Tuesday, August 11th, 2026

Support for IPR comes from Dwell Home Furnishings and Interior Design in Coralville. Dwell's team of professional interior designers listen to any vision for the home and assist with every step of the home building or remodeling process. More at dwellhomefurnishings.com. It's here first from IPR. I'm Megan McKinney. The city of Des Moines has gotten feedback on what it should do about its expected budget deficit. And what do the candidates for governor think about privatized Medicaid? It's Tuesday, August 11th. Lynn County won't change its 18-month data center moratorium to make an exception for projects tied to nuclear power. IPR's Eliza Billingham has more. If county supervisors approve the change, it would have allowed Google to build a data center and unincorporated Lynn County near the Dwayne Arnold Nuclear Plant. The plant is undergoing federal review to be recommissioned. County Planning Director Charlie Nichols says data centers and nuclear power are starting to pair up around the country. As nuclear plants are either restarting that were decommissioned or there's new ones being constructed, they are often being co-located with large electrical load users, which in this case are data centers. public feedback, the Lynn County Board discovered opposition to data centers is stronger than support for nuclear, so they've decided not to move forward with the carve out. If Google wants to move forward with its project during the moratorium, it would have to request annexation into Palo City limits. I'm Eliza Billingham, IPR News. Jury selection starts today in the trial of a man accused of killing a Native American woman in Sioux City more than 40 years ago. As IPR Sheila Bremer reports, the cold case inspired an effort to help other families seeking justice. 18-year-old Terry McColley disappeared in 1983 after a night out with friends. Her body was found in a wooded area 10 days later. Now a former Sioux City man, Thomas Pop, will stay in trial for her death. Josh Taylor is McCauley's nephew. My family for years, prayed, and then essentially lost hope. I'm excited for them, but also heartbroken because I know what lies ahead is going to be tough. A social media campaign helped give attention to McCauley's case. Her family also started Red Sky Nation to highlight the missing and murdered indigenous relatives crisis. We kind of asked ourselves, how can we help other than just Harry? It convicted Thomas Pop faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. I'm Sheila Brummer, IPR News.

Des Moines residents have weighed in on where they would make potential cuts as the city plans for its next budget. Over 2,000 people responded to a city survey that gave options to cut services or raise new revenue to fill a $12 million budget gap. The option selected the most by 88% of participants was to eliminate the floodplain property buyout program. Over half of the participants also selected to reduce library operations, including closing small branches and additional day. 58% also chose to reduce police neighborhood services. The results will help shape recommendations that will be introduced to the Des Moines City Council later this month. Federal money will help Dubuque redevelop industrial sites along the Mississippi River. The city is among the latest recipients of an EPA Brownfields cleanup grant. APA administrators are visiting Dubuque tomorrow to recognize the $500,000 award. Mayor Brad Brett Kavanaugh says the agency has partnered with the city since the early 2000s. What happened around that time was Dubuque just sort of... realized, you know, we've got this river that has been along our eastern edge for the entire time we've been here. And because it was a former industrial site, a lot of it had some sort of cleanup that was required. So the partnership with the EPA really started around that time to start doing some development. The partnership helped revitalize the city's historic Mill District and its Northport. Five grantees in Iowa received a combined $3.5 million in the latest round of funding. Others include the city of Burlington and a wetland preserve in Davenport. You're listening to Hear First from IPR. I'm Megan McKinney. Ten years ago, former governor Terry Brand's dad privatized Iowa's Medicaid system. He said it would save the state money and improve care. But the move has been controversial and is now a campaign issue in the state's competitive governor's race. We're going to hear more about what the candidates think. That's in just a moment. Stay with us. The summer is alive with live music. Make your summer plans with all access, the newsletter for music lovers. Every week, you get the Can't Miss concerts and new music wrecks to fill your summer playlist. Subscribe today for this weekend's music scene, studio one.org slash access. Welcome back. It's here first for my PR. I'm Megan McKinney. This year marks a decade since former Republican Governor Terry Brandstad privatized Iowa's Medicaid system. Brandstad said private companies would make the system for low-income and disabled residents more efficient while saving the state money. But opponents, including Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, say hiring for-profit companies to manage nearly all of Iowa's Medicaid population has been a failure.

IPR's Natalie Krebs reports. In the back of Doug Sample's van at his home in Davenport is a wheelchair lift. Sample has multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects his nervous system and causes extreme fatigue. Sample is in a wheelchair and the automatic lift helps him easily get into the back of the van that's driven by a home health aide. But the lift has been broken since last fall. I have to actually stand up and lift and pull. It was even worse going in. Sample filed a request for Molina to fix or replace the lift. Thus, the private insurance company, also known as a managed care organization or MCO, that oversees Sample's Medicaid coverage for the state. But Molina rejected his request this spring, saying it was not responsible for maintaining the lift. Sample appealed, pointing to the company's contract with the state. Page 83 at state, there is a line item right at the top. that they are required to provide home vehicle modifications for a person's safety. And in this case, safety means getting to my doctor's appointments and other such. He says over the years he's had to wait months or even years for various MCOs to cover equipment repairs, medications, and services like physical therapy. Sample says when the state processes claims directly, he still had to deal with rejections and appeals, but he felt the process moved a lot faster. and didn't take up so much of his time and limited energy. What time I have, I could be doing something enjoyable, could be having some bit of fun or enjoyment. I can't because every last bit of mental energy I have goes into keeping my health care from getting cut out from under me. The managed care model or privatization of Medicaid started back in the late 1960s in California. It was a way to try to make state Medicaid spending more predictable by paying private companies a set amount of money per Medicaid recipient. Today, most states use MCOs to manage at least some of their Medicaid population. But Iowa's managed care system has been plagued with turnover and controversy since its start. Opponents say the state's for-profit MCOs have prioritized their profits at the expense of patient care, especially for disabled islands. And Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand has been one of the system's most vocal critics. Ten years of privatization has increased costs for everyone and gotten worse health care for Iowans, and I think it's time at that end. San says as governor, he would not renew the contracts of I was three for-profit MCOs. I would total care, Molina, and WellPoint. He says he still wants a managed care system, but is figuring out what that would look like. There's a lot of different models around the country. It could be an accountable care organization. It could be a variety of different nonprofits, any number of things.

But Sands Republican opponent, Zach Lane, a businessman and farmer, says he would rather find ways to improve the system the way it is. This means perhaps enacting additional regulations. We need to make sure that we are not using MCOs that are vertically integrated. You can't own the providers. You can't own the pharmacies. You have to have real competition in the markets. And some say major changes to the system now could cause a lot of disruptions for patients and hospitals. The Iowa Hospital Association, which represents the majority of the state's hospitals, initially strongly opposed Medicaid privatization, fearing hospitals would lose money. But Chris Mitchell, the organization's president and CEO, says the state has made a lot of improvements to the system in the last decade. Any drastic change to the current program is going to create the exact same issues that we dealt with 10 years ago, which is change in payment structure, administrative burden, potential delays in delivery of care. Mitchell says the Iowa Hospital Association is open to both candidates' ideas and is prepared to work with the new governor this November. I'm Natalie Krebs, IPR News. And I'm Megan McKenney. That's great reporting. Glad to share it with you on this Tuesday. I hope you have a great day. Thanks for listening to Hear First for my PR. Talk tomorrow.