(Radio Iowa) – The most recent accounting shows total state tax collections dropped 7.1% in the past 12 months.

According to the Legislative Services Agency’s Monthly Revenue Memo, much of that $629 million drop is due to a 77.8% decline in a “pass through entity” tax paid by the owners of Partnerships, S Corporations and Limited Liability Companies. In 2023, Iowa lawmakers created a new, refundable tax credit for the owners of these types of businesses. The tax break was retroactive to January 1st of 2022.

The state’s two main sources of tax revenue are sales taxes and the income taxes individuals and couples pay. Those payments increased, slightly, over the past 12 months. “Individual income tax increased 1% and sales and use tax increased 1.5% for the period,” LSA fiscal analyst Eric Richardson said, “while corporate income tax decreased 5.7%.”

This was the third consecutive fiscal year that state tax revenue dropped, a move Republican lawmakers say is expected due to tax cuts they’ve approved. A final report on tax collections for the state fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025, will be completed in mid-September. “As occurs every year, some tax payments for the month of June and earlier are not due until July or later and the fiscal year accounting books stay open to record the transactions for the correct fiscal year,” Richardson said, adding there may also be Iowa tax refunds issued in the next two months that should be subtracted from total state revenue for the previous fiscal year.

In March, the State Revenue Estimating Conference predicted total state revenue would fall 6.1% during state Fiscal Year 2025 due to state tax cuts approved in the past few years. Current accounting shows the drop was 7.1%.

(Radio Iowa) – The three-day Hinterland festival is the first weekend in August in St. Charles, and there’s a whole string of big name concerts during the upcoming Iowa State Fair, and Iowans are being warned about phony tickets for those and other events. Lisa Schiller, at the Better Business Bureau, says one scam that might surprise Iowans is how crooks are selling tickets to entirely made-up concerts.

“Search online for the festival’s name,” Schiller says. “Ensure that the name advertised matches the website. Scammers often like to use names that sound similar to those of real festivals.” This goes double if someone’s trying to sell tickets for your favorite artist in concert. She says criminals are able to target big fans with fake tickets using information gathered from social media.

Everybody loves a deal, but Schiller says a really good deal might be a red flag. “There is no way a festival can offer tickets at extremely low prices without losing money,” she says, “so if the prices are much lower than elsewhere, it’s likely a scam.”

Schiller says it’s important to research an online purchase before clicking “PAY.” Check the artist’s schedule and see if they really are playing at the event, and check reputable online sources to see if an event is actually taking place.

(Radio Iowa) – A Le Mars woman has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the death of her two-year-old son last year.

Twenty-seven-year-old Sexlyn Tataichy accepted a plea agreement this morning in Plymouth County District Court requiring her to plead guilty to one of three counts of child endangerment resulting in death. The other two counts, second-degree murder and child endangerment-multiple acts, were dismissed.

Tataichy does not speak, read or understand English. She was provided with an interpreter this morning, who was online from Hawaii. Tataichy will serve her sentence starting immediately at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Polk County.

The two-year-old boy died in April of last year. Taitichy told police she would punish her son by punching him, whipping him with cords, squeezing his neck, and slapping him. An autopsy found that in addition to the external wounds on the day of his death, the boy had been recovering from previous internal injuries.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Pottawattamie County Engineer’s Office (Secondary Roads Dept.) reports 275th Street, about 1,550-feet north of Cottonwood Road (northwest of Treynor), will be closed from 7-a.m. Thursday (July 24) until 5-p.m. Friday (July 25), for the construction/installation of a crossroad pipe.

Please plan an alternate route of travel if you normally take the road in the area.

(Dows, Iowa) – A high-speed crash early Sunday morning in northern Iowa resulted in the death of 35-year-old man from Hampton. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2024 Subaru Forester driven by Ty Borcherding was traveling south at a high rate of speed on E. Railroad Street in Dows, at around 1:10-a.m., Sunday, when the vehicle left the road. The SUV vaulted into the air and struck a concrete grain elevator before coming to rest against the metal door of the elevator. The vehicle then burst into flames.

Borcherding died at the scene. The crash remains under investigation. The State Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Wright County Sheriff’s Office, Franklin General Ambulance, along with firefighters from Dows, Belmond and Clarion.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Mills County, today (Monday), released a report on arrests conducted between July 14th and the 19th.

