Two people were killed, a third person was hurt, in a collision early this (Friday) morning in Marshall County near the intersection of highways 14 and 96.  Marshall County Sheriff Steve Hoffman says it involved a pick up truck and a pair of commercial vehicles. In addition there are spilled commercial loads. The state D-O-T has blocked traffic at both the Albion turnoff at State Highway 330 and the Liscomb turnoff on State Highway 14 at Marshall County road E-18, traffic is asked to avoid the area. Sheriff Hoffman says investigation and clean up is expected to take some time to complete.

(Radio Iowa)

Used auto sales, once again, topped the list of complaints consumers filed last year with Iowa’s Consumer Protection Division. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says over 2,800 written complaints were investigated last year and 207 related to used vehicle sales practices. “Most the questions we have and complaints concerning used cars has to do with credit terms,” Miller said.

The top three “sources” for complaints filed last year went unchanged from 2015. Following used auto sales, consumers issued the most complaints about home improvement work, followed by home mortgage terms. “In some cases, it’s sort of an honest dispute between an honest consumer and an honest business person, so we try to play sort of a mediating role there,” Miller said. “Other times, there’s significant fraud and we take that very seriously.”

Miller suggests doing you’re homework before signing on the dotted line with any major purchase. “Deal with people who have a good reputation,” Miller said. “You can contact the Better Business Bureau, for instance.”
==
2016 Top Ten Consumer Protection Division Complaints

Category Complaints

1. Used vehicle sales practices 207
2. Home improvements 172
3. Home mortgage 149
4. Internet service providers and bundles 135
5. Cell phones 104
6. Magazine and newspaper subscriptions 93
7. Debt collection 92
8. Auto repair 69
9. New vehicle sales and leases 64
10. Satellite TV service 63

http://www.IowaAttorneyGeneral.gov

(Corrects # of injuries from 1st posted report) The Creston Police Department says two women were injured when two motorcycles collided Thursday evening. The accident happened at around 5:50-p.m. at the intersection of Highway 25 & N. Sumner Avenue. Officials say a 2002 Honda motorcycle driven by 23-year old Kolby John Shaw, and a 2007 Victory cycle driven by 22-year old Christopher Warren Reed, both of Creston, were riding together when Reed tried to make a left turn off of N. Sumner Avenue onto Highway 25. Shaw was following too close, and could not stop in-time. His cycle struck Reed’s, causing a total of $3,000 damage.

A passenger on Shaw’s motorcycle, 23-year old Leigha Nicole Robbins, of Creston, and 20-year old Lauren Marie Griffith, of Greenfield, who was a passenger on Reed’s cycle, suffered minor/unknown injuries and were transported by ambulance to the hospital in Creston to be checked out and treated.

A traffic stop this (Friday) morning in Red Oak, resulted in the arrest of a woman on drug charges. Red Oak Police stopped a vehicle a little after 12-a.m. at the intersection of Highway 34 and N. 8th Street.  As a result, 59-year old Christy Lee Rosenthal, of Stanton, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Driving While Suspended. Rosenthal was also cited for an equipment violation, driving without valid insurance, and no registration. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond.

The head of the union that represents 40-thousand state and local government workers in Iowa plans to sue, in hopes of blocking a new state that would reduce collective bargaining rights for public sector unions.  Danny Homan – President of AFSCME Council 61, says “This law is unconstitutional.” He announced the pending lawsuit late Thursday afternoon, shortly after the Iowa Senate gave final approval to the bill. Critics say the bill is a farewell gift to Governor Terry Branstad before he resigns and leaves for his new post as U.S. Ambassador to China.

Homan said to cheering union members in the audience, “Well, I’m giving Terry a different present tomorrow. I’m giving him a lawsuit.” Homan’s union has been bargaining with the Branstad Administration and is due to present the union’s final offer today (Friday). If Branstad signs the bill into law quickly, it could force negotiations on a two-year contract to start from scratch under new rules. Homan expects the union’s lawyer will seek a temporary injunction in district court that would put the law on hold while the case makes its way through the courts.

Wisconsin’s governor enacted a similar law in 2011 and it withstood a legal challenge in that state’s courts. “The Wisconsin lawsuit and the Iowa lawsuit are going to be completely different because the laws are different. Heck, the supreme court there is different because the supreme court is an elected supreme court. They run as a partisan body,” Homan says. “I believe we’ll get a much better shake with the Iowa Supreme Court….at least that’s my hope.”

Homan and his union have sued Branstad before, accusing the governor of lacking the legislature’s authorization to close state institutions like the state-run juvenile home in Toledo and Iowa Workforce Development offices around the state. The court ruled in Branstad’s favor in those cases.

(Radio Iowa)

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Senate has approved a bill that would greatly reduce negotiating power for public sector unions in the state. The GOP-led chamber voted 29-21 Thursday, with all Democrats and an independent opposed. The vote followed lengthy debate in the chamber that started Wednesday morning and entered the next day. The Republican-majority House approved the measure 53-47 about an hour earlier. The bill now heads to Gov. Terry Branstad, who supports the measure.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa union and school leaders are rushing to complete contracts before collective bargaining legislation surging through the Statehouse becomes state law. The legislation’s mirror versions went from House and Senate committee hearings to floor debate in a week. Iowa teachers union president Tammy Wawro told The Des Moines Register that more than 140 districts settled contracts in the past week and seven of 40 districts with multiyear contracts extended them.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Six former employees of a southwest Iowa state facility that treats people with intellectual or developmental disabilities have been charged with mistreating facility residents. The Des Moines Register reports that police said Thursday the six ex-workers were charged in arrest warrants. The charges come six weeks after the Iowa Department of Human Services disclosed that 12 workers at the Glenwood State Resource Center had quit or were fired over the allegations.

WAUKON, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Natural Resources Department has reported a rare sighting of a predatory mammal known as a fisher. The department says on its Facebook page that a trail camera captured an image of one in November on a wooded hillside in Allamakee (al-uh-muh-KEE) County. The department says the photo is the first documented sighting of a fisher in Iowa in about 150 years. It’s believed to have come from southeast Minnesota.