(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-O-T continues to see trends in rail traffic that show economic challenges. Stuart Anderson gave and update to the Transportation Commission. “The rail carloads continue to be down both on a monthly basis comparing March of this year with s March of last year — but also year to date. You can see it’s down point-three percent,” he says. Anderson says grains shipments are one area where things have been down. “Although I think there is some information from U-S-D-A that they do feel like there is with increased export agreements with China that they expect that trend to shift here in the coming month,” Anderson says. He says the intermodel shipments from ports into Iowa are also down. Anderson says there is one bright side on the rail shipping front.

“Motor vehicle shipment on rail cars continues to be higher than we’ve seen in the last year, which is is a good time that people are still buying cars,” Anderson says. His report also shows the drop in travel on the roadways in December and January was likely due to winter weather, as things have picked back up. “We would say overall the travel is generally back to the pre pandemic levels. But still with those shifts that we’ve talked about in the past — where municipal traffic continues to be a little down and rural traffic a little high, just reflecting the more teleworking that’s happening across workforce,” Anderson says.

Anderson made his comments in a work session prior to today’s (Tuesday) Transportation Commission meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – With the federal tax filing deadline now one week away, a University of Iowa accounting professor suggests America adopt what’s being done in many European countries, where the government prepares your taxes for you — for free. Professor Ryan Wilson says our current electronic filing process is automated, so it wouldn’t be a great stretch for the I-R-S to go the next step and prepare our taxes, too. Wilson says the government already has most of the information it needs to pre-populate tax returns, and those with more complex investments could always opt out. For the majority of Americans, Wilson says it would reduce anxiety while saving time and money.

He says a program called ReadyReturn is already being used in the U-K, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain, where the government prepares its citizens’ taxes. In some countries, you get a text from the government and if you text back ‘YES,’ then you’re done.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man this (Tuesday) morning. 37-year-old Brian Paul Anderson, of Red Oak, was taken into custody in the vicinity of 1660 E. Summit Street, at around 4:22-a.m. He was charged with OWI/1st offense. Anderson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has appointed a former Republican legislator to lead the Iowa Utilities Board. Current Iowa Utilities Board chair Jeri Huser will remain on the board, but the governor has appointed Erik Helland to take over as chair in May. Helland, who is an attorney, served two terms in the Iowa House representing the Des Moines suburb of Johnston. Helland will lead the Iowa Utilities Board as it considers applications for construction permits for three carbon pipelines.

A year ago, the governor appointed Helland to serve on the Iowa Employment Relations Board, but Democrats in the Senate blocked his nomination. Republicans won 34 seats in the state senate last November and that’s equal to the number of yes voted Helland would need for confirmation to this new role.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill eligible for debate in the Iowa House would require permission from a parent before Iowa teens between the ages of 14 and 17 could have an account on Instagram or other types of social media. Republican Representative John Wills of Spirit Lake says that’s a change from the original bill, which would have barred any minor in Iowa from having a social media account.

“We are at least trying to get that parent to have some skin the game and understand: ‘Maybe my kid is acting this way because they’re actually being bullied or maybe something’s happening on social media and I need to monitor that,'” Wills says. Studies have shown social media use can be a major distraction for teenagers by disrupting their sleep and promoting unrealistic views about their own body image. Wills says for those and other reasons, it’s time to try something.

“It’s not going to be perfect,” Wills says, “but with the number of suicides and with the (amount) of cyberbulling and all of these other things…there needs to be some additional protections from the government.” A federal law prohibits social media platforms and other online sites from collecting data about children 13 and under without parental permission — essentially requiring a parent to sign off on a sign up for Instagram, TikTok and other social media.

The bill cleared the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday (Monday) with the support of all but two Republicans. Democrats on the panel opposed it. Some are pressing for more changes in the bill to ensure it does not prevent students from using social media platforms for homework and other school activities.