DES MOINES, Iowa – It’s hard to have a happy holiday if you’re arrested for drunk driving. The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB) is partnering with law enforcement across Iowa to urge drivers to think twice before drinking and driving. From now (December 15) through January 1, 2024, drivers will see officers working on a special high-visibility enforcement campaign to spread the message about the dangers of drunk driving.

As of the latest data released Thursday (Dec. 14, 2023), the Iowa Department of Transportation said 358 people had died on Iowa roadways this year, that’s the highest amount of deaths recorded in the past five-years, and 31 more than last year at this same time. So far this month, 15 people have died as the result of an automobile accident. The GTSB says more parties and festivities celebrating the season bring out more drunk drivers. In 2022, preliminary data shows 35% of Iowa’s fatal crashes involved an impaired driver. Last December, almost 1,100 drivers were charged with OWI on Iowa roads. About 25% of those were 2nd and 3rd offenses. Impaired drivers endanger both themselves and others. GTSB and law enforcement urge drivers to always plan before heading out to celebrate.

“Drunk driving isn’t just dangerous, it’s illegal,” says Impaired Driving Program Administrator Todd Olmstead. “Drivers have a choice: follow the law and respect their fellow drivers by refraining from drunk driving, or make the choice to drive drunk, put others at risk, and risk their own mortality. We need a commitment from every driver to keep the roads free of drunk drivers so that everyone can have a safe holiday.”

There are many options available to help impaired drivers get home safely, such as designating a sober driver or calling a taxi or rideshare. If available, use your community’s sober ride program. Remember: a few dollars spent on a ride is a lot cheaper than an OWI conviction, which can cost up to $10,000. Plan before you head out for the evening. If you see an impaired driver on the road, do not hesitate to contact law enforcement.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston say no injuries were reported following a single-vehicle accident Thursday evening on McKinley Street. Authorities report a 2012 Hyundai Sante Fe SUV driven by 19-year-old Bryan Andrew Jones, of Creston, was traveling south on McKinley Street at around 5:17-p.m., when the vehicle left the road on the right and drove with its passenger side tires in the grass. The SUV then struck City of Creston steel posts located near a driveway. The vehicle re-entered the road and eventually stopped.

When Jones contacted police, authorities say he initially told them the incident was a hit-and-run event, with a black SUV hitting his vehicle. During an investigation, however, Creston Police determined there was no other vehicle, and that Jones’ SUV had left the roadway under his control. There were visible tire tracks in the grass before the accident scene, and freshly moved dirt around the posts that were hit. Both posts had scratched and paint transfer on them that was consistent with the damage on the blue SUV Jones was driving.

The vehicle sustained $2,000 damage. No citations were issued. The Police report stated Jones “Failed to keep in [the] proper lane” (Failure to Maintain Control), and “Operator inexperience” was a factor in the accident.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Revenue has issued updated income tax withholding formulas and tables for 2024. The Department updates withholding formulas and tables when necessary to account for inflation and for changes in individual income tax liability resulting from changes in Iowa law.

New for 2024 – The Iowa withholding formula and the IA W-4 have been revised to accommodate certain changes enacted by the Iowa legislature in 2023 under Senate File 565. Regarding withholding, SF 565 replaced “number of allowances” with “amount of allowances” to be in line with federal withholding.

Because of changes under SF 565 reflected on the 2024 IA W-4 form, employees should be encouraged to file an updated Iowa W-4 using the 2024 IA W-4 form. For employees who do not file an updated W-4 using the 2024 IA W-4 form, employers should use $40 as the total allowance amount and $0 as the additional withholding amount when calculating these employees’ Iowa withholding amounts.

Employers can view the Iowa 2024 withholding formulas and tables online.

The Department has updated the online Withholding Estimator to help individuals calculate their 2024 withholding amounts. As a reminder, employers must update withholding amounts starting January 1, 2024 but employees can also make changes to their Iowa W-4 (withholding) form by contacting their employer.

Employers with questions can contact the Department at 515-281-3114 or 800-367-3388.

(Ames, Iowa/KCAU) — The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced a funding opportunity intended to strengthen infrastructure for electric vehicle charging, including charging stations. According to a release, Iowa’s share of federal funding under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program would, through this process, be used to “roll-out electric vehicle charging infrastructure within Iowa.” This would involve installing stations along Iowa’s interstates.

“Releasing this funding opportunity is a key milestone for Iowa DOT,” said Garrett Pedersen, Iowa DOT Systems Planning Bureau Director. “This is a critical step towards awarding money and getting additional electric vehicle chargers in the ground.” Applications for this opportunity are due on March 13, 2024, with the notice of awards scheduled to release about 120 days later.

Electric charging station for electric vehicles in a mall parking lot.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s website states that their NEVI Program provides “dedicated funding to States to strategically deploy EV charging infrastructure and establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access, and reliability.” As of June 2023, Iowa had over 12,800 registered electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, according to the release. Every county in the state has at least one registered.

More information can be found at iowadot.gov/iowaevplan.

(Iowa City/KCRG) — University of Iowa Health Care officials have announced plans to update its branding next year, including a new name for Mercy Iowa City. KCRG reports Mercy Hospital is expected to be renamed “University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center Downtown.” The change comes after a bankruptcy court approved UI Health Care’s purchase of Mercy Iowa City in November, ending a back-and-forth ownership dispute between UI Health Care and Mercy’s creditor, Preston Hollow Community Capital.

