WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – The Waterloo City Council has postponed action on a proposal to permanently shut down the shortest of the local airport’s three landing strips. The airport director has recommended closing the runway because of safety and liability concerns. Federal officials have said they won’t provide any money because the airport’s other two runways can handle nearly all of the traffic. But several pilots told the council Tuesday that the runway is important for companies that use smaller aircraft to shuttle workers to other locations. The runway also is a safe alternative when high winds make it harder to access the two primary runways.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) —  A driver faces several charges stemming from what authorities say was a hit-and-run in the parking lot of a bar in Linn County. County court records say 30-year-old Bret Klima, of Urbana, is charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a fatal accident and with other crimes. His attorney didn’t immediately return an Associated Press call Wednesday. The crash happened around 1:30 a.m. Dec. 1 in the parking lot of Bully’s North in Center Point. Authorities say 50-year-old Kimberley Swore died at the scene. She lived in Center Point. Another pedestrian suffered minor injuries.

(Radio Iowa) — Investigators are looking into the crash of a University of Dubuque helicopter that injured a student pilot in northeast Iowa, Tuesday afternoon. The crash happened near a hangar at the Independence Municipal Airport around 4:15 p.m. Independence fire officials say the helicopter sustained significant damage. They also reported that the hanger was damaged in the crash.

University of Dubuque Public Information Director Stacey Ortman released a statement after the crash confirming that the accident involved a university helicopter and a student pilot, who was not identified. She also confirmed that the student suffered non-life-threatening injuries and taken to the Independence hospital for treatment. The Federal Aviation Administration has been called in to investigate the crash.

(Radio Iowa) — An Iowa Senate Committee has given its approval to new fines for drivers who loiter too long in the left lane on an interstate or four-lane highway. Senator Zach Whiting of Spirit Lake has been given the task of steering the bill through the senate. “I think it is an identifiable problem for a lot of drivers and it’s just a dangerous thing — the efficient flow of traffic being impeded by people camping out in the left lane.”

Whiting travels both Highway 20 and Interstate 35 on his commute to the state capitol and sees drivers who fail to yield the left lane to faster-moving vehicles.  “I always smile because when I’ve got my cruise control set and I see somebody coming really fast on my left, there’s always somebody coming faster behind ’em,” Whiting says, “and so just move over, get over.”

If the bill becomes law, Whiting expects it will include a requirement that the D-O-T use its digital signs or add some highway signs to alert drivers to move out of the left lane if they’re not passing. “Sometimes laws change and we just want t make sure that we put people on notice,” Whiting says.

Last year, a bill that would have established a one-hundred-dollar ($100) fine for drivers who linger too long in the left lane stalled in the Iowa House. This past summer, the ILLINOIS State Police deployed unmarked vehicles to catch drivers misusing the left lane and handed out tickets that carry a one-hundred-20 ($120) fine.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) — Democratic White House hopefuls are campaigning in the more than two dozen Iowa counties that went from supporting Barack Obama to Donald Trump in 2016. They hope showing up in counties Democrats lost will help prove they can take on Trump this year. Their visits may also help Democrats win back these counties in November by energizing Democrats and engaging disaffected Republicans. And they hope to win some delegates by focusing on these counties across the state.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Defense lawyers for the man charged in the killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts are asking for his trial to be delayed. Lawyers for Cristhian Bahena Rivera say they need to delay the Feb. 4 trial date so they have time to appeal a judge’s ruling that allowed key evidence to be used against their client. The Iowa Supreme Court will consider whether to take the appeal before trial. Rivera’s lawyers also say they want to depose several individuals recently added to the prosecution’s witness list, including Tibbetts’ boyfriend at the time of her July 2018 disappearance.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Iowa regulators have gone beyond their counterparts in North Dakota by requiring owners of the Dakota Access Pipeline to provide expert analysis to back up the company’s claim that doubling the line’s capacity does not increase the potential of a spill. Energy Transfer wants to double the capacity of the pipeline to as much as 1.1 million barrels daily to meet growing demand for oil shipments from North Dakota, and is seeking permission for additional pump stations in the Dakotas, Iowa and Illinois to do it.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Less than two weeks before the first voting contest of the 2020 primary season, virtually every Democratic presidential contender is trying to rally their supporters behind a decidedly optimistic theme: unity. Despite their consistent efforts, however, unity has proved to be a fleeting concept. Hillary Clinton slammed Bernie Sanders in an interview published Tuesday, representing the latest — and perhaps, the loudest — flash point in the Democratic Party’s high-stakes nomination fight that has exposed dangerous divisions based on gender, race, age and ideology that threaten to undermine the urgent quest to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020.

Democrat presidential candidate Tom Steyer, from California, stopped in Council Bluffs and Atlantic, Tuesday. In Atlantic, Steyer spoke to about 20-people about his upbringing, education, and how be became a self-made billionaire. He also spoke about term limits, education assistance and what it will take to challenge and defeat Republican President Donald Trump in November, 2020.

Dem. Tom Steyer speaks to a small crowd in Atlantic (1/21/20) – Ric Hanson/photo

Steyer, in talking about his roots, made a veiled reference to Americans who support Trump as being akin to Germans in World War 2, who were blinded by the fiery rhetoric and power of Adolph Hitler. He said his father, who as an attorney, prosecuted the Nazis, said “The Germans had something wrong at the heart of their society, and they did nothing about it. They thought it would go away, they thought they could control it, they thought it would be okay, and it just went to a place that no one ever intended or could have imagined.”

