(Radio Iowa) – A bill providing public schools extra money to cover Covid-related costs has won bipartisan approval in the Iowa House. Twenty-seven million dollars would be split among all districts, but Republican Representative Dustin Hite, of New Sharon says districts that had the most classes in-person would receive the largest share of funding. “We all know in this room that kids in school is the best learning environment for the vast majority of our students in the state of Iowa, but this year is took a little bit extra to get them in the room and that’s what this bill does,” Hite says. “It helps with that extra cost.”

About two dozen Democrats voted against the bill. Representative Sharon Steckman, a Democrat from Mason City, says the funding distribution ignores the expenses of hybrid and remote learning.”This has been a tough year for our kids,” Steckman said. “…No matter what plan their school used and no matter how Covid affected their area, our kids had no choice, yet the funding in this bill is rewarding kids based on zip code.”

The House plan does give a financial break to districts that had buildings damaged in the August derecho and could not hold classes until repairs were done. Those districts will receive a full stipend, as if they had in person classes during the entire fall semester. The bill now goes to the Senate for review.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senate President Jake Chapman says if a court rules companies like Facebook and Google have illegally stifled the free speech of Iowans, those companies should lose all state and local tax breaks. “We have seen over recent months in particular where ‘big tech’ is censoring Americans and even Iowans from being able to express their views and opinions,” Chapman says.

Facebook and Google have data centers — so-called server farms — in Iowa. Chapman says those companies were awarded tax credits and property tax exemptions, plus a big break on electricity. “These are some of the largest consumers of energy here in Iowa and they’re exempted from paying sales tax on those utilities,” Chapman says. “…They have a choice to make. They can respect Iowans and respect our ability to voice our opinions or they can forego these special tax breaks.”

Chapman, a Republican from Adel, is the lead sponsor of a bill targeting internet sites and digital marketplaces with at least 20 million subscribers or members that block what Iowans may post online. That means the bill could impact Google, Amazon AND Apple for blocking Parler, a Twitter-like app promoted by conservatives. The companies made the decision, citing Parler content encouraging violence. Amazon is rebuilding a warehouse in Bondurant. Apple is set to receive 200-million dollars in state and local tax breaks for a data center in Waukee — a site that’s in Chapman’s senate district. Chapman says companies like Apple are operating social media platforms that have become the public square and therefore have a responsibility to allow unrestricted speech. “When you have these big tech companies arbitrarily deciding what’s going to be shown, what’s not going to be shown, I think that is extremely dangerous,” Chapman says.

Twenty-eight other Republicans in the Senate have signed on to co-sponsor Chapman’s bill. However, Majority Leader Jack Whitver of Ankeny, the top Republican in the Senate, is not among them.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds is considering a bill that would provide a $36.5 million increase to public schools in Iowa but will result in higher property taxes in 137 school districts where parents kept about 7,000 young children home due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since the funding formula is a per-pupil allowance and based on current enrollment, when the at-home students return in the fall state money won’t be there to cover them boosting local taxes for those districts. House and Senate Republicans agreed to increase base state aid by 2.4% in a bill sent to Reynolds on Wednesday. That increases state K-12 spending to $3.41 billion, up from $3.38 billion in the current year.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — House and Senate committees have passed an election bill that would significantly limit voting by mail and early voting, threaten criminal charges against county auditors who depart from state election guidance and remove voters from the active voter rolls if they miss one general election. The quick action Thursday with only Republican votes makes the similar House and Senate versions of the bill eligible for floor debate as early as next week. The House is planning a public hearing on the measure at 5 p.m. Monday. A Senate Democrat called it disgusting and an attack on democracy. Republicans deny it suppresses votes and say it improves election security and integrity even though no problems have been raised in Iowa in recent elections.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A 39-year-old Waterloo man accepted a plea deal during his trial in a man’s overdose death. Marcus Anthony Sallay on Thursday admitted to selling drugs to 49-year-old Adam Sharkey in February 2017. Sharkey died the next day. Testimony began Wednesday in Sallay’s trial. He pleaded guilty to four counts of delivery of heroin and fentanyl. In exchange, the state dropped a manslaughter charge and agreed Sallay’s sentences would run concurrently. Sallay also admitted to selling a fentynal and heroin mixture to a confidential informant several times following Sharkey’s death.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A 47-year-old Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty to shooting arrows at police officers during a standoff. Mitchell Smith entered his written plea Wednesday. He is charged with attempted murder, intimidation with a dangerous weapon and two counts of assault on a peace officer. Officers were called to a home Dec. 1 on reports that Smith was threatening a neighbor’s wife. Police say when the officers were preparing to leave, Smith fired an arrow over one of the officer’s heads. When the officers got into their car, Smith allegedly fired another arrow. During a standoff, Smith reportedly fired two more arrows before officers were able to subdue him.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — House and Senate committees have passed an election bill that would significantly limit voting by mail and early voting, threaten criminal charges against county auditors who depart from state election guidance and remove voters from the active voter rolls if they miss one general election. The quick action Thursday with only Republican votes makes the similar House and Senate versions of the bill eligible for floor debate as early as next week.