In a post on its website, UI Health Care said in addition to the new name for Mercy Iowa City, new logos are coming in 2024 to UI Health Care, the UI Carver College of Medicine, UI Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital, and UI Health Care Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The updated branding and logos come as UI Health Care continues to expand with a North Liberty campus, a family medicine practice and residency program in Sioux City and two urgent care clinic locations in the Quad Cities.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Republican Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley will make stops in Carroll and Treynor this Monday, Dec. 18th, and in rural Atlantic on Tuesday, Dec. 19th.  Her campaign stop in Cass County (IA) is at Wickman Chemical, northeast of Atlantic (at 53597 650th St [Highway 71], beginning at 10:15-a.m., Tuesday. Doors open at 9:15-a.m. The event is scheduled to run about 90-minutes. The public is welcome to attend the events, but you must reserve your general admission spot through Haley’s campaign website.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on the Iowa campaign trail. (RI file photo)

Nikki Haley is the former Governor of South Carolina. She served as Governor from 2011 to 2017. Haley also served as the 29th U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, from January 2017 through December 2018. In recent campaign events, she highlighted the bills she signed into law as governor, including a voter ID law, small business tax cuts, and “one of the toughest illegal immigration laws in the country,” (according to her campaign). She has also highlighted high rates of homelessness, suicide among veterans, conflicts abroad and education issues.

To solve some of the problems, Haley advocates for imposing term limits, administering a mental competency test for lawmakers over the age of 75, going after pandemic relief fraud and taking a hardline stance on the federal budget. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu announced his presidential endorsement of Haley Tuesday evening, saying she is the “candidate with the momentum to win and get our party back on track to delivering conservative victories across the country.”

(Radio Iowa) – A survey finds eight in ten American consumers experienced some type of fraud this year, and scams are ramping up with just ten shopping days until Christmas. A-A-R-P Iowa spokeswoman Alissa Brammer says we need to be especially watchful for unsolicited emails or texts about non-existent shipments. “Consumers really need to be on the lookout for those package delivery scams,” Brammer says. “We’re all ordering so many things online, and receiving gifts, that it can be tricky to keep track of all your purchases. Scammers really know that this is what’s happening with consumers, so they take advantage of that as best they can.”

At first glance, the notifications may look legitimate and appear to be checking in with a customer about something they’ve ordered, with a link to confirm where the package is in the delivery process. “Consumers click the link, and a lot of times what happens is, that allows the scammer access to your personal information,” Brammer says. “They can put malware on your computer or your phone after you click it. Or also, they oftentimes ask for your financial information, maybe saying something like, ‘We need to confirm your credit card in order for this delivery to be made.'”

If you have doubts about the message, Brammer says to scrutinize the return email address, for starters. “A lot of times scammers will have a slight misspelling in the name of the company, or it has a name that is similar to the delivery company you might expect it to be from but it’s not quite exact,” Brammer says. “Look up the name of the company to be sure you’re clear on the exact name and maybe even contact that company to see if you are expected to get a package from them.”

Older Iowans tend to be easy targets for scammers, and she suggests you check in with your parents or grandparents to make sure they’re aware of these identity thieves and how they operate. “One thing AARP completed recently was a survey of older consumers, and a lot of people failed a quiz about what kinds of common scams are out there,” Brammer says, “so more education is definitely needed in a lot of areas.”

One key finding from the survey is the dramatic increase from last year in the percentage of consumers who report receiving a false notification about a package shipment issue. Brammer says the number jumped from 29% last year to 52% this year.

(Radio Iowa) – Volunteers will start putting Christmas wreaths on the graves of veterans across the country this weekend, including those at McDivitt Grove Cemetery in Urbandale. Area veteran Dennis Appelhons asked Wreaths Across America to include McDivitt in the program. “Because we have over 100 veterans there. And at least one of them dates from the Spanish American War. We have Civil War, World War One, World War Two, Korean War,” Appelhons says.

He says it started out as a pioneer cemetery in 1855 and eventually became a family cemetery as the city grew up around it. Applehons was part of an Army Air Defense Artillery unit stationed in Korea, and at Fort Bliss, Texas, and the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. He says the 112 wreaths that will be placed on the graves of veterans in Urbandale have a significant meaning to him. “Recognition and remembrance that what all veterans did not go unnoticed or unhonored,” he says.

Applehons says he got the idea after most the V-F-W group and Legion group participated in Wreaths Across America at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery and Van Meter. He says it is something unique. “The typical Memorial Day and Veterans Day, decorations and flags would be the only two events that we see flags in recognition of those veterans,” Applehons says. “And in the middle of a winter, especially here in Iowa, to drive by and see those wreaths on those headstones, it’s quite moving.”

You may have seen the pictures of the wreaths on rows and rows of white tombstones in large military cemeteries. He says the sight is a little different in the Urbandale cemetery because there are all types of headstones and markers on the graves. “The one common thing about all of the veteran’s graves is the veteran medallion on a steel post sitting next to their headstone. What you’ll see is the wreath with a red ribbon, either propped against the headstone, or the veteran medallion that is in the ground next to it,” he explains.

Applehons says donations paid for the wreaths that will be placed Saturday. He says you can donate to help the program by going online to the Wreaths Across America website. “It’s a fairly self explanatory procedure. You will click on ‘sponsor a wreath,’ and once you’re on that page, it’ll guide you to basic information on the cost of a wreath how many you can buy, how to pay for them. And you have to designate what cemetery you want that wreath for,” he says.

Applehons says their cemetery has been assigned I-D number IA0062 and they pass out flyers or send email reminders to people in the community for donations that go to their effort. The wreath laying begins at 10 a-m Saturday and everyone is invited to come and help out.