(Radio Iowa) – Members of the U-S House are starting work on the newest COVID-19 stimulus package which Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says promises to be far too expensive. With reports estimating the latest coronavirus relief plan around one-point-nine trillion dollars, Grassley says several fellow Republicans in the House will work to whittle it down from what President Biden has requested. “They aren’t going to go along with that big package,” Grassley says, “and if they can get a smaller package, that would be to my liking.”

The plan is again expected to include direct payments to most Americans which Grassley says may be checks of several hundred dollars, a thousand dollars, or as much as 14-hundred dollars. “Whatever it is, it’s got to be targeted towards the more needy,” Grassley says. “The way it’s written by Pelosi, so people up to $350,000 could get help, it ought to be targeted more toward families of 40- to 50- or maybe $60,000 a year income.”

The latest round of checks, approved in December, were for a maximum of 600-dollars. Grassley says when government relief checks are sent out to wealthier Americans, they don’t typically provide the needed boost to the economy. “When you get above $75,000 worth of income, about 80% of it’s saved, it’s not going to stimulate the economy,” Grassley says. “But when it’s below $75,000 and those people get it, about 80% of it is going to be spent and spent quickly and will be a stimulus.” President Biden is pushing to have a 15-dollar federal minimum wage amendment included in the COVID relief package, which would make it very unattractive to most Republicans.

A traffic stop late Monday morning in Creston resulted in an arrest. Authorities say 22-year old Kane Farlow, of Creston, was charged with Operating a Vehicle without the Owners Consent, and Driving While Barred. Later that same day, after Creston Police executed a search warrant at Farlow’s residence, he was subsequently charged with Possession of a controlled substance 1st offense/Marijuana, Poss. of a Controlled Substance 1st offense/Methamphetamine, and Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia. Farlow was being held in the Union County Jail on a $6,300 bond.

At around 3:30-a.m. today (Tuesday), 26-year old Anna Wilson, of Creston, was arrested at her residence in the 1100 block of S. Cherry Street, for Poss. of a Controlled Substance 1st offense, and Poss. of Paraphernalia. Also arrested at the same location on a Poss. of a Controlled Substance charge, was 24-year old Zackery Scheel.  Wilson was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $1,300 bond. Scheel was being held in the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Nominations are now being accepted for this year’s Iowa Character Awards, which will go to individual Iowans, businesses or organizations that display good character. Hillary Ortman, associate director of the Robert and Billie Ray Center at Drake University in Des Moines, says they’re hoping to single out an array of Iowans. “Since 2005, we’ve recognized more than 150 Iowans, both groups and individuals, for demonstrating good character,” Ortman says. “These are people who are invested in their community, treating others with respect, and working to make not only their community but the state of Iowa and the world a better place.”

While COVID-19 has forced the cancellation of a host of events for many months, Ortman is hopeful they’ll be able to go ahead with an awards ceremony this summer. “We typically host our events on a Friday in July and due to moving a different event that we usually host in April, we are now going to be hosting the Iowa Character Awards on Sunday, August 29th, at the Prairie Meadows Events Center in Altoona.” She says there are a host of categories in which nominations are now being taken. “We accept nominations for local businesses and organizations of character, an adult citizen, a youth citizen, an educator of character,” Ortman says. “We also recognize a school, a student organization, a community of character.”

The entry deadline is May 2nd. Learn more at: www.iowacharacterawards.org.

(Radio Iowa) – Some Iowans serving a life sentence could get a pathway to parole under a bill co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of 18 Iowa House members. Republican Representative Terry Baxter of Garner says not all adults sentenced to serve the rest of their lives in prison deserve a second chance, but some do. “When someone commits a crime under the influence of alcohol or drugs or coming from a background of abuse themselves, they’re not in their right mind,” Baxter says. “There are many people who in the process of being incarcerated go through such a change in their life, rehabilitation and transformation, they are no longer the same people…that committed that crime.”

Under current law, the only way a life sentence can be overturned is if the governor issues a pardon or commutes the sentence to time already served. The bill would create a commission to review certain cases after a person sentenced to life has been in prison for 25 years, then Commissioners could recommend that the governor approve release. Baxter, who has worked in prison ministry, says some people who commit serious crimes undergo transformation.

“I am thankful that God gave me mercy. I received a second chance,” Baxter says. “I’m no longer the man I used to be and I believe that people can and do change and I believe in the dignity of human life and that people deserve a look when they’ve gone through that change.” Lawmakers on a House subcommittee reviewing the bill plan to have more discussions about it. Life without the possibility of parole is the sentence in Iowa for first degree murder or when someone is found guilty of kidnapping or sexual assault with serious injury.

A lobbyist for county attorneys says those are serious crimes and it’s hard to imagine telling a family the person sentenced to life for murdering their relative was being released from prison.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Kate Payne)