DES MOINES, Iowa – State Treasurer Michael L. Fitzgerald, Thursday, said there are several new updates to IAble, Iowa’s Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) plan. “One major update is the annual contribution limit has been raised,” announced Fitzgerald. “Now, account owners and their families can contribute up to $16,000 a year in their IAble account. That’s an additional $1,000!”*

IAble, a program administered by Fitzgerald, provides individuals with disabilities and their support systems a way to save for disability-related expenses while still maintaining their eligibility for federal means-tested programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid. Prior to ABLE plans, resource limits were capped at $2,000 if persons with disabilities wanted to qualify for monthly benefits. Money contributed to an IAble account can be used to pay for assistive technology, support services, basic living expenses, medical bills and more.**

In addition to the increase for the annual contribution limit, there was also an increase to the state tax deduction. “For 2022, Iowa taxpayers who contribute to an IAble account – not just the account owner – can deduct up to $3,522 from their state income taxes,” said Fitzgerald. “When you help someone with a disability save for their version of a better life experience, you also get an added bonus of saving on taxes.”***

Since its launch, the plan has accumulated 1,430 accounts totaling over $12.8 million in assets. “I am proud to administer a plan that helps persons with disabilities and their families save for necessary expenses that help to improve quality of life, health and independence,” added Fitzgerald. “Providing them with tax advantages is just another added perk of IAble.”

Visit IAble.gov for more information on the plan. Follow the Treasurer on Twitter and Facebook for updates and facts about IAble.

Des Moines, Iowa –The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs has announced its latest investments in building culturally vibrant communities and opened a new opportunity for cities and regions seeking to be designated as an Iowa Great Place. The department awarded a total of $250,000 in Strengthening Communities grants, which will benefit seven rural Iowa communities: Clinton, Hampton, Keokuk, Lake City, Maquoketa, Red Oak and Stanton.

The Montgomery County Family YMCA, Red Oak is receiving a $35,000 grant for a project that will focus on the replacement of the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning units. The upgrades could help the YMCA save up to 20 percent in electrical costs. Stanton Friends, also known as the Stanton Viking Center, in Stanton, is receiving a $10,000 grant for a project centered on the construction of an outdoor basketball court, a proposal brought forward by students and community members. The court will be located along the Greenbelt Walking Trail on the city’s east side.  You can read about the five other grant awards, HERE.

Strengthening Communities grants support facility renovation and construction projects that promote youth development, healthy living and social responsibility in communities with fewer than 28,000 residents. The grants are made possible by an appropriation from the Iowa Legislature through the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund. In addition to awarding the new grants, the department is encouraging Iowa communities to apply to be designated as a new or continuing Iowa Great Place.

Through the Iowa Great Places program, the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs recognizes communities that have developed bold visions around developing their creative and cultural assets and formed the plans, partnerships and projects to make those visions a reality. Once designated as an Iowa Great Place, communities may apply for competitive grant funding, participate in professional development opportunities, and receive technical assistance from the department along with additional funding consideration from other state agencies.

The application round is now open and applications for new designations will be accepted until May 2. The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs maintains a portfolio of programs dedicated to placing arts, culture, history, film and historic preservation at the center of community revitalization efforts – an approach sometimes described as ‘creative placemaking’.

Along with the Strengthening Communities and Iowa Great Places grant programs – both administered by its arts division, the Iowa Arts Council – the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs manages the Iowa Cultural and Entertainment Districts program; awards tax credits to support the development of historic properties through the State Historic Preservation Office; awards grants and provides technical assistance through the State Historical Society of Iowa; and supports film and media projects that showcase Iowa’s creative places through Produce Iowa, the State Office of Media Production.

More information about the creative placemaking grants and community designation programs can be found online at iowaculture.gov.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Business Council’s fourth-quarter Economic Outlook Survey shows a lot of optimism among its members. Executive Director Joe Murphy says anything over 50 on their scale is positive — and this time it was nearly 69. “This is our second-highest score ever, second highest score only to the second quarter of 2018,” Murphy says. The index is based on expectations for sales, capital spending, and employment for the next six months. Capital spending saw the largest increase. “A leading indicator for us is really capital spending. To see companies investing in their own organizations, investing in infrastructure, hard assets — things like that. To see such a big increase in that over the course of one quarter I think is really good news for Iowa’s economy,” he says. “It shows that our businesses are investing in their companies and their people and really investing to meet that surging demand that we’ve seen for a long time now.”

