Sheriff’s officials in Audubon County report a woman faces two felony charges of child endangerment, following an investigation into an incident that allegedly took place last Sunday. 50-year-old Samantha Kay Bailey, of Gray, was arrested on Friday (April 14th). During the alleged incident in Gray last Sunday (April 9th), children in her care ended-up being flown to a hospital. Additional information about the incident was not released.

Bailey was being held in the Audubon County Jail on $10,000 bond, pending an appearance before the county magistrate. The incident remained under investigation, with additional charges possible.

A new state law will prevent state and local governments from striking “project labor agreements” with union workers on construction projects. Supporters of these agreements say they ensure workers are paid a fair wage and the construction is completed on time and within the budget. Opponents, like Governor Terry Branstad, say NON-union contractors lose out on big projects that are financed with government dollars.

“Publicly-funded construction projects create jobs for workers here in Iowa and it’s important to make sure that all qualified workers have the opportunity to bid on these projects,” Branstad says. Project labor agreements have been used on some of the state’s biggest government construction projects, like the Iowa Events Center in downtown Des Moines. But in 2011 when Branstad returned as Iowa’s governor, he issued an executive order that banned project labor agreements on state-financed construction.

The bill Branstad signed into law this week ensures the ban applies not only to projects that are financed with state tax dollars, but construction paid for with tax dollars collected by cities, counties and school districts.

“Project labor agreements infringe on Iowans’ right to work by denying small businesses, contractors, women- and minority-owned companies the opportunity to competitively bid on these important projects,” Branstad says. “PLAs increase the cost of public projects by preventing competitive bidding on projects and leave Iowa taxpayers to foot the bill for these increased expenses.”

A host of organizations that represent businesses and contractors lobbied for this new law. Unions opposed it, as did the Iowa State Association of Counties and the Iowa League of Cities. Democrats say the new law is part of the G-O-P’s anti-union agenda. Republicans say 85 percent of the construction workers in Iowa do not belong to a union and this new law will help their employers secure government contracts.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is one of the sponsors of a bipartisan bill that would provide a tax credit for those who take care of aging parents, grandparents or other family members.

“It’s time that we recognize the essential role these caregivers play in supporting aging relatives or family members with a long-term illnesses and disabilities,” Ernst says. Ernst is sponsoring the Credit for Caring Act along with fellow Senators Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, Kelly Ayotte, a Republican from New Hampshire, and Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts.

“This legislation will provide up to a three-thousand dollar non-refundable tax credit to working family caregivers for qualified expenses,” Ernst explains. She says the tax credit helps alleviate some of the out of pocket financial expenses that caregivers often take on, all while balancing full or part-time employment.

“The credit would be available to those working family caregivers who have incurred expenses of more than two-thousand dollars while caring for a family member who has been certified to be in need of long-term care,” Ernst says. “In particular, this credit would help cover the costs associate with caring for a family member — such as home modifications to accommodate special needs, medication management, respite care, and more.”

A-A-R-P supports the bill and says there are an estimated 317-thousand family caregivers in Iowa who provide an estimated unpaid care worth more than three-point-eight (3.8) billion dollars annually to their adult loved ones. Ernst says the credit would also phase out at higher income levels to ensure appropriate taxpayer protections are in place.

(Radio Iowa)

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says the state had no legal responsibility to safeguard a 95-year-old woman who was raped by a violent sex offender placed in her nursing home after being released from state custody. The court ruling Friday upholds a lower court’s decision to dismiss the state from a lawsuit filed by the women’s children.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The former No. 2 administrator for University of Iowa athletics will square off against the school in a trial that centers on her claim that she suffered discrimination as a gay female who fought bias in college sports. The trial in a lawsuit brought by Jane Meyer, Iowa’s former senior associate athletic director, begins Monday. It i expected to litigate whether Athletic Director Gary Barta’s personnel decisions were necessary judgment calls or tainted by discrimination.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in central Iowa say they’ve made an arrest in a shooting this week that killed one Des Moines man and left another injured. Police said Friday that 26-year-old Larry Deandre Ratliff Jr., of Des Moines, has been charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, robbery and a weapons count in connection with the Tuesday shooting in the Beaverdale neighborhood. Police say 36-year-old Antonio Quinn died from his wounds; another man was injured.

