All six Democratic gubernatorial candidates support expansion of the state’s medical marijuana law. John Norris, a long-time aide to former Governor Tom Vilsack, says Republican Governor Reynolds should respond to critics who contend cannabis products intended for medical use will be exploited as recreational drugs.

“The governor’s not leading when she needs to,” Norris said. “People are suffering in this state. She’s spending all her political capital on tax cuts for millionaires. As governor, I would spend some political capital on educating Iowans about how this helps people. Let’s get over this paranoia…and get this fixed for people who need it.”

Ross Wilburn of Ames, the former mayor of Iowa City, says it’s an “over-reaction” to suggest there is a “direct line” between medical cannabis and recreational marijuana.
“There are people who are hurting now,” Wilburn said. “My mother died of cancer in 1985 when I was 20. She could have certainly benefited from medical marijuana.”

And Wilburn says his father, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, could have used medical marijuana as pain medication in the last two weeks of his life. Cathy Glasson, a nurse from Coralville, says medical cannabis has been very effective in treating lots of very serious ailments. “Medical cannabis is actually used to treat opioid addition,” Glasson said. “So evidence is showing that it’s actually beneficial in keeping (prescription opioids) from being a gateway drug.”

Andy McGuire, a medical doctor, says doctors, not politicians, should decide which conditions can be effectively treated with cannabis. “Doctors, looking at scientific medical literature, ought to be making those decisions,” McGuire said. “This is the problem. You don’t want to have the legislature, you don’t want to have the governor involved in this. You want to have it done by physicians, with their patients.”

Fred Hubbell, a Des Moines businessman, supports that approach, too. “If we’re really committed to quality, affordable health care for all Iowans…the science is clear that there are a lot more medical illnesses and issues that medical marijuana can be actually be very beneficial for, much broader than what we allow in our state,” Hubbell said. “Other states have gone a lot more broader than we have.”

Hubbell also supports letting cannabis oils, pills and creams with a higher concentration of the drug T-H-C be sold in the state. Nate Boulton, a state senator from Des Moines, says the medical marijuana law must be expanded or the businesses that just won state licenses to sell cannabis products here won’t be profitable. “We’re not going to get more providers coming into our state to invest in a medical cannabis solution if we don’t have more accessibility,” Boulton said. “We’re not going to get people who are going to come here, only to be able to offer to a small number of Iowans.”

The candidates made their comments Wednesday night, during a 90-minute forum on Iowa Public Television. Current state law has set up a system for allowing cannabis products to be used as treatment for a limited number of conditions. Five Iowa dispensing sites have been chosen for Iowa-produced cannabis oils, pills and creams, starting this December.

(Radio Iowa)

Four years from now, telephone companies and cable companies will pay about 30 million dollars less in Iowa property taxes as a result of legislation Governor Kim Reynolds has approved. Buildings and cell towers will remain subject to local property tax assessments, but property taxes on “transmission equipment” like wires, cables and fiber will be phased out. Republican Representative Chip Baltimore of Boone says that brings property taxation on telecommunications companies in line with how other commercial property is taxed.

“This is an important bill in terms of trying to free up dollars to encourage these telecommunications companies to invest in that ‘last mile’ of infrastructure,” Baltimore says. “It’s going to be very helpful for those companies to do that, especially in rural Iowa.”

But Democrats like Senator Chaz Allen of Newton complained there’s nothing in the bill that forces companies doing business in Iowa, but headquartered out of state, to use the tax savings to expand broadband service in Iowa. “I’m just saying if we’re going to give this tax cut, Iowans need to know that this money’s going to stay in here, be reinvested,” Allen said, “not that this money is going to leave this state.”

Allen called for yearly public reports showing how the cable and telephone companies use the tax savings, but Republicans voted the idea down. “That’s sort of like us having the Department of Revenue saying: ‘Hey, we want to know how you’re going to spend your tax money when you get a return.”

That’s Senator Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull. Another Republican legislator said telecommunications companies should be able to use the tax savings to do things like pay investors or hire more workers if that’s a higher priority to the business.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A monthly survey of bankers shows that the economy is slowly improving in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says that while commodity prices have improved recently, they remain below breakeven for a large share of grain farmers.

The overall Rural Mainstreet index slipped slightly to 56.3 in May, up from 53.5 in April. It’s the highest level since July 2013. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy in the months ahead, while a score below 50 indicates a shrinking economy.
Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

More than one-third of bank CEOs identified rising regulatory costs as the top economic challenge to their operations over the next five years.

The Glenwood Police Department reports 32-year old Michael Phillips, of Glenwood, was arrested Wednesday. Phillips was arrested on a Pottawattamie County warrant for Theft in the 1st Degree. His cash or surety bond was set at $10,000.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children along with the Camden Police Department in South Carolina, are asking for the public’s assistance to locate a missing 2 year-old child. Dakota Ray was taken on April 15, 2018 by her parents William and Jessica Ray. According to law enforcement both William and Jessica are believed to be heavy methamphetamine users and law enforcement is concerned for the child’s wellbeing. The child and her parents were captured in surveillance images on Monday, May 14, 2018 at a hospital in Iowa. Law enforcement then received information that they may now be in Minnesota.

Dakota Ray

William & Jessica Ray

1996 Ford Aerostar van suspects are in

The child and companions are traveling in a 1996 gold Ford Aerostar van and may be frequently changing the license plate on the vehicle. According to Camden Police Department It is possible that they may be begging or asking strangers for money. The child and companions are also believed to be sleeping in their vehicle.

• Dakota is 2 years old. She is 2 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 25 pounds and has blonde hair and blue eyes

• Jessica is 36 years old. She is 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 112 pounds and has long light brown hair and blue eyes.

• William is 44 years old. He is 6 feet 1 inches tall and weighs 340 pounds and has light brown hair and brown eyes.

If anyone has seen Dakota, William or Jessica Ray contact the Camden Police Department at 1-888-CRIMESC (1-888-274-6372) or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

OSKALOOSA, Iowa (AP) — A southeast Iowa police officer accused of attacking her girlfriend has been fired. Oskaloosa Police Chief Jake McGee told The Oskaloosa Herald that Janay Pritchett was terminated last week. He declined to comment further. Pritchett’s lawyer, Jeffrey Bauer Jr., said Thursday that she intends to plead not guilty to the three charges: harassment, domestic abuse assault, display or use weapon and domestic abuse assault, second offense.

Court records say Pritchett’s girlfriend has told officers that she and Pritchett were arguing May 3 when Pritchett kicked her in the chest, pulled a pocketknife and cut her on the left side of her neck. The girlfriend said Pritchett then threatened to shoot her with a shotgun. Pritchett says in a court document that she didn’t pull a knife or cut the girlfriend.