Part 2: National EMT Week – Ambulance Services Face Challenges
(Le Mars) — We continue our series of reports focusing on local ambulance services during this National EMT Week. We identified in our first report the need for volunteers to sufficiently staff a local ambulance service.
Bill Rosacker, the director of the Le Mars Ambulance Service says due to the shortage of volunteers, those who have decided to volunteer for a community ambulance service finds themselves on-call for long hours and for several
days.
Rosacker says for many communities, including Le Mars, the number of emergency calls have been steadily on the rise, adding to the stress level of EMT’s and paramedics and other ambulance service volunteers.
Another challenge for people wanting to volunteer for an ambulance service is the expense and time commitment for adequate training. Rosacker says sometimes the training time and expense, unfortunately becomes a deterrent for
volunteers.
In our next part of our continued series, we will look at how many community ambulance services are losing money due to Medicaid and Medicare.
Governor Reynolds Approves Of Dix’s Campaign Donation To Iowa Republican Party
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Gov. Kim Reynolds says it was an “appropriate decision” for Iowa Republicans to accept a $522,000 donation from a disgraced former lawmaker.
Reynolds told reporters Wednesday she was “fine” with the Republican Party of Iowa accepting a March 26 contribution from former Iowa Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix. The Shell Rock Republican resigned two weeks earlier after video surfaced showing him kissing a Statehouse lobbyist who
wasn’t his wife.
A GOP party spokesman on Tuesday defended the donation, saying it will help elect Republicans this fall.
Dix faced criticism last year after the state paid a $1.75 million
settlement to a former Senate Republican staffer who says she was fired after reporting workplace harassment. Dix claimed the firing was performance related.
Democrats say Republicans should use Dix’s money to reimburse Iowa’s general fund.
Denison Auto Dealer Charged With Fraud
DENISON, Iowa (AP) – A man who operates a vehicle dealership in Denison has been charged with theft and fraudulent sale practices.
Crawford County Court records say 57-year-old Robert “Bob” Adams faces 14 counts of theft, one of fraudulent practices and one of ongoing criminal conduct. His attorney, Alfredo Parrish, said Tuesday that Adams “is innocent and will be exonerated.”
Customers say Adams didn’t forward to the appropriate agencies or entities money paid for title transfers and warranty contracts and protection plans. His Adams Motor Co. also is accused of selling vehicles without paying off outstanding loans still owed, which meant buyers couldn’t get clear title.
The Iowa Transportation Department is moving against the dealer license issued to Adams.
Democratic Lawmakers Drop Lawsuit Against Reynolds Over Budget
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A group of Democratic lawmakers has dropped a lawsuit against Gov. Kim Reynolds that challenged her use last year of emergency funds to balance Iowa’s state budget.
Gary Dickey, an attorney for the legislators, announced the decision Wednesday, days before a hearing was scheduled to review a state motion to dismiss the case.
Rep. Chris Hall of Sioux City filed the lawsuit in January against Reynolds and Department of Management Director David Roederer. Six other lawmakers later joined the suit as plaintiffs.
The lawsuit claimed Reynolds’ administration acted illegally last fall when it used $13 million from an economic emergency fund to balance a year-end budget shortfall. The suit said specific economic conditions weren’t met.
Reynolds called the lawsuit political and said aspects of the law were outdated. The Republican-controlled Legislature changed the law retroactively last session, which Democrats argued showed guilt.
Dickey said the legislative change complicated the lawsuit’s future.
Inmate Assaults Corrections Officer
CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Corrections Department says an inmate struck a guard at the state’s medical classification center in Coralville.
The department says the assault occurred around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, when the inmate didn’t follow the guard’s instructions. The two clashed and fell to the floor, where the inmate punched the guard several time atop the head.
The department says other staffers and another inmate came to the guard’s aid.
The guard was examined at a local hospital and found to have suffered no significant injuries.
The names of those involved haven’t been released.
Western Iowa Man Sentenced To Prison and Assessed A Fine For Tax Evasion
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A western Iowa tax evader has been fined, imprisoned and ordered to pay more than $70,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Federal prosecutors say 49-year-old Michael Collins, of McClelland, was sentenced May 11 in U.S. District Court in Council Bluffs. He was given a year and a day behind bars and fined nearly $35,000. In December he’d pleaded
guilty.
Prosecutors say Collins didn’t initially didn’t report around
$289,000 in income in 2006 and then filed an amended return but didn’t pay the tax due. He also concealed more than $5.5 million in gross receipts for more than 10 years from an excavating and trucking company he operated and didn’t pay the taxes owed.
German Manufacturing Plant Opens Facility In Iowa
DURANT, Iowa (AP) – A family owned German company is celebrating the opening of its new office and manufacturing plant in eastern Iowa.
Group Schumacher’s new facility in Durant replaces the U.S. headquarters it has operated there since 1994. Schumacher’s Tim Chen told the Quad-City Times the more than $4 million project shows the Schumacher family is making an investment in North America.
The company makes agricultural equipment, importing from Germany about 70 percent of what it sells and building around 30 percent of its products in the United States. Chen says the company seeks the flexibility of more regional manufacturing by raising the percentage of U.S.-built goods.
Chen says the company has hired an additional half-dozen workers for the new facility so far, bringing the local total to around 36.
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