(Radio Iowa) – The chairman of a key committee says a complicated proposal to expand use of ethanol and biodiesel in Iowa hasn’t been killed for the year, but Senator Dan Dawson says it’s not greased for passage either. “What the future looks like, I cannot tell,” Dawson said. “…There’s a lot more work to be done on this before we find any consensus.” Dawson was among a handful of Senators who listened to feedback on the plan for about an hour yesterday (Thursday). It began with Logan Shine, an advisor to Governor Kim Reynolds, suggesting critics were spreading misinformation about what Reynolds has called a Renewable Fuels Standard for Iowa.

“I know we’ve all heard this is a mandate,” Shine said. “At this point, we’re disagreeing on the semantics of whether it’s a mandate, a standard — it simply doesn’t matter because this is a pro-Iowa bill.” A major pipeline company, truck stops, convenience stores and other retailers who sell fuel oppose the bill. Jason McDermott is president of McDermott Oil Company in Cascade, which operates five gas stations in eastern Iowa. McDermott says bill backers are misleading legislators about the significant expense of installing equipment that can pump higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel.

“For us as retailers, we’re not going to sell any more gas,” McDermott said. “We’re moving from one product to another. There’s absolutely no return on this investment and we’re the only ones being asked to invest in this.” Tom Brooks, general manager of Western Dubuque Biodiesel in Farley, says it’s time for legislators to take a stand in favor of the renewable fuels industry.

“Frankly we’re overdue for biodiesel and ethanol blends to be the standard here rather than the alternative,” he said. “This industry is way too important to Iowa. This really should’t be a difficult question.” Ken Kleemeier, vice president of fuels for Kum & Go stores, says while retailers have major concerns, the real victims of the bill will be drivers who’ll wind up paying more for gas and diesel. “The mandates and government overreach contained in this bill are a step too far,” he said.

Michael Walz of POET, which operates seven ethanol plants in Iowa, says the most important part of the bill ensures consumers have access to E-15 by 2026. “We believe every Iowan should have the freedom to fuel up with E15,” he said. “More than a decade ago, Minnesota led the way in making E10 America’s fuel standard. We believe Iowa should lead the way to shift to E15 with passage of this bill.”

Tom Cope, a lobbyist for Casey’s General Stores, says a proposed tweak in the bill designed to address retailer’s concerns is worthless. “This new version continues to have restrictions and things in place that are really going to upend the fuel market in the state of Iowa,” Cope said. Republican House Speaker Pat Grassley says there’s been hard work to try to find a satisfactory compromise, but it’s unlikely the legislature will pass an Iowa renewable fuel standard this year.  “I can’t tell you the exact outcome of it, but it’s a difficult push,” Grassley said. The push toward adjourning the 2021 session has begun.

Today (Friday) is the last day legislators get a stipend to cover daily expenses, but it is common for the legislature to meet for days, even weeks, past that mark.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has declined 95 million dollars in federal pandemic aid for schools. During a town hall last night (Thursday night) on Fox News, Reynolds said the 95 million was for surveillance testing of students in Iowa schools. Reynolds said President Biden must think Covid just started and the state doesn’t need money to get kids back in the classroom since most Iowa schools have had in-person classes since August.

After the program, the governor’s spokesman provided Radio Iowa with an April 23rd letter the Iowa Department of Public Health sent the Centers for Disease Control. It said Iowa has ample funding and Covid testing capacity for Iowa school districts. The letter asked for state officials to be notified if the money could be spent in a different way, particularly if the 95 million could be used for vaccine distribution.

Two men were injured during a pickup truck rollover accident Thursday afternoon, in Pottawattamie County. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 1999 Ford Ranger pickup driven by 20-year old Austin Hatfield, of Wilbur, NE., was traveling westbound on I-80 near mile marker 27, when the vehicle went out of control and exited the road before rolling over and coming to rest upright, in a ditch. The accident happened at around 12:48-p.m.

Hatfield was flown by LifeNet to the UNMC in Omaha. His passenger, 30-year-old Kodie Smith, of Ridgeway, MO., was transported by Minden Rescue to Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs. Both victims were wearing their seat belts.

(Radio Iowa) – As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, a Zoom conference is scheduled during May to address mental health issues in Iowa. Organizers of the 3rd annual Mental Health Awareness Conference say it’s designed to bring together local, state and national professionals to share perspectives. Tiffany Larson, a program coordinator at Building Families of Clarion, says mental health issues impact the young and old alike.

“Even prior to the pandemic, we started seeing mental health impacting individuals,” Larson says. “Throughout the years, there’s been a heavy stigma when it comes to mental health. The more we can have prevention and education and raise this awareness, the more that we can have more people understand that feelings are valid, it’s okay to not be okay, and when you aren’t, there’s help that is available.”

Lori Foster, a spokeswoman for Van Diest Medical Center in Webster City, says the keynote speaker for the conference is Lyndsey Fennelly, a former Iowa State University All-American basketball player who was drafted by the W-N-B-A. “She is currently writing a memoir detailing her experience with mental illness after two significant breakdowns,” Foster says. “She is a passionate advocate for mental health. She is a mother of two and is married to current Iowa State women’s basketball coach Billy Fennelly.”

The conference is scheduled for Thursday, May 20th, from noon until 4:30. Register at the Van Diest Medical Center website at www.vandiestmc.org.

(Radio Iowa) – Military commanders would no longer decide whether soldiers accused of sexual assault are prosecuted under a proposal Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are supporting. Ernst, a veteran of the Iowa National Guard, says sexual assault has plagued the military for too long and it makes sense to have neutral party make the decision. “I’m a former commander, but I’m also a survivor of sexual assault,” Ernst says. “I understand the traumatic events too many of our survivors have faced.”

