Wednesday Morning Read: AmeriHealth leaving Iowa’s Medicaid program; questions linger in year-old shooting; Cedar Rapids mayoral race heats up

TODAY'S WEATHER — Breezy, isolated afternoon showers. High 48, low 43.

AMERIHEALTH LEAVING IOWA'S MEDICAID PROGRAM — AmeriHealth Caritas Iowa — the Medicaid insurer with the largest concentration of the state's special-needs population — will withdraw from the Medicaid program, which covers one in four Iowans, at the end of November, officials announced Tuesday. The Department of Human Services already is searching for a replacement, DHS Director Jerry Foxhoven said during a news conference in Des Moines. Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/news/amerihealth-caritas-leaving-iowa-medicaid-program/

QUESTIONS LINGER IN YEAR-OLD SHOOTING — One year after an officer-involved shooting in Cedar Rapids, two principal figures involved have yet to speak publicly about the incident. Questions remain among some community members after the traffic stop shooting of black motorist Jerime Mitchell by white Cedar Rapids police Officer Lucas Jones on Nov. 1, 2016 — an event that has become synonymous with the concerns surrounding other officer-involved shootings around the country. Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/news/a-year-later-questions-remain-in-cedar-rapids-officer-involved-shooting/

CEDAR RAPIDS MAYORAL RACE HEATS UP — City Council member Ralph Russell on Tuesday announced his support of Brad Hart in the Cedar Rapids mayoral race. The endorsement — coupled with council member Justin Shields' support of Hart, a local business attorney — marks the latest splinter in a sharply divided council over who should be the city's next mayor. The nine-member council is split in at least five directions. Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/government-politics/battle-lines-drawn-as-cedar-rapids-mayoral-race-heats-up/

BRIAN FERENTZ'S BAD MOMENT NOT NECESSARILY DEFINING — Brian Ferentz's obscenity-laced rant in the Iowa press box Saturday was ugly, columnist Mike Hlas says, but this too shall pass. It's not a career-killing moment for Brian Ferentz, nor the demise of what's left of Western civilization. Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/sports/hlas-brian-ferentzs-bad-moment-not-necessarily-defining/

QUOTABLE — 'We ought to be able to talk about ideas, we ought to be able to debate ideas because that's how you get to consensus and that's how you move this country forward and that's how you move this state forward. We do a better job of it in Iowa. We do. But it is just so vitriol and vicious right now and I hope at some point we can get back to a discussion.' Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who said Tuesday she 'longs for civil discourse' on the issues facing the state. Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/government-politics/reynolds-says-she-longs-for-civil-discourse/