The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 46-year old Brian Donnell Taylor, of Des Moines, was arrested Wednesday evening at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Taylor was taken into custody on a Union County warrant for probation violation.  He was being held in the Union County Jail without bond until being seen by a Judge.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Officials with the Creston Police Department say a woman residing in the 700 block of Hickory Street reported Wednesday evening, that sometime between 8-and 8:30-pm on Feb. 25th, cash was taken from her purse at her place of employment at 807 W Taylor. The loss was estimated at $60.

And, the Creston P-D says 23-year old Rebecca Holbrook, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on a Decatur County Warrant charging her with False Information for a Citation. Holbrook was released from the Union County Jail on a $1000 bond.

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Members of the Exira-EHK School Board will meet during a work session this evening, beginning at 6-p.m. During their session in the Conference Room at the Elk Horn building, the School Board will discuss, but take No Action on, the Estes Construction Facility Assessment.

Two Public Hearings are set to take place this (Thursday) evening, in Walnut, as part of a regular meeting of the Walnut City Council. The first hearing is with regard to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18 Budget. The second pertains to a 2017 Amendment to the Urban Renewal Plan. Later on in the meeting, the Council will vote on a Resolution Adopting the FY 2017-18 Budget and Urban Renewal Plan.

In other business, the Walnut City Council will act on giving permission to a local couple for the use of the City Park during “Walnut Junk Fest,” a request for an additional residential driveway entrance, and two separate requests for financial participation in residential sidewalk replacement.

Among the discussion items on the agenda, are those pertaining to: The Well Project; Billboard repair; Planting Boxes on Atlantic Street; Concession Stands at the City Park; and the Walnut Antique Show.

The Walnut City Council meeting will be held at City Hall in Walnut, beginning at 5-p.m.

Governor Branstad is appointing a couple of EX-state legislators to serve on the panel that governs the three state-supported universities. One spot on the Board of Regents opened up when Bruce Rastetter, the board president, announced in early February he would not seek another term. The governor on Tuesday selected three people to the nine-member board. They include Nancy Boettger, a former Republican state senator from Harlan, and Nancy Dunkel, a Democrat from Dyersville who served one term in the Iowa House.

Branstad is reappointing Sherry Bates of Scranton to the Board of Regents. Current Regent Katie Mulholland had also sought reappointment to the board, but she was left OFF the governor’s list. Branstad’s regent appointments must be confirmed by the Iowa Senate.

(Radio Iowa)

A bill to impose tougher penalties on protesters who block traffic on Iowa interstates and highways has cleared a senate committee with bipartisan support. It comes in response to a November incident on I-80. Anti-Trump protesters marched from downtown Iowa City to the interstate, blocking rush-hour traffic. Senator Jake Chapman, a Republican from Adel, says the current 35 dollar penalty for participating in that kind of a protest does not “fit the crime.”

“Over the last couple of years we’ve seen this to be a growing trend throughout the United States,” Chapman said. “I would encourage my colleagues to look up some of these videos of some of these protesters…seriously getting hurt.”

All the Republicans and three Democrats on the Senate State Government Committee supported the bill. Three Democrats, including Senator Tony Bisignano of Des Moines, voted no. “I in no way condone people that jeopardize other people’s health or safety, but I do respect the First Amendment and I do think this is an over-reach,” Bisignano said. “And I think it’s politically motivated.”

It’s already illegal for protesters to block traffic on an IOWA highway with a posted speed limit of 55 miles an hour or more. If the bill becomes law, the new penalty for a first time offense would be up to a year in jail and a fine of hundreds of dollars. A third offense would be a felony that carries a prison sentence of up to five years. A handful of other states are considering tougher penalties for protesters.

(Radio Iowa)

Legislation that would have repealed Iowa’s “Bottle Bill” narrowly cleared a House Committee Wednesday, but a key supporter says it will go no further THIS year. Representative Ross Paustian, a Republican from Walcott, says it’ll take a few years to adjust other parts of the bill that would have raised money to expand recycling efforts.
“It’s going to be a very slow process,” Paustian says. “We don’t want to rush through this. Just getting it out of committee was a big deal for us.”

The bill cleared the House Environmental Protection Committee by just one vote. Under Iowa’s 39-year-old “Bottle Bill,” consumers pay a nickel deposit on each container of beer and pop they buy. They may then get the deposit back if they return the empties rather than throw the cans and bottles in the trash. Supporters say Iowa is now one of the top states for recycling beverage containers.

Critics say the empty containers are filthy and grocery stores should not be required to accept those empty cans and bottles. Michelle Hurd, president of the Iowa Grocery Industry Association, calls the bill a “work in progress.” “I think what we wanted to do with this bill was get a good starting place for a discussion going forward,” she says.

Previous efforts over the past couple of decades to repeal the “Bottle Bill” or even EXPAND it to cover water bottles have stalled as legislators struggled to find an acceptable alternative.

(Radio Iowa)

The Senate Education Committee has given unanimous approval to a bill that would make some adjustments in the way state tax dollars are distributed to public school districts. Senator Amy Sinclair, of Allerton, is the committee’s chair. “The student’s zip code should not dictate the quality of their education,” she says.

One part of the bill proposes incremental increases in state support of geographically large districts with huge busing costs. “The transportation equity piece, over the course of 10 years, will fully fund the transportation costs of every single district,” Sinclair says.

The other part of the bill will equalize per pupil spending. “That’s a hold-over from when the current funding formula was developed. There were some districts that were above what the state determined would be the state cost per pupil and so they were allowed to levy up to $175 per student over what the state cost per pupil was in property taxes,” Sinclair says. “…It is just a built-in inequity to property taxpayers, to the students who are there. It needed to be addressed.”

School officials in Davenport especially have complained that calculation set decades ago means other districts get to spend more on each student than Davenport is allowed. Some legislators worry about the 15-to-20 MILLION dollar price tag for the “fix” to this problem.

(Radio Iowa)