More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A group of Iowa casinos wants to make their annual audits confidential and stop releasing them to the public. The Des Moines Register reports 16 of the 19 state-regulated Iowa casinos have joined a lawsuit challenging the release of those financial records.

Wes Ehrecke, president of the Iowa Gaming Association, says the audits include trade secrets that shouldn’t be released publicly. But the reports have long been public in Iowa, and they are relied upon to gauge the health of the industry. Last year, Iowa’s casinos paid over $312 million in gambling taxes and contributed nearly $40 million to charities. The groups that rely on charitable contributions from casinos or gambling taxes have a particular interest in the financial reports.

Two of the top Republican leaders in the Iowa Legislature gave a few details Wednesday on the agenda they’ll pursue in January. Senator majority leader, Bill Dix a Republican from Shellrock, says he is one of the few legislators who were around the last time the Republicans controlled the House, Senate and governor’s office. “The message that I am taking from voters is that they expect us, for lack of a better term, to kick the door in. We don’t expect government to continue to do business the way that we have.”

Speaking at the West Side Conservative Club meeting in Clive, Dix says the state needs to not overspend and create policies that grow the state. He says education and education funding is key example of why the state needs to grow. “We can add additional dollars to the per pupil funding on an annual basis — and we almost always do — yet some districts because of declining enrollment will have less resources to work with. So the answer to many of our problems, including this one is growth,” Dix says. “There are a lot of lessons that we can learn. All across the country the last couple of decades — the state’s that are growing the fastest are the ones that are exercising fiscal discipline.”

Dix says tax reform is part of the solution to helping the state grow. “High income tax punishes people who want to work, save and make investments in our state. And we need to recognize that. And the states that have grown the fastest the last couple of decades across our country today are the ones that either lowered their rates, broadened their base, kept things simple, or moved to no income tax at all,” according to Dix.

Dix says another issue he expects to Senate to handle is requiring an I-D to vote. “Without question we need to continue to work to ensure higher levels of integrity in our voting system. And one of the best first steps we can do that is in voter identification. A voter I-D is clearly something we can do,” Dix says.

House majority leader Chris Hagenow, a Republican from Windsor Heights was also on the program. He says he is excited to have a Republican Senate to work with. Hagenow says House members have had some initial planning meetings, but haven’t gotten down to specifics just yet. “We have to still talk in terms of themes and top priorities, and then once we come around to January and work on that. But what I can say, is in the Republican majority in the House we did a lot of these things. Over the last six years some of the bills that we passed are going to be the starting point going forward,” Hagenow says.

He says many of those things were blocked when the Democrats controlled the Senate, but now things like water quality will be back on the table. He says tax reform is another important issue for the Iowa House. Hagenow says the changes to collecting bargaining laws, like other issues, were blocked by Democrats in the senate last session. He says there are a variety of other issues they plan to bring up again.

“The election law reforms that we talked about, we’ve done some of those things,” according to Hagenow. “Many of you care about the Second Amendment and making sure we protect Second Amendment rights. Year-after-year we have passed legislation to do that. Now we have a partner who is going to work with us on that.”

Hagenow says it looks like Governor Terry Branstad will be in the state for much of the legislative session and when the governor does leave to become Ambassador to China, he expects little to change in the working relationship Republican legislators while have with new Governor Kim Reynolds.

(Radio Iowa)

Representatives of Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy coalition are traveling around the state this week, making their case for a three-eighths cent increase in Iowa’s sales tax to fund natural resources initiatives. Randy Munson of Ankeny is State Council Chairman for Ducks Unlimited.”We could generate anywhere from $150 million to $180 million that would be constitutionally protected,” Munson says. “That money, once it’s in the (trust fund), cannot go into the state’s general fund.”

In 2010, 63-percent of Iowa voters backed the creation of the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund. Six years later, the fund remains empty because it requires the three-eighths of a cent sales tax increase. A large chunk of the fund would support clean water initiatives, something Munson says farmers would welcome as they apply pieces of the state’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy. “Farmers want to participate in that program, but there is an added cost to that. Forty-percent of the funds allocated (to the trust fund) would go into cover crops and bumper strips to work on nutrient reduction,” Munson says.

On Wednesday, the coalition released a study that identifies over $673 million worth of “fully planned projects” that could be completed with money from a three-eighths penny sales tax increase. Munson says many of those projects would improve parks, hiking and biking trails, and other outdoor recreation areas statewide — and provide a boost to rural communities. “You look at the money being spent in restaurants, gas stations, and local stores…it’s an opportunity for small town Iowa to recapture tourism and strengthen economic development within their communities,” Munson said.