STRATFORD, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a central Iowa medical helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing after hitting a bird. The Fort Dodge Messenger reports that the UnityPoint Health-Trinity Regional Medical Center air ambulance landed early Thursday morning in Hamilton County farm field. No one was hurt. Officials say the collision broke out the helicopter’s windshield.

A study finds Iowa saw a slight drop in technology industry employment last year. Steven Ostrowski, spokesman for the Computing Technology Industry Association or CompTIA, says Iowa’s tech industry workforce fell by more than 800 jobs or almost two-percent during 2016, putting the state near the middle of the national pack.

“Iowa ranks 32nd. They have just over 45,000 tech industry workers across the state,” Ostrowski says. “Their average wage is $77,600. That’s 38th across the United States.” That tech salary figure is about 75-percent higher than the average private sector worker in Iowa, who earns about 44-thousand-400 dollars.

“A third category we’ve ranked the states in this year is innovation,” Ostrowski says. That’s a combination of patents issued to companies within the state, the number of new tech startups and the number of new tech businesses that have been established over the course of the calendar year, and in that ranking, Iowa comes in 37th.”

CompTIA’s 18th annual CyberStates report finds more than 42-hundred tech businesses located in Iowa. Among the leading tech occupations in the state are: application software developers (7,380), computer systems analysts (5,300) and computer user support specialists (3,870). He notes, virtually every industry in the state is utilizing technology and those numbers are growing.

“It’s not necessarily just working for a technology company,” Ostrowski says. “In Iowa, there are over 62,000 workers who have technology jobs working in other industries. That could be agriculture. That could be finance, education, government, health care. It’s a pretty healthy workforce with technology as part of their credentials.”

Iowa ranks 14th in the nation in terms of gender diversity in the tech workforce. The study says 77-percent of Iowa’s tech workers are male, 23-percent female. That’s slightly better than the national average of 78-percent male and 22-percent female.

(Radio Iowa)

A small group of Republican legislators have given initial approval to next year’s spending plan for the state’s court system, prisons and public safety operations. It’s about three million dollars LEANER than the current year’s budget for those agencies. Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady had asked for a budget boost for the courts, but is getting what GOP lawmakers call a “status quo” spending plan. Cady acknowledges with state tax revenues falling below expectations, the cuts to the courts could have been deep.

“We’re prepared to go forward and continue to do the best work that we can,” Cady told reporters after meeting privately with House leaders Wednesday afternoon. “We’re just appreciative that the legislature listened to us in some respects.” Legislators are in the final stages of drafting an OVERALL spending outline for the state fiscal year that begins July 1st and some of the plans that emerged this week will cut other agencies far more — like a proposed 10 percent cut in the Department of Public Health’s next budget.

As chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, Cady is the top executive in the judicial branch of state government. Cady says he and his top aides will try to implement these cuts with the fewest “disruptions” to court services. “We just don’t know specifically what that is, but we’ll look at everything,” Cady says. During recent rounds of budget reductions, Cady ordered workers in the court system to take unpaid furloughs and courthouses were closed on Fridays. That may happen again.

