(Radio Iowa) — Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and Democratic challenger Fred Hubbell met for an often combative debate in Sioux City last (Wednesday) night. The hour-long forum featured strict time limits for the candidates’ answers to moderator’s questions, but about halfway through the two veered off topic in this sharp exchange. “You know, Fred, he promises everybody everything. I’m not sure how he’s going to fund it. We have a limited budget. We have to live within our means and just telling everybody that asks that you’re going to give them more money isn’t the answer,” Reynolds said. Hubbell replied: “I’m promising to stop throwing money out the window with those wasteful corporate tax give-aways every year. That’s over $100 million that the governor is just throwing out the window and getting very little value back. That’s a lot of money that we could use.”

Hubbell, a Des Moines businessman, is seeking elected office for the first time. “I want to be much more fiscally responsible and go through every line item in that budget,” Hubbell said. “We shouldn’t raise taxes until we can prove to the taxpayer we’re spending their money wisely.”

Reynolds has been governor for the past 16 months and is seeking election to a full, four-year term. “Our budget is balanced and we have $127 million surplus,” she said. “Our cash reserves are full.” Hubbell suggested businesses are looking for a more stability in the state budget. “We’ve had a budget that’s like a yoyo,” Hubbell said. “A few years ago, the governor had a $900 million surplus…She borrowed $195 million from the reserve funds. She’s had two years in a row of massive budget cuts in the middle of the year and now she’s got a surplus she cannot explain.”

Reynolds stressed the status of the Iowa economy. “Unemployment is at 2.5 percent, Fred. We’re seeing our economy grow and we’re seeing wages increase,” Reynolds said. “The last three quarters we’ve seen wage growth.” Reynolds then criticized Hubbell for allowing businesses he’s been associated with accept state tax credits. “The hypocrisy that’s coming from Fred Hubbell is ridiculous,” she said. “He has been taking advantage of these tax credits for four decades…and when he wasn’t taking advantage of them, he was handing them out, taxpayer dollars, to companies that he was personally invested in and he didn’t recuse himself.”

That’s a reference to Hubbell’s service on the Iowa Power Fund board that gave Pioneer DuPont a grant for an ethanol plant. “I followed all the rules of state disclosure. I followed all the rules of our state ethics committee, properly disclosed, and I did everything according to the rules,” he said, “just like the governor claims she did when she took all those airplane flights from companies she gave money to and people who contributed to her campaign.”

That’s a reference to Reynolds accepting rides on private planes owned by campaign contributors and a state contractor. The debate was sponsored and broadcast by K-T-I-V in Sioux City, K-W-W-L in Mason City and K-T-T-C in Rochester, Minnesota. The two candidates are scheduled to debate a third and final time on live T-V this Sunday morning, starting at 8 a.m.

Debate extras: The candidates each accused the other of “extreme” views on abortion. Reynolds started the exchange. “I am proud to be pro-life. I have said I will never stop fighting for the unborn,” Reynolds said. “…What Iowans don’t agree with is Fred’s position where taxpayer dollars go to pay late-term abortions, abortion-on-demand and partial-birth abortions.”

Hubbell responded.”I am an unabashed supporter of Roe v Wade and I have been for a long time,” Hubbell said. “But at the same time I don’t support those other procedures the governor’s talking about and she knows that. She’s just willing to say almost anything to try to get elected, even though they’re misleading statements.”
In response to a moderator’s question, the two quarreled about allegations of a toxic work culture in state government. “It was going on, as we know now, while the governor was a state senator,” Hubbell said. “It’s been going on the whole time she’s been lieutenant governor and governor…and it hasn’t gotten any better.” Reynolds shot back, citing her immediate firing of a state official accused of sexually harassing employees. Reynolds then faulted Hubbell for failing to get Democratic state Senator Nate Boulton to resign after women accused Boulton of inappropriate sexual conduct.

“I’m not going to be lectured by a guy about sexual harassment,” the governor said. “I didn’t see you doing anything….Boulton is still serving as a state senator. Lack of action.”

