(Radio Iowa) – A bipartisan bill targeting meth breezed through the U-S Senate last (Monday) night that was co-sponsored by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and California Democrat Dianne Feinstein. Grassley, a Republican, says the bill aims to bring better help to addicts and greater punishment for dealers. “The bill designates meth as an emerging threat,” Grassley says, “and directs the Office of National Drug Control Policy to develop a nationwide plan to address the rising use of meth.” Grassley says the legislation, called the Methamphetamine Response Act, aims to fight addiction in rural communities and beef up the government’s ability to fight the drug.

“This bill unanimously passed the Senate last night,” Grassley says. “It’s now up to the House to act so that we can get this bill on the books and prevent more devastation in our communities caused by that poison.”  Opioids and fentanyl are getting a lot of national attention, according to Grassley, because those highly addictive substances are “flooding across the Southern border” and they keep evolving to stay ahead of law enforcement. While opioids are a big worry, he says meth is also a primary concern. “This drug is not new, however drug traffickers are finding new and harmful ways to increase methamphetamine’s potency and distribution,” Grassley says, “and obviously, this is spiking overdose rates.”

A state report found the number of overdose deaths in Iowa in 2020 from opioids, like fentanyl, and stimulants such as meth, hit a record high of 369. That death rate is up almost 18-percent from the previous year.

(Malvern, Iowa) – The owner of a fourth-generation family-owned grocery store in Malvern, issued a statement on social media this (Tuesday) morning. Tom Mulholland wrote in a Facebook post, “To the firefighters and first responders that came from miles around; I say “THANK YOU. Firefighters from every community within 30 miles came to help, 17 communities was the number I heard, and it was the efforts of all of them that saved my neighbors, and mere words cannot express my gratitude for that. I am facing many headaches, issues, and problems from this fire for months to come, but knowing that my neighbors are not injured or facing devastating losses that they had no control over makes this easier.”

He also apologized for a boil order issued, when the City of Malvern’s water supply was exhausted to help fight the fire. “I apologize for the inconvenience it will cause for hundreds of people,” Mulholland said. He added, “I have reached out to people at my warehouse and they are working on getting a water delivery to the community as soon as they can. I wish I could do more to help.”

Part of Mulholland’s early-morning post included a message to his great grandfather and grandfather who ran the store more than a decade ago: “I am sincerely sorry for the loss of what so many worked so hard for, for well over a century. The blood, sweat, and tears of many rest there, and memories for many more.”  Tom Mulholland promised he would work to insure employees are taken care of. But less than 12-hours after the fire, the future of the business was uncertain.

Mulholland Grocery Store fire (Photo from the Mulholland Grocery Facebook page)

Mulholland wrote “To my customers; I have no idea what the future holds at this time. If you had already placed orders with us for the holidays, I apologize that you will be forced to scramble to cover what you were expecting. To my friends, customers, and supporters near and far, again, words cannot express the gratitude for the love and support I have been shown over the past 12 hours.”

The first crews arrived on the scene at around 5:45-p.m. For the next six-hours, over a dozen fire departments and numerous personnel worked to contain the flames and prevent adjacent structures from burning. Just before the roof collapsed at 7:30-p.m. an urgent “Evacuate the roof!” call went out, with firefighters scrambling to safety. No injuries were reported. A cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

Among the fire departments and emergency personnel responding to the scene at 409 Main Street in Malvern, in addition to Malvern Fire, were crews and equipment from: Hastings, Silver City, Glenwood, Macedonia, Carson, Sidney, Henderson, Randolph, Shenandoah, Oak Township Fire and Pacific Junction.

(Harlan) – Shelby County Emergency Management Coordinator Alex Longo reports Shelby County will be in a burn ban, effective immediately, and lasting until 8-a.m. Thursday, Dec. 16th.  A Burn Ban is issued by local or state officials, at the request of local fire chiefs, during periods of extremely dry conditions or under other conditions, when open burning may constitute a danger to life or property.

