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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Radio Iowa) – Newly-elected Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart says there’s still a chance national party leaders will relent and let the Iowa Democratic Party’s Caucuses go first in the 2024 presidential election. This weekend, the Democratic National Committee is scheduled to vote on a 2024 presidential campaign schedule that would prohibit Iowa Democrats from having Caucuses before any other state holds a Democratic primary. Hart says that is certainly not a done deal and national party leaders need to sure their decisions are practical.
Hart, who was elected state party chair on Saturday, says the Caucuses are a tradition worth preserving and she’s talking with people who’ve been working for the past two years to try to keep the Democrats’ Caucuses first. The Republican National Committee ratified a plan this summer that keeps the Iowa G-O-P’s Caucuses first as Republicans nominate a presidential candidate in 2024.
(Radio Iowa) – A bill in the Iowa Senate would prevent the collection of up to 127 million dollars in property taxes and force local officials to make cuts in city and county budget plans. Last fall, Iowa Department of Revenue officials discovered a mistake in a 2021 state law caused the miscalculation of residential property taxes — but local officials were only recently notified of the discrepancy and have been drafting local budgets based on the higher numbers.
Pleasant Hill Mayor Sara Kurovski and other city officials have held four public meetings as they developed Pleasant Hill’s next budget and will have to cut out about 200-thousand dollars due to the mistake. “All of us know that in these inflationary times, it is very difficult to keep up the costs while providing these services,” she said. “…Give us a year to prepare correctly.”
Leaders from Iowa’s larger cities say they’ll be forced to quickly cut millions from budget plans that must be released for public input and finalized by March 31st. Republican Senator Dan Dawson supports giving local officials two more weeks to make those decisions, but Dawson says the residential property tax formula is going to be fixed this spring. “We’re always advocating on behalf of the taxpayers,” Dawson says. “A delay would be a tax increase to the residential property taxpayers.”
The bill to fix the miscalculation of residential property taxes has cleared a Senate subcommittee and is eligible for debate in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
(Radio Iowa) – A key senator is proposing new restrictions for commercially owned solar installations placed on farmland. Senate Ag Committee chairman Dan Zumbach says the goal is to establish limits on how close solar arrays may be to property lines, farm buildings and homes. “Most people that live around them don’t like what they look like when they’re used to looking at farmland or pastures and see this new industrial product coming in on farmland,” Zumbach says.
Zumbach, a Republican from Ryan, says it’s time to set rules for an industry that’s in its infancy. Representatives for utility companies and developers say requiring solar arrays to be 12-hundred feet from a residence or livestock facility would be a project killer. Christopher Rants is a lobbyist NextEra Energy, which is currently developing two solar arrays in Iowa. “We fundamentally believe that this is a decision that should be made by the landowner as opposed to the state legislature trying to make it for them,” Rants says.
The Iowa Farm Bureau supports some restrictions. However, Farm Bureau lobbyist Matt Gronewald warns the bill as currently written may prohibit farmers from installing solar panels to generate electricity for their operations. “Perhaps including a minimum acreage of solar facilities being 40 acres or larger might address that,” he says. Dustin Miller, a lobbyist for the American Clean Power Association, says the restrictions in the bill are pretty onerous.
“The only thing that this would really standardize is a halt in investment,” Miller says. “…What nuisance are we trying to cure here?” Last year, Zumbach proposed a ban on placing solar arrays on land rated as highly suitable for growing corn and soybeans. However, Zumbach says he learned that approach would have shifted solar development to areas of the state with the least productive farmland.
(Radio Iowa) – A Sioux City Fire Department spokesman says it could take some time before they can determine the exact cause of a fire that destroyed a restaurant in a strip mall Sunday. Captain Ryan Collins says the aftermath of fighting the fire in below-zero temperatures will keep them out of the site for a while. “So much water was applied, everything is now covered in ice. It’s just a matter of working with all the partners to make sure that everything is done safely and make sure that no evidence is damaged in the process,” Collins says.
He says the subzero temperatures create all sorts of concerns when fighting a fire. “Hose lines freezing, you can get frozen hydrants, we can have our apparatus, the pumps, they don’t like the freezing temperatures any more than we do,” he says. “So we do manage that. And there’s also the additional hazards of the weight of the ice that’s formed. The ice sits on the ground, we get a lot of slips, trips, and falls. And so there’s just a different set of precautions that we have in the wintertime.”
Fire destroyed the Oppa Time Restaurant in Sioux City Sunday. (SCFD photo)
The roof of the Opa Time restaurant collapsed, so Collins says they had to pour water on from the outside to fight the fire. He says they believe something in the ceiling may’ve started the fire. An H&R Block office next door was damaged, but Collins says firewalls prevented more damage to other businesses in the mall. Nobody was in the building at the time of the fire.
DES MOINES — Six Iowa care facilities were placed in receivership after the owner informed the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals (DIA) that it would be unable to continue operating those facilities.
On Monday, Jan. 23, the owner of Blue Care Homes, LLC, notified DIA that they were unable and/or unwilling to continue operations and would not be able to meet the needs of its residents at four nursing facilities and two assisted living facilities.
