(Radio Iowa) — The phone at the Consumer Protection Division of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office rang a lot more last year. A-G spokesman, Lynn Hicks, says the number of formal complaints went up 18 percent to nearly 35-hundred. He says that’s a pretty substantial increase — when you consider that complaints only went up five percent the previous year. “This is probably the biggest amount we’ve seen in awhile.” The leader among complaints continues to be those involving cars and trucks. “And that’s everything from auto repairs to financing, warranty plans, used car practices, all kinds of things,” according to Hicks.

Imposter phone calls or emails are something that Hicks says has been generating more complaints. “Which are the ones where people will call or through social media or email pretend to be somebody and they’re trying fish for either information or try to get you to give up money,” Hicks says. “So, those have seen big increases over the last couple of years. And then the other big categories are home improvement. We still get a lot of complaints about home improvement, home remodeling contractors, that sort of thing.” The three-thousand-495 complaints are just the ones that move forward into a formal process. “Sometimes we can work it out over the phone or tell them what’s possible,” Hicks explains. “But these are ones where we encourage them to actually fill out forms. They’ve made complaints, an investigator has looked into it and we go from there — whether it’s informally resolving something between say a consumer — or going all the way to legal action.”

Hicks says the law involving contractors has some gray areas when it comes to paying in advance for work. He says the Attorney General’s Office is proposing a change that would strengthen it. “The contractor would have to file with the state a surety bond of 75-thousand dollars. And so, if a consumer believes that they have been damaged under that contract — whether it is a fraud or breech of contract — the can recover costs from that bond,” Hicks says.

If you have a complaint you can contact the Consumer Protection Division through the Attorney General’s website, by email or by phone. The website is:
www.IowaAttorneyGeneral.gov. You can email at: consumer@ag.iowa.gov, or call 515-281-5926. Outside the Des Moines area, call toll-free: 888-777-4590.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Drake University student has pleaded guilty to lying about a racist note she said was shoved under her dorm room door in Des Moines. Polk County Court records say 19-year-old Kissie Ram entered the plea last week to making a false report to a public entity. She was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $200, perform 50 hours of community service and spend a year on probation. She also was given a deferred judgment. A deferred judgment allows Ram’s convictions in the case to be removed from court records if she fulfills her probation terms.

The records say she admitted to university officials that she’d written one of the five notes reported to university officials. University spokesman Jarad Bernstein said Thursday that Ram’s suspected of writing two more notes as part of her hoax. He says the university is still investigating who may have written the remaining two notes, including the first reported Nov. 7.

(Radio Iowa) — A Democrat in the Iowa Senate has drafted legislation that would direct Iowa schools AND colleges to keep the calendar clear on Caucus night. Senator Rob Hogg, of Cedar Rapids, says “We shouldn’t have classes and extracurricular activities and practices conflict with Caucuses.”  Hogg says it’s time to ensure students, staff and parents don’t have to choose between participating in the Iowa Caucuses or attending school activities.  “This is important because Iowa is first-in-the-nation because we do it best,” Hogg says. “If we want to do it best, we need to make sure that students and people associated with our schools can participate that in the caucus process.”

Hogg says as a side benefit to his proposal, school facilities would then be available as sites for the precinct-level meetings.  “We are really challenging the capacity of some of our facilities, so we need to have as many facilities available as we can for Caucus Night,” Hogg says. Hogg has posted his idea on social media and discovered some schools have already scheduled events on February 3rd, 2020. Hogg says that’s why the legislature should address the issue THIS year, to give schools and colleges in Iowa time to adjust their schedules.

Officials with The Healthiest State Initiative report Cass County is among the finalists for the 2019 Healthiest State Annual Awards. Individuals, communities, schools and workplaces will be recognized for their efforts to improve the physical, social and emotional well-being of Iowans in their respective sectors. In the Community Category, Cass County joins eight cities for the title.

Each finalist will be recognized and winners from each category will be announced at the Healthiest State Annual Awards on Feb. 7th, from 5-until 7-p.m., at the Ron Pearson Center in West Des Moines. Each winner will receive a monetary gift to continue their work focused on improving the health and well-being of their employers, students or citizens. Tickets for the Healthiest State Annual Awards are on sale at IowaHealthiestState.com/Awards.

The tickets cost $25 per person, or $190 for a table of eight, and includes hors d’oeuvres. The Healthiest State Annual Awards are sponsored by Hy-Vee, Inc., Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the Iowa Medical Society.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Republicans have removed rules that require some state legislative committees to give 24-hour notice about meetings. They say the move will improve efficiency, but Democrats say it’s an abuse of power. The Des Moines Register reports the change applies to Senate subcommittee meetings, which are often where the public and lobbyists can formally express their opinions on legislation.
Republican Sen. Amy Sinclair says the change allows for more flexibility because the 24-hour rule could sometimes limit the ability to advance legislation.

Democratic Sen. Herman Quirmbach says the move diminishes the public’s ability to directly give input. Democratic Sen. Pam Jochum calls it “an abuse of power.” Several Republican-controlled Senate committees this week also removed transparency language from their meeting rules. Sinclair says the language was redundant because the Senate has separate rules regarding open meetings.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say a man who built a bomb in a Des Moines restaurant told officers he did it to prove a point about safety. Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said Wednesday that 40-year-old Ivory Washington constructed the device Tuesday at Akebono 515 to see whether anyone would stop him. Parizek says Washington told officers his motive “was frustration that people in our society don’t care about safety.”

Nam Tran owns the restaurant, and he says he saw the man plugging an unknown device into outlets Tuesday. Tran says he thought the man later identified as Washington was charging his phone. Court records say Washington bought items necessary for his bomb and then assembled them at the restaurant. A bomb squad took the device away. Parizek says it was tested to see whether it would explode. It did.

Court records say Washington is charged with possession of an explosive device.

With the chance of an accumulating snowfall to occur in Clarinda on Friday and Saturday the Clarinda Police Department would like to remind the citizens of Clarinda about the snow ordinance. The ordinance states that; no person shall park any motor vehicle or other apparatus upon any street of the city that will obstruct the removal of snow when there has been an accumulation of two (2) inches or more. Any vehicle left parked on any street in violation of this ordinance may be impounded, and the registered owner of the vehicle will be subject to a $15.00 parking fine, and payment of all applicable towing and storage fees in order for the vehicle to be released.

The parking ban remains in effect until the snow ceases to fall and the streets have been plowed from curb to curb. Your cooperation in complying with this ordinance assists our snow plow drivers tremendously.