Clarinda, Iowa – The Iowa Dept. of Corrections said Wednesday evening, that 59-year-old Kenneth Louis Howell Jr., who was serving a 35-year maximum sentence for the crimes of Prohibited Acts — Manufacture, Delivery, Possession from Lee County, died late Sunday night at the Clarinda Regional Health Center. Officials his death was likely due to complications related to COVID-19 and other preexisting medical conditions

An autopsy will be completed by the State Medical Examiner. Howell Jr. began his sentence on October 16, 2018.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senate Republicans have released a tax plan to lower the state income tax to three-point-six percent within five years. Governor Reynolds has proposed a four percent rate within four years. A mechanism in the bill could eventually eliminate personal income taxes altogether. Senate G-O-P Leader Jack Whitver.

“Really, we’re in a position where we can’t afford not to do tax cuts. This is important for the everyday Iowan,” Whitver says. “…Their bills are going up and we’re trying to put more money in their pockets.” The Senate GOP bill includes Governor Kim Reynolds’ proposal to eliminate taxes on retirement income and provides a tax break for retired farmers. Whitver of Ankeny says when fully implemented, the plan will reduce state income taxes by two BILLION dollars.

“We think this is really important to keep good on our promise to return an overcollection of tax dollars back to the people of Iowa,” Whitver says. The plan cuts the corporate income tax rate along with changes to reduce tax credits and exemptions for businesses by 140 million dollars. Whitver says it’s an attempt to reform how corporations are taxed.

“We want to have a real conversation in Iowa about what that rate should be and can we lower that rate if we get rid of all those special interest carve outs,” Whitver says. “Your rate shouldn’t depend on how many lobbyists you have here at the Capitol to get you those carve outs and we want to lower it for everybody.”The plan includes a maneuver that reclassifies local option sales taxes as a statewide tax. Whitver says the move would let lawmakers put other state funds in the voter-approved by long empty account voters approved in 2010 to pay for water quality and outdoor recreation projects.

“We’re not going to raise the sales tax. We’re going to work within the parameters that we already have in place,” Whitver says. “We wanted to start that conversation and we’ll see where that conversation goes.” House Republicans plan to release their own tax plan soon and promise it will not raise taxes for any Iowan. The Senate’s Democratic leader says the plan Republicans in the Senate have released will result in higher taxes overall and cuts to state services.

ROCKWELL CITY, IOWA – Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Public Safety report that on January 25, 2022, at approximately 12:30 p.m., the Rockwell City Police Department was called to Casey’s General Store in Rockwell City for a subject needing help.  It was discovered that a male subject was suffering a gunshot wound.  He was taken by ambulance to the Stuart Memorial Community Hospital and later air lifted to a Des Moines hospital.

Rockwell City Police Department requested the assistance of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.  The case is currently under investigation with the assistance of the Rockwell City Police Department, Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa State Patrol.

The victim is not being identified at this time, and is reported to be in stable condition.

ATLANTIC – Cass Health and its affiliate organizations have released their scholarship applications for the upcoming school year.
2022 Scholarships
• Cass Health offers a $500 scholarship to a southwest Iowa student who is enrolled or accepted into a nursing program. Deadline is April 1, 2022.
• Cass Health offers a $500 scholarship to a southwest Iowa student pursuing a degree in a health-related career. Deadline is April 1, 2022.
• Cass Health Auxiliary provides two $1000 scholarships for students pursuing a health-related career. Deadline is April 1, 2022
• Cass Health Foundation offers $10,000 in scholarships to students who are enrolled and have been accepted into a nursing or medical doctor educational program. The scholarships were established by a bequest from Louie and Elsie Hansen. Deadline is April 1, 2022.

Applications are available on casshealth.org/scholarships, and can be turned in to the Marketing and Communications Department by the respective deadlines listed above. For more information, contact Kat Niemann, Marketing & Communications Specialist, at 712-250-8022 or nieka@casshealth.org.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Secretary of State, Paul Pate, is trying to recruit more people to work at the polls in the state’s 99 counties during election nights. “We want to make sure we’ve got a reserve. We are looking for more diversity. With all these new folks coming on as voters — it’s a perfect time to add some of these new folks onto the list,” Pate says. “We need more than 10-thousand folks as workers. Personally, I’d like to be more at 12-thousand be more flexible on the hours of their poll workers.” He says poll workers get paid and the training is not difficult.

“Basically they are checking in the voters. They’re going to make sure they have the correct ballot in the right precinct. They are going to ensure elections run smoothly in each of their precincts,” he says. Pate says you can sign up at pollworker.Iowa.gov. “Well get you some more information. The county auditor can reach out to you and get you on board. For most poll workers it is a one-day commitment. Some poll workers choose to put a little time in and help in other ways, because we have early voting and absentee voting and that process takes a little extra work. We do use poll workers for that,” according to Pate.

The primary elections are June 7th and the general elections are on November 8th. Pate made his comments as part of national Poll Worker Recruitment Day Tuesday.

