OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AP) – Authorities say two workers were treated for smoke inhalation after a fire at a construction site at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a news release that a section of duct caught fire around 1:50 p.m. Thursday in a lower level of the U.S. Strategic Command headquarters building project, where welding was being done. The Corps of Engineers is in charge of the project.

Offutt firefighters and fire crews from adjacent Bellevue responded to the site near the base’s southern entrance. The two workers were treated at the site and were taken to a hospital for further evaluation before being discharged. Their names haven’t been released. The fire cause is being investigated.

Police in Creston report an Adair County man was arrested on drug charges at around 1:23-a.m. today (Friday). 38-year old Michael Ross Waddingham, of Orient, was arrested near the intersection of Townline Road and Osage Street, on a charge of Possession with the intent to sell or manufacture/Methamphetamine – under 5 grams, and Introducing intoxicants or drugs into an Institution (Jail). Waddingham was being held in the Union County Jail on a $10,000 cash bond.

At the same time and place, 23-year old Dakota Eugene Brown, of Creston, was arrested for Driving While Suspended. He was later released from the Union County Jail on a $300 cash bond. Creston Police said also, at around 12:45-a.m. today (Friday), 31-year old John Lyle VanScoy, of Creston, was arrested on Highway 34 on charges that include eluding, driving while barred, OWI/1st offense, Possession of a Controlled Substance/2nd Offense, Possession of drug paraphernalia, and interference with official acts. He was later released on a $5,000 cash bond.

Thursday afternoon, Creston Police arrested 19-year old Tyson Malik Smiley, of Creston, for Theft in the 5th Degree. He was released from custody on a Promise to Appear in Court. At the same time and place, 19-year old Alijah Djon Shemar Thomas, of Des Moines, was arrested on a charge of Forgery. He was later released on a $5,000 cash bond.

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature has approved a budget bill that would give up millions in federal Medicaid money to remove funding for Planned Parenthood. The Senate voted 28-21 Thursday night along party lines for the roughly $1.7 billion health and human services budget bill. The House approved the bill Wednesday. It now heads to Gov. Terry Branstad.

The legislation would create a state-run family planning program that excludes organizations that provide abortions. Iowa would give up federal Medicaid money and instead spend about $3.1 million in state dollars.

Democrats criticized the decision amid budget constraints. Several areas of state government are receiving less money in the roughly $7.2 billion budget that goes into effect in July. Lawmakers are nearing adjournment, but it’s unclear when they’ll complete their work.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa lawmakers are headed back to the Capitol as they attempt to adjourn the 2017 legislative session. Lawmakers were scheduled Friday to try to pass a bill that helps make up the roughly $7.2 billion budget. The so-called standing appropriation bill includes policy and spending across several state agencies.

The GOP-controlled chambers debated into Thursday night to complete spending bills on health and human services and administration and regulation. They’ve already approved most budget bills that will require Gov. Terry Branstad’s signature.

It’s unclear what day lawmakers will actually adjourn. There’s no official end date, though their reimbursements for daily expenses ended Tuesday. GOP lawmakers also appear at odds over bills that fund water quality initiatives and expand medical marijuana.

A man and woman from Nebraska were arrested early this morning in Council Bluffs, in connection with a reported stolen vehicle. A Council Bluffs Police Officer on routine patrol at around 1:25-a.m. today (Friday), located in the 100 bock of S. 32nd Street, an occupied, 2007 Nissan Versa that was reported stolen out of Papillion, NE., on April 19th.

Watts

Mooney

26-year old Brittany Watts, and 25-year old Dakota Mooney, both of Omaha, were arrested for Theft 2nd Degree/Possession of a Stolen Vehicle. Watts was also found to have valid extraditable warrants out of Sarpy County, NE.

Council Bluffs Police would like to remind the public to make sure they secure their vehicles and not to leave their vehicles running when unattended.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A former teacher is scheduled to go on trial in Des Moines June 26 on allegations that he had inappropriately touched and kissed students in his anatomy class. Thirty-three-year-old Dustin Mead pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by a school employee. His attorney, Guy Cook, says Mead denies any wrongdoing.

A Johnston Community School District spokeswoman says Mead has resigned. A court document says Mead gave one girl grades she didn’t earn, made sexual comments and groped her.