Murphy says this is a positive sign things are picking back up. He says things have been very cautious in the last four to six quarters as businesses have been waiting to see what would happen. “I think this is really showcasing that our recent surging economy is real, and that it gives us a ton of momentum as we move forward,” he says. The I-B-C is made up of executives from 22 of the state’s largest businesses. While the business climate is positive — Murphy says there are still some obstacles in the way. “There are a few things that continue to give us great concern — and the supply chain is definitely one of those,” according to Murphy. “our members have stated that they don’t expect the supply chain to get much better at all over the next six months. So that is obviously a concerning point for us as those choke points and logistics logs remain clogged.”

The other big hurdle continues to be finding workers. “As we look at that situation we know that we’ve got to do things differently, and that’s why we’ve invested in a marketing campaign to try and attract new people into our state. A healthy state is a growing state — just like a healthy company is a growing company,” Murphy says. “And so we really need to be doing everything that we can and that’s why we are challenging all Iowa organizations to think out of the box and really try to bring in new talent outside of our borders.”

He says finding talented issues continue to be the number one concern among members.

(rural Council Bluffs, Iowa)  — One person suffered non-life threatening injuries after they were ejected from a vehicle during a three-car accident in Pottawattamie County, Thursday morning. KETV in Omaha reports the accident occurred at Highway 92 and Canoe Lane, just east of Council Bluffs.

Additional details are currently not available.

(Radio Iowa) – New work search requirements for laid off Iowa workers who’ve qualified for unemployment benefits go into effect Monday. Governor Kim Reynolds is hinting she’ll propose more changes.  “The unemployment code was written a long, long, long time ago when we were in a much different position,” Reynolds says, “and today we need to incentivize work, not pay people to stay home.”

Starting Monday, those who’ve qualified for unemployment checks will have to prove they’ve applied for at least three jobs each week in order to keep the benefits. The state’s Workforce Development agency has hired 18 new case managers who’ll advise the newly unemployed of career training and job openings. “We have more job openings than we have people on unemployment,” Reynolds says. Bolstering Iowa’s workforce is the common thread as Reynolds and legislators discuss beefing up job training programs and addressing the state’s shortage of child care clots and affordable housing.

“All business and industry talk to me about when I am traveling the state and I am in communities, I don’t care what size they are — small, medium, large — doesn’t matter what sector, they have great capacity for growth, they’ve had record years…supply chain is also having an impact, but workforce is by far their biggest issue,” Reynolds says. Iowa’s labor participation rate — the number of working-age people who have a job or are looking for one — has not bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. Iowa Federation of Labor president Charlie Wishman says having lawmakers tinker with the unemployment system doesn’t address that.

“I definitely think that there’s going to be a whole lot of action around trying to address this idea that we simply don’t have enough workers for the amount of jobs that are needed to make this state run,” Wishman says. “This is a problem that’s been building for a long time and it’s not a problem that’s going to be solved overnight.” The 2022 Iowa legislative session starts Monday. Governor Reynolds will outline her legislative priorities in the annual “Condition of the State” message on Tuesday night.

DES MOINES — Gov. Kim Reynolds, Thursday, signed a proclamation that temporarily suspends regulatory provisions of Iowa law pertaining to hours of service for crews and drivers hauling propane.

The proclamation is effective immediately and expires on February 5, 2022, at 11:59 p.m.

The proclamation can be found here.

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Army Corps of Engineers predicts dry conditions will persist in the Missouri River Basin this year. Last year, the runoff in the Missouri River basin above Sioux City was just 59 percent of average volume — the 10th lowest annual runoff in 123 years of record keeping. According to a news release from the Army Corps of Engineers office in Omaha. the ongoing drought shows no relief in sight. The water flow out of upstream reservoirs was reduced this past July.

There will be releases from Gavins Point Dam this winter, at minimum levels, though. The Army Corps says the flow in the Missouri River along Iowa’s western border will meet with needs of cities that use the river as a source of drinking water.

ADAIR COUNTY, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Thursday, released additional information with regard to an Officer-Involved shooting that occurred December 29th, in Adair County. The officer involved in the shooting was identified as Adair County Deputy Josh Armstrong. Deputy Armstrong is a 2 ½ year veteran with the Adair County Sheriff’s Office. A copy of the report of the DCI’s investigation will be forwarded to the Adair County Attorney’s Office for review.