There is a High Wind Warning in effect for Wednesday across most of Iowa. Any fires that do start, either accidentally or otherwise, can be explosive and spread quickly. Violating the Burn Ban is a simple misdemeanor, punishable by a fine. For more information, call 712-755-2124.

More area News from Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) – A study finds Iowa has the highest rate among all states for detaining black youth, and that disparity will be one focus of an event today (Tuesday) examining racial inequalities in the criminal justice system. Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP, founded the Iowa Summit on Justice and Disparities. She says the racial disparity among youth is tied to the disproportionate number of black adults in Iowa jails. Andrews says, “Studies show that having an experience with the juvenile justice system exponentially increases the risk for being involved in the criminal justice system as people become adults.”

According to The Sentencing Project, Iowa detains black youth in juvenile facilities at a rate more than double the national average. Four percent of Iowans are black, but blacks make up 25 percent of the state’s prison population. The Sentencing Project report says black Iowans are being incarcerated at nine times the rate of white Iowans. “When we look at those stats, behind those stats are individuals and behind those individuals are families,” she says.

Another focus of the summit will be the influence of prosecutors and county attorneys on racial disparities in the justice system. This is the ninth year for the Iowa Summit on Justice and Disparities. It will be held at the FFA Enrichment Center in Ankeny.

(Radio Iowa) – Those who gathered recently in Des Moines to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor last week, were not sure that any Iowans who survived the attack were still alive — but Radio Iowa has found at least two. One survivor is 99-year-old Francis Riley, who lives in Cedar Rapids. His granddaughter, Sherry Steine-Ross, says he joined the Navy in 1933 as there weren’t many jobs available. “Joined and got stationed in Hawaii in June of 1941 — and I am sure he thought he won the jackpot,” Steine-Ross says. She says her grandfather was stationed on the U-S-S Vestal — which was a repair ship that was tied up the U-S-S Arizona. Her grandfather was preparing to raise the Hawaiian flag, known as the Union Jack. “They were I believe at least two minutes away from actually flying the Union Jack when the Japanese bombers started coming over. He was roped to the Arizona, so the hits from the Arizona also ricochet and hit the Vestal — some of the explosions hit the Vestal. And the Vestal was hit twice also,” she says.

Riley got an up-close look at the attackers. “He heard this noise coming and he looked up and he saw the red flag and he knew it wasn’t good. They were so close to the boat that…he saw a bomber and looked him in the eye and waved at him as they were bombing. And he said he made eye contact with him. And he said it was just horrific, there were fires, explosions, flames everywhere,” according to Steine-Ross. Steine-Ross says her grandfather actually called for tugs to pull the Vestal away from the Arizona after the commander arrived back on the ship. Riley suffered burns in the attack and lost fellow sailors. She says something that happened on the Arizona after the attack stuck with her grandfather. “You could hear them tapping morse code from the Arizona, the men that were still alive, he said you could hear that for weeks. He had tears rolling down his face. So, the things that he talks about like that actually had a tremendous impact on me as much as the bombing itself,” she says.

Riley was a signalman and traveled all over the world during and after the war. “He made it through the entire war and then ended up at the Bikini Islands in 1946. So, he was involved in all aspects from 1941 to 1946,” Steine-Ross says. He witnessed the atomic bomb tests on Bikini Island as one of his last assignments before leaving the Navy in 1946. Steine-Ross says her grandfather didn’t talk about Pearl Harbor and the war very much until she asked him to come and speak about it to one of her classes in college. She says he then would talk about it a little more. Steine-Ross says her grandfather did return to Pearl Harbor to attend the 50th-anniversary ceremony.

“He thought that the men who served should have gotten a lot more attention than all of the politicians who were there,” Steine-Ross says with a laugh. “He says it was very emotional before the ceremony, but the ceremony itself he thought the people who were there should have been more highlighted than the people who were speaking.” Steine-Ross says her grandfather is in good health with the normal aches and pains for a 99-year-old. Another Iowa Pearl Harbor survivor is Alvin, “Stub” Lindquist of Albert City, who celebrated his 102nd birthday on December 11th. Online information shows he enlisted in the U-S Navy in December 1937. He was called to active duty in July 1938 and served for eight years. He served on the U-S-S Tennessee from 1938 to 1942 — and was on board when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

The Red Oak Police Department reports 29-year-old Amanda Joy Williams, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 3:50-p.m. Monday. Williams was arrested in the 300 block of W. 4th Street, for Disorderly Conduct. She was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The governor’s budget director says there’s likely to be more than two BILLION dollars in the state’s Taxpayer Relief Fund by this summer. There’s more than a billion dollars in the fund now. Kraig Paulsen, the acting director of the Iowa Department of Management, says tax collections are ahead of expectations – and significantly above state spending plans.

