(Radio Iowa) – A disagreement over whether to spend 14 MILLION dollars boosting pay for paraeducators in public schools is the big stumbling block in budget talks among Republican lawmakers. Governor Kim Reynolds says House Speaker Pat Grassley successfully lobbied to include that amount in last year’s budget and, if it was a priority, it should have been part of the K-12 funding plan House and Senate Republicans already adopted in April.

“Nothing was mentioned about the $14 million,” Reynolds said. “…It shouldn’t be anticipated that it’s part of the agreement. He should have put it in his.” Grassley says the 2024 legislature made a commitment to raise paraeducators pay and House Republicans strongly feel that commitment should be maintained. “We’re not going to go back and just cut that and leave our schools in a situation to find the difference,” Grassley said. “Those are more like Governor Culver practices that we saw and we don’t want to see that happening on something like that.”

For years, Republicans have criticized Governor Chet Culver, a Democrat, for approving an increase in state funding for schools in the spring of 2009, then ordering a 10 percent across-the-board spending cut that fall during the Great Recession. This week, Governor Reynolds and Senate Republicans announced they’ve agreed on an overall state spending plan that’s five-point-two percent higher than last years. House Republicans favor spending 36 MILLION dollars more. Grassley says House Republicans find themselves in a familiar position — negotiating against the unified Republican Governor Reynolds and Senate Republicans.

“I would also argue with 67 members representing every county across the state…our goal is when we leave here is we fund the commitments that we’ve made to Iowans,” Grassley said, “as well as make strategic investments.” Reynolds says she is leery of the higher level of spending House Republicans propose given an updated estimate on state tax revenue. “A $218 million dollar decline in revenue, at the same time we’ve seen an increase in Medicaid,” Reynolds said, “and then when you add in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which I hope is permanent by the Trump Administration…so we’re $402 million off the table right now.”

Governor Kim Reynolds spoke with Radio Iowa on May 1, 2025. (RI photo)

Reynolds made her comments during an interview with Radio Iowa. Grassley, the grandson of U-S Senator Chuck Grassley, held a statehouse news conference a few hours later. “I can tell you as a Grassley, we don’t often hear that we’re not pretty tight with our money,” Grassley said. “…For example, we do not feel that the budget that we proposed, especially when we’re looking at a nearly a $2 billion ending balance, we’re looking at nearly $4 billion in the Taxpayer Relief Fund, we’re by no means just opening up the wallet and spending every dollar that we can get our hands on.”

Reynolds says House-passed bills providing sales tax breaks for toilet paper and laundry detergent that Grassley has championed would further complicate the budget picture. “It makes it hard to continue to look at cutting taxes, sustain the tax cuts we’ve already put in place,” Reynolds said, “and most importantly it makes it really hard to start to talk about property tax reform when we keep giving away and taking revenue off the table.” Reynolds says the House Republicans’ budget plan is too much of an escalation in state spending and would impede her goal to continue reducing the state income tax.

“I think it’s really important that we be fiscally responsible. You know I’ve cut taxes five times in six years. When it comes to the individual income tax rate we were the sixth highest in the nation and, going to a flat 3.8% rate, we’re the sixth lowest,” Reynolds says. “Every one of my colleagues are bringing taxes down, so I’d like to continue to be able to bring taxes down.”

Reynolds has said she wants to eliminate the state income tax by January of 2027 — the end of her current term. Reynolds announced last month that she would not run for another term as governor.

(Radio Iowa) – A new report from the U-S Department of Commerce shows the nation’s economy just had its weakest quarter in three years, which Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson blames on the policies of the previous administration. Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says the recent downturns in consumer confidence, the stock market, and the gross domestic product are not the result of the sweeping tariffs President Trump imposed, then paused, on dozens of countries.

“I do think it’s clear that President Trump is ushering in the new era, the Golden Age for our economy,” Hinson says. “He knows the formula for a strong economy and he has a proven track record of growing the economy, and the economy will bounce back from ‘Biden-flation.’ We’re gonna lock in the tax cuts for the American people.” Some economists argue Trump’s efforts to change up global trade will bring a spike in inflation and could spiral the economy into a recession.

