LAKE PARK, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Department of Corrections said Wednesday (Today), at approximately 11:30 a.m. Tuesday December 22, 2020, the Lake Park Police Department received a 911 call and responded to 104 Maple Ave in Lake Park, Iowa, for a reported homicide. Upon arrival, officers located a deceased female inside the residence.  The Lake Park Police Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office and the Dickinson County Attorney’s Office are investigating.

The incident is being treated as a homicide. Authorities say since the incident investigation remains an active and ongoing investigation, no further details are being released.  Anyone with information about the incident, is asked to contact the Lake Park Police Department at 712-336-2525, or the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office at 712-336-2793.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley doubts Congress will be able to comply with President Trump’s suggestion to significantly boost the amount in those checks the federal government plans to send to most Americans. The COVID relief bill Congress passed this week called for 600-checks to go out but Trump says that’s “ridiculously low” and said the checks should be for two-thousand dollars.  “I don’t think it is feasible because we are in a situation where we’re giving money to some people who haven’t lost their jobs,” Grassley says. “I think if we do any more, it needs to be more targeted towards those in need.”

In his video address Tuesday night, the president called the latest relief measure a “disgrace” and said he would -not- immediately sign it in order to give Congress time to rework the 900-billion dollar economic stimulus package. “I hope the president will sign the bill or let it go into law without his signature,” Grassley says. “Also, if more can be done, well, we’re told after the new president is sworn in, and it probably will be Biden, then we’re going to have another debate like this anyway.”

Grassley, a Republican, is confident a Democratic Biden administration would call for a change in how the allocations are made. “Whether it’s in December or February, it probably doesn’t make much difference,” Grassley says. “I would think, and I would hope Democrats would think, that it needs to be targeted towards people who are hurting more than people who have never lost a job.”

Without the president’s autograph, the federal government faces a shutdown next week and hundreds of billions of dollars in aid would be frozen.

(Updated by Dar Danielson, Radio Iowa) The Iowa Supreme Court has ordered a review for a possible new trial in a Cass County case.  The ruling says the district court applied too strict a standard in determining whether 29-year-old Patrick Barrett Junior should get a new trial after being convicted of second-degree sexual abuse. Barrett had appealed his conviction, saying he should have been allowed to use the victim’s mental-health and counseling records in his defense. The Supreme Court reversed the district court’s denial – and ordered the lower court to review the use of the mental health evidence based on standards the Supreme Court says are appropriate.

(read the full court decision here)

(Radio Iowa) – Leaders in Sioux City have passed the first reading of an ordinance that will increase fines for fireworks violations. Under the new ordinance, property owners would be held responsible and fined for the illegal use of fireworks at their home or property. The city council voted 4-1 Monday for the measure — with Pete Groetken, a retired police captain, voting no. He questioned how the ordinance could be enforced. “I am not sure what this ordinance is doing except raising fines. I don’t know how we enforce it. I guess it can be done or we wouldn’t have recommended it,” Groetken said. “We are increasing the fine — but it’s not really solving the problem.”

Groetken says many people have told him the city should just ban fireworks.He says nine of out ten calls he gets from the public say they should get rid of fireworks. Councilwoman Julie Schoenherr says she has more people tell her they want to be able to celebrate the New Year and 4th of July with fireworks. And she thinks they need to continue with the education campaign.”I haven’t heard as many negative to turn them off and to make them illegal as I have the other way around. So, I want to continue and I want to really, really hit the P-S-A’s after the first of the year,” Schoener said.

The proposal would fine property owners 250 dollars for a first offense violation of the fireworks ordinance, 500 dollars for a second offense, and one thousand dollars for third or more violations. The proposal must pass two more times before being enacted. Fireworks may be legally used from 1:00 P-M December 31st until 12:30 A-M. on January 1st, and July 3rd through July 4th from the hours of 1:00 P-M until 11:00 P-M.