AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State star Bryce Dejean-Jones has been arrested and charged with multiple misdemeanors after police were called to his apartment because of noise complaints. Ames police spokesman Geoff Huff says Dejean-Jones was arrested around 3 a.m. Thursday. He’s charged with gathering where marijuana is used, a serious misdemeanor, and two simple misdemeanors; a nuisance party regulation and a noise ordinance violation.

Huff says the marijuana charge is roughly the equivalent of a drunken-driving charge and that a fine and probation is more likely than jail time. Dejean-Jones is in his first season at Iowa State. He is averaging 17.1 points a game. He remained at the Story County Jail on Thursday morning on $1,600 bond. Detention officer Clark Blue says no attorney information for Dejean-Jones was available.

UPDATE – A judge in Story county ruled today that Ames police did not have probable cause for the arrest and dropped the charges.

Republican Congressman Steve King tried, but failed to get House approval of his attempt to “cut off funding now” so President Obama’s executive order on immigration cannot be implemented. King asked the Republican-led House Rules Committee for permission to put his plan forward for a House vote, but he was rebuffed. “It’s time that we stood up and fight now rather than fund now and fight later,” King said in a video statement posted on YouTube.

Sometime today (Thursday) a House vote is expected on a massive spending plan that will keep most of the government running through next September. A vote to prevent Obama’s action on immigration will come in January, G-O-P leaders say, after the new congress is sworn in and Republicans have control of both the House and the Senate.  “We’re sitting here with a majority in the House and soon a majority in the Senate, but waiting for the Senate is waiting too long because if we wait, we are then compelled to fund now and fight later, if we fight at all,” King said. “I say, instead, cut the funding now. Start the fight now.”

King’s alternative plan would have funded federal government operations through January 31st. “That seats the new Republican majority in the Senate, it seats the expanded (Republican) majority in the House and it makes us stronger in fighting this president,” King said. “We will have to put him in a political straight-jacket or there won’t be anything left of the Constitution by the time we elect another president.” The spending plan congress is expected to pass only funds the Department of Homeland Security through February. That’s the agency which oversees most immigration policy.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – The former operator of the Argosy riverboat casino in Sioux City has filed another appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. The Sioux City Journal reports that the former Argosy operator, Belle of Sioux City, a subsidiary of Penn National Gaming Co., is appealing a Nov. 7 ruling by Judge Eliza Ovrom.

She ruled that the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission acted within its authority in granting a license for what has become the land-based Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City. Argosy says Ovrom should not have ruled that Argosy failed to prove that the commission erred or abused its powers.

Argosy attorneys also filed a motion to combine the case with another appeal before the court. That appeal challenges the judge’s order to shut down the Argosy.

A man from Colorado was arrested for the third-day in a row, Wednesday, in Creston. Creston Police say 51-year old Jeffrey Armstrong, of Loveland, CO, was arrested just after 11-a.m., Wednesday at the intersection of Spruce and Adams Streets, and charged with Public Intoxication. Armstrong, who was initially arrested Monday evening for OWI//1st offense, was arrested again Tuesday at the Creston Amtrak station for Public Intoxication. His latest arrested resulted in him being held in the Union County Jail on $300 bond.

And, officials say Kristopher Allen Goettert, of Davey, FL, was arrested Wednesday in Creston, on a charge of Disorderly Conduct. The man was released on a promise to appear later, in court.

Creston Police said also, the Crest Haven Nursing Home reported on Monday, someone stole three bottles of cough suppressant. The incident took place sometime between 9:50-a.m. and 10:30-a.m., on Dec. 4th. The loss was estimated at $15.

With Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

WASHINGTON (AP) – The campaign may be over, but Senator-elect Joni Ernst says she is just getting started. The recently elected Republican was in Washington this week. She’s meeting her future colleagues, hiring staffers and seeking advice from longtime Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.
She’s also planning to visit every county in Iowa next year.

Ernst scored a decisive victory in November, helping the GOP take control of the Senate. She started the race as a relatively unknown state senator but soared to national stardom, promoting her farm upbringing and military background.