(Radio Iowa) – A move to get rid of the state law that forbids schools from starting the fall term before August 23rd has stalled in the Iowa House. The tourism industry objects, arguing families quit traveling and they lose student employees if school starts earlier in August. Craig Patterson is a lobbyist for Okoboji Tourism. “Every day that Okoboji loses from that summer season, it’s over a million dollars in hidden revenues that doesn’t come in,” he says.

Representative Thomas Moore, a Republican, is a retired teacher and coach from Griswold. “We don’t want to infringe on our business partners that are paying the taxes and making the money for the state government,” he says. “We also want that local school board to be able to make what the best decision for them is and so it’s a ‘Catch 22’ situation, I guess.” Moore is chairman of the subcommittee that discussed getting rid of the mandatory school start date. He announced at the end of a hearing that the bill would not advance.

Margaret Buckton is a lobbyist for the Urban Education Network, representing 22 school districts where nearly one in every four students are enrolled. She says having less time away from school avoids learning loss. “It’s important to work with communities and child care providers and staff and the local economy to figure out what is the best fit for all of these things and we trust our school boards to make those decisions in the best interests of their students and their taxpayers,” Buckton says, “so we’re in favor of this bill.”

In 2015, former Governor Terry Branstad criticized schools for starting before the State Fair was over — and he signed a law that has forbidden all public and private schools from starting before August 23rd. The mandatory starting date law does not apply to districts that have year-round school.

(Radio Iowa) – A Chicago man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison after he was caught during a northeast Iowa traffic stop with three different kinds of illegal drugs in his vehicle. Thirty-five-year-old Brian Hale was pulled over in Dubuque County. Court records show a police dog sniffed drugs in the vehicle, despite Hale’s attempt to throw off the scent by sprinkling chili powder over the packages of drugs.

Hale pleaded guilty to distribution of meth and admitted he had meth as well as cocaine, marijuana and more than five-thousand dollars in cash in his vehicle.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill to require written permission from parents for any vaccinations for their children has cleared a Senate subcommittee. Health care groups and the Iowa Department of Public Health say parental consent is required under current law, but written as well as verbal consent is allowed. Iowa Public Health Association executive director Lina Tucker Reinders says taking away verbal consent could delay necessary vaccinations for kids.

“Verbal consent allows for parents to have those important conversations with their providers or child providers about any questions they have about the vaccinations that their children are about to be given,” she says. “Requiring written consent would impede upon these conversations.”

Members of a group that opposes vaccines say they support the bill because they’ve heard stories of teenagers who were given a COVID-19 shot without parental consent. Reinders says they should provide evidence to the Board of Medicine so those cases can be investigated.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Katarina Sostaric)

(Radio Iowa) – The sponsor of a bill to set statewide rules for which roads all-terrain vehicles may travel on, says he’s changing his plan. Representative Bobby Kaufmann, of Wilton, says city officials would retain authority over where A-T-Vs can travel within city limits, but he still plans to seek statewide rules for roads where county boards of supervisors have jurisdiction.  “Local control does not work when boards of supervisors ignore tens of thousands of signatures and refuse to even so much grant a meeting,” Kaufmann says. “When local control is not working, then it is our job to step in.”

Two-thirds of Iowa counties DO have local ordinances that spell out which roads and local highways A-T-Vs may use. Kaufmann says he’s considering other ideas, like requiring licenses for A-T-Vs that operate on roads with other vehicles. Those proposals will be reviewed if and when the bill is debated by the full House.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped for the fifth straight month in July. Iowa Workforce Development Director, Beth Townsend, says more people are getting back into the workforce. “We are seeing a return to work for industries that had previously suffered the most if you will under the pandemic. Construction is up, manufacturing is up, people are returning to the retail and hospitality industries,” Townsend says. The rate dropped to three-point-five percent in December and Townsend says they want to continue to see it drop to the levels before the pandemic.

“Then we only had about 40-thousand who were unemployed and we had about 60-thousand open jobs. so, even then it was a problem — but today we have 85-thousand open jobs and we’ve got about 57-thousand unemployed,” according to Townsend. ” We really need to help employers fill all those vacant jobs if we are going to continue in our recovery.” Townsend says some of the lost workers are those who decided it was time to retire once the pandemic hit. “In Iowa, they traditionally would work longer. Most people didn’t retire at 65, if they were in good health they would continue work for a few years. I think retirements got a little bit younger, and those who maybe had stayed in the workforce a little bit longer than they originally intended decided to retire. And that definitely had a negative impact on our workforce,” Townsend says.

IWD Director Beth Townsend (file photo)

She says that’s what I-W-D is focusing on those who aren’t yet ready to retire. “How do we get people who were either recently unemployed or who have been unemployed for a while back into the workforce. Because there are some really great opportunities for people It’s a good time to try a new occupation if you are interested. It’s a good time to be on a search for a job because employers are making big changes to encourage people or incentivize people to work for them,” she says.

I-W-D recently started a new unemployment system where they pair up immediately with people looking for a job. “It’s only been in effect for not quite two weeks yet — but we are seeing good responses and we are seeing people get jobs within a week or two of taking advantage of the program. So, we are just helping them make those connections,” Townsend says.

Townsend says recruiting new people into the state to fill the jobs is something they are also doing with help from the Iowa Economic Development Authority.