Officials with the Creston Police Department say 40-year old Melissa Y Clark, of Creston, was arrested Wednesday afternoon at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Clark was taken into custody on a Union County warrant charging her with Forgery and Theft in the 3rd Degree. Clark was being held in the Ringgold County Jail on $7,000 bond. And, 61-year old Gregory Kaufman, of Creston, was arrested at around 3:25-a.m. today (Thursday), on a charge of Public Intoxication. His bond was set at $300.

Creston Police report also, a resident in the 600 block of N. Vine Street said Wednesday, that sometime around 7:55-p.m. , a window was broken out of the back door of her home. The glass was shattered by someone throwing a rock. The damage was estimated at $75. And, just after 9-p.m. Wednesday, a woman residing in the 600 block of N. Birch, in Creston, reported that sometime between 3-and 9-p.m., three windows of her residence were broken by thrown rocks. The damage there was estimated at $250.

The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday night, approved the appointments of Barb Barrick, to the Office of City Clerk, and Mark Bosworth, with the law firm of Lawrence and Wiederstein, to the Office of City Attorney. The City had appointed David Wiederstein as City Attorney on Oct. 7, 2015. When Bosworth joined the law firm, the City updated its retainer agreement to reflect that he would act as primary attorney. The Office of City Clerk requires appointment in the year following a regular City Election, which was held last November.

Barrick told the Council, Wednesday, that as part of Atlantic’s year-long Sesquicentennial (150th) celebration and monthly activities, during the month of February, they are asking people to find 150 reasons to “Love Atlantic.”  She handed out red construction-type paper to members of the Council and media, asking each one to mark, in a black marker, a reason to love Atlantic. Names are optional, but age or generation are requested, so people can see on an as yet to be assigned store-front, people from every walk of life, in Atlantic. She requested they be turned in to City Hall by no later than January 29th.

The hearts are available from City Hall and the Nishna Valley YMCA.

(UPDATE) The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office has released additional information with regard to an accident that happened Wednesday afternoon, near Redfield. Officials say Danyelle Walls of Dexter, was driving a van with her two children inside, when she lost control of the vehicle, which entered a ditch and struck several trees and shrubs. The crash was reported at around 4-p.m.. It happened on 310th Street, about a mile west of Redfield.

The injured were transported to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, by Dallas County EMS. Damage to the van was estimated at $10,000.  The Iowa State Patrol, Redfield Fire and First Responders, Dexter Fire, and Stuart EMS aided at the scene.

A key state administrator says progress has been made to fix problems in the privately-managed Medicaid program that serves half a million Iowans, but Department of Human Services director Jerry Foxhoven says reverting to a system where state employees manage care for patients is not a fix he’s willing to make. Private companies began managing the program in April of 2015.

“I don’t think there’s any question that managed care is the future, that most states are going to managed care. This is not uncommon,” Foxhoven says. “Most states, early in their programs, have struggled with the program — some of the same issues that we’ve struggled with.”

Foxhoven testified before the Senate Human Resources Committee yesterday (Wednesday). Health care providers have complained about lagging payments for Medicaid services and patients say their complaints about denied care fall through the cracks. Foxhoven says the billing issue is getting better and, with “millions of claims” processed, there have only been a “couple of hundred appeals.” However, Foxhoven is promising a “serious” review of those appeals. “If you look at the program as a whole, we’re really doing quite well,” Foxhoven says.

Legislators of both parties pressed Foxhoven for data to back that up.  Senator Julian Garrett, a Republican from Indianola, said “I’m kind of surprised that you can’t give us anything more than a general statement that, ‘Yeah, things are getting better.'”

After the meeting, Foxhoven told reporters there’s no infrastructure left to have state employees manage care for Medicaid patients. “It’s like we’re not going to go back to rotary phones,” Foxhoven said. “…The world of Medicaid anymore is managed care. Everybody’s moving in that direction, not away from it, but towards it because it’s the only way you end up making it sustainable in the long term.”

Foxhoven told reporters his agency may ask legislators to approve “small changes” in Medicaid, but he didn’t specify what those might be. Foxhoven also indicated most of the adjustments he envisions for the Medicaid system can be made under his orders.

(Radio Iowa)

Veterans rallied at the statehouse Wednesday, seeking legislative action on a variety of fronts, including an increase in the property tax exemption for combat veterans. Dan Gannon, a Marine veteran who served in combat in Vietnam, says it takes more than just saying, “Thank you,” to honor Iowa’s veterans.

“Vietnam Veterans of America’s motto is (this): ‘Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another,” Gannon said. “I can promise you this — all of you here today in attendance or those of you who are listening, under my watch as chairman of the Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs and as a fellow veteran: ‘You will not be forgotten.'”

The Iowa Commission on Veterans Affairs has an 11-point agenda for the 2018 legislative session. In addition to the recommendation that the military property tax exemption increase to five-thousand dollars, there’s a call for some sort of state law requiring “Americanism and Patriotism” be taught in public K-through-12 schools. The commission is also asking for an expansion of Veterans Treatment Courts that help vets resolve substance abuse and mental health issues and gets criminal charges dismissed if they make progress.

Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison who served two decades in the Marines, is chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee in the Iowa House. “I’m working for meaningful accomplishments that changes the lives of veterans,” Holt told the crowd.

There are more than 230,000 veterans in the state of Iowa. That’s nearly seven-and-a-half percent of the state’s population.

(Radio Iowa)