The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports an inmate at the jail was served with a warrant Thursday afternoon, for Violation of Probation. 35-year old Richard Jack Franks, of Council Bluffs, who was being held in the jail for violation of a No Contact order, was presented with the warrant and turned back over to jail staff. His bond was set at $5,000 on the Probation Violation warrant. And, a Deputy was dispatched to the intersection of Railroad Highway and Idlewood Road at around 12:20-a.m. today (Friday), for an unknown injury accident. A caller to 9-1-1 reported a vehicle was on its top in the ditch, with a man still inside. The caller also advised there were beer cans in the vehicle, and that the man was hanging by his seat belt. The driver, identified as 28-year old Joseph Michael Greiner, of Underwood, was able to get out of the 1998 Honda Accord by himself, before the deputy arrived. Greiner was arrested for OWI/1st offense. Bond was set at $1,000.

The Creston Police Department reports two arrests took place, Thursday. At around 4:30-a.m., 27-year old Shari L. Lowe, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on a Cass County warrant for Violation of Probation. She was later released on $10,000 bond. And, at around 3:10-p.m. Thursday, Tyler J. Hightshoe, of Afton, was arrested on two counts of Theft in the 5th Degree, Possession of a Controlled Substance, and on a Union County warrant for Theft in the 5th Degree. His bond at the Union County Jail, was set at $1,900.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines voters will have to decide again in March whether to raise the local sales tax by a penny. The Des Moines Register reports that the City Council will vote Monday on a spending plan for the estimated $37 million the 1-cent tax could generate in its first year. The money would be split evenly between property tax reductions and a handful of quality-of-life initiatives.
The city will set a March 5 referendum date early next year.

Last March, a majority of the city’s voters approved a 1-cent increase, but the measure failed after a majority of suburban voters rejected it. But in May, the Iowa Legislature canceled a state rule that required cities with contiguous borders to vote together on local option sales tax issues.

(Radio Iowa) — The three members of a state forecasting board agree state tax receipts will grow, but not by much in the next 18 months. Holly Lyons of the Legislative Services Agency, a member of the State Revenue Estimating Conference, said “In the eight weeks since we met last, little has changed economically. The underlying fundamentals of the national and state economy remain sound. The economy continues to be in mid-expansion, with nothing on the immediate horizon that suggests a serious downturn or recession.”

The group predicts tax payments to the State of Iowa will remain steady, growing by about one-point-eight percent in the next state budgeting year. Legislators will use that estimate as the basis for building a spending plan for the state budget year that begins July 1st. Department of Management director Dave Roederer is another member of the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference. “We are at least reading the tea leaves all the same,” Roederer says, “whether they’re all right or all wrong, but we’re at least seeing the economy the same way.” Many state agencies have presented Governor Reynolds with “status quo” budget plans. Roederer suggests there won’t be a lot of extra money to spend next year. “We believe there will be enough funding to do the essentials of what government is supposed to do,” Roederer says.

Unlike the past two years, Roederer does NOT anticipate mid-year budget cuts in the remaining months of the current state fiscal year. State tax revenue is projected to grow nearly five percent in THIS budgeting year. David Underwood, a businessman from Clear Lake, is the third member of the state Revenue Estimating Conference. He says “headline fears” are causing people to “under appreciate” great corporate earnings reports.”I believe our most prudent course of action is to remain patient and disciplined in what we do as well as conservative, watchful for the signs of the recession that will come,” Underwood said, pausing before adding the last word, “someday.”

Underwood and the other two members of the Revenue Estimating Conference all cited concern about the ag economy, particularly commodity prices that have slumped during recent trade disputes.