A senate committee has approved legislation that would limit the liability for Iowa businesses accused of over-serving a customer involved in a drunk driving crash. If the bill becomes law, a person injured in a drunk driving wreck or the relatives of someone who dies in an accident would be limited to receiving a total of 175-thousand dollars from a bar or restaurant. Senator Michael Breitbach, a Republican from Strawberry Point, says the bill’s needed because Iowa bar owners are finding it harder to buy liability INSURANCE.

“Especially in the western part of our area, in our rural areas if you don’t serve food with your beverages, there’s only one company that will write your coverage,” he says. Breitbach grew up living on the floor above “The Hub” in Colesburg, his family’s bar, and Breitbach says he doesn’t want businesses like it to close because they can’t afford the liability coverage.

“We have a lot of small towns where maybe the only business in the town is the local tavern and maybe they don’t serve enough food that they don’t quality for a better priced policy,” Breitbach says. “We don’t want that business to do away. It might be the backbone of that town.” Senator Nate Boulton, a Democrat from Des Moines, opposed the bill. He says the current law helps “control risk.”

“In many of these situations, the person that is in the best spot to stop an impaired driver is the one who stops that next drink from being served,” Boulton says. “…What this legislation does is it does tear down some of that responsibility.” Under current law, a bar or restaurant can be held liable for all damages from an accident if the person was sold or served alcohol and the business DID know or SHOULD have known the person was intoxicated or was becoming too drunk to drive.

(Radio Iowa)

One of the ads in the big game Sunday will feature a really big western Iowa bull. A 15-second Cenex commercial features “Albert the Bull”, some actors, and some real Audubon residents. Audubon Chamber of Commerce president Brandon Toft says the Albert spot is expected to air sometime around the third quarter. He says two representatives of Minnesota-based C-H-S Energy’s advertising branch appeared at the banquet to show the commercial and also a short documentary on Albert. (Click on the left side of the audio bar(s) to listen)

Toft says he was impressed with the documentary.

The City was contacted late last Summer about shooting the commercial on location. Albert, who is 53-years old and 28-feet tall, was showing his age, so the town reacted quickly to give him some much needed sprucing up.

Toft said the residents of Audubon County are excited to see the Cenex ad, which will make a play on the words “Super Bowl” and turn it into “Super Bull.” And, while the short version of the commercial that debuts on T-V for viewers throughout the Midwest Region features mostly actors, at the end, there is a scene featuring members of the community standing in front of Albert. Toft was not present for that particular shot…he was busy with basketball that morning.

Here’s a link to the 5-minute documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llKOk_AA02A

(KJAN/Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An insurance company that had stopped accepting new Medicaid patients within Iowa’s privatized health care program will soon resume enrollment. The Iowa Department of Human Services announced Friday that Amerigroup plans to accept new patients beginning in May. Patients will then have a choice between Amerigroup and UnitedHealthcare, the other insurance company providing coverage.

Amerigroup also plans to provide coverage, beginning in March, for about 10,000 patients temporarily enrolled in the state’s old Medicaid reimbursement system. Amerigroup said late last year it didn’t have the capacity to accept new Medicaid patients. The company made the decision public after a third company, AmeriHealth Caritas, said it was leaving Iowa amid a contract dispute.

DHS says it’s responding to complaints over reduced services under the privatized Medicaid system.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that claimed Iowa’s privatized Medicaid program violated the rights of disabled patients. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger made the decision Friday. She notes the main insurance company referenced in the lawsuit, AmeriHealth Caritas, stopped providing Medicaid coverage in the state late last year.

Disability Rights Iowa filed the lawsuit last year on behalf of six people, claiming the insurance companies running the health care program cut services to people with disabilities. It named Gov. Kim Reynolds and DHS director Jerry Foxhoven.

Jane Hudson, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, says in a statement the organization is evaluating its next steps. She says the Legislature should take action in the meantime.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Longtime NBC journalist Tom Brokaw has donated thousands of documents spanning his career to the University of Iowa, and they’re now available to the public. The collection includes a notebook with interview questions for Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev and press badges from Saudi Arabia and the 1992 Republican National Convention.