(Radio Iowa) — It’s political debate season in Iowa. Half a dozen debates among candidates for governor and congress have been held already. The final debate between Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and Democratic challenger Fred Hubbell will be held early this Sunday morning. There will be no debate, however, featuring candidates in Iowa’s fourth congressional district. Republican Congressman Steve King of Kiron says a debate is unnecessary. “Nobody comes to me and says: ‘I don’t know where you stand on an issue,'” King says. “Everybody’s known where I’ve been from all the years I’ve served in congress.”

King is seeking a ninth term in the U.S. House. He last debated a General Election opponent in 2012 when he faced former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack. J.D. Scholten, a Democrat from Sioux City, is challenging King this year. Scholten says debates are about holding candidates accountable. “He’s been to Austria five out of the last six years on the taxpayers’ dime,” Scholten says. “I want to know why. It’s not like we’re finding trade routes to Austria because of it.”

Scholten is holding town hall meetings in each of the 39 counties in the district.  “My race isn’t against him. My race is to fight and work for the people of this district and I think that’s why we’re becoming more and more popular,” Scholten says. “…I’m not there just calling him names, but he should be held accountable.”

Scholten says you can’t fake showing up and King has stopped holding town hall meetings in the district. “By all accounts we see, he’s just running scared,” Scholten says. King says he speaks with thousands of people in “tele-town hall” meetings and meets face-to-face with constituents, but stopped doing public town hall meetings in the district because they’ve turned into a forum for protesters.  “I think people know where I stand. We’re going to continue with our campaign,” King says. “It’s up to him to continue with his.”

Scholten launched his campaign 15 months ago and has out-raised King in each quarter. Over the last three months, Scholten raised 661-thousand dollars. That’s four times as much as King raised during the same period for his reelection.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa-based electric and natural gas utility has snagged the naming rights to a proposed West Des Moines indoor sports complex. The Des Moines Register reports that the complex will be known as the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex, thanks to a $5 million pledge from the company. The massive complex will feature two ice rinks, three indoor soccer fields, three indoor basketball courts, six volleyball courts, and five outdoor soccer fields.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Someone could match all six numbers and win the Mega Millions jackpot, which is now at $900 million, as soon as Friday night when the next drawing is held. And it could happen despite terrible odds:  one in 302.5 million. Lottery officials have advice for whoever holds the prized lottery ticket. They recommend winners put their winning ticket in a safe spot and consult with a financial planner before showing up at lottery headquarters.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Mega Millions jackpot is now up to $900 million. Lottery officials raised the estimated prize Wednesday, less than a day after another drawing without a winner increased the prize to $868 million. Officials say no tickets matched all six numbers to claim the Mega Millions prize Tuesday night. The numbers were 3, 45, 49, 61, 69 and Mega Ball 9. The next drawing will be Friday. The estimated jackpot for that drawing would be the second-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.

GRUNDY CENTER, Iowa (AP) — Grundy County has settled for $500,000 a lawsuit that says a man who died after tying a bedsheet around his neck was left hanging for 13 minutes while a jailer stood outside. The lawsuit by relatives of Jared Slinker says any chance for lifesaving efforts was delayed because the county staffed just one employee to work as both communications dispatcher and jail supervisor. The lawsuit says safety rules prohibited the employee from entering Slinker’s cell until another employee arrived.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports 34-year old Casey Dean Freemyer, Jr., of Tabor, was arrested this (Wednesday) morning at around 7:50, after deputies with the Fremont County K9 Unit observed Freemyer in the 700 block of Main Street in Tabor.  Freemyer had an active Fremont County warrant for his arrest for Theft 2^nd, a Class D Felony.

In August of 2018 the Tabor Police Department received a call of a suspicious disassembled vehicle located at a residence in Tabor.  The vehicle was found to be reported stolen out of Council Bluffs, Iowa and an investigation led to a warrant being issued for Freemyer by the Tabor Police Department.

Freemyer is being held on a $5,000 cash bond at the Fremont County Jail.

Freemyer