(Radio Iowa) – A House committee has approved a plan to hike the pay for providing in-home care for Iowans with disabilities. The move comes as a federal review is expected to call for moving residents with disabilities out of state institutions in Glenwood and Woodward — and into home and community-based settings. Republican Representative Joel Fry of Osceola says the House G-O-P budget plan sets aside more than 14-and-a-half million dollars for that effort.

“I’m hopeful that that shows a genuine intent on the legislature to the federal government that we are serious about getting individuals into the communities well cared for,” Fry says, “and making sure the services exist in the communities for them.”

Representative John Forbes, a Democrat from Urbandale, says under this plan, it appears direct care workers could be paid about three dollars an hour more. “It gets them up in the $16, maybe $17 an hour range in some cases,” Forbes says.

But while Forbes and other Democrats say they support the pay increase for direct care workers, but they voted against the more than two billion dollar budget plan for the state’s public health and human services agencies. Democrats object to a COVID-related proposal added to the budget bill. It would let Iowa doctors prescribe a medication primarily used to treat parasites as an experimental treatment for patients on a ventilator or who are terminally ill.

Some Republican legislators say they’ve heard from family members who tried unsuccessfully to get ivermectin for loved ones hospitalized with COVID. A recent study found early use of the drug by high risk hospital patients with COVID did not stop them from being seriously ill.

(Radio Iowa) – The executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Monte Shaw, says it appears more people are turning to ethanol-blended fuels to save money. He says just about anyone can use blends like E-15. “Ninety-five, 98 percent of the cars on the road could buy E-15. And if you have access to it — you might as well get the extra point of octane — that’s why they call it unleaded 88 — and you can get it at the lower price,” Shaw says. “And if you are like me flex-fuel vehicle, E-85 is really the way to go.”

He says E-85 vehicles will often have a yellow gas cap or sticker on the window that says they can use the 85 percent ethanol-gas mix. The E-10 mix is the one most used in cars right now. Shaw says retailers have different pricing for the ethanol blends. “At different stations, there are sometimes five and ten cents differences in what the discounts are. So, it probably pays to check out some price signs when you are diving between, work, school, home, wherever it is you go,” Shaw says.

He says you will find more options for different mixes of ethanol-blended gas in the larger cities. “We only have about 300 stations out of about 22-hundred that offer the E-85, and I think there’s about 250 stations out of the 22-hundred that offer E-15,” according to Shaw. “So we are working on that, in fact, there’s a bill in the legislature that would make sure that many, many, many more Iowans get access to that as a choice.”

Shaw says there’s a tool to help you find the stations on their website at: iowarfa.org. “You just go under fueling your vehicle, there’s a tab at the top. It has information on what blend does work in your car, and then it has the E-15 sites and the E-85sites, you can search it and everything,” he says.

Shaw says you can also check the owner’s manual of your car and it will tell you what type of fuel works in your car or truck.

(Radio Iowa) – The number of female officers in the U.S. military has quadrupled since the turn of the century. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst retired from the Iowa National Guard in 2015 at the rank of lieutenant colonel, but when she joined the military in the early 1990s, women were not allowed to serve in combat roles. “Through the Army Reserves and then later on in the Iowa Army National Guard there were very few women engaged in the military,” Ernst says.

By 2003, Ernst was the commander of a transportation unit that deployed to Kuwait and she says 12 percent of the unit’s soldiers were women. “That company that I commanded was originally an all-male unit,” Ernst says. “So when I was just coming into the armory where we were located in Red Oak, Iowa, quite literally the women didn’t even have their own locker room. Their bathroom was built into a broom closet underneath the stairs.”

Linda Upmeyer, Joni Ernst during forum.

The latest data shows about 16 percent of Iowa National Guard members are women. The senator’s daughter is enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy and Ernst says 25 percent of the West Point cadets are women. Ernst made her comments today (Monday) during an online forum hosted by the Iowa G-O-P to mark the end of women’s history month.

Officials with Cass Health in Atlantic have announced that Kacey Peterson, MS, LMHC of the Cass Health Senior Life Solutions program, has received the 2021 Therapist of the Year award.

Cass Health’s Senior Life Solution program is managed by Psychiatric Medical Care (PMC), which partners with more than 100 facilities nationwide to provide behavioral healthcare management services. Top performing employees and Senior Life Solutions programs from around the country are recognized annually based on their excellence in demonstrating the program’s values of care, compliance, and community. Award recipients demonstrate outstanding patient care, excellent comprehension and execution of compliance regulations, and strong community engagement.

Kacey Peterson, MS, LMHC

Cass Health’s Senior Life Solutions program recipient, Kacey Peterson, MS, LMHC, said “It is such an honor to be recognized by PMC in this way, and the fact this award comes on the heels of being named the 2020 One Track Program of the Year makes it all the more incredible. Senior citizens remain one of the most vulnerable and underserved populations in our country today, and I am so grateful for the support of Cass Health and the amazing team I work with for the opportunity to serve in this capacity.”

Cass Health’s Senior Life Solutions is a program designed to meet the unique needs of individuals typically 65 and older experiencing depression and/or anxiety related to life changes that are often associated with aging. Cass Health’s Senior Life Solutions program staff includes a board-certified psychiatrist, a licensed therapist, a registered nurse, and other trained professionals to ensure each patient receives the best possible care.

Families, friends, community members, physicians, self-referrals, or other health professionals can refer people to the program. For more information, education, or if you would like to discuss support, please call 712-250-8100.

(Radio Iowa) – A father and son from Iowa are back in the state after a medical mission to war-torn Ukraine. Charlie Becker, of Monticello, says he and his son Dr. Chad Becker, of Ankeny, took off a week ago with 200 pounds of medical supplies. “We came on Monday and we left on Thursday so it was a very short time because a couple of our objectives didn’t work out,” Becker says. “Our main thing is we got in with medical supplies and with food and other things — mission accomplished.”

Chad Becker works as an Emergency Room doctor in hospitals in Des Moines and Grinnell and he was in contact with a hospital official in Ukraine as to what items were most needed. Their first stop was in Poland and Charlie Becker offered praises for the Polish people for the way they’ve taken in Ukrainians fleeing the war. “They were able to absorb more than two-million people and you saw no signs of it whatsoever,” he says. “There were no people in the streets or people begging or people doing anything. They just absorbed these people and took them in like they were family.”

There is more information on how you can help those in Ukraine on Chad Becker’s Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/chad.becker.9022

(Guthrie Center, Iowa.) – Election officials in Guthrie County have released the names of candidates who have filed for the June 7th Primary Election….

Supervisor District 1

Clifford Carney – Republican

Jerome J.D. Kuster – Republican

Jack Lloyd – Republican

Jacki Sloss – Democrat

Supervisor District 2

Clinton Deardorff – Republican

Brian Johnson – Republican

Supervisor District 3

Maggie Armstrong – Republican

William Halling – Republican

Tom Flanery – Democrat

Supervisor District 4

JT Herron – Republican

Steve Smith – Republican

Michael Herbert – Democrat

Treasurer

Brenda Campbell – Republican

Recorder

Tristen Richard – Republican

Attorney

John A. Maschman – Democrat