Sheriff’s officials in Union County report 30-year old Kenneth Lyle Williams, of Creston, was arrested 9-p.m. March 13th at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Williams was arrested on a Department of Corrections warrant for violation of parole. He was transported to prison. And, at around 8:15-a.m. Tuesday, 33-year old Justin Levi Brown, of Clearfield, was arrested on High & Dry Road in Union County, for driving while barred. Brown was later released from the Union County Jail on $2,000 bond.

The Glenwood Police Department reports 21-year old Jacob Wilson, of Glenwood, was arrested Wednesday, on OWI/1st offense, and Possession of a Controlled Substance, charges, following an accident that happened at around 7:30-p.m.  Authorities say a 1993 Chevy SIlverado pickup driven by Wilson, hopped a curb at Coolidge and South Elm Streets in Glenwood. The pickup struck a house at 911 Coolidge, damaging the house and its foundation. Wilson, and his passenger, both told police the accident happened due to malfunctioning brakes, but there was no evidence at the scene to indicate attempted to brake for the accident happened. Wilson was cited for failure to maintain control, and arrested for OWI. No injuries were reported. Wilson was being held in the Mills County Jail on a $2,000 cash or surety bond. The house sustained about $5,000 damage. Damage to the pickup was estimated at $2,500, and a street sign that was struck by the truck sustained about $150 damage.

And, an accident last Saturday night in the Glenwood High School parking lot caused a total of $4,000 damage. Glenwood Police say an investigation revealed 16-year old Lanie Marie Brule, of Malvern, backed into a parked 1996 Chevy Suburban, after an incident in the parking lot led her to step on the accelerator too hard while she was backing up a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am. The event unfolded after Brule and her passenger  antagonized some Glenwood students, who, in-turn, antagonized them back. As Brule was attempting to leave the parking lot, her vehicle was blocked by another vehicle. Brule told Police several students told her to turn around and go the other way. As she tried backing-up, she stepped on the gas and ran into the Suburban, which was pushed up over the curb and struck the concrete base of a parking lot light pole. The driver of the Suburban was sitting in another vehicle several stalls away. No injuries were reported, and no citations were issued.

Administrators at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University must cut nearly 11 million dollars in spending between now and June 30th. Last (Wednesday) night, Republicans in the Iowa Senate sent the governor a package of state budget cuts to avoid a deficit caused by lower-than-expected state tax revenue. Democrats like Senator Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City railed against the cuts at the two public universities. “Despite the Regents only representing approximately seven percent of the state general fund this puts over 44 percent of tje proposed general cuts on the backs of Iowa State kids and kids that go to the University of Iowa,” Bolkcom said. Senator Rick Bertrand, a Republican from Sioux City, responded.

“Senator Bolkcom, doom and gloom,” Bertrand said. “…It’s the old playbook of, you know, you’re talking about scaring ’em. Iowans are smart enough to understand how it works down here.” Bertrand says with tax collections falling below expectations, lawmakers have to “reel back” the state budget. The budget-cutting package outlines nearly 25-million dollars in spending reductions to the universities as well as the Department of Human Services, courts, prisons and other state agencies. Another 10-million dollars in unspent economic development awards is being used to cover the state budget shortfall and create a “cushion” in the bottom line in case state taxes fall farther below predictions.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Senate has sent the governor a bill designed to address some of the fault lines in Iowa’s mental health care system. “This bill is really important…This is a transformative piece of legislation.” That’s Republican Senator Mark Chelgren of Ottumwa. The bill is the culmination of a lobbying effort by advocates and work by legislators who agree that the full array of treatment options aren’t available within the state for mentally ill Iowans. Senator Amanda Ragan, a Democrat from Mason City, says that’s an important change. “This is about serving people in the place they need to be served,” Ragan said. Governor Kim Reynolds tweeted her thanks to legislators for passing the bill. Reynolds says it’s a “strong step to improving compassionate care for all Iowans.”

Six “access centers” will be created around the state where health care professionals will assess patients in an acute mental health crisis — so those patients aren’t stuck waiting in a jail cell or an emergency room for hours or days before getting appropriate care. Senator Jeff Edler, a Republican from State Center, says a bipartisan coalition worked hard for months and months to develop this plan.”This is an issue where politics should not even be involved. We’re dealing with some of the most delicate needs that Iowans have,” Edler said. “…When we’re dealing with mental health, we need to lay politics aside and do what’s right for Iowans.” The bill cleared the Senate unanimously yesterday (Wednesday). It passed the House unanimously in February. Some Democrats have raised concerns that the money required to implement these changes might not materialize. Senator Chelgren predicts the legislature and the governor will follow through.

