A state senator who left the Republican Party in 2016 to protest Donald Trump being the G-O-P’s presidential nominee has ended his bid for reelection in November. David Johnson of Ocheyedan was the only independent in the state legislature for the past two years. Johnson announced in December he would run as an independent and seek another term in the senate. “I just decided this was a good time to get people thinking in a different way about the election coming this November,” Johnson says.

Three Republicans are running in Tuesday’s Primary for Johnson’s spot in the state senate. He’s been a legislator for nearly two decades but, as an independent, he faced a tough run for another senate term in the northwest Iowa district where Republicans far outnumber both independents and Democrats. Johnson had a long history in the Republican Party before he left it nearly two years ago. His father was a Republican candidate for governor in 1968. Johnson hints he’ll be back at the statehouse next year. “I want to be engaged from a citizen’s point of view,” Johnson said. “I plan to return to the capitol, perhaps, and advocate for causes that are important to me and important to a number of Iowans.”

There are more than 20-thousand Republicans, about 13-thousand independents and 73-hundred Democrats in the district Johnson has represented. There is no Democratic candidate in the Senate District One, but a Democrat could be nominated by convention before the ballot deadline in August.

(Radio Iowa)

The three candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination in Iowa’s third congressional district are proposing different methods for raising incomes for low-wage workers. The topic was discussed last (Thursday) night during a 90-minute forum sponsored by The Des Moines Register and K-C-C-I television. Pete D’Alessandro of Des Moines supports immediately raising the minimum wage to 15-dollars-an-hour. “We should be fighting for a minimum wage that guarantees that you’re not living in poverty,” D’Alessandro said. “…That’s why I say the debate starts at $15 an hour. I won’t compromise on that.”

Cindy Axne of West Des Moines would establish an inflation factor that will keep raising the minimum wage periodically in the future and she suggests raising the wage too high too fast can have a negative effect.  “My concern is always about making sure that an individual has an opportunity for a life of dignity…and we certainly aren’t going to get there if people are laid off because businesses can’t afford it,” Axne said.

Eddie Mauro of Des Moines says rather than raising the minimum wage, he’d raise the earned income tax credit instead. “I think we need a bolder, better and more progressive plan,” Mauro said. “…At $36,000 to $40,000 a year, you can improve your skills and then you make your wages higher, your salary’s higher and then that credit comes down some.”

The three candidates are competing to be the Democrat who faces off against Republican Congressman David Young in November.

(Radio Iowa)

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FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A central Iowa sheriff who asked one of his deputies to ticket him has pleaded guilty to a traffic violation. The Messenger reports that Webster County Sheriff Jim Stubbs entered the plea in court Thursday to illegally driving an all-terrain vehicle on a highway. Stubbs says that a couple of weeks ago he was heading for some family property when he turned onto U.S. Highway 169 for a brief stretch. He soon recalled that he could legally drive the ATV on county roads but not along highways. He came upon the deputy who’d pulled off the highway and requested a ticket.

Stubbs says he wants to ensure “everyone’s equal as far as the Sheriff’s Department is concerned, and that includes me.” Magistrate William Thatcher commended Stubbs’ honesty and fined him $132.50.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say a Des Moines teenager accidentally shot and killed himself. The shooting occurred Monday when 17-year-old James Shorter moved the handgun while sitting in a car. He was hit in the neck when the gun fired. Police say Shorter died during surgery at Mercy Medical Center. Police Sgt. Joe Frentress told The Des Moines Register that detectives have determined the shooting was an accident.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The price of a private lunch with investor Warren Buffett could set another record this year because the bidding is already over $3 million. The online auction that raises money for the Glide Foundation’s work to help the homeless in San Francisco wraps up Friday night at 9:30 p.m. CDT. The record price of $3,456,789 that auction winners paid in 2012 and 2016 remains the most expensive charity item ever sold on eBay.

Buffett has raised more than $26 million for the Glide Foundation through these annual auctions over the past 18 years. Bidders continue to pay high prices for the chance to talk with the renowned investor and philanthropist who leads Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway, and the event raises a significant part of Glide’s $20 million annual budget. Buffett supports Glide because of the remarkable work the charity does to help people. His first wife, Susie, introduced him to Glide after she volunteered there. Glide provides meals, health care, job training, rehabilitation and housing support to the poor and homeless.

Buffett has said he gets asked about a variety of topics during the lunch. The only subject that’s off limits is what Buffett might invest in next. The winners of the lunch auction typically dine with Buffett at Smith and Wollensky steak house in New York City, which donates at least $10,000 to Glide each year to host the lunch.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A report says a business conditions index for nine Midwest and Plains states has jumped to its highest level in 14 years. The report released Friday says the Mid-America Business Conditions Index hit 67.3 last month, compared with 64.5 in April. The March figure was 62.1. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the economy’s strength will be tested by trade skirmishes and other factors that could slow growth.

The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth in that factor. A score below that suggests decline. The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Iowans are turning the calendar to June after sweating through possibly the hottest May in the state’s history. National Weather Service Meteorologist Craig Cogill says the warm temperatures last month followed Iowa’s coldest-ever April on record. “What a switch we had from April, someone turned up the thermostat,” Cogill said. “We saw (temperatures) well above normal across the entire state, especially over the second half of the month when readings were 10 to 20 degrees above normal.”

Highs climbed above 100 in some locations over the Memorial Day weekend. In Atlantic, our average High for the month was 81.3 (8.2 degrees above normal). The average Low was 55.2 (6.1 degrees warmer than normal).  Rainfall amounted to 4.88 inches in May, which was more than one-half inch (.56″) above normal.  The hottest temps (100 degrees on May 26th and 27th, and 97 degrees on the 28th), were all record setters. Two, 123-year old record High temps fell over the holiday weekend.

In Iowa’s capital city, the temperature last Saturday reached 96. That broke Des Moines’ previous record for the date – 93 – set in 1985. In addition to unusual heat, many areas of Iowa were soaked by heavy rains in May. Sections of southeast Iowa, meanwhile, remained mostly dry. “We did see precipitation remain below normal down around Ottumwa, Bloomfield – locations that have seen dry conditions over the last two years or so,” Cogill said. “There are concerns about drought developing or increasing in those locations, especially given the warmth that we saw during (May).”

High temperatures are expected in the 90s across much of Iowa again today (Friday). The anticipated conditions are much different than they were on this date 129 years ago. On June 1, 1889, unseasonably cold weather settled across Iowa. In Des Moines, a low of 37 was reported, which remains the all-time June record for the state’s largest city.

(Radio Iowa/KJAN weather data)

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — A woman has been accused of swinging a baseball bat to kill a 22-year-old man in southeast Iowa more than 25 years ago. Muscatine County Attorney Alan Ostergren said Thursday that Annette Dee Cahill, of Tipton, is charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 13, 1992, slaying of Corey Lee Wieneke. He was found dead on his bedroom floor in rural West Liberty.
Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for her.

A criminal complaint says someone reported last year that Cahill made comments a few weeks after the slaying that she was responsible. Officials also say she told another person that a baseball bat had been used to kill Wieneke, something only she could have been certain of at the time. An aluminum bat with blood on it was found a mile from his home.