(Radio Iowa) — Iowans who have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act are being reassured their policies are still valid, despite a federal judge’s ruling in Texas that parts of the A-C-A are unconstitutional. Jordan Rasmussen, policy manager at the Center for Rural Affairs, says the mid-December ruling raises concerns, but insurance coverage will continue after January 1st while the case moves forward.

“If you enrolled through the ACA and have insurance, those policies will remain in force,” Rasmussen says. “Also, beyond the ACA and those that acquire insurance through their employer, those protections remain in place. If you’re 26 and can remain on your parents’ insurance, those things will continue to remain because there’s an appeal process that will take place.” Rasmussen says it’s challenging for many farmers to get affordable health insurance and the A-C-A has provided coverage to many who couldn’t get it before.

“There have been a lot of folks who have acquired insurance through the ACA that didn’t previously,” Rasmussen says. “If you look at the statistics, there are a lot of rural residents that have taken on insurance because of the ACA, because it’s more affordable, because it’s been made more accessible, it has improved.” The Center for Rural Affairs, based in Lyons, Nebraska, continues to back the A-C-A and supports any appeal that would be filed to keep it from being repealed.

“While we acknowledge there are imperfections within the program, the number of lives that have been saved, the number of people who have been able to access insurance that previously weren’t able to,” she says. “We have made great strides and this would be a significant step backward.” Rasmussen says it doesn’t make sense to throw out the A-C-A without a replacement.

A report from the Iowa Insurance Division says about one-point-six million Iowans take part in employer-based health insurance plans and another one-point-two million Iowans get benefits through Medicare and Medicaid. This year, about 107,000 Iowans purchased health insurance on their own, while about 39,000 Iowans remain in the individual ACA-compliant market.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — John C. Culver, a Democrat who represented Iowa in Congress during the Vietnam War era, has died at age 86. Culver’s death was confirmed by longtime friend Jim Larew, who said Culver died late Wednesday at his home near Washington after a long bout of chronic illness. Culver was a Cedar Rapids lawyer and former aide to Sen. Ted Kennedy when he was elected to the House in 1964. After a decade in the House, he was elected to an open Senate seat in 1974. He served one term before losing to Sen. Chuck Grassley in the 1980 election.

Culver is the father of former Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, who served from 2007 to 2011. After leaving public service, Culver practiced law and was involved with the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

Sheriff’s officials in Taylor County say no injuries were reported, after a tanker truck overturned about two-miles north of the Iowa/Missouri state line. The accident happened on Highway 148 at around 2:10-a.m., as a 2018 Peterbilt semi-tractor owner by Big Star Trucking out of Kansas City, MO., was traveling southbound. The rig experienced a mechanical issue that caused the headlights to shut-off.
The semi, driven by 65-year old Robert Tuffin, of Kansas City, MO., left the road and came to a stop, but the weight of the truck on the embankment caused the rig to tip over. The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by the Bedford Fire Department, Taylor County EMS, Missouri Highway Patrol, Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office, and Kizer Towing.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a man and woman from Pottawattamie County were arrested Wednesday, on drug charges. At around 10:05-a.m., 34-year old Mandolin Maree Blackbird, of Council Bluffs, was arrested following a traffic stop on Highway 34. She was taken into custody for a Controlled Substance Violation, Possession with the Intent to Deliver, and Possession of a Controlled Substance. Bond was set at $56,000.

And, just before Noon, Wednesday, 39-year old Shawn Paul Cook, of Council Bluffs, was arrested on Highway 34, for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $1,300.

Iowa State Extension and Outreach in Guthrie County has named their new Office Coordinator, Megan Van Houten, of Yale. Megan began her work as the Guthrie County Office Coordinator on December 19, 2018. As Office Coordinator, Megan will have the responsibility of managing the office in Guthrie County. Megan comes to the position with strong financial experience and excellent customer service skills. She will oversee the coordination of the day-to-day operations, bookkeeping, and assist in various program plans.

Megan Van Houten

ISU Extension and Outreach’s core purpose is to engage citizens through research-based education, accomplishing these goals by developing diverse and meaningful partnerships. Through these goals, Extension and Outreach is able to increase the ability of Iowans to make informed decisions by applying relevant, needs-driven resources. Please stop by the Guthrie County Extension Office at 212 State Street in Guthrie Center and welcome Megan to her new position. Feel free to contact her with any questions, as well as any suggestions you have.

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — A judge has rejected the city of Coralville’s request to build a new railroad crossing to accommodate future development near the Coral Ridge Mall. Administrative Law Judge Jonathan Gallagher sided with the Iowa Interstate Railroad, which opposed Coralville’s plan to establish the crossing near Lowe’s west of Coral Ridge Avenue. The city requested permission to build the crossing after negotiations with the railroad failed.

Coralville says the crossing would provide a second access point for emergency vehicles into land that’s expected to be developed commercially in the future. The railroad argued the plan would be challenging from an engineering perspective and that the city has several nearby crossings. In a Dec. 18 ruling, Gallagher says the city’s request to use eminent domain is premature. He says the city has no specific development plans or details on the infrastructure changes and costs that building a crossing would require.

A final reminder for those of you in the Griswold area: you have until Dec. 30^th to fill out an online Child Care Center Survey. (http:www.quia.com/sv/891022.html) Steve Baier, one of the organizers of the effort to get people participating in the survey, said families with young children in the Griswold area are being asked to fill-out the survey to gauge the need for child care. The initiative was made possible, thanks to a gift of $65,000 from the Noble Center Church, which is disbanding.

Those funds are being matched by Griswold Communications.

An Ad-Hoc committee was established to govern the project, which is expected to be run by a non-profit organization.

The survey may be answered anonymously, with names being optional. Baier says the information they’ve received so far from this survey and others, has been very useful.

He said about two-thirds of the respondants so far said they would use a non-profit run child care center, if it were offered. The deadline to fill-out the survey, which takes about 10-to 15-minutes, is December 30th. It asks you very basic questions, and some that are time-specific.

If you have questions or would like to complete a survey, but do not have internet access, call Steve or Barb Baier at 712-778-4452. The next step, after the results are compiled, is to find a facility to lease rather than build something new, with the hope of having ready by next summer, and a fee structure that would not be a burden on working families. In the meantime, organizers will be writing grant applications and looking for financial partners. They will also accept donations.