ten and ranking third nationally. Thirty-six of his punts have traveled 50+ yards (six punts of 60+), 27 have been fair caught, 30 have been downed inside the 20, 11 inside the 10 and six inside the 5. The Australia native only has six touchbacks and opponents average just 8.8 yards per return. He has 288 punts for 13,297 yards — both school records — and his 46.2 career average will break Jason Baker’s mark come season’s end.

Taylor (46.2) will finish his collegiate career breaking the NCAA’s career punting average record; currently held by Baylor’s Daniel Sepulveda (42.5). Taylor, who is a two-time FWAA first-team All-America, has averaged 40 or more yards (min. four punts) in an NCAA-best 42 career games. He was named the Eddleman-Fields Big Ten Punter of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media last month.

Higgins has been a tackling machine for Iowa’s defense, racking up 155 tackles — the most in the Big Ten, the third-most nationally (most by a Power 5 player) and the fourth-most in a single season in school history. The Indianapolis native has led the team in tackles in 11 of 13 games with two 15+ tackle games and nine games with 10 or more stops. He has been a leader on an Iowa defense that is fourth nationally, allowing 13.2 points per game.

Higgins was previously recognized as first-team All-America by FWAA and Sports Illustrated, and a second team selection by the AP, Walter Camp, Sporting News and CBS. He is also a first-team All-Big Ten honoree by the AP and league coaches and media.

The No. 17 Hawkeyes will play No. 21 Tennessee on Jan. 1, 2024, in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. The game will start at 12:06 (CT) and will be televised on ABC.

Posted in Sports |

Iowa Lottery trending ahead of last year’s record sales

News

December 14th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Lottery is on a pace to surpass the record for sales set last year. Lottery C-E-O Matt Strawn detailed the numbers through November today (Thursday) for the Lottery Board. “Two-hundred-14 million, 532-thousand-943 dollars. That represents a five-point-one-four percent year over year increase in sales,” Strawn says. The record for sales in the last fiscal year was 481-point-five million dollars. He says the proceeds to the state are also on a pace to beat last year’s record. “The lottery proceeds through November, again the first five months of fiscal ’24, proceeds of 49-million-416-thousand-943 dollars. This represents a three-point-one percent year over year increase in proceeds,” Strawn says.

The record for proceeds set in the last fiscal year was a little more than 108 million dollars. Lottery retailers are also looking at another record for commissions. “Retail partners did earn a record 31-point-three million in sales commissions during the last fiscal year, and then turning to this year through November, fiscal year ’24. Sales commissions paid to retailers exceed that pace and five-point-seven percent year over year,” Strawn says.

The increase in sales is due in part to large lotto jackpots. There’s also been an impact from the economy, including increase in scratch ticket sales as gas prices have come down.

Posted in News |

Iowa’s U.S. House delegation votes for Biden impeachment inquiry

News

December 14th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The four Republicans who represent Iowa in the U-S House have voted to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Second district Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion says there are credible allegations that may connect Biden to his son Hunter’s business dealings. “We have been able to trace through numerous shell companies many of the transactions that funnel dollars directly from the Chinese Communist Party through the Biden family,” Hinson says. “That to me is significant, in terms of following the money.” Hinson says the impeachment inquiry gives the House Judiciary Committee a stronger legal position as it seeks access to some materials.

“It makes it so that we can actually force compliance with our subpoenas and it’s our solemn duty to get the facts the American people,” Hinson says, “especially as the White House continues to stonewall congressional oversight.” Third district Congressman Zach Nunn of Bondurant says the inquiry gives congress the power to effectively conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. “I think anybody right now would say there are a lot of questions when it comes to the president’s actions,” Nunn says. “When we look back at just what’s been presented to us through public information, we know that the president has received money from his son, Hunter Biden, in situations that absolutely bear greater scrutiny.” Nunn says he went to congress to hold D-C politicians accountable and the inquiry will show whether the president’s conduct merits impeachment.

“I’m going to be impartial on this going forward, but I want to make sure that congress and the American people have the facts presented to them,” Nunn says, “and simply burying our heads in the sand here is the simply the same kind of soft on crime, defund the police kind of attitude that has made other communities less safe.” Fourth district Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull says Biden has been uncooperative and evasive with congressional committees and the impeachment inquiry brings congress one step closer to uncovering the facts about the Biden family’s foreign business dealings. First district Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks says she was proud to support the impeachment inquiry, which she says it the next necessary step in the methodical process Republicans have taken to investigating the president.

Biden says Republicans are choosing to waste time on a baseless political stunt rather than focusing on the urgent work that congress needs to get done.

Posted in News |

Grassley says new college financial aid forms may hurt farm families

News

December 14th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is criticizing the U-S Department of Education for delays in releasing the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Grassley, a Republican, says bureaucrats at the ed department have failed to offer clear guidance to students, families and universities on how to navigate the application form, which he says could impact access to aid for many thousands of students, while also penalizing farm families. “Farmers may, because of inflation of land prices, may have a lot of wealth, but they may not have the income to send their kids to school,” Grassley says, “and particularly if they’ve got more than one kid in college, then maybe they won’t qualify for Pell Grants and guaranteed student loans.”

Grassley says the redesigned FAFSA was supposed to streamline the federal financial aid process and help one-and-a-half million more students, including over 13-thousand-500 Iowans, to access the maximum Pell Grant award. The new FAFSA was made possible through bipartisan legislation Congress passed in 2020. He says that was three years ago and we’re still waiting. “This is an effort to socialize aid to colleges for the first time since the 1960s. We can’t penalize small business and farmers because they might have a lot of wealth,” Grassley says. “You’ve got to base it on the income because if the families don’t have an income, then their kids aren’t going to go to school.”

Federal education officials announced earlier this month the new FAFSA would be available by December 31st, but Grassley says they neglected to specify a date and warned of processing delays in the coming months, escalating uncertainty for students and their families.  “Usually that’s done by October 1st and so it’s going to take these colleges a long time to get on top of it,” Grassley says, “and so you aren’t going to be able to know whether you’re going to be able to afford to go to college just because of the slowness of the bureaucracy.”

Grassley is calling on the department to focus on implementing the simplified FAFSA process, rather than transferring student loan debt to the taxpayers.

Posted in News |

Creston woman arrested on a Ringgold County felony warrant

News

December 14th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Mount Ayr, Iowa) – The Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office reports a Union County woman was arrested at around 12:30-a.m. Saturday (Dec. 9), on a Ringgold County warrant related to drug charges. Authorities say 26-year-old Makayla Ann Dewees, of Creston, was picked-up in Ankeny on a felony the warrant charging her with a Controlled Substance Violation, and Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp. She was transported from the Polk County Jail to the Ringgold County Jail, where bond was set at $30,000. Her preliminary hearing was set for Dec. 29th.

Makayla Ann Dewees

*Any potential criminal charges identified above are merely allegations and any defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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