(Keokuk, Iowa) – The crash of a small car in southeastern Iowa’s Lee County, Saturday night, claimed the life of one 15-year-old and resulted in injuries to a 16-year-old. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2000 Toyota Matrix was traveling south on the Mississippi River Road at around 10:45-p.m., Saturday, when the driver failed to negotiate a curve. The vehicle entered the west ditch and came to rest.

Both teens were transported by Lee County EMS to Blessing Health, in Keokuk, when one died from their injuries. Neither of the occupants of the car were wearing their seat belts. No names were released.

(Radio Iowa) – Senator Chuck Grassley is putting some caveats on the promise that a Republican majority in congress will be able to repeal the plan to hire 87-thousand I-R-S agents. Last weekend, Grassley said those I-R-S agents probably won’t be hired if Republicans hold a majority of seats in the U.S. Senate and House after this year’s election. This week, Grassley said it would be a long process and Senate debate rules could prevent the G-O-P from taking action. “When that bill would come to the senate, we’d have to have 60 votes to get it done,” Grassley says, “and there’d have to be some bipartisanship.”

If that 60 vote threshold is cleared and the bill passes, it would be up to President Biden to decide whether it becomes law. And it was the Biden Administration that proposed spending to modernize the I-R-S computer system and hire new agents to replace retiring staff over the next decade.

That’s a rarity. Congress has voted to override just six presidential vetoes in the past 21 years. In 1996, Grassley was appointed as one of 17 members on the National Commission on Restructuring the I-R-S.

Grassley helped write a 1998 law that reorganized divisions within the agency and limited some auditing techniques.

Grassley was cheered by the crowd at Congresswoman Ashley Hinson’s fundraiser when he said a G-O-P congress probably would vote to repeal the I-R-S hiring plan.

(Radio Iowa) – The delayed start of the school year in an eastern Iowa district has been pushed back even farther after the discovery of asbestos. Due to a construction project, next Tuesday, September 6th, had been set as the first day of school in North Linn district, but Superintendent Dave Hoeger says the construction disturbed asbestos in the high school building.

All classes are delayed, not just at the high school.

Asbestos removal crews are cleaning the buildings and Hoeger says more tests will be done next week.

The North Linn School District serves students in and around Coggin, Troy Mills and Walker.

(Radio Iowa) – Economic growth slowed in Iowa and in the Midwest during August, according to the latest survey of supply managers in the nine states. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says while the numbers slipped on the Business Conditions Index at the state and regional levels, both remained above growth neutral for the 27th straight month. Still, he says the forecast remains cloudy.

Hiring during August dropped compared to July, while inflation rates remain punishingly high. Goss says they asked supply managers to identify the biggest challenges moving forward in 2022.

Supply chain issues are continuing to disrupt the flow of goods, and while gasoline prices have dropped, prices for groceries and most other goods and services remain very high.

The survey finds durable goods manufacturers in Iowa, including metal producers, are reporting solid growth, while Goss says non-durable goods producers, including food processors, reported healthy expansions. Looking ahead six months, economic optimism increased to a very weak 32.2 from 26.8 in July, that’s on a scale of zero to 100. Goss says confidence levels for 2022 are the worst since the 2008-09 recession.