Gazette Daily News Briefing, May 11
This Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Thursday, May 11
Thursday marks the return of the rain, but it should still be somewhat summerlike and sunny before it arrives. According to the National Weather Service it will start out mostly sunny in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 82 degrees. The chance for rain will creep up as the day goes on, with showers and thunderstorms likely late Thursday into the early morning hours on Friday.
Physician assistants in Iowa no longer will be required to be supervised and have a written agreement with a specific physician in order to practice medicine under a bill signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Kim Reynolds.
Proponents say the measure will ensure PAs can more easily address the health care needs of Iowa’s underserved rural communities, authorizing them to provide health care services based on their medical education, training and experience.
More than 40 percent of Iowa’s PAs work in rural settings, according to the Iowa Physician Assistant Society.
Reynolds noted the state takes a similar approach with nurse practitioners, “who continue to work collaboratively with physicians to meet the health needs of Iowans.”
The governor signed House File 424 during a ceremony at the Washington County Hospital and Clinics. Reynolds said the hospital and clinics serve “as a model of the kind of high-quality rural health care that every Iowa county needs and deserves.”
PAs play a critical role in providing both primary and specialty care — including mental health — at a time when Iowa is grappling with a shortage of providers and faces challenges providing equitable access to care due to the state’s large rural and aging population, said hospital Chief Executive Officer Todd Patterson.
Patterson said the law will allow the critical access hospital to draw from “a larger pool of talent” in rural areas, by “eliminating some of the administrative burdens that currently exist.” Requiring oversight by a specific physician presents challenges for rural hospitals that struggle to find physicians.
A Cedar Rapids man, who said he was showing his support to former President Donald Trump and got caught up in the moment as he followed violent protesters into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, was convicted of seven charges Tuesday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.
Leo Christopher Kelly, 37, was convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony, which carries up to a 20-year sentence, along with six other counts, including unlawfully entering and remaining on restricted grounds and in the Capitol; unlawfully engaging in disorderly and disruptive conduct on restricted grounds and in the Capitol; and unlawfully entering and remaining on the floor of Congress.
Kelly’s Washington, D.C. trial started May 1 and a jury returned the verdict Tuesday.
Kelly, who described himself as an independent during a Gazette interview after the riot, said he just followed the mob into the Senate chamber as they invaded the Capitol in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying the 2020 election.
“It was just a crazy time,” Kelly said, adding he felt overwhelmed by what had happened.
