The legislature’s top Republican says state payments to Iowa cities and counties to make up for reduced local property taxes are likely to end soon.  “One thing I know is that we can’t fund both state government and local government.” That’s House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, a Republican from Clear Lake. Upmeyer voted for the 2013 bill that ordered a 10 percent reduction in commercial property tax assessments in cities and counties.

“Some of us remember the debate back when we did that property tax bill,” Upmeyer says. “A five-year phase out or a five-year ending was contemplated in that bill and in that bill until the last moments before it was agreed to and passed so, in many people’s minds, that always had an end point.” Cities and counties are getting 150-million dollars from the State of Iowa THIS year to compensate for the reduced commercial property tax rates state officials approved five years ago.

City officials say this year’s 150-million dollar state payment isn’t covering all the lost local tax revenue and, if the state payments end, local government services will be cut. Upmeyer says it’s time to begin lowering the amount of money the state is sending to local governments because the state has other spending priorities.

“The second fastest growing expenditure in the state is actually dollars sent to local governments,” Upmeyer says. Upmeyer made her comments during taping of the “Iowa Press” program that airs this weekend.

Governor Kim Reynolds and Jack Whitver, the new Senate G-O-P leader, have expressed similar sentiments about phasing out these state payments to cities and counties. In December, Governor Reynolds said she wants city and county officials to be involved in the negotiations about how and when the payments end.

(Radio Iowa)

Saturday is St. Patrick’s Day and several law enforcement agencies plan to increase their presence on Iowa roads and highways with a Special Traffic Enforcement Project or STEP. Iowa State Patrol trooper John Farley says St. Patrick’s Day is a common day to see an increase of intoxicated drivers on the highways and especially when the holiday falls on a weekend.

He says the weekend gives people more time to celebrate and he says the Iowa State Patrol is not against the celebration, they just want everyone to do it responsibly. Farley says people who’re stopped for drunk driving often say they had no choice but to drive themselves. He says that’s not true.

“We live in a time where we have so many options — not only just the designated drivers — but we have ride-sharing services, obviously cell phones at our disposal all the time so that we can easily call a cab service or any different options that we have,” according toe Farley. He says the STEP program provides extra funding to put more troopers on the road.

He says they will have their normal number of troopers, but will also have some working on overtime to help with the project. Troopers and other officers will be looking for drunk drivers and other violations throughout the weekend.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — An Okoboji resident has been arrested and charged with 19 felony charges: Six counts of Forgery, six counts of Credit Card Fraud, six counts of Identity Theft, and one count of Commission of Specified Unlawful Activity.

48-year old Michele Renee Zeisler, was arrested Friday, March 16th, in Arnold’s Park, following a lengthy investigation by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.  The charges will be filed in Woodbury County.

MICHELE RENEE ZEISLER

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ivanka Trump is headed to Iowa to promote workforce development. The daughter of President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit a learning center in the Des Moines suburb of Waukee on Monday.

The Waukee Innovation and Learning Center is part of the local school district and houses a program aimed at partnering students with businesses. Ivanka Trump, a senior adviser to her father, says she’s visiting the facility to promote the Trump administration’s infrastructure plan, which includes a focus on workforce development. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds is expected to join her.

Ivanka Trump will be in Iowa the same day her father and first lady Melania Trump are in New Hampshire to discuss combating the nation’s opioid crisis.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Officials say the injured mother of two children killed in a Waterloo house fire has also died. The Courier reports that 33-year-old Amber Dawn Everman died shortly before noon Friday at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, where she had been taken after being pulled from the burning home Thursday morning by firefighters.

Two of her children also pulled from the fire — 9-year-old Amari Burkett and 6-year-old Ava Everman — were pronounced dead Thursday at a Waterloo hospital. A third child, a girl, was able to escape by crawling through her bedroom window.
Authorities have not yet determined how the fire started.

Firefighters say several dogs and a cat also were killed in the fire.

Firefighters pulled three people from a burning home at 1815 Commercial St., Waterloo, Iowa, on Thursday, March 15, 2018. (Jeff Reinitz/The Waterloo Courier via AP)

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports 42-year old Nathaniel Gene Teeters, of Yorktown, was arrested in Clarinda a little after 3-p.m. Friday (today), on Page County warrants. The warrants were for Violation of Probation and Domestic Abuse Assault impeding air / blood flow causing bodily injury.

Teeters was held being without Bond in the Page County Jail. The Page County Sheriff’s Office and the Clarinda Police Department worked together in taking Teeters into custody.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — At least two dozen cats and some cat carcasses have been removed from a Des Moines home that authorities say had several inches of feces and garbage on the floor. Police officers and Animal Rescue League of Iowa workers responded Wednesday to odor complaints about the house. Des Moines police Sgt. Paul Parizek says charges are pending against the resident. The city maximum is six dogs and cats per household, and not more than three can be dogs.

Parizek says the Rescue League identified eight dead cats and kittens, but there may be more because several carcasses were so decomposed they weren’t readily identifiable as cats. The Rescue League set out traps to catch and rescue an estimated 10 more cats hiding in air ducts or the house walls.