“We look at problems as opportunities and we’ll look to make sure there aren’t things we can do in ways that might be able to save money,” Cady says. But Cady says the court system “will still maintain a presence in all 99 counties.” “That’s important to us, but…just as have this year, we operated on a shortfall and did it successfully and we’re confident we’ll be able to do it again,” Cady says. Legislators are NOT at work today in Des Moines. They will return Monday, with the hope of concluding the work of the 2017 legislative session sometime NEXT WEEK.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Supreme Court rules a Johnson County man can’t be charged for falsely answering an unauthorized question on a request for a gun permit. James Downey filled out the application for a gun permit in Johnson County in January of 2015. He provided his name, birthdate, sex, phone number, address, driver’s license number, place of birth, and country of citizenship on the front side of the form. Downey turned the form over to find 10 questions with yes or no answers. He answered “no” to whether he had ever been convicted of a felony.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department did a background check and charged him with making a false statement when they found he had a felony third offense O-W-I conviction. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled the 10 questions were not authorized by the legislature to be on the form and an unauthorized question on weapons permit application cannot be the basis for a crime. The ruling says if it were — someone could be asked the color of their car — and then be charged if they gave the wrong color.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says two men convicted of second-degree murder for their involvement in the mob beating death of a Des Moines man in a downtown parking lot in 2013 will not get new trials.

The court’s ruling Friday says there was sufficient evidence for convictions of James Shorter and Yarvon Russell in the death of 40-year-old Richard Daughenbaugh. The ruling overturns an Iowa Court of Appeals decision last June that said the men should get new trials. Shorter and Russell, both 22, are serving 50-year sentences.

The court’s ruling leaves an opening for further appeals regarding whether their defense attorneys effectively represented them. Daughenbaugh was kicked and stomped by a group of young people after arriving uninvited at a parking lot party. He later died of internal injuries.

The recent warmer temperatures and other signs of spring have encouraged a lot of Iowans to schedule outdoor getaways. Staff at Iowa’s state parks have been busy preparing for another camping season. Todd Coffelt is chief of state parks for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “Park staff around the state have been busy turning on the water, so we can get the facilities up and running,” Coffelt says.

Shower and restroom buildings in most of Iowa’s state parks will have the water on for the first time this weekend, so they’re ready for campers. Iowa has more than 4,700 state park campsites for motorhomes, travel trailers and other recreational vehicles.

There are also 92 cabins available to rent in 19 state parks. Some of the newest cabins are located in southeast Iowa’s Washington County. “Our most recent ones are six, modern, year-round cabins at Lake Darling State Park and they have been very popular,” Coffelt says.

Cabins and campsites are available for reservation online ( http://www.iowadnr.gov/Places-to-Go/State-Parks/Make-a-Reservation ). Coffelt is encouraging Iowans to check out some recent improvements to a handful of state parks, including one in southeast Iowa’s Davis County. “The Lake Wapello State Park campground opened late in the season last year,” Coffelt said. “With the water turned on, it should be good to go for people to take a look at a lot of that work they’ve done to make those sites more organized and easier to back into with a trailer…and ultimately to enjoy that fishing resource they have in the lake.”

Nearly all of the state parks with campgrounds will offer special programs or activities on May 6, including fishing clinics, fun runs, volunteer projects, special hikes and demonstrations. Learn more at: www.iowastateparks.gov/campingkickoff.

(Radio Iowa)

Weather permitting, an Easter Egg Hunt will take place in Atlantic Saturday. The event takes place on the grounds of Atlantic Specialty Care (1300 E. 19^th St.) beginning at 10:30-a.m., but Kellie Jimerson, Administrator of the facility, recommends you arrive early. You can park on the side streets, or the Atlantic High School Parking lot, where a SWITA shuttle bus will transport you to the facility and back.

There are activities for children from age 1 to10. They will be divided into four age groups when it comes to hunting for the eggs and prizes. About 15,000 eggs are purchased for filling. Jimerson said there were almost $2,500 worth of donations made available for eggs, candies and prizes.

Residents of the facility spend nearly two months filling the plastic eggs and with candy. Jimerson said they look forward to seeing the excitement in kids eyes, and their smiles. Jimerson says there’s much more going on than watching the kids find Easter Eggs filled with goodies…Hot dogs and chips are available from Hy-Vee, beverages are available from the Atlantic Coca Cola Bottling Company, and the Easter Bunny will arrive on an Atlantic Fire Truck.

There was no Easter Egg Hunt last year, because of the snow.