(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says the national opioid-related settlements a half dozen businesses have agreed to pay must be spent to address the opioid crisis.

Opioid makers and distributors have so far agreed to pay states and local governments around 50 BILLION dollars to settle lawsuits over the marketing and sale of opioids. In 1998, tobacco companies agreed to pay 246 BILLION over 25 years in a national settlement, but much of that money has been spent on initiatives that have nothing to do with smoking.

Miller was among the attorneys general who negotiated the settlement with cigarette makers. He also worked more recently on national settlements with mortgage lenders and the anti-trust case against Microsoft. Miller, who has been Iowa’s attorney general for nearly 40 years, lost his campaign for an 11th term and will be leaving office at the end of the year.

DES MOINES — Governor Kim Reynolds, today (Friday), issued a proclamation to ease restrictions for transportation of and access to fuel used for heat during the extremely frigid temperatures during the blizzard.

The proclamation is effective immediately and continues through 11:59 p.m. on January 1, 2023. The proclamation suspends the regulatory provisions of Iowa Code pertaining to hours of service for crews and drivers delivering propane, diesel, natural gas, and other fuels used for residential, agricultural, and commercial heating purposes during the duration of the blizzard.

See the proclamation here. 

(Radio Iowa) – Cabin fever may already be setting in with kids home from school for the holiday break, but a developmental psychologist recommends Iowa parents avoid giving them rewards and bribes. Dr. Christi Bergin says if you want your children to have positive social behavior and self-esteem, don’t pay them for being good. Bergin says kids don’t learn to govern their own behavior if they’re given treats.

Bergin says giving a reward or bribe highlights the power you have over the child.

Bergin says if you want your kids to have good social graces, don’t pay them for being good. She says giving your kids an allowance is okay if it’s a specific amount of money each week or month for certain expenses, like gas for a car or their own clothing. She says being compensated for doing routine chores is not a good idea because they need to learn to contribute to a team without always asking “What’s in it for me?”

(Pottawattamie County) – Sentencing is set to take place in February, 2023, in the case of a 59-year-old man from Walnut, who was found guilty this week of two Class-B Felony counts of Second-degree Sexual Abuse involving children under the age of 12. Two other, similar charges were dismissed by the Court. The verdict against Allan Sievers was handed-down Monday (Dec. 19), after a jury in Council Bluffs U-S District court heard testimony over a period of four-days.

Sievers faces up to 25 years in prison on each count, or a total of 50-years. He is also required to be placed on the State’s Sex Offender Registry for the remainder of his life, and after he is released from prison, will serve a lifetime special sentence of parole. Sentencing is set for 9:30-a.m. Feb. 9. 2023.

Allan Sievers

Sievers was arrested September, 2020, following an investigation that began in 2019. He was a Walnut area electrician for more than 25-years.