BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped an assault charge filed against an Iowa man more than 20 years ago. Forty-one-year-old Dawarn Moncrief turned up as a passenger in a car stopped Aug. 30 in Burlington for an illegal license plate. He was arrested on drug charges unrelated to the June 27, 1998, stabbing of another man in Burlington.

The Hawk Eye reports that prosecutor Justin Stonerook told the court in a filing last week that many of the witnesses have died or moved away and can’t be found, making it impossible to prove the assault charge.
Moncrief is awaiting trial later this month on new assault charges and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 4 on convictions for the drug possession charges filed after his Aug. 30 arrest.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County report 33-year old David Wallace White, of Treynor, was arrested at around 6:30-p.m. Wednesday, following a traffic stop. White was arrested on a charge of Driving While Barred. And, at around 12-a.m. today (Thursday), 36-year old Frederick James Driscoll, Jr., of Council Bluffs, was arrested in Pott. County, following a traffic stop for speeding 57 mph in a 35 mph zone. Authorities say Driscoll displayed signs of being impaired, and was taken into custody for OWI/2nd offense, and Driving While Revoked.

(Radio Iowa) — A University of Iowa study finds rural hospitals that use tele-medicine in their emergency rooms save money and find it easier to recruit new physicians. The study’s author is Marcia Ward, a professor of health management and policy in the U-I College of Public Health. Ward says tele-medicine technology is advancing quickly through the use of high-definition cameras and the latest critical communications gear. “There’s a red button on the wall and even if the nurses know an ambulance is arriving, they’ll hit that red button,” Ward says, “and within a matter of a minute or two, they’re connected to a specialist, an emergency department specialist.”

U-I researchers analyzed data from 19 rural hospitals in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Avera Health hub-and-spoke network. The “spoke” hospitals were located in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. The experts at the “hub” who are tapped to help in emergency room settings weren’t in some other region of the country, they’re part of the local network and they’ve visited the hospitals in person. “They know the staff by name, they have ongoing communication and education with them and they know what’s in the storage cabinets,” Ward says. “So, they’ll say, ‘Okay, please, start a drip and that’s in Drawer #3, pull out the whatever,’ and they’ll guide them through it.”

Ward says many rural hospitals can’t staff their E-Rs with doctors who are trained in emergency medicine, so the use of tele-medicine can be an enormous plus and a literal lifesaver. “Imagine a scenario where there’s a car accident and there’s several people injured in the middle of the night,” Ward says. “In a small hospital, it’s going to be a family physician who may rarely see really severe injuries.” The U-I report found hospitals that switched to tele-E-R services found it easier to recruit new physicians because they could offer a better work-life balance, since the doctor wouldn’t have to cover an E-R shift. Ward says the model gives doctors more downtime, reducing burnout and increasing retention. Some rural residents — the patients — are hesitant to adapt to tele-medicine, she says, at least until they need it. “People love the convenience. Once they try it out, it feels comfortable to them,” Ward says. “Overwhelmingly, 90-plus percent of patients say once they get used to it, yes, they like it. There’s a lot of research that shows for certain uses, they like it more than in person.”

The report finds rural hospitals which switched to tele-medicine to back-up their E-Rs saved an average of $117,000 a year in health care provider costs. Also, rural hospitals that continued to staff their E-Rs with on-site or on-call physicians saw an average increase of $138,000 in annual provider compensation costs. The study was published in the December issue of the journal Health Affairs.

Two men were arrested on separate charges in Creston, Wednesday. Creston Police say 54-year old Robbie Dohrn, of Creston, was arrested at around 9:30-p.m. on a Clarke County warrant for Failure to Comply with a Court Order. Dohrn was released to the custody of Clarke County Deputies. And, at around 4:35-p.m., 29-year old Eric Shinn, of Creston, was arrested on two Union County warrants for Failure to Appear on a Reckless Driving charge, and Failure to appear on a Harassment in the 3rd Degree charge, along with Disorderly conduct. Shinn was being held in the Union County Jail on a $900 bond.

Officials with the Iowa DOT report Audubon, Bedford and Treynor are three of 10 Iowa communities that have been selected to participate in the Iowa’s Living Roadways Community Visioning program in 2018. The award-winning program integrates technical landscape planning and design techniques with sustainable community action to assist community leaders and volunteers in making sound and meaningful decisions about the local landscape. The other 2019 visioning communities includeCoggon, Durant, Hinton, Royal, Sumner, Van Meter and Walcott.

Since 1996, 255 Iowa communities have benefited from the Community Visioning program. To qualify for the program, a community must have a population of fewer than 10,000 residents, existing transportation-related issues and a committee of volunteers willing to dedicate their time and talents to the visioning process.

The Community Visioning program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation in partnership with Iowa State University Landscape Architecture Extension and Trees Forever, an Iowa-based nonprofit focused on planting trees and native plants. In addition, professional landscape architects offer expertise in creating conceptual design plans for the communities.