DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Campaign workers for Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cathy Glasson have unionized. The Campaign Workers Guild says in a press release Wednesday that a union contract was ratified this week for Glasson’s campaign staff. The new national guild says it’s the first electoral campaign in Iowa history to unionize. It marks the latest group of political campaign workers to unionize around the country.

Glasson is a nurse and president of the Service Employees International Union Local 199, which represents Iowa workers at schools and health facilities. She is one of six Democrats seeking the party nomination this year in the June gubernatorial primary, along with two Libertarians. They’re running to unseat Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in the November election.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a child was injured in a fire that broke out in a downtown Mason City apartment. Firetrucks were dispatched around 7 p.m. Tuesday to the apartment, which is situated above a commercial building. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that a police officer was seen taking a child to an ambulance and comforting a woman who’d left the apartment with the child. Firefighters soon had the flames under control.

With the April 17 tax deadline approaching, the Internal Revenue Service is urging taxpayers and tax professionals to be alert to identity theft scams, especially a new email version currently pretending to be from “IRS Refunds.” As the filing season comes to a close, thieves are stepping up their efforts, warned the Internal Revenue Service and the Security Summit partners. The Security Summit, a partnership between the IRS, state tax agencies and the tax industry, continues to take steps to combat tax-related identity theft. The “IRS Refunds” scam is a common tactic used by cybercriminals to trick people into opening a link or attachment associated with the email. This link takes people to a fake page where thieves try to steal personally identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers. Often these links or attachments also secretly download malware that can perform many functions, such as giving the thief control of the computer or tracking keystrokes to determine other sensitive passwords or critical data.

The IRS does not randomly contact taxpayers or tax professionals via email, including asking people to confirm their tax refund information. The IRS initiates most contacts through regular mail delivered by the United States Postal Service. However, there are special circumstances in which the IRS will call or come to a home or business, such as when a taxpayer has an overdue tax bill, to secure a delinquent tax return or a delinquent employment tax payment, or to tour a business as part of an audit or during criminal investigations. Even then, taxpayers will generally first receive several letters (called “notices”) from the IRS in the mail. Note that the IRS does not:

• Demand that taxpayers use a specific payment method, such as a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer. The IRS will not ask for debit or credit card numbers over the phone. Taxpayers should make check payments to the “United States Treasury” or review IRS.gov/payments for IRS online options.
• Demand that taxpayers pay taxes without the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say is owed. Generally, the IRS will first mail a bill to those who owe any taxes. Taxpayers should also be advised of their rights as a taxpayer.
• Threaten to bring in local police, immigration officers or other law-enforcement to have taxpayers arrested for not paying. The IRS also cannot revoke a driver’s license, business license or immigration status.
• Threats like these are common tactics scam artists use to trick victims into buying into their schemes.
• With scams like these circulating, taxpayers and tax professionals should take ongoing security precautions to protect their identities and their computer networks from identity thieves.

Here are a few basic security steps for taxpayers:

• Always use security software with firewall and anti-virus protections. Make sure the security software is always turned on and can automatically update. Encrypt sensitive files such as tax records stored on computers. Use strong, unique passwords for each account.
• Learn to recognize and avoid phishing emails, threatening calls and texts from thieves posing as legitimate organizations such as banks, credit card companies and even the IRS. Do not click on links or download attachments from unknown or suspicious emails.
• Protect personal data. Don’t routinely carry Social Security cards, and make sure tax records are secure. Shop at reputable online retailers. Treat personal information like cash; don’t leave it lying around.

The driver of a 2007 Chevy was transported by Malvern Rescue to Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs, following an accident early this (Wednesday) morning. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office says 76-year old Raymond Esposito, of Glenwood, was traveling east on Highway 34 just east of 350th Street, when his vehicle left the roadway on the left side before entering the north ditch. The accident happened at around 2:20-a.m.  Esposito told authorities someone or something else was controlling the vehicle, causing him to leave the roadway. He suffered from knee pain following the accident.

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

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LA PORTE CITY, Iowa (AP) — Scores of volunteers are expected to resume the search Wednesday for a missing 16-year-old boy in eastern Iowa. Police say Jake Wilson, of La Porte City, was last seen at 9 p.m. Saturday going for a walk. Police Chief Chris Brecher says a search began less than an hour later, when he didn’t return home. His mother has said Jake has autism with a mild intellectual disorder and functions at the level of a 9-year-old.

Jake Wilson

Officials say nearly 500 people signed up at the La Porte City fire station for a line search of a neighborhood Tuesday. The Black Hawk County city has about 2,300 residents.
The total search area covers about 255 square miles and is being pored over with dogs, people using horses or all-terrain vehicles and by people wading through a creek.

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

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MAYNARD, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have charged a 49-year-old man suspected of teaching while drunk at a high school in northeast Iowa. Court records say Daniel Reisner, of Sumner, is charged with public intoxication. His next court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. An officer sent Monday to the West Central Community School District school in Maynard says Reisner smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot and watery eyes and failed field sobriety tests.

Court records also say Reisner’s breath test at the Fayette County Jail showed his blood alcohol level was over the legal limit to drive. The district superintendent says Reisner has been suspended.

A Council Bluffs man who showed up at the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, Monday, to update his sex offender registry, was arrested on a warrant. Records indicated 27-year old Zachary Dekota Olson was wanted on a current active warrant for Failure to Comply with the Iowa Sex Offender Registry/2nd or subsequent offense. Olson was taken in to custody and transported to Corrections where he was read the warrant. He was then handed over to Corrections Staff.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa House member has won a special election to replace state Sen. Bill Dix, who resigned after a video surfaced showing him kissing a lobbyist. Officials say 60-year-old Republican Annette Sweeney won 56 percent of the votes Tuesday for the Senate District 25 seat against 44 percent for 35-year-old Democrat Tracy Freese. The district is composed of Grundy and Hardin counties, and portions of Butler and Story counties. Sweeney was a member of the Iowa House from 2009 to 2013.

Dix was Senate majority leader until he quit on March 12. He stepped down after a video was published on the website Iowa Starting Line that showed the married Shell Rock Republican kissing a Statehouse lobbyist at a bar.