Two men were arrested Thursday night on assault charges, in Creston. According to Creston Police, 21-year old Adam Edward Lee Austin and 23-year old Taran Paul Austin, both of Creston, were arrested at their home at around 9:30-p.m., for Assault. Bonds for both men was set at $300 each.

MIDDLEBURY, Ind. (AP) — A recreational vehicle maker is kicking off a more than $12 million expansion in northern Indiana. The Elkhart Truth reports Forest City, Iowa-based Winnebago Industries held a groundbreaking Thursday in Middlebury on the Winnebago Towable Campus near its current facility. Officials say the expansion could bring up to 125 new jobs to the area by 2019.
Michael Happe, president and CEO of Winnebago Industries, says the company is “confident in the growth in this business. He says it’s a “fantastic opportunity for this business to expand its product line over time and continue to meet rising demand.”

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — The mother of a baby whose lifeless body was found in an infant swing has told a northeast Iowa court that she may use as a trial defense diminished responsibility or intoxication.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that the attorney for Cheyanne Harris filed the notice Thursday in Black Hawk County District Court. She and the infant’s father, Zachary Koehn, have pleaded not guilty to murder and related charges. She’s also seeking a trial delay.

Koehn has asked that his trial be moved to another county because of pretrial publicity. Authorities have said the body of 4-month-old Sterling Koehn was infested with maggots when found Aug. 30 in the swing by deputies and medics called to his parents’ Alta Vista apartment.

The president of Dordt College in Sioux Center announced the Christian-based, four-year school is changing its name to Dordt University. Erik Hoekstra told students, faculty, staff, and alumni that the name will be changed in of May of next year. Hoekstra says the Board of Trustees formally approved of the name change during its recent director meeting. The Dordt College president says the word “university” behind Dordt reflects on the school’s expansion with academic programs and will impact how the school is viewed. “In the Midwest we’ve kind of gotten used to using college and university kind of interchangeably. But around the world, college is more like high school You go there when you are about 16 for a couple of years. In the United States it’s different,” Hoekstra says.

Erik Hoekstra

The Dordt President says the name change should assist with recruiting efforts, especially for international students, but the name change will not change the school’s mission. “When we look at our graduates going out all over the globe and they can come with their resumes, their transcripts, their diplomas saying Dordt University — we thing those doors will become more wide open to them. As well as recruiting international students — which is a big part of our deal already,” Hoekstra says. “It will I think have a bit of stature, but it won’t change our core mission of Christ-centered focus. It won’t change our community focus of focusing in on each and every individual student.”

Hoekstra says the change has been 20 years in the making. “When we first started our first masters degree program 20 years ago we had conversations about it, but at that point it was just very small. Today we are graduating dozens. I think this coming year we will probably graduate 40. Were are starting a new masters program of public administration. We are doing more online programs,” according to Hoekstra.

Hoekstra says the changing the school to a university will allow for additional scholarships, research, and fellowships. Students gathered for the announcement gave a long and loud applause. Dordt College’s student government president, Megan Van Den Berg, a junior from Wisconsin, says she and her fellow students are excited for the name change. Van Den Berg says the name change from Dordt College to Dordt University reflects on the academic excellence and programs being offered by Dordt.

(Radio Iowa)

Republicans on a senate committee have advanced a bill to phase out 150-million dollars in annual state payments to cities, counties and school districts. The payments were promised in 2013 to make up for the cut in commercial property taxes that state lawmakers ordered. Senator Charles Schneider, a Republican from West Des Moines, says “no one realistically expected” the state to keep making these payments.

“No matter what we pass, local governments certainly won’t be happy about this,” Schneider says. “I think the approach we’re taking here today is fair and reasonable and gives local governments time to adapt.” The phase out would begin in July of 2019. For areas of the state were commercial property taxes are more robust, the state payments would be eliminated in three years. Slow-growth areas of the state would have six years to adjust to the end of this state support. Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, says many cities and counties will be forced to raise taxes on homeowners and farmers to make up for the declining state payments.

“The Republican Caucus has had a lot of bad ideas this session and this might be one of the worst ones,” Bolkcom said. “This is a huge broken promise to local governments.” House Speaker Linda Upmeyer says she and other Republicans in the HOUSE are interested in phasing out these payments, but are still considering various options for accomplishing that goal.

(Radio Iowa)

Key lawmakers say a flurry of votes on budget bills and a massive tax plan will likely bring the 2018 Iowa legislature to a close — sometime this weekend. “There might be one or two things that still have question marks, but I think things are ready to roll…Things sometimes get bumpy, but we’re ready to move forward and complete our work and adjourn.”

That’s House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, a Republican from Clear Lake. The details of the G-O-P’s tax plan were released in bill form late Thursday afternoon. Representative Guy Vander Linden, a Republican from Oskaloosa who’s chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, says it will provide a “significant” individual income tax cut, without going overboard.

“It is prudent. It is carefully considered, given the amount of time it’s taken to produce it,” Vander Linden says, “and I think it’s a good piece of legislation.” Vander Linden says while there are roughly 400-million dollars in income tax cuts, part of that will be offset by new sales tax collections on digital purchases.

“We are not raising sales tax. We are broadening it and, more importantly, we are making the sales tax parallel the economy,” Vander Linden says. “If the sales tax is going to be viable, we have to tax products that are in existence. We can’t tax buggy whips and expect to raise the revenue that is necessary to keep this ship afloat.”

Republicans hold a majority of seats in the Iowa House AND Senate, which means the G-O-P controls the debate agenda. Democrats are using the word “regressive” to describe the G-O-P’s tax plan. And Democrats like Senator Matt McCoy of Des Moines question whether now is the time to reduce state tax collections since lawmakers have had to make a series of state budget cuts in the past year.

“This is a time to be cautious, gentlemen and ladies. This is a time to be responsible. That’s the process of governing,” McCoy said. “During tough times and good times, you have to make sure that you’re accurately and adequately addressing the needs before you can do a major tax cut like this proposal.” REPUBLICANS aim to bring the tax bill up for debate on Saturday — so that the House AND Senate are voting on the bill at the same time.

(Radio Iowa)