The Iowa Land and Water Legacy coalition held meetings on Wednesday in Mondamin and Cherokee. Meetings are scheduled for today (Thursday) in Le Mars (8am), Sioux City (9:30am), and Mason City (3pm) — and tomorrow (Friday) in Cedar Rapids (9:30am) and Davenport (3:30pm).

(Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report the arrest Wednesday evening, of 28-year old Cody Davis Sparks, of Villisca. Sparks was taken into custody for Driving While Revoked. He was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 cash bond.

The latest farmland survey by the Iowa State University Extension department showed a third straight year where land values dropped. Some people are worried the quarter-point increase in the interest rate announced Wednesday by the Federal Reserve could hurt land values even more. Economist Wendong Zhang conducts the I-S-U survey and says interest rates are an important part of land values. “Land value can be thought of simply as net income divided by interest rates. So when interest rates rise, land values tend to fall down,” Zhang says.

But Zhang says this increase shouldn’t have much impact. “What we are talking about will be a shift from an historically low environment to a low interest rate environment. So, it will have some impact, but probably not as much as some people are worried about,” He says.

The use of ethanol and its impact on corn prices led to an increase in farm land prices that saw them peak in 2013. But Zhang says the impact of ethanol on land prices is not as strong as it once was. “Comparing the current and future growth to what we experienced in the late 2000’s, the growth is much slower,” Zhang says. “Back in the 2000’s ethanol had been one of the primary factors in driving up the corn prices. I don’t think the factor is that strong (now) — at least compared to a few years ago.”

Zhang expects the drop in land prices to slow and eventually turn around, but he says it could take a few years.

(Radio Iowa)

A new survey ranks Iowa as the nation’s best state for drivers. The personal finance website Bankrate dot com says Iowa motorists pay, on average, just over $647 a year for auto insurance — the least expensive premiums of any state in the country. According to the survey, California is the worst state for drivers.

Car repairs in Iowa average $637 compared to $895 in California. Commutes in Iowa average only 19 minutes. Bankrate.com also based their rankings on gas prices, car thefts and deadly crashes.

(Radio Iowa)

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Legislative Services Agency estimates Iowa faces a shortfall of about $132 million in its current budget. The estimate follows another panel’s forecast of $7.2 billion in revenue for the current budget year, down $96 million. The legislative agency tacked on an extra $22 million in additional Medicaid costs. A separate group previously determined the Medicaid shortage, which includes a decision by officials to pay about $33 million more to three insurance companies that oversee the program.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — A member of the Board of Regents says he would have preferred an outside audit into Iowa State University President Steven Leath’s potential misuse of school planes. Regent Subhash Sahai says he had the stomach flu Monday and missed a special board meeting to discuss an internal audit that detailed dozens of questionable personal flights by Leath. Sahai says an “external audit would have been much more helpful.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Linn County plans to enact a new higher minimum wage on Jan. 1, despite a request from one supervisor to delay the move until summer. Cedar Rapids television station KCRG says Supervisor Brent Oleson requested the delay until July 1 because he believes state lawmakers will throw out all county wage ordinances in the upcoming legislative session. Linn County supervisors voted in September to raise the $7.25 minimum wage by a dollar each Jan. 1 until 2019, when it will reach $10.25.

DENISON, Iowa (AP) — A Minnesota man has been sentenced to five years in prison for shooting at two Iowa sheriff’s deputies during a standoff. The Sioux City Journal says 46-year-old James Champion, of Mankato, Minnesota, was sentenced last week in Crawford County District Court. An investigation showed Champion fired a rifle at deputies on March 9. One deputy returned fire, hitting Champion twice.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A nonpartisan agency estimates Iowa faces a shortfall of about $132 million in its current budget. The Legislative Services Agency released the data Tuesday, one day after a panel lowered projections for how much money the state will collect during the budget year that began in July and ends in June 2017.

The panel estimated Iowa’s revenue intake at roughly $7.2 billion and decreased its budget projections by $96 million. The Legislative Services Agency tacked on an extra $22 million in additional Medicaid costs. A separate forecasting group previously determined the Medicaid shortage, which includes a decision by Gov. Terry Branstad and state officials to pay about $33 million more to three insurance companies that oversee the privatized health care program.