“Six and a half months from now, there’s going to be a pretty significant ending balance and so I think the General Assembly and the governor are in a position to do some really good things for the taxpayers of Iowa,” Paulsen says. In a written statement, Republican Governor Kim Reynolds called the over-collection of taxes unethical and said she will explore making significant tax cuts in 2022. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver of Ankeny says cutting personal income taxes is at the top of the G-O-P’s 2022 legislative agenda.

“We’re shooting to take another big reduction in the taxes Iowans pay,” Whitver says, “and we want to continue to make us one of the most competitive states in the country.” Whitver’s ultimate goal is complete elimination of Iowa’s income tax for individuals and couples. Whitver says Republicans would consider reducing the income tax for CORPORATIONS — if there’s a move to end or reduce refundable tax CREDITS for corporations.

“That may or may not come to fruition,” Whitver says. “We’re focused on the individual income tax rate in the Senate. We have been for five years. That’s where we’re seeing a lot of progress. That’s where we’re seeing a lot of economic growth because the individual income tax rate not only affects every individual person — every single taxpayer, but it also affects most of the businesses in this state.” That’s because most business owners report the revenue from their business on their PERSONAL income tax returns.

Democrats warn state tax revenue has been boosted by federal pandemic relief and is likely to fall as the tax cuts Republicans previously approved take effect. And Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville says complete elimination of Iowa’s personal income tax would lead to a dramatic increase in the state sales tax. “Our analysis was you’d have to go up 30 to 32% to make up that revenue, which is obviously a non-starter,” Wahls says. “Not only would that have an enormously negative consequence on middle class families, it’s just not fair.”

Wahls says Democrats favor targeted income tax cuts for low and moderate Iowans rather than an across the board reduction that yields a higher proportion of relief for the wealthiest Iowans. “Tax policy, you know, it can be like watching paint dry,” Wahls says. “It can be really tough to follow all the numbers and what have you, but it’s just critically, critically important because that’s ultimately what structures all of the services that so many Iowans depend on.”

Wahls says an overall tax reduction would lead to cuts in state spending on schools and in the Medicaid program that provides health care coverage and other services to 775-thousand Iowans.

(Malvern, Iowa) – Firefighters from Malvern and at least a dozen other area departments were on the scene until just before midnight, Monday, battling a large a structure fire in Malvern. The call about a blaze at Mulholland Grocery, 409 Main St. in Malvern, was sent out at around 5:45-p.m. According to reports, employees noticed the fire and tried to put it out with extinguishers, but it became too much to handle. After Malvern Fire arrived on the scene, they quickly requested Red Oak’s ladder truck and one other ladder, in addition to the departments and personnel on hand.

Additional tanker support was being provided by crews from Hastings, Silver City, Glenwood, Macedonia, Carson and Sidney.  Henderson, Randolph, Shenandoah and Oak Township Fire were also on the scene. Pacific Junction’s 3,000 gallon tanker was requested, along with another tanker with 5,000 gallons of water.

Firefighters were in a defensive mode, trying to prevent flames from spreading to adjacent buildings. Authorities confirmed at 7:30-p.m., that the roof and second floor of the structure had collapsed. Crews were evacuated from the roof at around 7:15-p.m. when the danger of collapse became imminent. Crews were also attempting to slow down the amount of water being used from hydrants to lessen the strain on the city’s water system.

There were no injuries reported. Malvern Grocery is a fourth generation full service grocery store, specializing in premium quality meats, homemade fresh and smoked sausages and other homemade items.