The House is planning a public hearing on the measure at 5 p.m. Monday. A Senate Democrat called it disgusting and an attack on democracy. Republicans deny it suppresses votes and say it improves election security and integrity even though no problems have been raised in Iowa in recent elections.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds is considering a bill that would provide a $36.5 million increase to public schools in Iowa but will result in higher property taxes in 137 school districts where parents kept about 7,000 young children home due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since the funding formula is a per-pupil allowance and based on current enrollment, when the at-home students return in the fall state money won’t be there to cover them boosting local taxes for those districts.

House and Senate Republicans agreed to increase base state aid by 2.4% in a bill sent to Reynolds on Wednesday. That increases state K-12 spending to $3.41 billion, up from $3.38 billion in the current year.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A 47-year-old Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty to shooting arrows at police officers during a standoff. Mitchell Smith entered his written plea Wednesday. He is charged with attempted murder, intimidation with a dangerous weapon and two counts of assault on a peace officer. Officers were called to a home Dec. 1 on reports that Smith was threatening a neighbor’s wife.

Police say when the officers were preparing to leave, Smith fired an arrow over one of the officer’s heads. When the officers got into their car, Smith allegedly fired another arrow. During a standoff, Smith reportedly fired two more arrows before officers were able to subdue him.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A 39-year-old Waterloo man accepted a plea deal during his trial in a man’s overdose death. Marcus Anthony Sallay on Thursday admitted to selling drugs to 49-year-old Adam Sharkey in February 2017. Sharkey died the next day. Testimony began Wednesday in Sallay’s trial. He pleaded guilty to four counts of delivery of heroin and fentanyl.

In exchange, the state dropped a manslaughter charge and agreed Sallay’s sentences would run concurrently. Sallay also admitted to selling a fentynal and heroin mixture to a confidential informant several times following Sharkey’s death.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in Des Moines have identified a man whose body was been found inside a portable toilet outside the city’s Forest Avenue Library earlier this month. The Des Moines Register reports that police confirmed Thursday that the body was that of 59-year-old Luis Alonso Mendoza Sandoval. Police say Sandoval was homeless and that autopsy results determining the cause of his death are still pending.

Police have said Sandoval’s body was discovered in the early-morning hours of Feb. 8 by a city snowplow driver who spotted a man’s legs sticking out of the portable toilet. Temperatures at the time hovered around 2 below zero, and the wind chill was double digits below zero.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines police officer has been placed on leave after being charged with a misdemeanor in which he’s accused of trying to interfere in a criminal investigation involving one of his friends. The Des Moines Police Department said in a news release Thursday that Officer Rodney Alan Briggs was arrested Wednesday by police in nearby Altoona and charged with non-felonious misconduct in office.

The release says Briggs exceeded his authority as a police officer by trying to persuade Southeast Polk School District employees to give him video evidence related to an ongoing Altoona police investigation involving a friend of Briggs’. Police did not name the friend or detail the investigation involving the friend.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa grocery stores could opt out of accepting empty containers covered by the state’s nickel deposit law under legislation that has cleared a Senate subcommittee. Senator Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Oskaloosa, says his bill is an attempt to tweak, but not end the state’s popular “Bottle Bill.”

Rozenboom predicts his bill would lead to more business for redemption centers, but Troy Willard, owner of the Can Shed in Cedar Rapids, says without an increase in the fee for handling empty cans and bottles, it’s not a profitable business model for rural parts of the state.

Jess Mazour, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, says the bill would make it less convenient for consumers to get their deposit fees back.

As the bill is currently written, a retailer may refuse to accept cans and bottles if there’s a redemption center within 20 miles of the store. Mary Tarnoff of Fairfield, legislative action chair for the Sierra Club of Southeast Iowa, says it’s not reasonable to expect someone to drive 20 miles to recycle.

Rozenboom says his attempt to modernize the Bottle Bill, like countless others, may be doomed if competing interest groups aren’t willing to compromise.

Beer and liquor distributors keep all the deposit fees that are not redeemed today and Rosenboom says it’s grown “into a very large sum of money.” His bill would have that money turned over the state.