(Radio Iowa) – All of those tax documents and forms should have arrived in the mailbox by now and Iowans may be setting aside some time this weekend to get it all organized. If you want to hire a tax preparer, Bao Vang at the Better Business Bureau encourages you to do your homework first.

When it comes to choosing the right kind of tax preparer for you personally, Vang says much will depend on the complexity of your tax situation.

Vang says if a tax preparer can’t verify their credentials, has a record of bad reviews from previous clients, or their business practices don’t seem convincing — don’t do business with them. The deadline for filing federal returns this year is April 18th.

(Radio Iowa) – Pella police say a child died Thursday after being hit while sledding. Police say the five-year-old child entered the roadway on a sled from a hill near an intersection and was hit by a pickup truck around 5:30 p.m. The child was taken to the Pella Regional Health center, but died shortly after arriving there.

The name of the child and driver have not yet been released.

DES MOINES – Governor Reynolds announced today that Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo is resigning.

“I want to thank Dr. Lebo for her many contributions to my administration and the Department of Education over the last three years,” Gov. Reynolds stated. “From her very first day on the job, Ann was immersed in the pandemic’s impact on education. She supported Iowa’s schools in their transition to remote learning during the spring of 2020 and developed our Return to Learn plan for the fall. I will be forever grateful for her leadership and student-centered approach during that challenging time, and I wish her much success.”

Lebo joined the Department of Education on March 13, 2020, at the early onset of COVID-19 in Iowa. Just days later, Iowa schools closed for the remainder of the school year, then led the nation in reopening in August.

“It has been a tremendous honor to work alongside the dedicated team at the Department of Education and serve Iowa schools, administrators, educators, and students,” Ann Lebo said. “The last three years have been some of the most challenging of my career, but also incredibly rewarding. I’m proud that Iowa was on the leading edge of prioritizing in-person learning throughout the pandemic and I’m thankful for Governor Reynolds’ leadership in that effort. Now, I’ve decided to explore new opportunities and I look forward to seeing where they lead.”

Lebo’s resignation is effective March 14, 2023.

(Radio Iowa) – Nursing programs around the state are asking lawmakers to create a tax incentive for nurses who agree to guide nursing students through something similar to an apprenticeship. Dr. Candace Chihak is chair of the nursing department at Briar Ciff University in Sioux City. She says these nurses are called “preceptors” and they are currently volunteering their time. “All of our students at all levels, a lot of times they will go one-on-one with a practicing nurse,” Chihak says. “…They’re working with patients on their unit with a practicing nurse, learning their skills in how to care for patients.”

Seniors at Briar Cliff who are studying for a bachelor’s degree in nursing are to spend 120 hours with a licensed nurse who agrees to be a preceptor. “That 120 hours they’re working they’re working that nurse’s shifts, they’re taking are of that nurse’s patients,” Chihak says, “but they’ve got that safety net of having that nurse there to make sure everything’s going smoothly, that they’re making good decisions before they graduate and are completely on their own.”

Chihak says it’s hard to find nurses who’ll volunteer to be preceptors and providing some sort of state financial incentive would help.  “There’s such a huge nursing shortage right now and you need to be practicing at least a couple of years before you take on the role because you’ve really got to feel confident in what you’re doing and there’s so many new nurses, but we’ve had so many leaving the field and the ones that are there so overwhelmed and burned out that we’re looking for a little extra incentive for them.”

A handful of states offer income tax credits to doctors or nurses who agree to be preceptors for medical or nursing students. A proposal to establish a one-thousand dollar Iowa income tax credit for nursing preceptors will be considered in a House committee next week.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court rules in favor of officers in a pursuit of an escaped inmate in central Iowa that led to a crash. Amber Martinez of Des Moines claimed officers were reckless for pursuing Scott Grimes on a busy street in Urbandale, and that led to Grimes hitting her car head on. She was in the hospital for six months after the crash. Grimes had escaped from the Warren County jail and went on a multi-state crime spree before officers spotted him in 2016 and began the chase. An officer called off the pursuit just before Grimes crashed into Martinez — saying the traffic was too heavy.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that no reasonable jury could find that the officer’s pursuit of Grimes meets the high bar for recklessness under Iowa law.