(Radio Iowa) — The leader of the labor union which represents some 20,000 state employees presented his contract proposal to the Reynold’s Administration Thursday. AFSCME Council 61 president, Danny Homan says they are requesting the return to the contract language used before the new collective bargaining law was passed. He says they want language excluded by the revised law returned, along with a three-percent across the board pay increase in July of 2019 and July of 2020.  The law restricted the bargaining rights of state unions. Republicans retained control of the House, Senate and Governor’s office, and Homan says he has no idea of the state will agree to go back to the bargaining law they used to have. “I would like to think at some point in time that somebody would decide that it makes sense to propose and deal with language makes sense for the state,” Homan says.

He says the change in the law is not working. “Right now there are no rules, a lot of departments just do whatever it is they want to do, and I think it would make sense to not operate that way,” Homan says. “It’s not up to me.”  Homan says the pay raise is not extravagant. “We’re coming off a contract where we got one percent each year. So, I’m not proposing an inflated amount, I am proposing what I believe to be a reasonable proposal,” according to Homan.

Negotiators representing the Reynolds Administration will make a counter-offer on December 19th.

Police in Red Oak report 30-year old Cody Alton Snyder, of Red Oak, was arrested a little after 11-p.m. Thursday, following a traffic stop. Snyder was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports his deputies early this (Friday) morning, arrested 56- year old Karen Green, of Shenandoah. Green was arrested at her residence on a valid Fremont County Warrant for a violation of Probation (original charge – Delivery of Methamphetamine).

She was transported to the Fremont County Law Enforcement Center and held on a $5,000 bond. Deputies were assisted by officers with the Shenandoah Police Department.

Karen Green

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — After a major provider agreed to stay in Iowa’s troubled Medicaid program, state officials quietly let its hospitals and clinics keep $2.4 million in mistaken overpayments. UnityPoint Health threatened to quit Iowa’s Medicaid program a year ago, which would have disrupted health care for 54,000 Medicaid recipients. But it reached an agreement to stay. Weeks later, the Iowa Department of Human Services signed a deal allowing UnityPoint to keep $2.4 million in overpayments for electronic records.

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — A northwestern Iowa religious activist who burned four LGBTQ children’s books he’d checked out of an Orange City library has been charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief. The Sioux City Journal reports 62-year-old Paul Dorr is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 22.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a north-central Iowa woman who threw away her employer’s mail in an effort to avoid having her wages garnished has been sentenced to 90 days in prison. Prosecutors say 55-year-old Terri Cosgrove, of Badger, was sentenced Tuesday in Cedar Rapids’ federal court. She had pleaded guilty in August to one count of obstruction of correspondence.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have announced an arrest in the September shooting death of a Des Moines man. Police Sgt. Paul Parizek says 28-year-old Tyrone Hughes Jr. was arrested Tuesday in Chicago by Des Moines detectives and members of the Chicago Police Fugitive Apprehension Unit. Police say he’s been charged with first-degree murder for the death of 28-year-old Aaron Ross.