Three additional charges have been filed on the suspect who was shot by the Deputy. Authorities says 57-year-old Charles R Bradshaw, of Jefferson, is now charged with:
1. Attempted murder of a peace officer (707.11 (5) (A)) Class B-Felony,
2. Assault on a police officer (708.3A (2)) Class D-Felony
3. Intimidation with a dangerous weapon (708.6, Class C-Felony).

The incident that resulted in Bradshaw being shot in both arms and taken into custody, begin at around 8:30-p.m., Dec. 29^th, when a Stuart Police Officer attempted to stop a vehicle for a traffic violation. The suspect (Later Identified as Bradshaw) failed to stop and a pursuit was initiated. Several agencies assisted in the pursuit, including Stuart Police, Greenfield Police, Guthrie and Adair County Sheriff’s Deputies.

The pursuit ended in rural Adair County just north of 130th Street on Jordan Ave when Bradshaw’s vehicle abruptly turned around in the roadway. A Stuart Police Officer was unable to stop and struck the Bradshaw vehicle, which continued to travel a short distance and ultimately struck a Guthrie County deputy’s vehicle before it came to a stop.  During this series of events an Adair County Deputy heard a gunshot from the suspect vehicle.

Deputy Armstrong exited his patrol car just as Bradshaw’s vehicle became disabled and observed the Bradshaw to be in possession of a handgun.  The Deputy fired his service weapon and struck the Bradshaw, causing non-life threatening injuries.

Bradshaw was taken a hospital to be treated for his injuries and then taken into custody. A black .9mm handgun and a spent shell casing was found during a search of the vehicle, along with a substance believed to be meth. Bradshaw had previously been convicted on a felony drug charges in Missouri.

He remains in the Adair County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – Consumer spending in Iowa is driving state sales tax revenue higher. Over the past six months, there’s been a more than 10 percent increase in sales tax payments to the state. The latest report of overall tax collections shows total state revenue grew just over nine percent last month compared to December of 2020. Jeff Robinson is the senior fiscal analyst with the Legislative Services Agency.

“In summary, Iowa net General Fund revenue continues to grow at a strong pace, with sales tax posting remarkable year-over-year gains,” Robinson says. “Corporate income tax growth has moderated, but remains positive.”

Robinson says it’s likely there was a modest gain in the amount of personal income tax payments made to the state, however an accounting change made in mid-November makes a precise reading difficult. That’s because the Department of Revenue set up a single account on November 15th for depositing ALL tax payments made to the state and Robinson says it’s taking some time for payments to be separated and reported in each tax category.

(Audubon, Iowa) – School Administrators across Iowa and the nation, for that matter, are planning to enact one of two options with regard to Federally Mandated employee COVID-19 vaccinations. The mandate says businesses with 100 or more employees must ensure those employees are vaccinated, or submit to weekly testing. The U-S Supreme Court is expected to received oral arguments tomorrow (Friday), on whether or not to enforce the Mandate. That would include most school districts, including Atlantic, Audubon and Griswold. As previously mentioned, the Griswold School Board has a special meeting this evening to discuss the matter and enact a plan. Atlantic will hold a vaccine policy meeting at Noon on Monday, Jan. 10th in the District Central Office at 1406 S.W. 7th Street (The meeting will be streamed on YouTube, with the link to be made available prior to the meeting).

Atlantic’s Policy says “Employees must submit to the Superintendent (or their designee) acceptable proof of vaccination status no later than January 10, 2022. Beginning Feb. 9, 2022, any employees who are not fully vaccinated must submit proof of negative COVID-19 test results every seven days. Audubon Superintendent Eric Trager says the Audubon School Board will meet in special session 7-a.m. Monday, to discuss the federal policy and their response.

He says this situation is still very fluid, and could very well change, but the deadline for having those policies in-place, is Monday, Jan. 10^th.

If the high court rules against the mandate, the Audubon School District will cancel the meeting and take no action at all. Either way, Trager said the “Timing is not ideal here.”

The Audubon School Board, he said, is not alone in having to act on the policy one way or another.

The Audubon School Board meeting takes place 7:00 a.m. Monday, January 10^th, in the Board Room at the High School.