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)

The Iowa Senate’s Republican leader is changing course, announcing he WILL — by the end of the week — release a report on the internal investigation into alleged sexual harassment of the employees he supervises. Senate G-O-P Leader Bill Dix also has dropped plans to pay an “outside organization” for advice on human resources issues. A former lawmaker who once led the H-R department of the state’s largest insurance company has volunteered to offer Dix her counsel for free. Governor Kim Reynolds says former Iowa Senate President Mary Kramer — who’s also a former U.S. Ambassador — is a “good choice.” “I think it’s really positive steps in the right direction and I want to commend him on that,” Reynolds says.

Last week, the Republican governor and Republican House Speaker Linda Upmeyer called on Dix to release any details about sexual harassment in the Senate G-O-P’s office that were not revealed during a recent trial. Former Senate G-O-P communications director Kirsten Anderson and three people who still work for Dix testified about a “toxic work environment,” but Dix last week said the investigation of that environment should be kept secret because there was an “expectation of privacy” for senate employees. Dix today (Tuesday) has also agreed to “reengage” with Upmeyer, the top Republican in the legislature, on the hiring of an H-R manager for the legislature. The governor says she “appreciates” Dix making these changes. “That’s a step in the right direction,” Reynolds says. “I think releasing the information this Friday is a step in the right direction.”

Reynolds has talked privately with Dix about these issues, but the governor told reporters she has not seen or read the report Dix plans to make public. Dix released a written statement this (Tuesday) morning, saying he’s bringing Kramer in as a volunteer advisor to assist in efforts “to improve the workplace culture.” Kramer released a written statement, too, saying she was dismayed to watch the situation in the senate unfold and she has concluded “there is serious need for culture reform in the Iowa Senate.”

(Radio Iowa)

Two men, credited with saving the lives of strangers, will be honored during Friday’s Iowa-Nebraska football game in Lincoln. The recognition of “citizen heroes” from each state has become a halftime tradition in the annual battle between the Hawkeyes and Cornhuskers. Mark Tauscheck, spokesperson for the Iowa Red Cross, says this year’s Iowa honoree is 40-year-old Jerry Goeders of Dayton. Goeders and his family were at Lake Rathbun in southern Iowa this summer when they heard a girl screaming across the lake. She was struggling in the water with no one near her to help. “She was only about 15 feet from the shore, but she could not touch and was flailing and struggling to keep her head above water,” Tauscheck said. “Jerry Goeders’ wife, Stacey, said ‘you’ve got to go.’ So, Jerry took off running down the hill and jumped in and Stacey said her husband swam for probably four minutes or so to get to her. He was pretty exhausted by the time he got to her.”

Jerry Goeders

Goeders grabbed the girl, 8-year-old Jersie Ostino, and got her safely to shore. “He said he’ll never forget getting his foot to a rock and feeling that rock with his big toe,” Tauscheck said. “He said that’s when he knew he and the girl were going to be OK, but it was a very frightening experience for him as well.”

This year’s Nebraska citizen hero is 26-year-old Geoffrey Bennett, a soldier in the Army National Guard, who moved with his family to Norfolk, Nebraska from Illinois as a teenager. Bennett was driving through Omaha last December, in a snowstorm, when he stopped to help a woman near her broken down car. The 34-year-old woman had been critically injured when she was struck by passing vehicle. “(Bennett) showed up and saw how bad she was bleeding. He used his own belt as a tourniquet on her leg to slow the bleeding down. Authorities credit him with saving her life,” Tauscheck said.

Geoffrey Bennett photo

Bennett stayed with the woman and her friend, a 28-year-old man who was also badly injured, until an ambulance arrived. The woman’s leg was later amputated. Bennett graduated from high school in Norfolk before attending Morningside College in Sioux City where he was a pitcher on the baseball team. Bennett joined the Army National Guard in 2011. He recently started a new job as a technician at Camp Dodge in Johnston (Iowa). He previously served as perimeter security guard at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha. Earlier this year, fans of both schools were invited to nominate residents of Iowa and Nebraska for this “Citizen Hero” award. Staff and volunteers from the American Red Cross selected the winners.

(Radio Iowa)

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 pleas over the past week in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids to one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors said in a news release Tuesday that the five are 34-year-old Paul Chase, 20-year-old Morgan Cornell, 23-year-old Payton McCarville, 32-year-old Tiffany Reynolds and 21-year-old Joshua Willis. Sentencing dates have not been set yet.

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. All five admitted picking up the wire transfers. Earlier this year five other people pleaded guilty in Cedar Rapids to similar or related charges.