Floyd Valley Healthcare Earns 5-Star Rating
(Le Mars) — Floyd Valley Healthcare of Le Mars recently received a five-star rating, the highest rating possible, from a hospital survey. Dustin Wright, the Chief Executive Officer for Floyd Valley says the rating by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services means good news for the local hospital.
Wright says the administration and the entire staff at Floyd Valley makes quality care as their top objective.
Floyd Valley received the highest rating among the regional health care facilities. Orange City and Sioux Center both received a four-star rating, while the hospitals in Sioux City, Unity Point-St. Luke’s and Mercy One received only a one-star and a two-star rating, respectfully.
In recent past years, Floyd Valley Healthcare has been fortunate to be recognized as a “Top Critical Care Rural Hospital” and a receiver of the “Women’s Choice Award.” Wright says having received the national honors and accolades helps with recruiting health care professionals.
This marks the first time Floyd Valley has achieved the highest five-star rating. Previously, Floyd Valley was able to accomplish a four-star rating.
Many Democrats Still Undecided Going Into Monday Caucus
(Le Mars) — In two days, Iowans will participate in the first-in-the-nation caucuses. Although both political parties will hold their separate caucuses, more attention will be focused on the Democratic party with several candidates seeking the party’s nomination for president. Polls indicate there could be a close race among the top five candidates, consisting of former vice president, Joe Biden, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar. Other candidates, such as businessmen Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang are on the wings, and could possibly emerge as a top contender, allowing them to extend their political campaigns. Many democrats are still undecided and won’t know until Monday
evening who they intend to support. Wayne Marty of Le Mars is a retired professor of Natural Sciences from the former Westmar College. He identifies himself with the Democratic party. Marty says he will initially support Amy Klobuchar as his preferred candidate.
Marty has met with several of the Democratic hopefuls. He says he is concerned about the loss of kindness and gentle nature that was once shared among people.
The retired natural sciences professor says he is also concerned about the dramatic change in the global climates, saying it is troubling.
Another issue Marty says that is worry-some is the accelerated growth in the world’s population.
Marty claims the increase in population growth could be a major reason for the immigration issue as people constantly move from a poor country to a rich country, in hopes of seeking a better life.
Taylor Resigns From Woodbury County Board Of Supervisors
(Sioux City) — Woodbury County supervisor Jeremy Taylor is resigning after his residency was canceled last week when the county auditor ruled Taylor now lives in a new home outside the county district he was elected to serve.
Taylor did not attend the supervisor meeting Tuesday. Taylor a Republican, says he doesn’t agree with the decision on his residency.
He had announced he was going to fight the decision in court — but says he does not to subject his family to a long legal battle.
Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill and County Attorney Patrick Jennings will meet Monday to determine a time frame for a special election to replace Taylor.
Why Iowa To Start The Political Process?
(Des Moines) — As the Iowa caucuses near, people start to complain about this quirk of American presidential politics. Why Iowa? It doesn’t look like America, they note. It certainly doesn’t look like the Democratic Party, in terms of racial diversity. Census data shows that 85% of Iowa’s population is white compared with only 60% of the nation’s. But Iowa may not be as different from the rest of the country as some think. When it comes to age, religion, income and gun ownership, Iowa is America’s every state, with stats solidly in line with the national median.
Iowans Second Choice In Caucus May Prove To Be Important
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa voters’ second choices could matter almost as much as their first in the upcoming caucuses. Candidates including Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer have been approached by multiple campaigns in recent days eager to form an alliance of sorts that could reshape the Feb. 3 election. It’s a delicate dance that plays out almost
every four years during Iowa’s complicated presidential caucus system. In four days, it will test anew the leading campaigns’ capacity to assemble a winning coalition and the second-tier campaigns’ capacity to stay relevant.
Iowa Supreme Court Determines Lake Panorama Is Not Private Lake
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court says a central Iowa recreational lake which owners tout as the state’s largest private lake isn’t really private. The decision came Friday in the case of Jeffrey Alan Meyers who was arrested by Iowa Department of Natural Resources officers for boating while intoxicated on Lake Panorama in July 2018. Meyers claimed the
DNR officers had no jurisdiction on the private lake where he owns property.
The supreme court disagreed saying Lake Panorama isn’t privately owned because it’s connected to a public river. A lawyer says the ruling could affect all privately developed lakes on public rivers.