Some of the donated photographs show Brokaw standing in front of plumes of smoke in New York on Sept. 11. Graduate Assistant Elizabeth Riordan says the collection shows 50 years of the biggest global news stories as seen through the eyes of one reporter.

Brokaw spent his freshman year at the university, which gave him an honorary doctorate in 2010. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that the items were made available to the public on Thursday at the university’s Main Library.

A state report indicates the fleet of yellow buses owned by Iowa’s public schools traveled more than 40 MILLION miles last year. Some geographically large Iowa school districts are spending more than nine-hundred dollars a year for EACH STUDENT who rides the bus to and from school.

“Some of the larger school districts in some of the far-flung areas of the state are very expensive.” That’s House Speaker Linda Upmeyer. Upmeyer and other Republican lawmakers are offering to supplement some school transportation budgets — but in varying degrees. Republicans in the HOUSE are suggesting a 10-million dollar boost for the coming year.

“To the most needy districts across the state who are struggling with transportation, especially in the rural areas.” That’s Republican Representative Walt Rogers of Cedar Falls, chairman of the House Education Committee. A year ago, SENATE Republicans signaled they wanted to immediately send twice as much to schools for transporting kids to and from school. That plan eventually would have committed about 150-million dollars a year in state money to supplement the budgets for busing in sprawling districts with rural zip codes. Senator Amy Sinclair, a Republican from Allerton, says given current state budget realities, she understands why her G-O-P colleagues in the House favor spending less on school transportation.

“I prefer fixing problems rather than putting band-aids on them, but absolutely I’ll work with them to see if we can get something done that will at least alleviate that stress and help every child receive a high-quality education,” Sinclair says. Sinclair says another bill pending in the legislature could help ease school budgets for busing. The bill would let elementary students ride the bus just as long as high school students — a one-way trip of 75 minutes. One district told legislators with students of any age riding the same bus, two bus ROUTES could be eliminated and save the district 100-thousand dollars next year.

(Radio Iowa)

(This story may not be suitable for younger audiences)

The Iowa Supreme Court has thrown out a Buchanan County man’s indecent exposure conviction that was based on a photo sent via text message. Jose Lopez was arrested in 2014 after he texted a picture of himself with an erection to a woman he wanted to date, but who had gotten a restraining order against him. He was convicted of the charge, but appealed saying his attorney should have challenged the charge based on a lack of evidence.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruling notes there is a difference between receiving an unwelcome sexually explicit image received via text and having someone expose themselves in person. It says the text recipient can immediately close the message and choose not to reopen it or delete it. While the same can’t be done if the exposure happens in person. The ruling says Iowa’s indecent exposure law does not allow an adult to send such a picture to a minor — but it does not make it illegal for an adult to send a picture of their genitals via text to another adult.

The Supreme Court says Lopez’s attorney should have challenged the evidence, and therefore was ineffective and reversed the indecent exposure conviction.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES – Another tax scam has surfaced, prompting alerts from the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Here’s how it works: It begins with cyber criminals stealing personal information, sometimes from computers of tax practitioners. In a new twist, the fraudulent returns in a few cases used the taxpayers’ real bank accounts for the deposit. A woman posing as a debt collection agency official then contacted the taxpayers to say a refund was deposited in error and asked the taxpayers to forward the money to her.

As a reminder, the Iowa Department of Revenue does not make these types of calls. If you feel you have been the victim of identity theft, please report it to us immediately using our web form or if you do not have computer access by calling (515) 281-5986.

AMU General Manager Steve Tjepkes reports Atlantic Municipal Utilities has been notified that a number of customers have recently received phone calls from people indicating they are with AMU, and the customer is past due and attempting to collect money from the customers over the phone or wire transfer.

The caller indicates that their service would be disconnected shortly if payment was not made over the phone or by wiring funds to a bank account. AMU warns customers, that this is not AMU calling. Similar scams have been made across the country and have occurred locally in the past.

