(Radio Iowa) – A new study shows Iowa has one of the nation’s lowest drug overdose death rates, despite a significant rise in the state’s numbers. Ben Miller, president of Well Being Trust, says nearly 92-thousand Americans died from overdoses in 2020, an astounding 31-percent increase over the 2019 rate and the largest year-over-year increase on record. Miller says Iowa’s figures were far lower than other states, but also saw a dramatic boost. “What we saw was a 25% increase in the number of Iowans who died by drug overdose,” Miller says. “It’s about 432 people, and while that may not seem like a lot of folks, it’s a tremendous number of people when you consider that it’s almost a six-fold increase over the last decade.”

While Iowa’s death rates were among the country’s lowest, Miller says the figures are still menacing. “If you consider the national average is about 28.3 deaths per 100,000, Iowa came in during 2020 at 14.3, so that’s very good news,” Miller says. “The problem is, the trends continue to go in the wrong direction. While you’re lower than other states, we continue to see more lives lost each year to a preventable cause.” Iowa is doing several things right, Miller says, like increasing access to naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal or “rescue” drug. “You currently have a legislature that is looking at bipartisan ways to increase access,” Miller says. “While a lot of their conversations have been around increasing psychiatric beds, it’s a good start to have your legislature at least recognize that this is, indeed, an issue.”

There are also fewer prescription opioids being prescribed, he says, and Iowa has a prescription monitoring program. Miller says overdose death rates have been rising nationwide since 1999 and he fears the era of COVID-19 is going to be the worst yet. “What the pandemic has done, it’s been like gasoline on an open flame. It’s made things that we knew were a problem much worse,” Miller says. “In preliminary data that we’ve seen from the CDC for 2021, we are watching an exponential increase in the number of people that we’ve lost to drug overdose in the country.” The study was conducted by Well Being Trust and Trust for America’s Health.

Link to full report:
https://wellbeingtrust.org/news/u-s-drug-overdose-deaths-increased-by-31-percent-in-2020-up-56-percent-for-synthetic-opioids/

(Radio Iowa) – The Sioux City school board will consider at their meeting today (Monday) revising a policy to allow the superintendent to enact a temporary mask mandate for an individual school building. Superintendent Paul Gausman says it would update the policy that’s used for other emergencies to allow him to respond to increases in COVID cases. “That policy has been in place for years and years and years to deal with inclement weather and other things. Obviously, at the time the policy was originally crafted facemasks weren’t something that would even be considered — but they are today. Gausman says the pandemic has hit some school buildings harder than others. “There was one building last week that we were watching really closely. No because of student numbers — but because of staff numbers….we have to have enough staff in there to serve those students,” Gausman says.

Gausman says the policy will be flexible based on the changing conditions.”We are talking about a time-limited mask mandate for a specific building as an example. So, the school board would give me the authority to say that the numbers have climbed to a certain level in this building, I’m going to put a mask mandate in place for a week,” Gausman says. “Those numbers come back down again we’ll move on afterward without that mask mandate still in place. Or if they just don’t move at all, then we will extend it for another week. And so that’s how this will feel.”

He says they hope to keep the buildings open that aren’t being badly affected by COVID while dealing with those that are. Gausman says they will ask for parents to help by sending students to school with a good mask. The school board will consider the measure tonight (Monday)

(Radio Iowa) – Key lawmakers say the Republican-led legislature is focused on cutting personal income taxes and the corporate income tax cut Governor Kim Reynolds has proposed isn’t part of their plans at this point. Republican Senator Dan Dawson of Council Bluffs is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. “One thing that my members tell me time and time again and we are trying to craft a bill in that way is that there will be no corporate rate reduction without corporate credit as well as sales tax exemption modifications,” Dawson says.

“There’s just no interest in touching the corporate rate without touching exemptions and credits,” he says. Some of the current credits are so lucrative some corporations get a tax refund check from the state. House Speaker Pat Grassley says corporate tax credits and sales tax exemptions have to be reduced or eliminated if the corporate income tax rate is to be reduced. “If we’re going to go down the path of making changes to the corporate tax rate, that should be part of the conversation,” Grassley says.

Senator Dawson says the governor’s other tax proposal, to have just one rate of four percent for personal income taxes, is the focus. “From a Senate Republican standpoint, the goals that she laid out in her bill aren’t so different from our goals as well,” Dawson says. “The first step to getting to a zero income tax is to get to a flat tax.” The governor’s proposal retains current credits and deductions for individuals and couples filing personal income taxes.

Reynolds is calling for a study about which tax breaks to get rid of and which ones to keep. Dawson says of some credits could also be called tax shelters for upper income Iowans. “If someone wants to donate money to build a new building in downtown Des Moines and they want their name on the building, then taxpayers shouldn’t have to incentivize that,” Dawson says.

Dawson says Republicans do not intend to do away with the standard deduction, credits for the parents of minor children or the minimum income threshold for filing, all of which ensure the poorest Iowans don’t pay income taxes.

(Radio Iowa) – Senator Joni Ernst says now is the time for the U.S. to impose sanctions on Russia, to try to prevent an invasion of Ukraine. Ernst is a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and, during an appearance on CNN Sunday morning, she discussed the situation in Ukraine. Ernst said without sanctions now, President Biden is appeasing Russian President Vladmir Putin as 100-thousand Russian troops sit at Ukraine’s border.

The Biden Administration just sent 90 tons of military supplies to Ukraine, part of 650 MILLION in defense equipment and supplies the U.S. has provided the country in the past year. Ernst said the U.S. should provide even more resources to bolster Ukraine’s military. C-N-N host Dana Bash asked if that includes sending U.S. troops to Ukraine.

Ernst said stable democracies in Europe and around the globe make the U.S. safer, but Ernst did not say whether she believes American soldiers should be sent to defend Ukraine.

(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports three recent arrests. At around 2:50-a.m Thursday (Jan. 20), Deputies conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of  Highway’s 34 and 148, and upon further investigation, arrested 26-year-old Austin Michael Welborn and 19-year-old Xavier Caine Crow, for Possession of a Controlled Substance (Marijuana), and Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia. Both men were being held in the Adams County Jail on a $1,300 bond, with additional charges pending.

On Jan. 19th at around 10:50-a.m., Adams County Deputies attempted to conduct a traffic stop at Highway 25 and 275th Street. When the vehicle failed to stop, a brief pursuit began. The vehicle stopped at a field entrance near 270th and Willow Avenue. Upon further investigation, Deputies arrested 25-year-old Wesley Oliphant for Eluding, Driving While Barred, Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 3rd or subsequent offense, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and for being a person ineligible to carry a dangerous weapon. Oliphant was being held without bond in the Adams County Jail.

And, on Jan. 17th, at around 1:11-a.m., Adams County Deputies stopped a vehicle at Highway 148 and 150th Street. Authorities say 23-year-old Ashley Dawn Eblen was arrested for OWI/1st offense. She was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

“Any potential criminal charges identified above are merely allegations, and any defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”