(Radio Iowa) – A change in Department of Transportation rules for specialty plates pushed by ham radio enthusiasts is moving forward. The director of the D-O-T Motor Vehicle Division, Melissa Gillett, says they will now allow the number zero to be used on the plates. She says there was interest from those who wanted to put their call letters on a blackout plate and they needed the ability to use zero to do that.

Police historically have not wanted the use of zero for one reason. She says there felt there would be confusion between the letter ‘O’ and zero. But now because there is a slash through the zero — police believe they will be able to easily distinguish between the two.

The blackout plates continue to be the top seller of specialty plates in the state and ham radio operators can now personalize them in their own way. She says once they got the change in how the zero is present it was not an issue.

(Radio Iowa) – Key legislators say the financial toll of the pandemic on Iowa isn’t fully known and it’s best to be prudent when it comes to any state tax changes. Republican Representative Lee Hein of Monticello is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.  “I guess I’m kind of in the ‘wait and see mode’ to see what the governor comes with, with her Invest in Iowa,” Hein says, “if she’s going to move that forward or a variation of that.”

Last February, Governor Kim Reynolds unveiled a plan to cut state income taxes by 10 percent and raise the sales tax to find more money for mental health programs and water quality initiatives. Republican Senator Dan Dawson of Council Bluffs, the new chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, agrees that legislators are waiting for a signal from Reynolds. “Probably the biggest marker out there would be the governor’s Invest in Iowa Act,” Dawson says. “…Same questions to grapple with that we grappled with last year on how to achieve some of those goals within that plan and yet still maintaining a competitive sales tax rate.”

Iowa’s current sales tax is six percent, but Dawson notes many Iowa jurisdictions collect a one percent local option sales tax, too. “You go across the river and in Omaha, it’s a 7.5% sales tax, so raising it an additional penny has always been a concern for western Iowa because it would take our sales tax up to 8% for some of our communities,” Dawson says, “and you go across the river and it’s much lower, we lose that competitive advantage.”

Representative Hein also notes that some of the tax cuts that passed the Republican-led legislature in 2018 are just about to take effect.  “We might need to just sit back and analyze,” Hein says, “because of Covid and what has happened the last six months.” Senator Pam Jochum of Dubuque is the top Democrat on the Senate Ways and Means Committee. She says the State of Iowa’s financial situation appears stable due to an infusion of federal money for the pandemic, federal disaster aid for the derecho and a significant increase in direct federal payments to farmers. “All of those things combined have helped to prop up Iowa’s financial picture. I’m grateful for that,” Jochum says. “…Quite frankly the businesses and the families that have been hit hardest by Covid still have not recovered, and are not, and I think we’re going to be spending a lot of time this session dealing with the impact of Covid on Iowa’s families and small businesses.”

The State of Iowa received more than one-point-two BILLION dollars and businesses in Iowa received five BILLION dollars in “paycheck protection program” loans from the federal government last spring. Representative Dave Jacoby of Coralville is the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee in the Iowa House. He’s worried about what will happen once that pipeline of federal pandemic relief shuts down. “Our economy is tremendously buoyed by government money,” Jacoby says. “The hestitation we have is what recovery is going to look like.”

Senator Dawson says the speed at which Covid vaccinations are deployed will have a big impact on Iowa’s economy.  “I think Iowa’s structural economy is a little bit different than maybe some of the other states, which maybe gives us an advantage a little bit, whether it be geography or just the type of businesses that we have,” Dawson says. “I think that we are going to accelerate out of this quicker than some of the other states who will frankly I think have years to dig out of what Covid has brought upon them.”

