DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A Medicaid company that terminated its Iowa contract almost a year ago has yet to pay as much as $14.6 million for medical care provided to disabled, poor and elderly Iowans. The Des Moines Register reports AmeriHealth Caritas’ outstanding bills include nearly 6,000 individual charges totaling more than $1 million at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and $541,000 at Broadlawns Medical Center, among other institutions.
WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – A 17-year-old and 15-year-old have now been charged with murder after a man was killed during a Waterloo robbery attempt in 2017. KWWL-TV reports the 39-year-old victim died in his home from a single gunshot wound to his head.
KELLEY, IA (IRN) – An 82-year old woman was brutally beaten in her home in the rural Story County town of Kelley, according to WHO-TV. The beating ended with the victim, a retired school bus driver and grandmother, in the hospital for a week. Police are still looking for the three men who beat her, and believe robbery was the motive.
DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A teenager was taken to a Des Moines-area hospital late Thursday after being hit by a car near the Hobby Lobby in northern Des Moines. KCCI-TV reports a group of teenagers were fighting when the car hit one of the teenagers and then ran into the side of the building. The teenager is in the hospital, and police are still looking for the car and driver.
MONTICELLO, IA – At an eastern Iowa camp serving those with special needs, there’s now an animal with special needs as well. KCRG-TV reports it’s a goat named “Dorothy” that was born blind. Dorothy now has a new home and perhaps a new job at Camp Courageous near Monticello—showing campers how even animals can overcome disabilities. Unlike the other animals campers can pet and help feed, Dorothy can’t see the bag of grain when it’s offered. So the other campers watch as she listens for the sound they make as they rattle her feed bag and then uses her nose to locate the food she can’t see. Staff say simply watching her adapt is a lesson many who come to camp can appreciate.