The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Board will hold a regularly scheduled meeting 5:15-p.m. Monday (May 21st), in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall. On their agenda are updates from Parks & Rec Director Seth Staashelm, with regard to:

• The Schildberg Development Project, including the west shelter & east playground.
• Lake Number Three
• Community Parks (Cedar and Mollett projects)
• The Sunnyside Park entrance sign
• and, a report on a part-time Parks Foreman position.

In his regular report to the Board, Staashelm is expected to mention the Sunnyside Pool will open this Saturday, May 26th, beginning at 1-p.m. He’ll also talk about: Summer Programs, the Sunnyside Park Block Party on June 1st, Movies in the Park, featuring “The Lion King,”  and provide an update on the campgrounds.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Republicans said it was essential to pass $2.8 billion in tax cuts in part due to federal tax changes, but those state reductions might not be implemented for years under a plan awaiting the governor’s signature.

Iowa has an unusual tax system in which federal tax cuts passed late last year are poised to create state tax increases, which Republican lawmakers argued should be returned to taxpayers. GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds said the state should also get rid of the policy that created the problem in the first place.

Yet the bill that passed the Iowa Legislature would delay a solution for at least several years. The bill also delays other changes that would further lower taxes on working families.

Former Democratic state Sen. Charles Bruner, who chaired a key tax-writing committee, said many Iowans will continue to pay more until the standardized deduction, which accounts for typical household expenses, is increased. Earlier proposals would have grown the standard deduction within a year, but Bruner said that was delayed in favor of corporate tax cuts and bigger tax deductions for business expenses.

Lawmakers who wrote the legislation said delaying parts of the tax cuts until certain economic conditions are met, which could happen as soon as 2023, was needed in case of an economic downturn. “For the first few years of this bill, tax reform is built into law,” said Rep. Peter Cownie, a West Des Moines Republican.

A coalition of conservative advocacy groups asked legislators to lower the trigger, which requires the state to reach a certain level of tax revenue and show significant revenue growth from the prior year. They plan to lobby for a reduction in the trigger in a future legislative session. The state has hit the required growth rate 11 times in the past 19 years, according to Iowa Department of Management data. To hit the trigger by 2023 would require yearly revenue growth of 4 percent.

“It’s pretty unlikely,” said Drew Klein, state director of the conservative-leaning Americans for Prosperity-Iowa. “By 2030, we could probably hit that trigger. But 2023 is pretty unlikely.” Once the trigger is hit, the state would eliminate what’s known as “federal deductibility,” a process that allows individual taxpayers to deduct the full amount of their federal income taxes from their state tax returns. Because federal taxes are declining, Iowans would be able to deduct an estimated $148 million less next year.

Iowa is one of three states that allows for full federal deductibility. Opponents of federal deductibility say it complicates the state’s tax code and primarily helps higher income Iowans who pay more taxes. Reynolds said eliminating federal deductibility will allow overall tax rates to be lowered. “I believe it’s important that we do something with federal deductibility because we have federal tax reform, and so the timing seems appropriate,” Reynolds said while the final bill was being crafted.

The tax cut bill would eliminate federal deductibility by using the same income calculation for Iowan’s state returns as their federal taxes. That would also incorporate a significantly higher standard deduction for Iowans, raising it from the current $2,030 for single filers and $5,000 for married filers to the federal deductions of $12,000 and $24,000 respectively.

Income tax rates also would shift from the current nine brackets to four once the trigger is hit. The highest tax rate would fall to 6.5 percent, down from nearly 9 percent now. Those reforms cumulatively are expected to significantly simplify the process of filing a tax return for many Iowans.

Peter Fisher, research director with the liberal-leaning Iowa Public Policy Project, said that simplification for taxpayers would have come sooner under earlier versions of the tax cut bill. “We could have simplified things for them by increasing the standard deduction in Iowa right away,” Fisher said.

Earlier versions of the bill also phased out federal deductibility without a trigger. The bill ultimately passed by lawmakers includes corporate income tax cuts that were not part of Reynolds’ original proposal or a bill from House Republicans. The final price tag for the bill is $2.1 billion over six years, which accounts for new tax revenue also included in the bill.

New sales taxes will apply to digital goods like e-books and movie downloads, digital subscription services such as Apple Music and Netflix, ride-sharing apps and goods purchased online. Some online retailers, such as Amazon, already collect sales taxes on some transactions. The Iowa Department of Revenue estimates the new taxes will yield more than $867 million.

Iowa’s ability to collect those taxes depends on a forthcoming Supreme Court decision, which is anticipated by late June. Without a change to the status quo from the Supreme Court, much of those anticipated revenues could go unrealized — adding to the cost of the tax cuts to the state coffers.

