United Group Insurance

KJAN News

KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa,  Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!

(Podcast) KJAN News, 1/20/22

News, Podcasts

January 20th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

More area, and State News from Ric Hanson.

Play

Rep. Axne Introduces Bill to End Taxpayer Subsidies for Prescription Drug Advertising

News

January 20th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

WASHINGTON – You see them during television news and hear them on other programs multiple times per day: advertisements for prescription drugs for everything from diabetes control and maintenance, to skin treatments and arthritis relief. On Wednesday, Iowa 3rd District Representative Cindy Axne introduced legislation that would end taxpayer subsidies for prescription drug advertisements targeted at American consumers by big pharmaceutical companies. Under current law, drug manufacturers are allowed to deduct the cost of advertising expenses from federal taxes, meaning taxpayer dollars are used to subsidize drug advertisements.

According to Axne, “Iowans are paying more than ever for their prescription drugs while giant pharmaceutical companies clear record profits in part by exploiting loopholes in our tax code to flood our airwaves with T.V. ads subsidized by Iowa tax dollars. This is unacceptable and insulting to the Iowans who tell me at every town hall I hold, the incredible lengths they are going to just to afford their medications.”  Axne says she’s joining with Congresswoman Slotkin, of Michigan, and Congressman Trone, from Maryland, “to introduce legislation that will cut off these tax breaks for drug companies and stop my constituents’ tax dollars from funding the never-ending carousel of prescription ads on their televisions.”

The No Tax Breaks for Drug Ads Act would prohibit any tax deduction for direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising, thereby making sure that taxpayer money isn’t being used to subsidize drug ads. The bill would cover any ad that refers to a prescription drug product and is primarily targeted to the general public, including through journals, magazines, newspapers, broadcast media such as radio and television, and digital platforms such as social media and web applications.

DTC advertising expenses by pharmaceutical companies have more than quadrupled over the past two decades, rising from $1.3 billion in 1997 to $6 billion in 2016. In that same time period, advertising from drug companies has increased from 79,000 ads to 4.6 million ads, including 663,000 TV commercials. Margarida Jorge, Campaign Director for Lower Drug Prices Now, call the tax breaks for drug companies “…corporate welfare of the worst kind.”

The Senate companion of this bill was introduced by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

Vehicle vandalism reported in Creston

News

January 20th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department say a woman residing in the 900 block of N. Division Street, in Creston, reported Wednesday morning, an incident of vehicle vandalism. She said that sometime between 10-p.m. Tuesday and 7-a.m., Wednesday, someone broke out the back window of her Dodge 1500 pickup. The damage was estimated at $200.

(Podcast) KJAN morning News, 1/20/22

News, Podcasts

January 20th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

The latest area news from Ric Hanson.

Play

Structure fire near Honey Creek Wed. night

News

January 20th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

[Updated 6:18-a.m.] (Honey Creek, Iowa) – Firefighters responded to a structure fire late Wednesday night, in Pottawattamie County. According to KETV in Omaha, crews from at least four area fire departments were called to 27125 Ski Hill Loop at about 11-p.m. They remained at the scene for at least two hours, but weren’t able to put out the flames before the building was destroyed.

Authorities say they believe the property was used to grow mushrooms for area restaurants. No injuries were reported.

Democrat U-S Senate candidate calls term limits

News

January 20th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – U-S Senate candidate Abby Finkenauer of Cedar Rapids is calling for congressional term limits and pledging to serve just two terms if she’s elected in November. She is one of four candidates running in the Democrat primary in hopes to challenge incumbent Republican Senator Chuck Grassley. Finkenauer is calling for a 12-year term limit for each chamber of Congress.  “You look at somebody like Senator Grassley who has been harping on term limits for almost the entire time he’s been in office but refuses to term limit himself, this is what is wrong with Washington D-C,” Finkenauer says.

Finkenauer served one term as Iowa’s First District U-S House representative after losing a bid for re-election. Finkenauer says she’s in support of two voting rights bills before the U-S Senate this week — and says Grassley should as well.  “If he really cared about bipartisanship he’d be supporting this voting rights act and getting rid of gerrymandering in this country which has created these congressional districts that are so far left or so far right that you’ve got folks who are even afraid to talk to each other because they might get primaried on one side or the other,” Finkenauer says.