“This is something that I think we can all be very proud of,” Chelgren said, “and I don’t think anyone in this chamber would like to see that success fail because we failed to fund it correctly.” The plan has the support of groups ranging from the National Alliance on Mental Illness to the Iowa Sheriffs and Deputies Association. Advocates say there’s still a need to address gaps in the mental health care system for Iowa children and teenagers.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Magazine and broadcasting company Meredith plans to eliminate 1,000 jobs over the next 10 months as it integrates the operations of Time Inc., which it bought six weeks ago. Meredith CEO Tom Harty said Wednesday 200 employees have been notified their positions were eliminated. That’s in addition to an announcement last month that 600 jobs in a Time subscription fulfillment center in Tampa, Florida, would be eliminated with the center’s closure. Iowa-based Meredith bought Time for $1.8 billion and expects to save $500 million in the first two years by combining operations.

Harty says the company is exploring the sale of Time, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Money magazines after concluding they have different audiences and advertising targets than Meredith’s traditional lifestyle, food, and women’s titles including Better Homes & Gardens.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrections report two correctional officers were assaulted by two inmates at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility (FDCF) in Fort Dodge, at approximately 5 p.m., Wednesday.  The incident began when an inmate approached and began an attack against an officer. When another officer attempted to pull this inmate away, all three of them fell to the ground. While the officers were attempting to restrain the aggressive inmate, another inmate in the area approached and began kicking the officers that were on the ground. Additional correctional officers were called into the unit and quickly restrained the attackers.

The two staff members that were attacked were sent to the Unity Point Hospital in Fort Dodge. The staff members had sustained scratches and bruising, but were released form the hospital that night, and returned to FDCF for a short time before being released from duties for the remainder of their shifts. The incident remains under investigation.

The Cass County Memorial Hospital Emergency Department in Atlantic, has been recognized as a 2018 Women’s Choice Award recipient. The CCMH Emergency Department scored in the top 10% of hospitals nationwide, based on hospital size. CCMH is in the 100 beds or less category. CCHS CEO Brett Altman said “We couldn’t be more pleased to receive this recognition of the superior care our ED team provides every day. This award is particularly significant because it measures objective data based on the criteria women have indicated is most important to them. Women tend to be the healthcare decision makers for the entire family, so it is very rewarding to know we are meeting their expectations on a consistent basis.”

According to their website, the Women’s Choice Award’s goal is to help women make smart healthcare choices. The organization states their understanding of what matters most to women is based on extensive surveys of women to determine the most important factors in their healthcare decision-making. They have also conducted research on this topic in conjunction with the Wharton School of Business. The organization utilizes publicly reported patient experience and clinical data to evaluate hospitals on those factors.

Criteria for the Emergency Care award include the following measures as reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS):

Average number of minutes before outpatients with chest pain or possible heart attack got an ECG;
Average time patients spent in the Emergency Department, before they were admitted to the hospital as an inpatient;
Average time patients spent in the Emergency Department before they were seen by a healthcare professional;
Average time patients spent waiting in the Emergency Department, after the doctor decided to admit them as an inpatient, but before leaving the Emergency Department for their inpatient room;
Average time patients spent in the Emergency Department before being sent home;
Average time patients who came to the Emergency Department with broken bones had to wait before receiving pain medication;
Percentage of patients who came to the Emergency Department with stroke symptoms who received brain scan results within 45 minutes of arrival;
Percentage of patients who left the Emergency Department before being seen.

The IRS, state tax agencies and the tax industry warned tax professionals to be alert to taxpayer data theft in the final weeks of the tax filing season. The Security Summit partners urged all tax professionals to enhance their data safeguards immediately. In recent days, the “New Client” scam has reemerged, signaling ongoing attempts by cybercriminals to target tax professionals with spear phishing schemes. In this scam, a “new client” emails the tax pro about a tax issue, attaching documents to their email that claim to be an IRS notice or prior-year tax information. The documents actually contain malware that, if opened, enable the criminals to steal taxpayer information.

This filing season, the Internal Revenue Service has seen a steep upswing in the number of reported thefts of taxpayer data from tax practitioner offices. Seventy-five firms reported taxpayer data thefts in January and February, nearly a 60 percent increase from same time last year. Much of this increase follows one scam, the erroneous-refund scheme, that affected thousands of taxpayers and numerous practitioners earlier this filing season. January through April represents prime season for cybercriminals to attack tax practitioners, but data thefts can occur at any time. All tax professionals should be on high alert and deploy strong security measures as the filing season reaches a peak with the April 17 deadline. Criminals try to take advantage of this extremely busy time of year when tax professionals are in greater contact with the taxpayers and are in possession of more data.

