The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest last week of 22-year old James Michael Howard. The Atlantic man was arrested Dec. 21st  on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault (Simple Misdemeanor) and on an outstanding warrant for Violation of Probation. Howard was taken to the Cass County Jail where he was being held on $5000 bond.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says an additional charge of Animal Abuse has been filed against a Marne man who shot a woman’s dog Monday morning. As we reported Monday afternoon, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a dog having been shot in Marne. A deputy responded to the Atlantic Animal Health Center, where the owner of the dog, 23-year old Stacy Ernat from Denver, CO, reported her chocolate Labrador “Wrigley,” was playing with a relative’s dog in the church lot adjacent to the residence of Charles Collins Cutler, the individual who shot the dog with a shotgun, from a distance of 30-to 40-feet.

Ernat brought her dog to the Atlantic Animal Health Center where it died. Ernat and another friend told the deputy they witnessed Cutler shoot the dog. Upon investigation, a Sheriff’s Deputy cited Cutler for Animal Abuse (Aggravated Misdemeanor) and Reckless Use of a Firearm (Simple Misdemeanor). Cutler was given a court date of January 17th, 2013.

The debate over credit card “swipe fees” is surfacing again at the statehouse. The issue is pitting banks and credit card companies against retailers, both big and small. Jim Henter, with the Iowa Retail Federation, says businesses shouldn’t have to pay a fee on the tax portion of the bill when a customer buys something with a credit card. “We understand the need to cover the costs of these transactions, but we believe the big banks have gotten greedy,” Henter said. “That’s why we’re talking about this issue.”

The fee is two-and-a-half percent of the total purchase, including the tax, and Henter told a legislative interim committee that it amounts to a “tax on a tax.” Retailers want limits on the fee they pay every time a customer makes a purchase with plastic. But Justin Hupher, with the Iowa Credit Union League, said it would be “a mess” if every state passes its own laws on swipe fees. “In my opinion, this is the wrong venue because of the interstate nature of plastic payments. This issue has been lobbied and debated in Congress prior to the Dodd Frank act when Congress did take action,” Hupher said.

But, the federal law affects only the very biggest companies, so none of Iowa’s credit unions are covered by the law.

(Radio Iowa)