Hinson counters: “Some of what we’re seeing in the markets and the economy is a reaction to bad economic policy for four years,” adding, “Those policies don’t turn around overnight.” Wednesday’s report from the Commerce Department finds the nation’s G-D-P dropped three-tenths of a point in the first quarter, a significant shift from the two-point-four percent gain in last year’s fourth quarter.

“The number that I am really looking at here is gross domestic investment. That soared by over 20% and when you look at what’s happening with that, people are investing in America again,” Hinson says. “When you bring back that investment to the United States, that means more American jobs and we’re going to continue to see that unleash our economy.”

Hinson says Trump is working to secure more international trade deals, noting, she’s just returned from a bipartisan Congressional trade mission to Korea. “They want to do more business in the United States. They already buy $2 billion of American beef. They want to see those numbers go up. They want to sell us cars. They want to make those cars in the United States,” Hinson says. “There are a lot of great opportunities going forward for not only investments and good trade deals, good global trade policy, but also holding China accountable, which continues to be a priority for me.”

Trump posted the following on social media Wednesday, after the Commerce report was released: “Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”

(Clarinda, Iowa) – Page County Attorney, James L. Varley, reports the following activities in the Iowa District Court for Page County for the week of April 14, 2025.

39-year-old Aaron Chaney, of Council Bluffs, appeared by counsel and pled guilty to Operating While Under the Influence (OWI) -1^st Offense. He  was sentenced to 30 days in jail, with all but 2 days suspended and placed on probation for 9 months. As a condition of probation, the Chaney was ordered to complete a 12-hour drinking drivers’ course, as well as complete a drug/alcohol evaluation and follow through with any recommendations. He must also pay a fine in the amount of $1,250, plus court costs, surcharges and court-appointed attorney fees.

67-year-old Jeffrey Lee Moses, of Clarinda, appeared with counsel and also pled guilty to OWII/1st offense. He was also was sentenced to 30 days in jail, with all but 2 days suspended and placed on probation for 9 months. As a condition of probation, Moses was ordered to complete a 12-hour drinking drivers’ course, as well as complete a drug/alcohol evaluation and follow through with any recommendations. He was ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $1,250, plus court costs, surcharges and court-appointed attorney fees.

Jeffrey Lee Moses also pled guilty to Possession of Methamphetamine–1^st Offense. On that charge, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail, with all but 2 days suspended and placed on probation for 9 months. Moses was ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $430, plus court costs, surcharges and court-appointed attorney fees.

And, 48-year-old Amber Russell, of Council Bluffs, appeared by counsel in Page County District Court, and admitted to violating the terms and conditions of her probation. She was found to be in violation of her probation, which was subsequently extended to October 1, 2025, in order for her to complete treatment recommended in her substance abuse evaluation.

All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Cultural Coalition’s first “Create in Iowa” report shows more than 42-thousand Iowans work in arts and culture, across more than 58-hundred arts and creative businesses. Coalition Vice President Matt McIver says the number of people working in arts and culture is equivalent to some of Iowa’s largest employers. “The number that struck me the most in the report is that roughly one in two Iowans engage in making some kind of art,” McIver says. He says it is revealing for someone who works in the field.

“That was a degree of participation that really warmed my heart, but also opened my eyes to how deeply entrenched arts and culture are across our state,” he says. The report finds that arts and culture work generates nearly five billion dollars in annual economic impact on the state. Iowa Cultural Coalition President Lindsay Bauer (BOW-er) says she hopes the report can show how investment in creativity can support growing Iowa’s population.“We just identified this need of needing to communicate how impactful the arts are in Iowa, as the Iowa Legislature and Iowa business leaders around the state were beginning to plan their next steps for the growth of Iowa,” she says.

The report found that rural counties with performing arts organizations see faster population growth and recover faster from economic recessions. It calls for the expansion of funding for rural and small-scale projects. It recommends better aligning the creative sector with strategies led by foundations, chambers, cities, and tourism organizations to drive rural, community, and economic development efforts. Bauer and McIver made their comments on Iowa Public Radio’s “Talk of Iowa” program.

