DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A new state report says charging tolls is an option to rebuild and widen Interstate 80 across Iowa. Imposing tolls would require approval from the Iowa Legislature and federal authorities.
The Iowa Department of Transportation report says federal and state highway funds can’t meet all of the state’s highway needs. It says the study “has determined that tolling is a financially feasible implementation option.”

The report says there would be 11 tolling stations across the state and the toll would be 8 cents a mile for autos and 24 cents a mile for trucks. The money would be used to widen and rebuild a nearly 250-mile stretch across rural Iowa from 2022 through 2026.

The 2018 Iowa legislative session is entering its 12th week — but Republican lawmakers who control the debate agenda in the House and Senate have not yet revealed a final tax-cutting plan. There have been no public hints about the size of their state spending plan for next year either. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver of Ankeny says there are other priority issues, but those are the two biggest “It’s all intertwined,” he says. “We have to come to an agreement on what that tax plan will look like at the same time, probably, that we’re setting our budget targets.”

Whitver says Senate Republicans will also meet in private this week to decide whether to advance legislation that would use public money to cover private school tuition. Trish Wilger is executive director of Iowa Advocates for Choice in Education. She says putting state tax money in an “educational savings account” would let parents choose the school that best fits their child. “This doesn’t have to be an us-versus-them issue,” Wilger said last week. “It’s about offering parents access to a variety of the high quality options that are out there.”

Opponents say the four-thousand dollar “vouchers” would divert taxpayer money to religious schools and would hurt public schools. Melissa Peterson is with the Iowa State Education Association. “If we are able to find such resources, I would strongly advocate that those resources be designated to benefit the nearly half million public school students,” she said. In February, Republicans in the Iowa HOUSE tabled a plan that would have given the parents of a NEW private school student five-thousand dollars in state tax money to cover tuition and other expenses

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Red Oak, Sunday, arrested 55-year old Joseph Olis Loudermilk, of Red Oak, on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault. Loudermilk was taken into custody at around 8-p.m. and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held without bond.

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A record number of Iowa women are seeking political office, a surge driven by female Democratic candidates who like women across the country appear to be motivated in part by the election of President Donald Trump. Data shows 98 women in Iowa are expected to have their names on the ballot for the June 5 primary. That’s a 44 percent increase from when 68 women ran in the 2016 primary. The data was compiled by 50-50 in 2020, a nonpartisan organization that works to elect more women in Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Demolition of the fire-damaged remains of a Des Moines bowling alley is nearly complete, and the business owners say they’re ready to rebuild. The Des Moines Register reports that a massive fire engulfed the former Plaza Lanes Family Sports Complex in Des Moines in December 2017. Fire officials determined the blaze was accidental. Randy Thompson’s father built Plaza Lanes in 1957. Thompson says the soon-to-be cleared site will be home to a new family entertainment center.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities say autopsies indicate an Iowa couple and their two children died from inhaling toxic gas at a rented condo on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, but there was no sign of foul play or suicide. The prosecutors’ office in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo said Saturday that the type of gas and its source had not yet been identified. Photos released by the office showed investigators in anti-contamination suits examining gas connections to a stove in the condo in Tulum.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s governor has announced that she’s fired the director of the Iowa Finance Authority over a sexual harassment complaint. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Saturday in a news release that Dave Jamison has been fired, effective immediately. The written release says Reynolds’ office was made aware Friday night of “credible allegations of sexual harassment against Director Jamison.” Reynolds has named IFA Chief Programs Officer Carolann Jensen as interim director.