(Radio Iowa) – The Free Application for Federal Student Aid known as FAFSA is now open for the next academic year. FAFSA has had issues since an effort to upgrade the process and forms were delayed last year, but U-N-I Financial Aid director Tim Bakula it is now ready for this year. “It’s still at the studentaid.gov website, as usual, and students and families can go and complete that soon as they’d like, listing the schools where they’d want their FAFSA to be sent,” he says. The process in past years has had some bugs in it, but Bakula says so far he hasn’t heard any major issues.

” That’s not to say it’s perfect, or that everyone will go through it without a question, but they’ve built in various prompts and edits that are hopefully making the user experience better for families and completing it more direct and clear in instructions on how to complete it,” he says, “and hopefully allowing schools to then receive the most accurate information that they can about the students that are applying to their schools.” He says the process is key in finding out if you our your child qualifies for financial help. “Families that complete the fast forward putting themselves out there to be eligible for federal student loans, federal grants for instance. Many colleges and universities will use the FAFSA results to determine some scholarship eligibility, although that’s not the fastest primary focus. The FAFSA possible allows a family or student, I should say, to qualify for federal work study dollars,” Bakula says.

Workstudy allows a student to get a campus job to earn a little bit of extra money to help them pay for different things at college. “It really is the number one step to beginning the aid process to receive a financial aid offer from a from a college or university,” he says. Bakula says there are varying deadlines for completing FAFSA and he advises you do it as soon as you can. “The public universities in the state are all within early February as a priority deadline date. I can’t speak to every college in the state of Iowa or nationally, I would recommend, probably the best thing to do for a student would be to go out and look at the colleges that they’re kind of considering and see what dates exist,” he says.

“To complete the FAFSA families would need their 2023 tax information,” he says. “And one of the nice things about the FAFSA anymore is that it will accurately bring in federal tax information directly from the I-R-S once the family provides consent, both the student and the parent, in most cases.” Bakula says filling out the FAFSA should take at most 45 minutes to an hour.

(Radio Iowa) – With Thanksgiving behind us now, many Iowans are turning their thoughts to decorating their houses for the holiday season ahead. Andrea Vastis, public education director for the National Fire Protection Association, says those colorful lights can be a beautiful accent to your home, but they can also pose a serious fire hazard. “When you’re going to be decorating outside, make sure the lights that you use are approved by a testing laboratory and that they’re rated for outdoor use,” Vastis says. “That is really critical.”

Putting lights outside that are supposed to be for indoor use only could quickly lead to an electrical short — and a fire. If you’re trying to obtain a Clark Griswold-level of outdoor decoration perfection, she warns, it can be easy to overdo it. “A general rule of thumb is to not plug in more than three strands at a time, follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on the box,” Vastis says. “If you’re opening your tub of old lights and trying to pull them out and see what you have and if anything is frayed or old, it’s time to get rid of it.”

Some newer L-E-D-style lights allow you to connect a few dozen strings of lights and plug them into just one outlet, but she says to read the labeling very carefully. For many Iowans, it’s simply not the holidays if the fragrance of fresh pine isn’t wafting throughout the house, but if you have a “real” tree, it’s important that your electric lights are safe. “For the indoor lighting, make sure that what you’re using is not overloaded in a circuit with a number of other items,” Vastis says. “Make sure that if you’re putting those lights on a Christmas tree, that the Christmas tree is in good shape, that it’s watered so that the lighting doesn’t cause a fire.”

An association study finds electrical distribution or lighting equipment was involved in more than two of every five (44%) home Christmas tree fires.

DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI] — A semi-truck driver from New Jersey was in a Des Moines hospital Tuesday, with charges pending against him, after he led authorities on a 75-mile chase from western to central Iowa on Interstate 80.

Iowa State Patrol troopers began looking for the vehicle shortly after 6:30 a.m. Tuesday after 911 dispatch centers received multiple reports of a semi-truck dragging a chain, creating sparks on Interstate 80 near Underwood. The Iowa State Patrol says the vehicle was located around Avoca, but the driver, who has not been publicly identified, did not respond to commands to pull over.

Various law enforcement agencies deployed stop sticks as the vehicle approached the Des Moines metro in the eastbound lanes of I-80, successfully deflating multiple tires, the Iowa State Patrol says. The vehicle continued driving on its rims until about 8:10 a.m., when pursuing officers forced him to pull off at the weigh station between the exits for Van Meter and Waukee.

Pursued semi approaches “Stop-sticks” set across EB I-80 Tuesday morning (12/3/24)

Photo shows the semi w/deflated tires crossing the stop sticks

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater posted on the Adair County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page (Adaircountyso), a brief video taken from his body camera, of the semi passing by his position along I-80, just before he and an Iowa State Patrol Trooper deployed stop-sticks. Vandewater said in one of the still frame photos, you can see the semi was “already driving on its rim at this point.” (Images shown below)

Authorities used tear gas to force the semi’s driver out of the cab, and he was taken to a Des Moines hospital for evaluation.

Sgt. Alex Dinkla, spokesperson for the Iowa State Patrol, said it’s unclear why the driver didn’t pull over for authorities, but it didn’t seem like he intended anyone harm, because he was taking other drivers’ safety into consideration – he just didn’t want to stop for law enforcement.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican lawmakers are promising to produce a plan that reduces property taxes. House Republican Leader Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley says legislators heard complaints about property taxes repeatedly during the 2024 campaign. “People want to make sure that their homes are affordable,” Windschitl says, “and if they made the investment into their homes, that they’re not getting taxed out of them.” Windschitl says a previously-passed cap on property tax growth will be part of the equation.

“There are a lot of different players that are going to need to be around the table to figure out how we do this,” Windschitl says, “and how we do it appropriately.” Senator Mike Bousselot, a Republican from Ankeny, says Iowans are seeing big increases in property taxes collected by cities and counties.  “An average of a more than 7% increase for counties and 6% for cities? That’s money out of property tax payers’ pockets. It’s money out of Iowans’ pockets and it’s making it more expensive to live in Iowa,” Bousselot says. “We have to address that this session. We will address that this session.”

House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst says if the property tax cuts are too deep, it may leave cities high and dry when the time comes to pay for the roads. “We’re listening to local community leaders because they know their cities best,” Konfrst says, “and they’re a little tired of getting big policies handed down from Des Moines that hurt their local community.” Senate Democratic Leader-elect Janice Weiner says she believes in local control — giving officials at the city and county level authority to do their jobs.

“We heard from local communities during the last round of property tax reform,” Weiner says. “They came in from the very beginning to express their concern that there were local priorities that needed to be funded.” Weiner served on the city council in Iowa City before winning a seat in the Iowa Senate in 2022.