INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) — Construction has begun in south-central Iowa on a $13.5 million, 50,000 square-foot facility to train power pole linemen in several Midwest states.

The Des Moines Register reports that the Missouri Valley Line Constructors Apprenticeship and Training Program is building the facility in an industrial park in Indianola. Construction is expected to be complete in the fall of 2020.

Program director Robbie Foxen says the one-story building will sit on 46 acres, and a pole yard for high voltage power lines and training structures will be spread across the grounds. It will be the primary training center for Missouri Valley contract linemen, traffic signal technicians and substation technicians from Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

The program already has five training centers in the seven states it serves. Foxen says the new facility is being built in Indianola because it is centrally located. More than 1,000 workers are expected to pass through the new center annually.

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — Last month’s closing of the obstetrics unit at the Marshalltown hospital was only the most recent in Iowa’s rural communities, which has forced some expectant mothers to skimp on prenatal care and undergo frantic trips when labor commences.

Since 2000, 34 of Iowa’s 118 community hospitals have closed their birthing units, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. There have been two so far this year, down from eight closures last year — the most in a single year.

Most of those closures have happened at smaller facilities than the 49-bed Marshalltown hospital.
Iowa’s aging population is a key reason for these closures, Dr. Stephen Hunter, vice chairman of obstetrics at the University of Iowa Hospital & Clinics in Iowa City, told Iowa Public Radio .

“Some rural counties have lost as many as 40 percent of their population in the last three decades,” Hunter said. “That’s a lot of people gone, unfortunately. That leaves a system that’s not adequate for those that remain in those counties.”

Hunter said the state is also facing a severe shortage of OB/GYNs and family practice doctors who practice obstetrics. And, he said, Medicaid reimbursements are so low for obstetrics that hospitals can’t support the service.

According to figures from the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Medicaid reimbursed it about one-third of what commercial insurance plans did for services such as ultrasounds and deliveries last year.
Competition from bigger hospitals in bigger cities presents a business challenge, too.

“There simply aren’t enough women choosing to deliver locally,” UnityPoint Health President Jenni Friedly said. “This is a problem that has been going on for a long time. . There are enough women becoming pregnant, but they are going elsewhere to deliver. It’s clear OB/GYN patients are already selecting Ames and Des Moines for their care.”

Stephanie Trusty, a nurse who tracks birthing trends for the state, told the Marshalltown Times-Republican that “some of these birthing units are beautiful. They’re like a four-star hotel.” But does the loss of birthing units at the smaller hospitals and consolidation of birthing services affect health outcomes? A 2017 University of Minnesota study said the loss of labor and delivery units in smaller, more remote counties is linked with a decrease in prenatal care and increase in out-of-hospital and preterm births.

The Iowa Public Health Department and the University of Iowa are keeping watch for any such problems, but so far have not seen any sizable incidence, Trusty said. Hansen Family Hospital CEO Doug Morse in Iowa Falls told Iowa Public Radio that hospital officials decided labor and delivery care were too expensive to continue in the aging, rural community with a declining birth rate.

After three months of public meetings, Morse said, hospital officials opted to use half the money they would save to turn the unit into a mental health program for seniors. “It really did become fairly clear that people recognize that this wasn’t necessarily … delivering babies isn’t necessarily a service that matches an elderly population,” he said.

The closing of the birth unit at the Iowa Falls hospital forced Jessica Sheridan to change her plans to have her baby born there, just five minutes from her home. She established relationships with doctors in Ames, an hour away, where her daughter was delivered in mid-December. “We were lucky. It was nice weather,” Sheridan said.

VINTON, Iowa (AP) — A Vinton man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for firing at officers sent to check on his welfare.

Cedar Rapids television station KCRG reports that 44-year-old Lyle Fowler Jr. was sentenced last week in Benton County District Court after pleading guilty to assault on officers and interference with official acts. In a separate case, Fowler pleaded guilty to two charges of disseminating obscene materials to a minor and was given a deferred 10-year prison sentence. In the sex case, prosecutors say Fowler sent sexually explicit pictures to two teenage girls via his cellphone.

In the assault case, Fowler shot toward officers sent to check his welfare on Sept. 7, 2018. The two officers fired back, but no one was wounded in the exchange.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in Des Moines are investigating the death of a man, calling the death suspicious. Police responded to a report of a fight at a Des Moines home around 1 a.m. Saturday. Police say arriving officers found a man injured at the home. The man, who has not yet been identified, was taken to an area hospital, where he later died. Police did not immediately offer details of what type of injuries the man suffered.

Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said in a news release that the circumstances of the death are suspicious and that detectives are investigating. He said there is no suspected threat to the community stemming from the death.

No arrests have been reported.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A jury has sided with an Iowa newspaper in a lawsuit brought by a former administrator of the state’s third-largest city. A Scott County jury on Friday ruled in favor of the Quad-City Times and its journalists. Former Davenport city administrator Craig Malin had sued, arguing the paper published false stories and opinion pieces about his official actions, forcing him out after 14 years with the city.

The newspaper’s reporting on Davenport’s handling of financial negotiations for a new casino prompted the mayor to call for Malin’s termination. The newspaper defended its coverage as accurate watchdog journalism protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

The Quad-City Times reported that Malin had sought more than $1.5 million in damages. Judge Henry Latham ordered Malin to pay court costs.

• The Southwest Iowa Band Jamboree in Clarinda is cancelled.
• The outdoor showing of “Rudy” at the Trojan Bowl in Atlantic is postponed to Oct. 19th.

If you have any other cancellations, please e-mail: kjannews@metc.net.