Comment on Hubbell says more community-based mental health programs needed

Iowa is shirking its responsibility to help people with mental health problems, Fred Hubbell, a Democrat running for governor, said Thursday in Davenport.He called the state’s response “embarrassing.”The Des Moines businessman, who is touring the state this week, spent about an hour in the afternoon at the River Music Experience with participants and officials from the Scott County Mental Health Court.The mental health court, a local pilot project, is aimed at keeping offenders with chronic mental health conditions out of prison through intensive intervention.The court has long-term funding challenges, though.