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County said Saturday, three people suffered suspected minor/non-incapacitating injuries during an accident Friday afternoon. Authorities say a 1999 Buick Century driven by 26-year old Jayce Danielle Hale, of Red Oak, was traveling east in the 2000 block of 200th Street at around  2:50-p.m., Friday, when a front seat passenger leaned over to roll up the driver’s window. The move caused Hale to move the car far enough to the shoulder that the right side tires went off the road. Hale over-corrected, causing the car to skid into a waterway in the north ditch.

Hale, and her passengers, 30-year old Charles Randall Brown, III, and 22-year old Lindsay June Droz, both of Red Oak, were transported to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital by Red Oak Rescue, to be checked out. Hale was cited for seat belt and no insurance violations.

Police in Red Oak, Saturday evening, arrested 53-year old Julie Ann Rassel, of Red Oak, on a charge of Theft in the 5th Degree. Rassel, who is also known as “Julie Crawford.,” was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 5:35 a.m. CDT

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Police say a child has been killed in one of four overnight shootings that left three others wounded. The Courier reports that officers were called to a house around 5:15 a.m. Saturday and found a victim, described as a boy, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died. In two other separate shootings early Saturday, three other people suffered injuries not believed to be life threatening.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An 18-year-old Des Moines man accused of beating his infant son has pleaded guilty to charges in the case. The Des Moines Register reports that Dominick Joseph Clausi pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of child endangerment causing bodily injury and two counts of neglect of a dependent. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Clausi is expected to receive a 45-year suspended sentence in July.

EARLHAM, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have charged a south-central Iowa man after dozens of severely neglected horses _ and 2 horse carcasses _ where found on his property. The Des Moines Register reports that the nearly 60 animals were found Thursday night at the Lemontree Welsh horse stable in Earlham. Jimmy Lee Lemon, co-owner of Lemontree Welsh, has been charged with three counts of livestock neglect and two counts of failure to dispose of animal remains.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a bicyclist was serioursly injured during an accident in Red Oak on Saturday morning. At 10:48am a bicycle being operated by 53-year-old Dale Dean French of Red Oak was traveling southbound on Highway 48. At the driveway of 2508 Broadway a 2013 Ford Taurus driven by 35-year-old Elysia Dylene White of Red Oak turned left and into the path of the bicycle causing French to crash and hit his face on the front right tire of the vehicle. French was taken to Montgomery County Memorial Hospital by Red Oak Rescue and then flown to UNMC by LifeNet helicopter. The extent of his injuries were unknown.

White stated that she looked before making the turn but did not see French coming on the bicycle. White was not injured during the accident and was cited for Failure to Yield Upon a Left Turn and No Insurance. The Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Red Oak Police Department.

No further details were released.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Police say a child has been killed in one of four overnight shootings that left three others wounded. The Courier reports that officers were called to a house around 5:15 a.m. Saturday and found a victim, described as a boy, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.

In another shooting around 4:35 a.m., another person was shot, suffering injuries not believed to be life threatening.

Around 1:15 a.m., two people were shot in a separate incident. They, too, suffered injuries not believed to be life threatening.

Police had not identified any of the victims by late Saturday afternoon.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An 18-year-old Des Moines man accused of beating his infant son has pleaded guilty to charges in the case. The Des Moines Register reports that Dominick Joseph Clausi pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of child endangerment causing bodily injury and two counts of neglect of a dependent. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Clausi is expected to receive a 45-year suspended sentence in July.

Clausi was charged in December after his then-5-month-old son was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries that included skull fractures, a brain bleed and bruising. Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek says authorities believe the teenage father beat, shook and bit the baby and forced the baby’s face into a pillow.

The body of a man missing since Thursday evening was recovered this (Saturday) afternoon, in Lake Panorama. The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reports the body of 22-year old Kenton Greaves, of Brooklyn, New York, was located at around 2:12-p.m.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in the recovery by Search and Rescue Christian Aid Ministries out of Illinois, the Story County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team, Greene County Fire Department, Iowa DNR Officers from around the state, Lake Panorama Security Land and Water, Guthrie County Emergency Management, Panora Fire, and Panora EMS.

Greaves, who was on the lake with some friends, was reported missing at around 6:16-p.m Thursday, had just completed his junior year at Grand View University, where he was a member of the wrestling team, and a Senior Criminal Justice major

EARLHAM, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have charged a south-central Iowa man after dozens of severely neglected horses — and 2 horse carcasses — where found on his property. The Des Moines Register reports that the nearly 60 animals were found Thursday night at the Lemontree Welsh horse stable in Earlham.

Nine of the horses were taken in dire health to the Animal Rescue League headquarters in Des Moines. The rest remain on the stable grounds. One horse was found with 21-inch hooves that had curled back into her front ankles. Most of the horses were malnourished with visible ribs and hip bones and extreme hair loss.

Jimmy Lee Lemon, co-owner of Lemontree Welsh, has been charged with three counts of livestock neglect and two counts of failure to dispose of animal remains.