Three people were arrested on separate charges last Saturday (7/19): 32-year-old Rebecca Joy Durr, of Glenwood, was arrested on an Out-of-County/State Warrant. Her bond was set at $10,000; 28-year-old Derek Ellis Warren, of Glenwood, was arrested for Domestic Assault/Bodily Injury-1st offense (Bond $1,000); and, 55-year-old Lorie Sue Padgett, of Emerson, was arrested Saturday for Domestic Assault/Bodily Injury-1st offense (Bond $1,000).

Two arrests took place Friday in Mills County: 19-year-old Cash Edward Croley, of Stillwell, OK, was arrested in Pacific Junction, for Burglary in the 1st Degree (Bond $10,000); and 30-year-old Mitchell Stephen Waller, of Malvern, was arrested in Council Bluffs, for Driving While License Denied/Revoked-OWI related (Bond $1,000).

On July 16th, 44-year-old Ashley Marie Hall, of Red Oak, was arrested in Glenwood, for Failure to Appear (Bond $5,000). She was also charged with Possession of contraband in a correctional facility (Bond $5,000.)

On July 14th, 41-year-old Dustin Lee Lingerfelt, of Council Bluffs, was arrested in Glenwood, for Violation of Probation. His bond was set at $2,000.

(Sioux City, Iowa) – An eight-count indictment in the Northern District of Iowa has been unsealed charging a Des Moines man with four counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and four counts of interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution through coercion and enticement. According to the indictment, Marlin Santana Thomas Sr., 49, used force, fraud and coercion to cause four adult women to engage in commercial sex acts in the Northern District of Iowa and elsewhere between 2009 and 2015. The indictment also alleges that Thomas transported women from Iowa to Illinois and North Dakota for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.

The charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. It also carries a minimum of five years of supervised release up to a lifetime of supervised release along with a fine of up to $250,000. Finally, restitution is mandatory upon any conviction for sex trafficking. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence upon any conviction after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI and Des Moines Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Nydle for the Northern District of Iowa and Trial Attorney Slava Kuperstein of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit are prosecuting the case. The FBI is asking that anyone with information about Thomas to contact the Omaha Field Office at (402) 493-8688.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org

Information on the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports three recent arrests:

At around 3:40-a.m., Saturday (July 19), 36-year-old Katherine Lynn Coleman, of Corning, was arrested following a traffic stop in Fontanelle. Coleman was taken into custody for Theft in the 2nd Degree (Value greater than $1,500 but less than $10k), and Driving Under Suspension. Her bond was set at $5,000.

Last Wednesday night (July 16), Police in Stuart arrested 28-year-old Andrew Montgomery Irons, of Stuart, for Burglary in the 2nd Degree and Harassment in the 1st Degree. Irons was released the following day on a $10,000 bond.

And, on July 15th, the Iowa State Patrol arrested 31-year-old Luis Angel Diaz, of Iowa City, following a traffic stop on Interstate 80 near Adair. Diaz was taken into custody on a warrant out of Johnson County issued by Coralville Police, for Failure To Appear for arraignment on charges that include Driving While Barred, and Driving while license is denied or revoked. He was later released on a $3,000 bond.

ACSO charges for the week ending 7-19-25-min

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Officials with the Glenwood Police Department report four arrests took place over the past week. On Sunday (July 20), officers arrested 52-year-old Rebecca Stonerook, of Bellevue, NE, on a charge of OWI/1st offense. She posted a $1,000 bond, and was released.

On Saturday, Glenwood Police arrested 25-year-old Daniel Obnmacht, of Essex, for OWI/2nd offense. He posted a $2,000 bond, and was released. On Friday, 43-year-old Kirenia Calderin-Mendieta, of Omaha, was arrested in Glenwood for Interference with Official Acts. She posted a $300 bond before being released.

And, last Thursday, 37-year-old Melissa Dumler, of Glenwood, was arrested for Child Endangerment. She posted $5,000 bond, and was released from custody.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State Patrol Trooper used an automatic external defibrillator or A-E-D to revive a rider on RAGBRAI — the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Rider Across Iowa. A spokesman for the Iowa State patrol told The Des Moines Register bystanders were administering C-P-R to a man from California who’d collapsed Sunday and a trooper guiding traffic at a nearby intersection was called to the scene. The trooper took the A-E-D from his patrol car, administered a shock with the A-E-D and the RAGBRAI rider’s heart started beating again.

The man was taken by ambulance to the Orange City hospital, then transferred by air ambulance to a hospital in Sioux City. This is the second time in three years a trooper has used the A-E-D in a patrol cruiser to revive a RAGBRAI rider.