Some tax professionals may be unaware they are even victims of data theft. Here are some signs:

• Client e-File returns begin to reject because returns with their SSNs already filed;
• The number of returns filed with tax practitioner’s EFIN exceed number of clients;
• Clients who haven’t filed tax returns begin to receive authentication letters (5071C, 4883C, 5747C) from the IRS;
• Network computers running slower than normal;
• Computer cursors moving or changing numbers without touching the keyboard;
• Network computers locking out tax practitioners.

Identity thieves often are part of sophisticated criminal syndicates based here and abroad who have the resources, tax savvy and digital expertise to pull off these crimes. They use a variety of tactics to break into tax professionals’ computer systems and steal client information if appropriate security measures have not been taken. A common tactic is called spear phishing in which the criminal singles out one or more tax preparers in a firm and sends an email posing as a trusted source such as the IRS, e-Services, a tax software provider or a cloud storage provider. Thieves also may pose as clients or new prospects. The objective is to trick the tax professional into disclosing sensitive usernames and passwords or to open a link or attachment that secretly downloads malware enabling the thieves to track every keystroke.

The “New Client” scam is one form of spear phishing. Here’s an example: “I just moved here from Michigan. I have an urgent Tax issue and I was hoping you could help,” the email begins. “I hope you are taking on new clients.” The email says one attachment is the IRS notice and the other attachment is the prospective client’s prior-year tax return. This scam has many variations. (See IR-2018-2, Security Summit Partners Warn Tax Pros of Heightened Fraud Activity as Filing Season Approaches.) The IRS Criminal Investigation division continues to investigate a series of data thefts at tax preparers’ offices earlier this year in which the criminals added a new twist to their scheme to file fraudulent tax returns. The thieves directed the fraudulent refunds into the taxpayers’ actual bank accounts. This scam has claimed thousands of taxpayer victims. (See IR-2018-17, Scam Alert: IRS Urges Taxpayers to Watch Out for Erroneous Refunds.)

Although reports of this data theft have lessened recently, taxpayers and tax professionals should remain on alert for this scam. And taxpayers should return any fraudulent refunds to the IRS the proper way as well as discuss security options for their checking or savings accounts with their financial institutions. Here are the recommended security steps by the Security Summit:

• Learn to recognize phishing emails, especially those pretending to be from the IRS, e-Services, your tax software provider or your cloud storage provider. Never open a link or any attachment from a suspicious email. Remember: The IRS never initiates an email.
  
  
• Create a data security plan using IRS Publication 4557, Safeguarding Taxpayer Data, and Small Business Information Security – The Fundamentals, by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. 
  
  
• Review internal controls:
• Install anti-malware/anti-virus security software on all devices (laptops, desktops, routers, tablets and phones) and keep software automatically updated.
  
  
• Use strong and unique passwords of 10 or more mixed characters, password protect all wireless devices, use a phrase or words that you can remember and change your password periodically.
  
  
• Encrypt all sensitive files/emails and use strong password protections.
  
  
• Back up sensitive data to a safe and secure external source not connected fulltime to your network.
  
  
• Wipe clean or destroy old computer hard drives that contain sensitive data.
  
  
• Limit access to taxpayer data to individuals who need to know.
  
  
• Check IRS e-Services account weekly for number of returns filed with EFIN

 If you have a security incident or a breach resulting in data disclosure, report the incident to the IRS Stakeholder Liaison for your state.

Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Transportation in Sioux City report southbound Interstate 29 traffic between U.S. 77, Iowa 12, and Wesley Parkway and Floyd Boulevard (exit 147a) in the Sioux City area, will be shifted to the southbound frontage road near Wesley Parkway to accommodate reconstruction of the southbound I-29 lanes, beginning at 3 p.m. Friday, March 23, until Thursday, Oct. 11, weather permitting. The southbound Pierce Street on-ramp and southbound Floyd Boulevard off-ramp will be closed.

Southbound I-29 traffic exiting to Floyd Boulevard will be asked to exit at Hamilton Boulevard and follow the signed detour. Detour maps can be viewed at https://iowadot.gov/i29

MEBANE, N.C. (AP) — Nearly 500,000 smoke detectors that might not be able to detect smoke are being recalled by a company based in North Carolina. The News & Observer reports the company Kidde (KIH’-duh) has issued a recall for models PI2010 and PI9010 due to a manufacturer defect. These models were sold nationwide and online from September 2016 through this January for $20 to $40. Model numbers can be found on the back of the units.

Kidde also recalled 38 million fire extinguishers last year. They had a design flaw that could have prevented them from working and parts of the extinguisher could detach with enough force to pose an impact hazard. Those with affected smoke alarms can register for replacements by calling 833-551-7739 or visiting kidde-smoke-alarm-recallusen.expertinquiry.com .