Republican House Speaker Linda Upmeyer says a reduction in Iowa’s CORPORATE tax rate may be tacked onto the tax bill that cleared its first hurdle in the House yesterday (Thursday).  “I think it’s possible,” Upmeyer says. “We’re not going to preclude any topic at this point, I don’t think. The Senate sent a bill that they have an interest in doing. The governor sent us a bill and we’re going to see what we can do to come up with something that’s just good for Iowans.”

The House bill, as currently crafted, would cut income taxes for individuals, but NOT corporations. It’s modeled after the tax plan Governor Kim Reynolds unveiled two weeks ago that would cut taxes by about 300-million dollars annually. The SENATE G-O-P’s plan eventually would cut a BILLION in taxes each year. Upmeyer says House Republicans intend to be “pragmatic” when it comes to tax cuts, to ensure the cuts don’t endanger the state’s ability to fulfill spending obligations on priorities like education, public safety and health care.

“We want a common sense approach on how we move forward,” Upmeyer says. The governor’s plan and the House G-O-P proposal both include “triggers” that would stop any scheduled tax CUTS — if state tax collections fail to grow by at least three-and-a-half percent, year-to-year. Upmeyer suggests the same “triggers” could be applied to any cut in CORPORATE taxes.

“We want to make sure we’re able to fund Iowans’ priorities and that additional dollars return to the taxpayer,” Upmeyer says. “Including safeguards, triggers in the plan, I think, could achieve that.” SENATE Republicans propose cutting the state’s corporate tax rate from 12 down to seven percent.

(Radio Iowa)

A college student was stabbed to death in an off-campus incident in Oskaloosa. Police were called to the Jiffy Convenience store in Oskaloosa shortly before 11 last night on a report of an injured man. Officers found 22 year old Marquis Todd of Woodbridge, Illinois, suffering from a stab wound. He was taken to a hospital where he later died of his injuries.

According to witnesses, an altercation occurred after a minor traffic accident during which Todd was stabbed. Todd was a former member of the William Penn Statesmen basketball team. His body has been taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny for autopsy. So far, no arrests have been made.

(Radio Iowa)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Six people from Dubuque have been sentenced for participation in a phone call scam that victimized more than 250 elderly victims across the country. The six were sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. All six pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

Prosecutors say the scheme consisted of phone calls to elderly people across the country, telling victims that relatives were jailed and that money should be wired to free them. The six handled the wire transfers.

Prosecutors say 33-year-old Tobey Hines was given 33 months; 33-year-old Tiffany Reynolds was given 19 months; Joshua Willis was given 23 months; 23-year-old Payton McCarville was given eight months; 21-year-old Morgan Cornell was given 14 months; and 34-year-old Paul Chase was given 15 months.

They also were ordered to pay restitution.

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that on February 27, 2018, 35-year old Walter J. O’Donohue, III, of Omaha,  Neb., was sentenced to 15 years in prison, fined $50,000, and ordered to serve five-years of supervised release following his prison term, for Conspiracy to Distribute a Fentanyl Analogue that caused death or serious bodily injury.  United States District Court Senior Judge James Gritzner handed down the sentence.

O’Donohue was part of a drug trafficking organization responsible for receiving and  distributing fentanyl analogues obtained from a source in China to individuals in Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska. The investigation began on June 28, 2015, when law enforcement  officers were called to a Carter Lake, Iowa, residence regarding an unresponsive male. Law enforcement found the body of a 20-year old deceased male at the home. Law enforcement also discovered a second male had been transported to a local hospital, and placed on life support, from the same location prior to law enforcement’s arrival.

A subsequent investigation revealed co-defendant Charles Beuterbaugh provided acetyl fentanyl to both victims, which was determined to be the cause of death and the reason for the hospitalization. Beuterbaugh had obtained the acetyl fentanyl through an organization that began distributing fentanyl, or an analogue of fentanyl, in November of 2014 and continued to distribute into April of 2016. Further investigation into the overdose death revealed O’Donohue was responsible for the importation of the acetyl fentanyl ultimately distributed by co-defendant Beuterbaugh.

All members involved in the distribution of the acetyl fentanyl have entered guilty pleas. On October 26, 2017, Senior Judge Gritzner sentenced O’Donohue’s co-defendants, 27-year old Dustin C. Sullivan, of Council Bluffs, to 162 months and 31-year old Cody Lanus, of Omaha, Neb., to a term of imprisonment of 144 months. Michael David Redmond, Jr., who joined the conspiracy in December of 2015, was previously sentenced by Senior Judge Gritzner to 120 months in prison. Amalia N. Pandis is pending sentencing at a future date.