Grassley says the voting rights proposals by Democrats are an attempt to federalize elections. Grassley is running for an eighth term to represent Iowa and faces a primary challenge from state senator Jim Carlin from Sioux City.

(By Clay Masters, Iowa Public Radio)

Grassley questions timing of free masks and COVID test kits

News

January 20th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The federal government plans to distribute 400-million free face masks, in addition to millions more COVID-19 test kits, ideas Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says are good but may be too little, too late. The N-95 masks are said to offer better protection than cloth coverings and they’ll be passed out, three per adult, at pharmacies and health centers. Grassley says that will likely take a few weeks. “Presumably, unless there’s a new variant of the virus,” Grassley says, “I would say those masks are going to get out at a point where it’s not going to do much good.”

The government website to order the free COVID test kits crashed on Tuesday after being overloaded by heavy demand. “And then there’s a whole bunch of problems with getting the tests out,” Grassley says, “because people that live in apartments have the same address and things of that nature.” The test kits will be sent out in packages of four tests each, one package per household. Grassley says the logistics of labeling, mailing out and delivering millions of test kits over the next few weeks presents its own set of problems. “So, I hope that they’re able to overcome them so the tests can get out,” Grassley says, “even though we may be beyond this Omicron phase that we’re in now.”

To request a test kit, sign up at the website covidtests.gov. The N-95 masks are coming from the Strategic National Stockpile and the White House says this will be the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in the nation’s history.

Kaufmann tables changes to eminent domain for pipeline

News

January 20th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The chairman of an Iowa House committee says after careful consideration, he’s decided now is not the time to change state law governing when property may be seized for pipelines. Republican Representative Bobby Kaufmann said last week that he was trying to craft a bill to require that a large percentage of landowners agree to a carbon pipeline before state regulators could approve seizure of the remaining property through eminent domain.

Yesterday (Wednesday), in a written statement, Kaufmann said rushing eminent domain changes through the legislature this year would send the wrong message to businesses AND to the landowners who’ve already signed easements for carbon pipelines and landowners still considering contracts.

Kaufmann says he’s passionate about private property rights, but he says it’s also important to send the message that Iowa’s legal, regulatory and tax structure is stable for new and existing business ventures.

Second Amendment Preservation Act considered in Iowa Senate

News

January 20th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – A bill in the state senate would establish a 50-thousand dollar fine for any Iowa city and law enforcement agency where an officer enforces FEDERAL gun regulations that are stricter than the STATE’S. The bill is part of a campaign that has prompted county supervisors to designate 33 Iowa counties as “second amendment sanctuaries” where federal gun laws wouldn’t be enforced by local officials if the Biden Administration or congress were to enact tougher regulations.

Senator Zach Nunn of Bondurant, a Republican congressional candidate in Iowa’s third district, is the sponsor of the so-called Second Amendment Preservation Act. “We want to protect our law enforcement officers on the front line who are serving the community, but not deputize them as agents of a department or agency to go in and infringe upon an Iowan’s Second Amendment constitutional rights,” Nunn says.

Nunn says the bill needs some changes before it’s considered by a Senate committee. Sydney Gangestad is a lobbyist for “Everytown for Gun Safety” — a national group that supports gun control measures. She says the bill may penalize local police and sheriffs departments that work with federal authorities on gun-related investigations. “We believe this would have a chilling effect and that is a grave concern to us,” Gangestad says.

A lobbyist for the Iowa County Attorneys Association says the proposal could make it difficult for state and local agencies to enforce federal laws that forbid convicted domestic abusers from having guns. A similar bill has been passed in Missouri and nearly 60 Missouri police chiefs filed a lawsuit last week, seeking changes to clarify what is and isn’t permitted. One chief says Missouri’s law appears to prevent police from checking serial numbers to see if a gun is stolen.

Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 140 years on child pornography conviction

News

January 19th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – An eastern Iowa man has been sentenced to 140 years in prison on child pornography charges. Thirty-year-old Nathan Nosley, of Cedar Rapids, was sentenced after a jury found him guilty of sexual exploitation of children, distribution of child pornography, receipt of child pornography, three counts of possession of child pornography, and accessing child pornography.

Evidence at his trial showed that, between 2018 and 2020, Nosley persuaded two girls to produce and send him pornographic images of themselves — and also distributed child pornography to others, The evidence at trial and sentencing also showed that Nosley had previously abused a seven-year-old-girl. He was ordered to make 12-thousand dollars in restitution to four victims.