Police in Red Oak late Thursday night arrested a man on a felony charge of Burglary in the 2nd Degree, and an aggravated misdemeanor charge of Operating a Vehicle without Owner’s consent. 40-year old Billy Ray Hunter, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 11-p.m. in the 400 block of W. Coolbaugh Street and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $10,000.

Republicans in the legislature have approved two bills that doom the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. However, closing the research center seems to endanger donations to I-S-U that were specifically FOR the center. Mark Rasmussen, the center’s director, has begun notifying researchers who got grants from the center.”The way the bill is written, we have to start winding it down almost immediately,” he says. “As you can imagine with anything like this, we let out two- to three-year grants, so we’ve always got projects in the pipeline that are either just starting or are in the middle of their lifespan.”

Democrats in the legislature have been pleading with Republicans to abandon their plan to close the Leopold Center. Senator Bill Dotzler is a Democrat from Waterloo.
“This center at Iowa State is more than what a lot of you may realize,” Dotzler said. “…It’s unfortunate that this became some kind of a political game, I guess in a way, to shuffle the money away from something that does so much for sustainable agriculture.”

Over the past three decades, the center has funded more than 600 research projects. Republicans included language in a budget bill that calls for closing the center. A DIFFERENT bill re-directs nearly 400-thousand state tax dollars that would have been spent at the Leopold Center. Another I-S-U research center that’s specifically focused on manure and fertilizer management would get the money. Republican Senator Tom Shipley, a farmer from Nodaway, defends the move.

“We believe the Nutrient Research Center can do a lot of those things, if those projects have merit, not to say that the others haven’t — but,” Shipley says. “I have a lot of faith in the people at Iowa State University. I’d better have because I’ve got a piece of paper that says they taught me a few things. If they see other opportunities or ways to make these things work, I have every confidence that they’ll be able to do that.”

Republicans in the legislature want the Leopold Center to “cancel any existing grant or project that is not in the process of being completed.” It’s unclear how Governor Terry Branstad views this move. During his weekly news conference on Monday, Branstad did not respond directly to a question about closing the Leopold Center.

(Radio Iowa)

Governor Terry Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds have asked legislators to set aside 150-thousand dollars to cover “transition” expenses when Reynolds takes over as governor after Branstad resigns to become U-S ambassador to China. Senator Tod Bowman, a Democrat from Maquoketa, says that “seems excessive.””While the state’s in the middle of budget mess, it’s extravagant and unnecessary to move the lieutenant governor from one room of the capitol to the other,” Bowman said.

He added “$150,000 may not seem like a lot to you, but the median income for a family in the state of Iowa is $55,000. That’s almost taking three families’ total wealth for the year.” But Senator Charles Schneider, a Republican from West Des Moines, says much of that 150-thousand dollars may cover exit packages for departing Branstad staff. “For example, the governor’s office will have to cash out vacation time and sick time and other time off and there are other expenses that go along with it, too,” Schneider says.

The Branstad/Reynolds office budget is about two-point-two MILLION dollars, with about two dozen authorized full-time staffing positions. “Anytime there’s a transition, there will be staff turnover,” Reynolds says. “They’ll be looking at other opportunities and so I want the flexibility to address that.” Reynolds isn’t  “Whenever there’s a transition, you have some staff turn-over, you have technology, there’s some additional potential travel, supplies,” she says.

A 150-thousand dollar transition budget would be six times larger than the budget Republican legislators established in 1998 for Democratic Governor Tom Vilsack’s transition. Eight years later, Vilsack and legislators provided a 170-thousand dollar budget for the transition when Democrat Chet Culver took over as governor. Democrats in the Senate like Matt McCoy of Des Moines tried to erase the 150-thousand dollars for the Branstad-to-Reynolds transition from a budget bill.
“I think this is unnecessary,” McCoy says. “I think it’s wasteful.”

Senate Republicans like Schneider prevailed and the money is included in a big budget bill that cleared the senate late Thursday afternoon.”It does not seem like an unreasonable request to us in light of previous circumstances and prior precedent,” Schneider said.

Republican legislators have most of their work done on the ENTIRE state budget for next year. There are just a few decisions left before lawmakers can end the 2017 legislative session. That may happen sometime today (Friday) or tomorrow (Saturday).

(Radio Iowa)