The legislators made their comments earlier this month during a forum sponsored by the Iowa Taxpayers Association.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — A racial equity group is urging the city of Burlington to sever ties with a bank because of an official’s racist Facebook post. The Hawk Eye reports that the Black Leadership Council is outraged that Burlington is still doing business with Farmers & Merchants Bank & Trust after a vice president, Lisa Walsh, used a racist slur against Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in a November Facebook post. The Walsh family owns 53% of the bank. Walsh has been placed on administrative leave. Burlington Mayor Jon Billups told The Hawk Eye that he has been discussing the issue with F&M.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Another 71 people died in Iowa of the coronavirus and there were more than 1,400 new confirmed cases of the virus. The state Department of Public Health reports that in the last 24 hours as of Thursday morning, the additional deaths raised the total number of virus-related deaths to 3,739. There were 1,425 new confirmed cases, increasing the total to 272,444. Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that in the past 14 days, Iowa has reported 691.7 new confirmed cases per 100,000 people. That ranks the state 40th nationally during that period.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A cat named Lottie has been reunited with his Des Moines owners just in time for Christmas after he went missing nearly five years ago. The Des Moines Register reports that 37-year-old Kara Hanlon figured the cat had died until she got a letter in the mail saying otherwise. The Animal Rescue League’s animal control division had picked up Lottie and identified him by scanning his microchip. She got him back Monday. Hanlon described it as a “Christmas miracle,” noting that the last picture she snapped of the cat was taken in 2015 while he sat in a Christmas gift bag.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — According to an Associated Press investigation, Iowa’s attorney general hasn’t convicted a police officer for improperly using force since at least 2004, which was the earliest date for which records are available. Attorney General Tom Miller’s office only pursued charges against two officers out of 35 force cases it reviewed, and both of them were ultimately acquitted. Police officers often aren’t charged when someone ends up dead. Laws often shield officers and give them the benefit of the doubt for a dangerous and unpredictable job, and juries can be reluctant to convict. But prosecutors who have a history of declining to charge police are now facing scrutiny of their records following a summer of mass protests calling for accountability.

DAVENPORT – The Iowa Department of Corrections, Thursday, said 30-year-old Roy Albert Phillips, who was convicted of Willful Injury Causing Serious Injury, and other crimes, in Clinton and Scott Counties, failed to report back to the Davenport Work Release Center as required earlier, Thursday.

Roy Albert Phillips

Phillips is a black male, height 5’8″, and weighs 150 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on April 1, 2020.  Persons with information on Phillips’ whereabouts should contact local police.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A cat named Lottie has been reunited with his Des Moines owners just in time for Christmas after he went missing nearly five years ago. The Des Moines Register reports that 37-year-old Kara Hanlon figured the cat had died until she got a letter in the mail saying otherwise. The Animal Rescue League’s animal control division had picked up Lottie and identified him by scanning his microchip.

She got him back Monday. Hanlon described it as a “Christmas miracle,” noting that the last picture she snapped of the cat was taken in 2015 while he sat in a Christmas gift bag.

The Atlantic Rotary Club has donated $2,000 to help pay for the 2020 Fourth of July Fireworks. The funds were presented to Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel by Rotary representative Ted Robinson. (photo courtesy Jennifer Nichols – Atlantic News Telegraph)

(from left) Atlantic Rotary Representative Ted Robinson and Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — A racial equity group is urging the city of Burlington to sever ties with a bank because of an official’s racist Facebook post. The Hawk Eye reports that the Black Leadership Council is outraged that Burlington is still doing business with Farmers & Merchants Bank & Trust after a vice president, Lisa Walsh, used a racist slur against Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in a November Facebook post.

The Walsh family owns 53% of the bank. Walsh has been placed on administrative leave. Burlington Mayor Jon Billups told The Hawk Eye that he has been discussing the issue with F&M.

(Radio Iowa) – Alcohol sales have been up during the pandemic and this holiday season is typically a busy time for the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division as people go to holiday parties or buy alcohol as gifts. I-A-B-D spokesman, Jake Holmes, says tastes haven’t changed much.  “Iowans seem to be pretty consistent with the types of alcohol they like. There’s been some movement with different brands — but American vodka, Canadian whiskies, and spiced rum continue to be the top three categories,” he says.

Black Velvet Canadian whiskey was the top seller in the last fiscal year. “It’s held that top spot for a number of years. Tito’s Vodka was number two and Captain Morgan was number three. And then the number one Iowa-made product was Blue Ox vodka,” according to Holmes.

Sales increased eight-percent in the fiscal year that ended in June. Holmes says it hasn’t let up since then. “So far sales are trending even high than they were. They are up a little over 14 percent at this point,” Holmes says. Iowa and the rest of the country have seen alcohol sales increase during the pandemic.