The City Council in Walnut will hold a public hearing this Thursday (May 7th) evening, on an amendment to the FY2019-20 Budget. There will also be discussion on the amendment, followed by action on the adoption of a Resolution amending the current budget for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2020. In other business, the Walnut City Council will discuss: City property closures; the Walnut Community & Fitness Center; the Walnut Antique Show and Optimist’s Antique City Car show. They will also act on approving a Law Enforcement Services contract with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department.

The meeting, which begins at 5-p.m., Thursday, will be held by the “Go To Meeting” electronic conferencing system. To access the meeting through your computer, tablet or smart phone, go to: https://www.gotomeet.me/WalnutCityCouncil1/public-hearingmay-city-council-meeting

To access the meeting over the phone in the United States, call: 1 (872) 240-3412. Use Access Code: 119-550-909

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa State Patrol officials reports what they say is an alarming number of motorists being stopped for driving in excess of 100 miles an hour. Public information officer Sergeant Alex Dinkla says troopers have seen a 52-percent increase over a four-year period for speeds of between 135 and 150 miles per hour. Dinkla says the number-one excuse for speeding is…”We didn’t think you guys were out here actually working, out here checking and monitoring traffic,” Dinkla says. “That’s quite the contrary. We have to protect and we have to serve the citizens of the state of Iowa so therefore our troopers are out on the road. We are out watching and trying to make sure people stay safe out on the roads.”

In addition to the high speeds, he says the number of arrests for driving under the influence has also increased. Dinkla says the fines for excessive speed are hefty and can range from 300 to 500 dollars. “The total number of tickets the Iowa State Patrol has issued to motorists going 100 miles an hour or more in the month of March is 103,” he says, “and in the month of April, we had 138 motorists who were cited for going 100 or more miles an hour.”

The patrol estimates traffic volume on the state’s highways and interstates is down about 40-percent due Iowans staying close to home with the pandemic.

(Reporting by Pat Blank, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds hopes to use federal funds to cover the entire 26 MILLION dollar payment to Utah companies providing “Test Iowa” supplies. Drive-through “Test Iowa” sites have been established in Des Moines, Waterloo and Sioux City — three “hot spots” for COVID-19 activity. Under current arrangements, Reynolds says it appears the federal government will cover at least 75 percent of the costs of COVID-19 testing, so the state would have to come up with the money for the remaining 25 percent. “Then in addition to that, there’s also just some specific funding through the CARES Act for testing, because they’re really wanting states to ramp that up,” she says.

Reynolds is lobbying federal officials to allow the State of Iowa to use money allocated from the CARES Act to cover all the costs associated with COVID-19 testing in Iowa. That includes pay for the laid-off nurses and health care workers from local hospitals who’re being hired to work at the state’s drive-through testing sites in Des Moines, Waterloo and Sioux City. Volunteer nurses and some state employees are also testing Iowans passing through in vehicles.

A traffic stop at around 1:30 this (Tuesday) morning in Montgomery County, resulted in the arrest of a woman from Council Bluffs. 22-year old Danielle Baker was taken into custody in the area of Highway 34 and Dogwood Avenue. She was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and charged with Driving While Suspended. Her cash bond was set at $300.

Two people were arrested Monday night, in Red Oak.  At around 7:10-p.m., 47-year old Alex Edwon Cellan, Jr., of Red Oak, was arrested on a valid Montgomery County warrant for Theft in the 3rd Degree. Cellan, JR., was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

And at around 9:25-p.m., 23-year old Mariah Nicole Moore, of Des Moines, was arrested in Red Oak, for Driving While Barred. Moore was also being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond

(Radio Iowa) – State tax revenues plunged 39 percent in April. One reason for that double-digit drop is the delayed deadline for paying state income taxes. Individuals and corporations normally must pay their state income taxes by April 30th, but during the pandemic state officials pushed the due date to July 31st. State officials will have to come up with an estimate of the pandemic’s economic impact as they rework their state budget plans for the fiscal year that begins July 1st.

The Iowa legislature is currently scheduled to reconvene on May 15th. Leaders say their main goal is passing a new state budget plan. Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s meeting with her staff to come up with budget recommendations. Moody’s Analytics, a research firm focused on finance, has estimated the State of Iowa’s budget must be cut at least five percent.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The coronavirus is devastating the nation’s meatpacking communities — places like Waterloo and Sioux City in Iowa, Grand Island, Nebraska, and Worthington, Minnesota. Within weeks, the outbreaks around slaughterhouses have turned into full-scale disasters. The virus is killing, sickening and frightening workers and devastating their extended families. In Grand Island, an outbreak linked to a JBS beef plant that is the city’s largest employer spread rapidly across the rural central Nebraska region. It killed more than three dozen people. Many of the dead were elderly residents of long-term care facilities who had relatives or friends employed at the plant.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials are reporting nine Iowa Department of Human Services employees working at five state-run facilities have tested positive for the coronavirus. Officials say six residents at a facility housing residents with intellectual disabilities also have the virus. Iowa DHS Director Kelly Garcia said Monday that the agency has asked doctors from the University of Iowa for assistance in dealing with the outbreak at the Woodward Resource Center, near Des Moines. The state has reported 534 additional cases of the coronavirus for a total of 9,703 cases confirmed in Iowa. There were four additional deaths for a total of 188.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines police say a body pulled from a river during the weekend was that of an 18-year-old who has been missing for more than three months. Police say Abdullahi “Abdi” Sharif’s body was recovered Saturday afternoon from the Des Moines River. Sharif was reported missing seen Jan. 17, when he left his job at a Des Moines shopping mall. Police say there were no traumatic injuries and a cause of death has not been determined. Sharif’s disappearance drew media attention and prompted several searches with hundreds of volunteers.

WOODWARD, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Department of Human Services officials say six residents at a central Iowa facility for people with intellectual disabilities have tested positive for the new coronavirus, although none have shown symptoms of COVID-19. The first resident at the Woodward Resource Center tested positive for the virus on April 26. By Saturday, officials said, five more residents — all tied to one home on campus — had tested positive for the virus. Three employees at the multi-building campus have also tested positive. DHS spokesman Matt Highland says the state is working to get more COVID-19 testing on the campus. Those who have tested positive have been moved to an isolation area, and the home has been cleaned.