The investigation was conducted by the Carter Lake Police Department, Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, Council Bluffs Police Department, Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force, Omaha Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Iowa Division of Narcotic Enforcement, United States Postal Inspection Service and United States Drug Enforcement Administration-Nebraska. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

The Iowa Division of Investigation today (Friday) identified the subjects involved in Thursday’s shooting incident in Cresco.  Officers had responded to a 911 call at around 1:30-a.m. to a reported shooting at 700 South Elm Street #32 in Cresco.  Upon arrival, officers were confronted by 24-year old Brian Fullhart, at the residence who was uncooperative with officers and threatening to shoot officers. Local schools were asked to delay classes for two-hours, as a precaution. Fullhart was taken into cutody at 6:45 am., after a SWAT Team successfully negotiated his surrender.  Officers then entered the residence and located the body of a deceased female.  That female was later identified as Fullhart’s wife, 34-year old Zoanne Fullhart, of Decorah.

Brian Fullhart was arrested and charged with Murder in the First Degree and Going Armed with Intent.  He is currently in custody at the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Department, in Decorah.

CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa man has been given 10 years in prison for fatally beating his 38-year-old son. The Clinton Herald reports that Glenn Plummer III, of Camanche, was sentenced Thursday. He’d pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter after prosecutors lowered the charge from second-degree murder and dropped a domestic abuse count.

Court records say a police officer found Plummer and his son, 38-year-old Joseph Plummer, the night of May 30 at a Camanche apartment. Joseph Plummer told investigators that his father had beaten him.
Police say Joseph Plummer died June 1 at a hospital. An autopsy was performed, and Joseph Plummer’s death was ruled a homicide.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 44-year old Patrick Albert Baker, of Lorimor, was arrested Thursday night at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. Baker was arrested on a Union County warrant for failure to appear. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

Legislators on the committee that drafts the budget for the state court system are asking if there’s a way to collect more court fees — to make up for expected budget cuts ahead. State Court Administrator Todd Nuccio says most people involved in criminal cases can’t afford the current fees.”You also have an access to justice issue on the civil side” he said. “There’s a tipping point where you are not making the bar too high for the public to gain access to the court.”

Nuccio is the top administrator in the state court system. He’s warning lawmakers of court delays and possible closures if they cut more from the court system’s current budget than the one-point-six million that’s been propoed. “We would not be closing courthouses or closing clerks of courts offices, to be more specific, with the $1.6 (million cut),” Nuccio says. “You go beyond that $1.6 (million), we start to have to look more seriously.”

At one point this year, Senate Republicans voted for a nearly five million dollar cut to the courts. Nuccio says he’s holding 134 jobs open in the court system, in anticipation of the current round of cuts to the current year’s budget.

(Radio Iowa)

A whimsical survey about how much money the Tooth Fairy leaves under pillows actually has a good track record with mirroring the real-world stock market’s S-and-P 500 index. Dr. Jeff Chaffin, a dentist and the dental director of Delta Dental of Iowa, says the latest survey finds the Tooth Fairy has tightened her money bag after an all-time high payout in 2016. “In the Midwest we’re seeing a little over $4, or $4.37 left per tooth by the Tooth Fairy,” Chaffin says. “It’s dropped a little bit and we’re a little lower than other areas. The western section of the U.S. tends to be the highest.”

That four-37 figure is the average payout for the all-important first tooth while remaining teeth drop to an average of three-44 per tooth, or about 20 percent below the national average. Over time, the Tooth Fairy Index shows that the value of a lost tooth is closely related to the nation’s economy.  “Traditionally, the reimbursement, if we call it reimbursement by the Tooth Fairy, has fallen in line with the S&P,” Chaffin says. “During good economic times, it seems like the Tooth Fairy leaves more money. This year it didn’t exactly track with that, but that’s been the trend over time.”

For 12 of the past 14 years, the trend in average Tooth Fairy giving has tracked with the movement of the S&P 500. While the money’s nice when you’re a kid, Chaffin reminds what’s more important is the condition of the teeth. “We hope those teeth are nice, healthy teeth when they fall out and we hope the teeth actually fall out as opposed to having had dental disease and having to be extracted,” Chaffin says. “These teeth naturally falling out are part of the natural process and we like to reward those good, healthy behaviors.”

There’s a clear tie, he says, between oral health and overall health. Chaffin says teaching good daily dental habits early could save the child from many dental and health issues later in life.

(Radio Iowa)

EAGLE GROVE, Iowa (AP) — A 55-year-old woman has been identified as the person killed in a north-central Iowa house fire. The Messenger reports that Eagle Grove police have confirmed the body found by firefighters Monday night was that of Laurie McPherson. Two other occupants escaped the blaze but required medical help.

Fire Chief Tom Peterson says an electrical fire in the kitchen spread through the rear of the structure.