WASHINGTON (AP) – The campaign may be over, but Senator-elect Joni Ernst says she is just getting started. The recently elected Republican was in Washington this week. She’s meeting her future colleagues, hiring staffers and seeking advice from longtime Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.
She’s also planning to visit every county in Iowa next year.

Ernst scored a decisive victory in November, helping the GOP take control of the Senate. She started the race as a relatively unknown state senator but soared to national stardom, promoting her farm upbringing and military background.

Looking ahead, Ernst says she hopes to serve on either the armed services or agriculture committees. She plans to focus on issues she addressed during the campaign, like changes to the tax code.

Police in Council Bluffs are investigating the theft of a handgun from a vehicle parked outside a home. According to Bluffs Police Sgt. Chad Meyers, a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol and its magazine were stolen from a Dodge pickup truck parked in the 200 block of Sylvan Drive. Meyers told the NonPareil the theft was reported at around 7-a.m., Wednesday.

A liberal advocacy group Wednesday, released a report about how the Affordable Care Act or “ObamaCare” is “working in Iowa.” Matt Sinovic of “Progress Iowa,” says 83 percent of the Iowans who got insurance through the federal exchange last year received tax credits which significantly decreased the cost of their insurance plan. “It’s important to look past all of the heated rhetoric and take a look at what the law is actually doing,” Sinovic says, “particularly here in the state of Iowa where we have seen incredible benefits from the Affordable Care Act.”

Sinovic cites another study which indicates Iowa hospitals saved 32 million dollars this past year because more uninsured Iowans were enrolled in Medicaid.  “So our hospitals are saving, our health care consumers are benefiting and Iowans are benefiting,” Sinovic says. Sinovic says just over 10 percent of Iowans are still uninsured and he’s urging those Iowans to see what kind of insurance subsidies they might qualify for under the Affordable Care Act.

The enrollment period is now open, through February 15th. Critics of “ObamaCare” say it will overload the nation’s health care system with previously uninsured patients demanding care and bankrupt the federal government. About 10 million Americans acquired subsidized insurance coverage last year due to the Affordable Care Act. Supporters of the law say it’s reducing health care costs, which went up less than three percent in the past year compared to double-digit increases before the law took effect.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Chamber Alliance released its legislative goals for the upcoming session. I-C-A executive director, John Stineman, says one of their key goals is to improve the Iowa workforce. “It’s really our fundamental issue this year, and it’s come to a boiling point,” Stineman says. “We need to take a look and make sure we have a cohesive strategy going forward. We have some pretty serious issues right now with the workforce and if we get them right, we can really double down and expand on our economic opportunity. And if we don’t, there’s some real risk.”

Stineman says the first key is to ensure Iowa students graduating from high school and college are ready to either enter the workforce or go onto the next level of education to improve their skills. “Number two, we need to upscale our workforce and address the skills gap. We need fewer low skilled workers, we need them up to the middle skill and high scale jobs to help drive our economy in the 21st century,” according to Stineman. “We need to make sure Iowa is an attractive place where people want to come so we can work on our rather flat population growth.”

The I-B-C is made up of the 16 largest chambers of commerce in the state and he says those leaders are also interested in improving the state’s tax system. “We’re concerned about Iowa’s tax complexity and we do feel like there is an opportunity for Iowa to compete a little bit stronger by simplifying and reducing our corporate and individual income taxes,” he explains. “We’re looking at some different economic development incentives we think would provide Iowa with some unique opportunities, including some renewable biochemical incentives.”

Stineman says they remain concerned about the states infrastructure and the need to provide more money to fix roads and bridges. He says the recent talks about coming up with a solution are encouraging. “I would say we’re cautiously optimistic. We’re seeing a very reasonable dialogue on the issue of the fuel tax. I think there’s a growing recognition that there’s a need and we are not going to get there on our current path,” Stineman says. He says they want to see the continued improvement of broadband service as part of the improving infrastructure.

Stineman says they are looking at these issues with the understanding that the ag sector and lower commodity prices have had an impact on the state’s economy. “There’s is an expectation that this could be a potentially tighter budget year and we are going to wait and see what those final numbers are. But we are coming into it with a realistic expectation. The one thing that we would want to make sure happens — even in a tight budget year — that those economic development incentives are fully and appropriately funded, so we get that return on investment from economic growth that ultimately helps those tax receipts,” Stineman says.

You can find out more about the I-C-A on its website at: www.iowachamberalliance.com.

(Radio Iowa)

A small town in west-central Iowa was awarded a 220-thousand dollar ($220,000) state grant Wednesday for the construction of a new community center. Diane Wise has helped lead the fundraising effort in Grand Junction. She says the town’s old community center was shut down this summer. “It had black mold, the ceiling was falling in, the floor was falling in, it was just an old, old building,” Wise said. “It is the center of everything in Grand Junction…and it was closed just because it was no longer useable.” The Vision Iowa Board awarded Grand Junction with a Community Attraction and Tourism grant. The total cost of building the new community center is estimated at one-point-one million dollars ($1.1 million).

Grand Junction – proposed Community Center

The building will house the city hall and council chambers and will include a kitchen, a meeting room, and a larger space to accommodate groups of roughly 200 people. Wise has high hopes for the project’s ability to revitalize the town of 800 people. “We’ve got new businesses approaching us about coming into town and this building is just going to draw more and more to the community,” Wise said. “This is a catalyst to a new community.”

While she’s been the driving force behind the project, the 63-year-old Wise is not even a resident of Grand Junction. Her address is rural Jefferson. Wise’s husband, David, died in 2002. He grew up in Grand Junction and Wise has been pushing for the new community center as a way to honor her late husband. David Wise, a Vietnam War veteran, died of lung cancer likely linked to exposure to Agent Orange.

(Radio Iowa)