If your account is past due, you will be contacted by an individual who will provide their name and indicate that they are with Atlantic Municipal Utilities. You will not be required to make payment over the phone to prevent service from being disconnected. Additionally, prior to being disconnected for a delinquency, you would receive written notice in the mail from AMU and notice posted to your residence.

Furthermore, AMU’s office hours are Monday through Friday from 7am-4pm. AMU will not contact you regarding delinquency or account balances outside of those hours.  AMU only accepts payments at our Main Office, 15 W. Third St. in Atlantic.  We do not accept payments at any other institutions.  Additionally, AMU only has a local telephone number, we do not have an 800 or 877 number.

Please do not provide your credit card or banking information to any other persons who call, claiming to be from AMU. If you question the status of your account, please contact AMU directly at 243-1395. In the event you receive one of these messages, please obtain as much information from the caller as possible and contact either AMU or the local police department.

The Council Bluffs Police Department this (Friday) afternoon, released more information about Thursday morning’s Officer involved shooting in the parking lot of a convenience store. Officials say shortly after 3:00am on February 1st, Council Bluffs Police Officer Trevor Benson (a five year veteran of CBPD) responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle on the parking lot of 611 East Broadway Street.

Upon arriving, Officer Benson approached the driver’s door of a parked white Oldsmobile Cutlass which was being operated by 21-year old Daton Petrey, of Omaha.  After a brief conversation, in which Petrey refused to identify himself, Officer Benson directed Petrey to exit the vehicle. Petrey was non‐compliant, refusing to get out of the car. Officer Benson then opened the driver’s door of the Cutlass and was attempting to physically remove Petrey from the car when Petrey shifted the transmission into reverse, and accelerated backwards at a high speed.

As the car was backing up, Officer Benson was trapped between the open driver’s door and the car’s body for approximately 40 feet. Benson was able to remain on his feet and fired two shots from his service weapon during the encounter. One round
struck Petrey in the lower torso. After being shot, Petrey continued to flee, speeding off the property in the alley behind the business.

When attempting to turn from the alley onto Frank Street, Petrey struck a power pole guide‐wire, which caused the vehicle to flip onto its roof. Petrey was then able to crawl out of the overturned vehicle and attempted to elude other responding officers on foot; he was captured about one block away, hiding under a parked vehicle. An ambulance was requested and Petrey was transported to a trauma center in Omaha for treatment. Other than the 3,300 lb. vehicle, no weapons were used or located on Petrey.

Officer Benson was not injured during the incident. There was a 59 year old male subject sitting in the front passenger seat of the Cutlass when the incident began. He had his door open as Benson began to struggle to get Petrey out of the vehicle. As Petrey accelerated backward, the passenger attempted to exit the vehicle, was dragged under the passenger door and his leg was run over by Petrey. The passenger refused medical attention at the scene. He was subsequently interviewed and released.

At the time of the incident, Petrey has a valid felony warrant for his arrest, for Parole Violation, issued by the Nebraska Department of Corrections. His warrant indicates to use caution, as he is considered an escape risk, known to carry weapons and resist arrest. Petrey remains in the hospital, in stable condition; once discharged, he will be booked into the Douglas County Jail on his outstanding warrant.

As part of department practice, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is conducting a parallel investigation into the incident, reviewing the actions of police personnel. Council Bluffs Detectives are conducting the criminal investigation, regarding the actions of Petrey. Our Internal Affairs Unit will conduct an administrative review of the incident, to ensure policies and procedures were followed.

The Council Bluffs Police Department will be consulting with Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber to identify appropriate criminal charges for Petrey, as a result of his assaults upon Officer Benson and the front seat passenger. Additional arrest warrants, stemming from this incident, are expected to be requested early next week.

As the case remains an open investigation, authorities said they will not be releasing any video footage at this time. Any future public release of evidentiary material will be at the approval and direction of the County Attorney. Officer Benson will remain on Administrative Leave while the investigation continues.