(Radio Iowa) – This is the second year Governor Kim Reynolds has proposed cutting the tax businesses pay to cover unemployment benefits when people get laid off from their jobs — and Reynolds says it’s a top priority for lawmakers to pass before the 2025 legislative session concludes this spring. “It’s a billion dollar tax savings, tax cut to our employers over five years,” Reynolds said. “That matters. It makes a difference.” Reynolds says Iowa’s Unemployment Trust Fund has too much money in it. “Quite frankly, we’re over-collecting,” Reynolds said. “We’re sitting on nearly $2 billion.” Iowa’s unemployment tax is 12th highest in the country. The governor’s plan would lower the top unemployment tax rate and reduce the taxable wage base by half. Last year, some business groups expressed concerns that if there’s an economic downturn, the fund would not have enough money to pay unemployment benefits.

“And so I said I’m going to work with all of the groups that it would apply to,” Reynolds said, “and I got all of them on board,” Reynolds says this year’s bill includes a message to employers, suggesting what they should do with the tax break. “I’m asking them to put that back into their people,” Reynolds said, “you know, to really consider looking at wages and supporting the employees that make their companies great.”

Reynolds reviewed some of her top legislative priorities this (Thursday) morning during an interview with Radio Iowa and this was the first bill she mentioned. The Iowa Federation of Labor says the reason this business tax could be cut is because in 2022 Republican lawmakers reduced the number of weeks Iowans can receive unemployment benefits by over a third – from 26 to 16 weeks. Democrats say the state should be focused on helping Iowans who are losing jobs rather than on providing more tax breaks to businesses.

CORALVILLE, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports 81-year-old Raymond John Miller – who was serving time in prison for crimes in Carroll County – died Tuesday, April 29th, at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center. Miller’s  sentence began on May 25, 2022.

DES MOINES—Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is calling for Iowans to submit nominations for the 2025 John Lewis Youth Leadership Award by Saturday, May 31. Nominations are open to Iowans aged 25 or younger who have made meaningful contributions to their communities, displayed dedication to civic engagement and civil rights, and demonstrated leadership qualities.

This year will be the fourth time Iowans have been recognized with the John Lewis Youth Leadership Award. The award was established by the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) as a way for every state to honor the extraordinary accomplishments of Congressman John Lewis and his dedication to fighting for American voting rights.

NASS established the John Lewis Youth Leadership Award in 2021. Secretaries of State across the nation are encouraged to recognize up to two civic-minded young people with the award each year. The full slate of award winners is recognized with a special video presentation at the annual NASS winter conference.

Secretary Pate encourages Iowans to nominate an exceptional young leader in their networks before the May 31 deadline. The nomination form is available at this link.

(Radio Iowa) – A celebration this Summer of all things Latino in southeast Iowa, is being called off after community members said they were scared about being detained at the event. The Latino Festival of Washington – which normally occurs in August – typically gathers around 300 people for a full day of live music, dancing, and vendors selling Mexican food and other goods. Sonia Leyva is president of Latinos for Washington, the nonprofit that puts the event together. She says they canceled the event to keep people safe.  “It’s a time where we feel that we can’t really celebrate our culture, because it’s like you bring that attention,” Leyva says. “The last thing we want is a family to get split apart, or something happen in our community.”

Latino Festival – City of Washington, IA (2021 File Photo)

Leyva says organizers began hearing that people were scared to go to the festival, given partnerships between state law enforcement officials and U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement.  “It’s a beautiful, wonderful event, and it just brings our community together, and it gives us an opportunity to share our beautiful culture with our community,” Leyva says. “It’s just a bummer that we can’t do that this year. It’s quite devastating, actually.”

Leyva says the nonprofit will continue to provide its U-S citizenship classes and high school scholarship programs and hopes to put on the festival next year.

(Creston, Iowa) – Officials with the Creston Police Department say a woman was arrested late Wednesday morning. 44-year-old Candy Lee Jones, of Creston, was arrested a little before 11:30-a.m., and charged with Failure to Appear [in court]. Jones was taken to Union County Jail. She was later released after being fingerprinted.