FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) — Iowa prison officials are facing renewed criticism from a union representing correctional officers following an attack by an inmate at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison that left a staffer hospitalized.

Prison officials said in a news release that the inmate used a weapon in the Wednesday attack to strike the staffer several times. A statement later released by the union said the staffer was stabbed five times by an inmate wielding two 10-inch shanks.

Danny Homan, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 61, says the inmate is associated with a white supremacist prison gang, and that prison officials have ignored staff warnings that attacks by inmates were planned.

A Corrections Department spokesman didn’t immediately return phone and email messages Wednesday seeking comment.

FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) – Prison officials say a staff member has been hospitalized after being assaulted by an inmate at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. The Iowa Corrections Department says the penitentiary restricted inmates’ movement Wednesday after the assault. A news release says the inmate used a weapon to strike the staff member several times. Other staffers helped their injured colleague subdue the inmate.

The staffer was taken to Fort Madison Community Hospital and then to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. The staffer’s name hasn’t been released. Online court records don’t yet show the inmate has been formally charged.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 34-year old Kristin Jan Gross, of Des Moines, was arrested Monday evening at the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office. Gross was arrested on four Union County warrants for failure to appear on drug violation charges.  She was being held for Union County in the Ringgold County Jail on $27,300 bond.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, of Nebraska, is seeking answers from the Department of Veterans of Affairs following reports that VA employees kept a secret waiting list of patients from Nebraska and Iowa that obscured the actual wait times for veterans who sought appointments. Sasse sent a letter to the department Tuesday after the Omaha World-Herald reported that an audit included whistleblower complaints about unauthorized lists for appointments at the VA’s mental health psychotherapy clinic in Omaha.

VA officials acknowledged the audit’s conclusions but wouldn’t say how many Nebraska or western Iowa veterans were affected. They also declined to say who kept the unauthorized list and why, or say how many employees were involved. Sasse says the agency’s refusal to answer questions is “unacceptable and must be remedied immediately.”

You’re invited to join the Iowa Department on Aging in Creston on Oct. 25th for the final session in its 2017 Dialogue on Aging Series. The topic for this event is “Technology in Aging: Improving the Quality of Life and Care for Older Adults” and will include thought-provoking presentations by speakers representing the University of Iowa Barbara and Richard Csomay Center for Gerontological Excellence and the Iowa State University Gerontology Program/Human Development and Family Studies Department.

Lunch is included and will feature the recognition of Iowa’s centenarians – those who will be 100 years or older by Dec. 31, 2017! Cost is $25 per person. To securely register, go to: https://www.iowaaging.gov/content/2017-dialogue-aging-event-registration?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Sponsored by: AARP Iowa ; University of Iowa Barbara and Richard Csomay Center for Gerontological Excellence; & Iowa State University Gerontology Program.