On Wednesday, Jan.25, pursuant to Iowa Code chapters 135C and 231C, DIA filed for receivership of the six facilities. Receivership ensures that residents are safe and that they have the ability to move to a location of their choosing.
On Thursday, Jan. 26, the courts appointed Michael F. Flanagan—who has significant experience in receiverships—in conjunction with Mission Health, as the temporary manager of these facilities. Mr. Flanagan and Mission Health immediately assumed control of the operations and will remain in control until all 263 residents are safely relocated to a facility of their choice.
Affected nursing/skilled nursing facilities
Affected assisted living facilities
“DIA’s most important duty is to ensure that every resident is safe,” said DIA Director Larry Johnson, Jr. “Facilities must abide by all regulations to ensure a safe and orderly closure and the State stepped in to ensure this happens.” The department, the temporary manager, managed care organizations, and the Office of the Long Term Care ombudsman will assist residents in determining where they would like to move, and DIA surveyors continue to monitor each of these facilities throughout the transition period.
Residents, staff, and families have been notified of the receivership and closures and additional meetings will occur in the coming days. Federal and state regulations require facilities to remain open while residents are being safely placed at a facility of their choice (60 days for nursing and skilled nursing facilities and 90 days for assisted living facilities).
This is the second time the department has filed for receivership. The first time was in July 2022 for a facility in Sioux City.The department will release additional information as it becomes available.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Fire Department personnel were called to the scene of a house fire a little before 10-a.m. today (Monday). Fire Chief Tom Cappel said when they arrived on the scene at 901 Birch Street, there was heavy smoke coming from the interior of the house, which made it difficult to determine where the fire was at first.
Crews made entry into the home from the west side of the structure and into the basement, where Cappel said he was confident that’s where the fire began. Fire crews made entry later on from the south end of the home. Eventually, the structural integrity of the house had been compromised, and the ground floor collapsed into the basement. The second story collapsed into the kitchen. Crews were recalled out of the house before the interior collapsed. Cappel said from there on it was an exterior fire containment effort.
He said they had to wait for the fire to burn up through to the roof, otherwise they would not have been able to get water into the inside of the home. Normally, they would be on the roof, cutting holes for an attack on the interior. Since the house was about 10-to-15 feet away from a house to the south, firefighters worked to protect that structure for fear the house with the fire might collapse toward the exterior instead of the interior.
The neighboring house has extensive smoke damage. Chief Cappel said it was a smokey and hot fire, plus the frigid conditions and formation of ice from the water used on the scene, made it a difficult blaze to contain. Mutual aid was requested and received from the Griswold, Marne and Lewis Fire Departments,. Cass EMS, Atlantic Police and others also provided assistance. Chief Cappel said he was extremely grateful for their help.
Atlantic firefighters finally left the scene at around 5-p.m.
Ric Hanson/photos
(Radio Iowa) – A judge has approved a competency hearing for the Fort Dodge mother accused of killing her infant daughter — but denied a request for a new lawyer. District Court Judge Christopher Polking cited Taylor Blaha’s refusal to meet with her current court appointed attorney on several occasions and said it was not likely that Blaha would be more cooperative with a new lawyer.
One of her arguments and requesting new counsel was that she has a learning disability. Blaha and the baby’s father Brandon Thoma are both charged with first-degree murder in the death of their infant daughter.
Blaha is scheduled to go to trial on February 28th and Thoma goes to trial on August 8th.
(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Guthrie County say no injuries were reported following two separate accidents that took place, Saturday. The first occurred at around 6-a.m., on Highway 44. Authorities say 33-year-old Teressa Stilwell, of Guthrie Center, was driving a 2002 Jeep Liberty eastbound on Highway 44, when she met a snowplow and her wheels dropped off onto the south shoulder. Stilwell lost control of the SUV, causing it to come back onto the road before the vehicle struck a cable barrier on the south shoulder. The SUV sustained about $3,000 (Minor) damage. Stilwell was cited for Failure to provide proof of financial liability (Accident-related insurance).
The second accident happened at around 6:45-p.m., Saturday, also on Highway 44. A 2017 Ford Taurus driven by 44-year-old Bobbi Jo Wolfe, of Guthrie Center, was westbound on State Highway 44, when a deer entered the traveled portion of the roadway. Wolfe was unable to stop and struck the deer, causing about $7,500 damage to the car. Wolfe and her passenger were not injured. No citations were issued.
(Radio Iowa) – State officials are asking the legislature to correct for an error in the formula that determines some property tax rates. Each year, the Iowa Department of Revenue makes a statewide calculation that affects property tax rates and the error is connected to what’s called multi-residential property. A 2013 law said apartment buildings, nursing homes and mobile home parks were no longer to be taxed as commercial property, but as multi-residential property.
Then, a 2021 law called for taxing those multi-residential properties at the same rate as single-family homes and condominiums. However, the law failed to adjust the statewide formula used to determine how much cities, counties and schools can collect in property taxes. The error means local governments would get less than expected from residential property taxes.
(Massena, Iowa) – While firefighters from Atlantic were battling a house fire this (Monday) morning, crews from the Anita, Cumberland and Massena Fire Departments were dispatched at around 11:38-a.m. to a reported machine shed fire at 73122 Oxford Road, north of Massena.
Additional information is currently not available.
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