(Radio Iowa) Licenses are now on sale for one of the more unique fish you can catch in Iowa. You can buy a license for paddlefish on the Missouri and Big Sioux River for the season that opens in February. Regional Fisheries Supervisor, Chris Larson, says interest in the paddlefish season has been up and down since the first year. “Nine-hundred-and-50 licenses are available to residents and 50 to nonresidents. We sold around 740 resident and 50 non-resident licenses in 2015. And then it dropped to about 400 per year…and then in 2020 it really kind of fell off so only 215 licenses were sold,” Larson says.

He says the high water on the river could be the reason for the drop off last year. He hopes the increase in the sale of other D-N-R licenses during the pandemic will carry over to paddlefish. “I hope so, you know water levels are down with the drought we’ve been in for about a half a year now. So, river levels are down and that’ll concentrate those paddlefish behind those wing dikes where they like to hang out in the wintertime even more,” Larson says. “Barring any big snowstorms and a lot of winter runoff — we should have a pretty good year.”

While the number of licenses purchased last year were down — he says those who did get a license had success. Larson says they send out a survey and more than 50 percent of those who responded said they got a fish. He says there are a lot of reasons to try catching a paddlefish.

“Paddlefish meat is very, very good, people consider it a delicacy, so they are very tasty,” according to Larson. “It is also an opportunity to harvest a very large fish. The state record paddlefish is over 100 pounds. We do see quite a few fish that come in over the slot length limit that you can’t keep kind of to protect that breeding population. So if it is less than 35 inches you can keep it and if it is over 45 inches you can keep it — so anything from 35 to 45 to have to release.”

The paddlefishing method is also something different as it involves snagging the fish. “It’s an active type of fishing — you are not just sitting there waiting for something to bite — you are actually physically pulling up on a pretty large pole with some pretty good weight on it,” Larson says. The licenses are sold through January 7th. A resident license sells for 25-50 and you must also have a valid Iowa fishing license. For more information, go to the DNR website.

(Radio Iowa) – House Speaker Pat Grassley has established a new “Information Technology Committee” in the Iowa House, to address broadband issues and cyber security. “There are a few things in there that won’t be the most exciting things that capture all the headlines,” Grassley says, “but they’re things that the state needs to be mindful of.”

That includes an examination of the technology infrastructure in state government as well as incentives that help more Iowans gain access to a high-speed internet connection. Grassley says just like roads and bridges, broadband is part of the state’s critical infrastructure and it makes sense to have a committee working exclusively on information technology issues. “I think this pandemic has shown us there are a lot of connectivity and security issues that we all need to be mindful of,” Grassley says.

Jack Whitver, the Iowa Senate’s Republican leader, says there are existing committees in the Iowa Senate that have addressed I-T issues and will continue to do so when the legislature convenes in 2021.

(Radio Iowa) – The holidays are supposed to be happy but the stress of the season can put you at greater risk for a life-threatening medical episode. Dr. Vincent Pompili, a heart doctor in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says it’s well-documented that cases of cardiac arrest rise between December 25th and January 7th. “Unfortunately, the incidence of heart attacks during the Christmas season goes up, significantly,” Dr. Pompili says. “Studies over the last ten years have shown that the chance of having a cardiac event goes up by five percent.”

Risk factors for heart attacks include: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, a family history and smoking. “A number of factors are exacerbated during the holiday season, including emotional stress,” Dr. Pompili says. “Also, the high-fat diet that we partake in during this time of year.” The number-one day of the year for heart attacks is December 25th followed by December 26th and January 1st. Pompili says the biggest mistake people make is to ignore a potential problem. Pompili says, “Many times people, because family members are in town, avoid going and seeking medical care during the holiday time when they have chest pain and avoid making it to the emergency room when they have symptoms of a heart attack, which makes things worse.”

If you think you might be having heart trouble, call 911. Don’t try to drive yourself to the hospital unless there’s no other option, as ambulance personnel can start treatment right away. Plus, they’re trained to revive you if your heart stops.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(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.