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

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Republican senator says his comments were misinterpreted when he defended GOP efforts to scale back the federal estate taxes because it helps those who invest rather than people who spend their money on “booze or women or movies.” Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley says his point regarding the estate tax was taken out of context and the government shouldn’t “seize the fruits of someone’s lifetime of labor after they die.”

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Severe thunderstorms raked portions of the Plains as a cold front swept away warm weather and replaced it with conditions more typical of December. Temperatures fell behind the front, but not before hail and high winds crossed much of the nation’s midsection Monday. Snow fell in the northern Plains, where a blizzard warning was posted for Monday evening.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former chairman of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska has been sentenced to probation and community service after pleading guilty to charges related to the misapplication of casino funds. U.S. District Court Judge Laurie Smith Camp on Monday sentenced 63-year-old John Blackhawk to five years of probation and 150 hours of community service. He also must pay $36,000 in restitution. Blackhawk pleaded guilty in September to theft from an Indian gaming establishment _ a casino in Sloan, Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Navy says it will give a posthumous combat medal to the family of a northeast Iowa sailor on the 76th anniversary of his death on the battleship USS Oklahoma during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Aloysious H. Schmitt, who carried the rank of chaplain lieutenant junior grade, has been awarded the Silver Star Medal for gallantry in action.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Republican senator is defending GOP efforts to reduce the hit to the wealthy from the federal estate tax because it helps those who invest rather than people who spend their money on “booze or women or movies.”

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley made the comments late last week in an interview with the Des Moines Register. “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”

Under current law, when someone dies the estate owes taxes on the value of assets transferred to heirs above $5.5 million for individuals, $11 million for couples. The Senate bill doubles those limits but does not repeal the tax.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A northern Iowa radio station has fired a sports announcer and an elementary teacher who worked as a board operator for the station for racial comments about high school basketball players during an online game broadcast.

KIMT-TV reports that announcer Orin Harris confirmed he was fired Monday from Forest City radio station KIOW. The station manager for KIOW, Karl Wooldridge, confirmed that two employees were fired Monday.

The Forest City School District says it placed teacher Holly Jane Kusserow-Smidt, who worked as a KIOW board operator, on administrative leave. In a video of last Tuesday’s game between Forest City and Eagle Grove, Harris refers to Eagle Grove boys he believes to be Hispanic because of their names as “foreigners” and says they should “go back where they came from.” Kusserow-Smidt agrees and laughs.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s top elections official says his office is beginning to mail paper identification cards as part of a new law requiring voters to show ID at the polls. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says Monday that 123,000 registered voters will be sent the non-photo ID cards automatically. The Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature passed legislation last spring requiring voters to show acceptable identification at the polls, arguing it’ll maintain election integrity. There’s no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Iowa.

Acceptable identification will be an Iowa driver’s license, a non-driver’s ID from Iowa, a U.S. passport, military identification or veterans ID. The state provides the paper ID cards to certain registered voters. The identification requirement goes into effect in 2019, though voters without acceptable ID in 2018 must sign an oath acknowledging they will need it soon. In 2019, those voters will be offered a provisional ballot.

Police in Council Bluffs are asking for your help in solving a robbery. Officials say at around 7:25-p.m. Sunday, Bluffs Police were dispatched to McDonalds at 1607 West Broadway, for a report of an armed robbery at the business. An employee told officers that the suspect placed an order for food and approached the drive-thru window in a red Pontiac Grand Am with auto dealer paper plates. The driver of the Grand Am, described as a black male, displayed a handgun at the employee and stated “Give me all the money”. The employee then gave the suspect an unknown amount of cash from the register. The suspect sped off in the red Pontiac.
Anyone possibly having additional information about the robbery is encouraged to call CID at (712) 328-4728 or Crime Stoppers at (712) 328-7867.