Under the plan that will be considered in a Senate committee, commanders will be notified of pending cases, but it will be prosecutors in the military justice system who decide if charges will be filed when a soldier accuses another soldier of sexual assault. “To help ensure survivors are treated with the dignity, the respect and the justice that they so deserve,” Ernst said. The bill also calls for more training and education that Ernst says will hopefully prevent sexual assaults from being committed in the first place.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, has been working for eight years to build a coalition in the senate to address the issue. During a Capitol Hill news conference today (Thursday), Gillibrand noted Senator Grassley was the first Republican to back her effort. Grassley says the time has arrived for action. “It looks like we’re going to have a success this year…If you’re right, eventually win out in the congress of the United States and this is a perfect example of your hard work paying off, maybe longer than it should have, but paying off now,” Grassley said. “Sexual assault cannot be tolerated anyplace, but particularly in the military.”

Gillibrand also credited Senator Ernst for her work on the policy and her recent effort to line up the votes to get it passed. “She knows that this system is fundamentally broken,” Gillibrand said, “so her leadership today is extremely meaningful.” Ernst previously opposed taking the decision to prosecute out of the chain of command, but Ernst says she has decided to support the change because the problem of sexual assault in the military has gotten worse.

Last year 14 officers at an Army base in Texas were fired or suspended after an independent report found a culture of violence and sexual assault at Fort Hood. Ernst said within the next week, she and Gillibrand expect to have 60 senators as co-sponsors of the proposal. Ernst and Gillibrand both serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee. They intend to insert the Military Justice Improvement plan into the committee’s annual National Defense Authorization Act.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday, said 44-year-old Carlos Rafael Lopez-Ruiz, of Glenwood, was arrested Wednesday on charges that include Sexual Assault and False Imprisonment. Lopez-Ruiz was being held without bond as of the time of his arrest.

And, 25-year-old Daniel Edward Fitch, of Omaha, NE, was arrested Wed. for Driving while Revoked. His bond was set at $1,000.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Corrections says a large-scale investigation has turned up evidence of the synthetic drug K-2 at the prison in Clarinda. Information from the Department of Corrections spokesman says staff at the Clarinda facility began noticing last week a sudden increase in the number of inmates experiencing symptoms consistent with those that have consumed a narcotic.

Prison leadership requested a large-scale search and dogs from six Iowa prisons searched for illegal narcotics and narcotic-laced materials. Approximately 60 inmates have been found to be involved in consumption, possession, or the introduction of K-2. The spokesman says the prison has known of an increase nationwide in substances coming into prisons through the mail.

The evidence at Clarinda is being processed and the department says it will try to adjust the mail system for inmates to allow those in the prison to still receive mail in a safe and secure fashion. Any decisions on charges against the prisoners will be made after the evidence is processed and the investigation is complete.

A man from Stuart faces a charge of first-degree harassment associated with a profane message he left in Governor Reynolds’ voicemail on Jan. 5^th. In his message, 48-year-old Harvey Hunter, Jr., who was  upset over the Governor’s handling of the COVID-19 restrictions, said Reynolds should be “hung for treason.” Hunter has defended his comments as being free speech, while expressing opposition to COVID-19 restrictions. The message was left on a governor’s office phone line set up to gather input over whether Reynolds should continue the partial statewide mask mandate.

Hunter called the GOP governor a dictator and said “every single one of you need to be hung for treason for pushing this COVID scam,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Polk County. Growing more intense, Hunter called Reynolds two derogatory names for women and said “you need to be put in front of a firing squad,” the complaint said. Hunter last month turned himself in to face the charge, an aggravated misdemeanor that carries up to two years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney recently filed a motion to take the governor’s deposition in the case. Trial is scheduled for June.

A charging document filed this month said that Hunter’s comments amounted to the most serious form of harassment under Iowa law because they included a “threat to commit a forcible felony” against the governor. In phone interviews Wednesday and Thursday, Hunter denied that he was threatening to kill the governor. Instead, he said she and other government officials who imposed COVID-19 restrictions that he believed were violations of freedom should be put on trial for treason and punished if convicted.

(Radio Iowa) – A Fort Dodge teen is charged in connection with a February shooting, while facing felony charges after running from police while carrying a gun on Wednesday. Fort Dodge police were able to take 18-year-old T’vyon S. Gully into custody after a foot pursuit. Police say Gully had a gun when he ran from them. Officers were able to get Gully to drop the gun without incident. Gully faces charges from the February shooting in which a 21-year-old man was injured, and he faces new charges that stem from Wednesday’s incident.

(Radio Iowa) – There’s now a mobile app for the College Savings Iowa program. State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald’s office oversees the plan that allows you to sock away money for your kid’s education. “It’s called READY-SAVE -5-2-9, all one long word there. And you can go right to either Apple or Google Pay to download it, it’s free. Anytime you have your phone with you, you can call it right up. You can make a deposit or check your balances, you can do it right there,” Fitzgerald says.

Fitzgerald says it also makes it easier for others to contribute to your child’s fund. He says aunts, uncles, family and friends who may want to contribute a few dollars for the child’s birthday or other events can do so — as can owners or anybody who wants to contribute. Fitzgerald encourages parents to start a College Savings Iowa account as soon as they have kids, as he says even small amounts contributed each year will grow. “And of course, the more you can save, the easier it’s going to be, because colleges keep getting more expensive all the time,” according to Fitzgerald.

There is another benefit for parents as well. “Iowans can put three-thousand-474 dollars into one child’s account and deduct that much from your Iowa income tax — Iowa, not federal — and it’ll grow tax free,” Fitzgerald says. You can then deduct the money to pay qualifying college expenses once your kid is ready.

To find out more about how to start an account and the benefits and guidelines — call 888-672-9116 or visit CollegeSavingsIowa.com.