A survey conducted by the Iowa auditor shows a majority of health care organizations are dissatisfied with the state’s Medicaid program and think the privatized system hasn’t been good for the more than 650,000 poor and disabled residents receiving care. Iowa shifted the state’s Medicaid system from a state-run program to one managed by private insurance companies in 2016.

There have been persistent complaints over the past four years that providers have a more difficult time getting fully paid and that access to care has worsened for patients. Auditor Rob Sand said Monday that his survey reinforces those complaints.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A woman has died in an apartment fire in downtown Fort Dodge. Firefighters were called to the building Sunday afternoon after a fire alarm activated and a neighbor reported smelling smoke. Crews were met with heavy smoke in the apartment and then found an unresponsive woman. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Her body was taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office. She was identified Monday at 67-year-old Jeanne Miller. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports that as the result of an investigation, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office last Thursday, arrested 18-year old Suzann Marie Hensley, of Corning, on a Sheriff’s Office warrant for Theft 2nd Degree (a Class-D Felony). Hensley was taken to the Cass County Jail and released later that day on $5,000 bond. The following day, 27-year old Dallas Lee Laible, of Corning, turned himself in at the Cass County Jail on a Sheriff’s Office warrant for Theft 2nd Degree (D Felony) regarding the same investigation. He was released later that day, also on $5,000 bond.

On July 22nd, Cass County Deputies arrested 36-year old Ryan Joel Castle, of Wabash, Indiana, on charges of Burglary 2nd Degree (a Class-C Felony) and Domestic Assault 1st Offense. Castle was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $11,000 bond.

And on July 24th, 18-year old Seth William Max Stephenson, of Anita, was arrested on a Cass County Sheriff’s Office warrant for Sex Abuse 3rd Degree (a Class-C Felony). Stephenson was taken to the Cass County Jail and released the following day on $10,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) — A member of the city council in Sioux City says it’s time to revisit parts of the Americans with Disabilities Act that exempt certain structures from accessibility requirements. Alex Watters says he never anticipated becoming an advocate for disabled people.”I actually had an accident 16 years, two weeks into my freshman year of college, where I dove into 18 inches of water, snapped my neck…had to do six months of rehabilitation at a hospital,” he says. “I had my whole life kind of turned upside down and had to find out how to navigate a body I no longer recognized.”

Watters returned to and graduated from Morningside College in Sioux City where he says school administrators worked with him to reschedule classes in historic structures on the campus that were not accessible to his wheelchair. Watters says others in his situation aren’t as lucky. “There are a lot of institutions or different areas, companies, whatever that have those historic structures that say: ‘Well, you know it is historic, so we don’t want to alter it. We don’t want to change that or weaken the integrity of the building,’ and so people are excluded from the conversation,” Watters says, “and I think that’s unfortunate.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act did not address access issues in commercial air travel, but a separate law forbids discrimination on passenger jets. Watters says there is a business opportunity for airlines that do more to expand accessibility.”If there were more abilities for me to utilize my wheelchair and drive into the plane and lock down safely, think about the brand loyalty,” Watters says. “…That brand loyalty will mean so much to those individuals with disabilities. We’re the largest minority group in the United States. Why wouldn’t you want to capitalize on that market?”

Watters says he has to be carried onto planes and that’s risky for him and the people who are carrying him. Watters made his comments during an Iowa P-B-S Special marking the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.