A New Vienna native who has been the state’s drug czar has been appointed by Governor Kim Reynolds to take over as the executive director for the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs. Steve Lukan replaces Jodi Tymeson who announced her retirement last month. “I am very excited for the opportunity, we have a great team here and I’m looking forward to helping veterans here in Iowa and to working with people and hopefully we can do some good things,” Lukan says.

Lukan is a veteran who joined the U-S Navy after graduating from Dyersville Beckman High School. He served four years, earning four promotions and obtaining the rank of Petty Officer Second Class. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal and Navy Achievement Medal. Lukan says appreciation for the military has always been important to him and his family. “I’ve come from several generations where we’ve all served in the military and extended family has served in the military,” Lukan says. “I think it’s just a wonderful opportunity to help those people who have served out country, and I like to think of them as some of the finest men and women out there, and I’m just thankful for the opportunity to do it.”

While serving as a state representative for Delaware and Dubuque counties, Lukan championed the creation of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and enacted legislation to help disabled veterans through the establishment of the Veterans Trust Fund. Lukan says he is looking into proposing a few changes to some of the existing laws, but wants to get settled in to his new position before releasing details.

(Radio Iowa)

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have charged a northwest Iowa man with forgery and insurance fraud totaling nearly $29,000. Court records say 39-year-old Scott Leininger is scheduled to be in court Dec. 4. He didn’t immediately return a call Wednesday at a number listed for him in Le Mars.

Authorities say Leininger submitted false paperwork to back his claim to Homesite Insurance for damage he said his disability equipment sustained during a lightning storm. Court documents say the company discovered that the paperwork was bogus and didn’t pay the claim.

Iowa Congressman Rod Blum voted for the tax package that cleared the U.S. House last week. However, Blum is hoping senators make at least two big changes in the bill. Under the House plan, the wind production tax credit would be reduced. “Keep those incentives in the tax code because Iowa is a leader nationwide. I think a third of our electricity is generated by the wind here in Iowa, which is great,” Blum says. “I’ve talked to MidAmerican Energy and Alliant Energy and, obviously, they’re concerned.”

Blum, a Republican from Dubuque, says federal tax credits for renovating historic properties should be maintained as well. “Here in Dubuque, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, a lot of the warehouse districts that are being rehabilitated –these old buildings — just wouldn’t be economically feasible if it wasn’t for the historic tax credit,” Blum says, “Because we just can’t charge high enough rents in towns in Iowa to make these projects cash-flow out for the developers.”

The credit is currently worth 20 percent of the cost of fixing up a dilapidated property. “And it pays for itself,” Blum says. “Rutgers University did a study showing that tax credit returns more money to the treasury than it costs.”  Blum says “most deductions had to go” though in order to get a bill that reduces rates and simplifies the tax-filing process.

(Radio Iowa)

The head of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the state park system is “heavily used” and D-N-R director Chuck Gipp says it’s time for lawmakers to consider raising fees to boost the D-N-R’s budget for outdoor recreation. “The visitation and use of state parks is growing immensely,” Gipp says. “State park usage has changed. People no just longer want to have a sleeping bag they throw on hte ground. They want to have a cabin or they want updated equipment so they can pull in with their ‘fifth-wheel’ (recreational vehicle). Well, in order to allow that to happen, you have to have electrical upgrades.”

Nearly 340-thousand overnight guests have checked into state park facilities so far this year. Gipp wants new authority to set different prices for camping spaces and cabin rentals based on demand. That means he could raise rental rates during high-demand periods, like holiday weekends, or reduce park camping fees during slow periods to attract more visitors. “We’re not trying to price ourself out because no motel rents rooms if they’re overpriced,” Gipp says. “We want to have heads in beds, but we also have to have the flexibility to get the dollars necessary.”

Under existing law, Gipp’s agency must go through a lengthy process to establish rules that limit rental rates for camp sites, R-V hook-ups and cabin rentals within the state park system. There’s a growing reliance on fees to run the D-N-R, since the agency’s allocation of GENERAL state tax dollars is half of what it was a decade ago. “We know what drives the budget in Iowa,” Gipp says. “It’s education and it’s Medicaid and health care, so the rest of the people, the entities, make the sacrifices we can, do the reorganization that we have, but I think it’s important to note.”

Gipp’s department manages 68 state parks and recreation areas along with four state forests and 600 miles of trails for hiking, biking, snowmobiling and horseback riding. “For the initiative of ‘Let’s have a healthier Iowa,’ that’s incredibly important,” Gipp says. In addition to the fees WITHIN the state parks, state fees for hunting, fishing and trapping licenses haven’t been raised for 14 years. The Iowa House overwhelmingly voted in April to give Gipp’s agency the authority to raise those fees. The proposal is eligible for consideration in the Iowa Senate in 2018. The money raised from THOSE fees is reserved to improve habitat and pay conservation officer salaries.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:12 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than a third of patients in Iowa’s privatized Medicaid program will be unable to switch into one of two remaining insurance companies as originally announced because the company doesn’t have the capacity to add more people. The Iowa Department of Human Services made the announcement Tuesday. It means UnitedHealthcare will keep about 215,000 patients being sent to it after a third company, AmeriHealth Caritas, said it was leaving the program over failed negotiations regarding money.

KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors want to move out of Lee County the trial of a boarding school owner on sex abuse and other charges. A motion filed Friday in Lee County South District Court cited pretrial publicity in seeking a new location for the trial of Ben Trane. He’s pleaded not guilty. Investigators allege Trane used his position at the for-profit Midwest Academy in Keokuk to pursue sexual relationships with teenage students.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Top Iowa Senate Republicans announced Tuesday they will release a document related to an internal investigation into alleged sexual harassment in their caucus, following pressure from within the party to provide findings. Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix says he will provide, by the end of the week, an “internal review document” related to the investigation. The shift came on the same day he announced a former GOP state lawmaker will advise their Senate office on “workplace culture.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say five more people from the Dubuque area have pleaded guilty to participation in a phone call scam. The five entered the wire fraud pleas in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. 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. Earlier this year five other people pleaded guilty to similar or related charges.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — City officials in western Iowa are moving forward with an ordinance that would require massage therapy businesses to obtain a license through the city and undergo annual reviews.

The Sioux City Council unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance designed to fight prostitution, human trafficking and drug dealing on Monday. The Sioux City Journal reports that the proposal follows the Iowa Legislature’s removal of a state code that forbid cities from regulating massage businesses.

Businesses would be required to submit identification and information on their employees. Licenses could be withheld based on background checks into any owners, managers, employees or business agents. The city would prosecute violations as a misdemeanor.

City officials have agreed to work with local massage therapists to finalize the drafted regulation and gather feedback.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Some patients in Iowa’s privatized Medicaid program will be unable to switch into one of two remaining insurance companies as originally announced because the company doesn’t have the capacity to add more people.

The Iowa Department of Human Services says in a press release Tuesday that Amerigroup will continue to serve people currently enrolled in its coverage but not additional patients.

The announcement means UnitedHealthcare will keep about 215,000 patients being sent to them after a third company, AmeriHealth Caritas, said it was leaving the program over failed negotiations regarding money.

DHS says it’s received federal approval to temporarily suspend patient choice in the privatized system. Amerigroup did not immediately return a message. A DHS spokesman was also not immediately available to comment.

Red Oak Police report the arrest today (Tuesday), of a man wanted on a warrant for Probation Violation. 30-year old Joshua Kenneth Wolcott, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 10:30-a.m., at 106 W. Coolbaugh Street. Wolcott was transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where his Cash bond was set at $2,000.

You may be one of the thousands of Iowans who are taking advantage of lower ticket prices to fly to see relatives for Thanksgiving. The executive director of the Des Moines Airport Authority, Kevin Foley, says you may find some new rules when you get to the airport. “The requirements for removing all electronics for example — that requirement just came about here in the last four to six weeks — so, if you haven’t traveled for awhile, there may be some new requirements,” Foley says.  The electronics requirement is pretty simple.”Anything that’s larger than a cellphone will now have to be pulled out of your bag,” Foley says.

He says you can put those devices on top of your carry-on luggage as you prepare to go through the T-S-A screening. He says the easiest way to find out all you need to know is to go online and review the rules. “The best way is to while you’re packing to check the T-S-A website,” Foley says. “Remember if you don’t have pre-check or global entry and you are going through the normal screening lanes — remember the three-one-one rule. That’s three-point-four fluid ounces max in any one container into a one quart ziplock bag, and one bag per passenger.”

Some people combine the Thanksgiving trip with a Christmas celebration. If that’s what you’re doing, DO NOT wrap any presents before you get to the airport. “T-S-A may have to unwrap ’em if you do, so the best way to get through screening if you are taking gifts is to leave them unwrapped,” Foley says. “You can take the wrapping paper with you and you can wrap them when you get through screening or just wrap them when you get to your destination.” One other key is to remember that it is one of the busiest travel times of the year and you may have to wait in line sometimes.”Understand that the frontline airline employees want to get you to your destination as bad as you want to get there, and they are under restriction. They often times can’t bend policy,” Foley explains.

Wednesday is one of the busiest travel days — but Foley says nothing will top Sunday. “Going to Thanksgiving celebrations is spread out between Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Some of them left last Saturday and took the entire week off,” he says, “but everyone will come home on Sunday.” Foley says the good news right now is the weather forecast isn’t showing any concerns of major problems for travelers through the weekend.

(Radio Iowa)