That’s why he says he said started the “Need to Impeach” movement. “Eight and a half million people signed the petition,” he said. “They called their [representatives]…saying ‘do the right thing. Stand up for the country. I think those 8.5 million people dragged Washington, D.C into impeaching this President.”

Steyer said his simple thesis with regard to why he’s running for President is: “The government is broken.” He said “I think it’s been bought by corporations. I don’t think it’s trying to serve the people [In the audience], and I don’t think it’s gonna try to serve [those in the audience] until we take it back.” Steyer called for 12-year term limits for Congress people and Senators, as part of a Washington “restructuring,”  saying “If you want real change, we’re gonna have to put different new and different people in charge.”

When asked about the “Perceived benefits of the new tax law,” Steyer said he considers it “The worst piece of economic legislation in American history. They gave the biggest tax break in history to rich people and corporations…and blew up the budget (instead of reducing the budget).” Steyer said there has been 40-years of “Trickle down” economics (where the assumption is tax breaks for the rich will flow down and benefit others in society) which he says “Has never worked, not one time.” He says the current “regressive tax rate…where working people pay higher rates of taxes than really rich people..and where the top 400 corporations pay an average tax rate of 11-percent. That is outrageous and wrong,” according to Steyer.

Steyer said with regard to continuing education, he proposes a plan to make college affordable that includes two years of free community college. Loans would have an interest rate of one percent, so you pay back the money you owe. If you go into some type of profession that is a community service or country service (such as a doctor, or military), teaching social work, nursing (etc.), at the end of 10-years, you get what everyone in the military receives: Your loan is forgiven.

Steyer also touched on his recurrent theme of green energy and the importance of climate change.

Officials with the Montgomery County Extension Service say a Farm Bill meeting set for Wednesday evening (Jan. 22nd) in Red Oak, has been delayed by one week. The meeting, to take place at the Gold Fair Building (1809 N. 4th St.), will be held instead on Jan. 29th, from 6:30-until 9-p.m.  The meeting is open to the public, and there is no registration fee, but pre-registration is requested. Call the Montgomery County Extension Office at 712-623-2592 no later than 48-hours in advance of the meeting to save your seat.

During the Jan. 29th meeting, farm operators and landowners can learn about the program election and enrollment process regarding the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and/or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) commodity crop programs. Also on hand will be ISU Extension Family Life Specialists to share strategies for farm stress management. Participation is welcome for farm operators and landowners regardless of their county of operation.

The Harlan Police Department reports a man from Des Moines was arrested Sunday. 29-year old Cameron Stuart Cunningham, was on charges of Theft in the 5th Degree, and for being a Felon in possession of a firearm. Cunningham was being held in the Shelby County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Senators are considering bills to regulate the use and purchase of tobacco products. One bill changes Iowa law to follow the new federal standard that raised the age for buying tobacco products to 21. The other would add electronic cigarettes to Iowa’s Smoke-free Air Act. It means “vaping” in public places like restaurants, office buildings and schools would be banned. Chaney Yeast is a social worker from Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines. “It’s a good first step in addressing the national vaping epidemic amongst teens and youth,” Yeast says. The owners of vape shops say Iowa’s Clean Air Act was designed to protect people from second-hand smoke.

Seth Peters operates “The Vaped Ape” in Carroll. “Anytime you compare cigarette smoke with vapor smoke, there’s a disconnect,” Peters says. “There is no science indicating that vapor causes anywhere near the damage of cigarette smoke.” Jim Obradovich is a lobbyist for the Iowa Nurses Association and Iowa School Nurses. He told senators the Centers for Disease Control has concluded bystanders can breathe in the aerosols from someone else’s e-cigarette. “We think that’s very dangerous and we applaud you moving this forward,” Obradovich says. Doug Struyk, a lobbyist for the American Cancer Society, says the group supports the ban on vaping in public — but wants to see the bill go further and ban smoking pot in public, too.

“While we all sitting in the room today may not believe that marijuana will be legalized in the State of Iowa, while we’re doing this we think we should identify that,” Stryk says, “and include it as something that is a prohibited activity.” The ban on vaping in public has cleared a three-member senate subcommittee. Senator Herman Quirmbach of Ames suggests vaping has created an enforcement nightmare. “If you’re the cop on the beat who comes into a restaurant and you see people vaping and you can’t tell them to quit, but then somebody else starts lighting up cigarettes, how are you going to enforce the ‘Smoke-free Air Act?” Quirmbach asked. “The patrons are going to say: ‘These vapers can vape. Why can’t I smoke?'”

Senator Mark Segebart of Vail says he’s been concerned about illnesses and deaths related to vaping. “There’s chemicals that are released from what I’ve read, during the vaping process that not necessarily happens when you smoke a cigarette,” Segebart says. The proposal is now eligible for debate in a senate committee. Another group of senators are working on legislation to make Iowa law match the federal change that moved the legal age for purchasing tobacco products to 21. Dave Scott, a lobbyist for Phillip Morris, says the cigarette-maker supports the move — and warns the state cannot enforce the new “Tobacco 21” standard.

“If a 19-year-old were to go in and purchase tobacco products,” he says, “they would be legal under Iowa law currently.” The State of Iowa also stands to forfeit some federal grant money if it fails to raise the tobacco purchasing age to 21. A key senator says it’ll be a couple of weeks before the issue is debated in a senate committee.