Looking ahead, Ernst says she hopes to serve on either the armed services or agriculture committees. She plans to focus on issues she addressed during the campaign, like changes to the tax code.

Police in Council Bluffs are investigating the theft of a handgun from a vehicle parked outside a home. According to Bluffs Police Sgt. Chad Meyers, a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol and its magazine were stolen from a Dodge pickup truck parked in the 200 block of Sylvan Drive. Meyers told the NonPareil the theft was reported at around 7-a.m., Wednesday.

A liberal advocacy group Wednesday, released a report about how the Affordable Care Act or “ObamaCare” is “working in Iowa.” Matt Sinovic of “Progress Iowa,” says 83 percent of the Iowans who got insurance through the federal exchange last year received tax credits which significantly decreased the cost of their insurance plan. “It’s important to look past all of the heated rhetoric and take a look at what the law is actually doing,” Sinovic says, “particularly here in the state of Iowa where we have seen incredible benefits from the Affordable Care Act.”

Sinovic cites another study which indicates Iowa hospitals saved 32 million dollars this past year because more uninsured Iowans were enrolled in Medicaid.  “So our hospitals are saving, our health care consumers are benefiting and Iowans are benefiting,” Sinovic says. Sinovic says just over 10 percent of Iowans are still uninsured and he’s urging those Iowans to see what kind of insurance subsidies they might qualify for under the Affordable Care Act.

The enrollment period is now open, through February 15th. Critics of “ObamaCare” say it will overload the nation’s health care system with previously uninsured patients demanding care and bankrupt the federal government. About 10 million Americans acquired subsidized insurance coverage last year due to the Affordable Care Act. Supporters of the law say it’s reducing health care costs, which went up less than three percent in the past year compared to double-digit increases before the law took effect.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Chamber Alliance released its legislative goals for the upcoming session. I-C-A executive director, John Stineman, says one of their key goals is to improve the Iowa workforce. “It’s really our fundamental issue this year, and it’s come to a boiling point,” Stineman says. “We need to take a look and make sure we have a cohesive strategy going forward. We have some pretty serious issues right now with the workforce and if we get them right, we can really double down and expand on our economic opportunity. And if we don’t, there’s some real risk.”

Stineman says the first key is to ensure Iowa students graduating from high school and college are ready to either enter the workforce or go onto the next level of education to improve their skills. “Number two, we need to upscale our workforce and address the skills gap. We need fewer low skilled workers, we need them up to the middle skill and high scale jobs to help drive our economy in the 21st century,” according to Stineman. “We need to make sure Iowa is an attractive place where people want to come so we can work on our rather flat population growth.”

The I-B-C is made up of the 16 largest chambers of commerce in the state and he says those leaders are also interested in improving the state’s tax system. “We’re concerned about Iowa’s tax complexity and we do feel like there is an opportunity for Iowa to compete a little bit stronger by simplifying and reducing our corporate and individual income taxes,” he explains. “We’re looking at some different economic development incentives we think would provide Iowa with some unique opportunities, including some renewable biochemical incentives.”

Stineman says they remain concerned about the states infrastructure and the need to provide more money to fix roads and bridges. He says the recent talks about coming up with a solution are encouraging. “I would say we’re cautiously optimistic. We’re seeing a very reasonable dialogue on the issue of the fuel tax. I think there’s a growing recognition that there’s a need and we are not going to get there on our current path,” Stineman says. He says they want to see the continued improvement of broadband service as part of the improving infrastructure.

Stineman says they are looking at these issues with the understanding that the ag sector and lower commodity prices have had an impact on the state’s economy. “There’s is an expectation that this could be a potentially tighter budget year and we are going to wait and see what those final numbers are. But we are coming into it with a realistic expectation. The one thing that we would want to make sure happens — even in a tight budget year — that those economic development incentives are fully and appropriately funded, so we get that return on investment from economic growth that ultimately helps those tax receipts,” Stineman says.

You can find out more about the I-C-A on its website at: www.iowachamberalliance.com.

(Radio Iowa)