The Glenwood Police Department reports two arrests took place, Tuesday. 52-year old Terry Jennings, of Glenwood, was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $300. And, 36-year old Randy Burton, of Glenwood, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. His bond was set at $1,000.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office also reports two arrests. 19-year old Jeremiah Michael Abdo, of Omaha, was arrested just before 1-a.m. today (Wednesday), for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possessing Contraband. His bond was set at $6,000. And, at around 10-p.m. Tuesday, 50-year old Jame Kent Otte, of Red Oak, was arrested for OWI/2nd offense, and Driving While Revoked. Bond was set at $3,000.

Iowa’s next governor says she’s reviewing different ways to make Iowa’s income taxes “simpler and flatter.”  “There’s a lot of different scenarios that we’re looking at, how we get the biggest bang for the buck, but have it impact all Iowans in a positive way and so we’re going to continue to run the numbers and you will see something with that. You will.”

Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds will take over as governor when Terry Branstad resigns to become ambassador to China. Reynolds says since lower-than-expected tax revenue has forced reductions in the state budget, now is not the time to make “comprehensive” changes to Iowa’s tax system, but she’s hinting 2018 may be the prime time. “We have to do it,” she says, “because that’s what’s going to continue to make us competitive not only in the nation, but around the world.”

Reynolds says shrinking the number of income tax brackets, cutting the CORPORATE income tax rate AND getting rid of the deduction for FEDERAL income taxes paid are all ideas being considered. “I just had an individual tell me that his son, who’s in the military, is retiring in Texas because of their tax policy and it’s about a $6000 savings and he wants to come back to Iowa and so I told him to tell his son not to hang any pictures,” Reynolds says. “to not get too settled in, that we’re going to work to, hopefully, make Iowa more competitive.”

Reynolds, though, isn’t suggesting Iowa completely eliminate the income tax. “I don’t know if we can get there, but by making it simpler and flatter is a really good place for us to start because, you know, we do have the federal deductability…but it’s too complex,” Reynolds says. “They’re not going to take the time to figure it out…so we need to have it be a bullet that says, screams: ‘We’re competitive and we want you to be here in the state.'”

Reynolds spoke early this (Wednesday) morning to a crowd of more than 100 at the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale. The first question from the crowd was about the timing of Branstad’s exit.

(Radio Iowa)

Two Iowa casinos were issued penalties from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission Tuesday for gambling violations. Harrah’s Casino in Council Bluffs was fined three-thousand dollars for allowing a person who had signed up for a self-ban to get onto the gambling floor and win a jackpot. Casino vice president, Janae Sternberg, says this case revealed an issue with their screening system. She says the casino management system is usually foolproof, but in this case the person involved moved to a different state and changed their name.

Sternberg says the person was named Smith and that added to problem as the system went through thousands of customers at casinos with that name. “Unfortunately it was a very common name and it did not flag on the birth date and the last name,” Sternberg says. She says they’ve made an adjustment to check more information when someone wins a jackpot.

“We’ve implemented some additional procedures for both our casino services teams and our cage teams. Anytime we have a jackpot that’s hit they do obtain the Social Security number — but as a rule that’s put in for W-2 purposes only, for tax purposes only– so we’ve added that to our casino management system,” Sternberg says. “Anytime someone has a jackpot hit that isn’t playing with a car, we now we run that Social Security scan as well.”

The casino also paid the state 16-thousand-200 dollars for the jackpot that was paid out to the person. The Diamond Jo Worth Casino in Northwood paid a 20-thousand dollar fine for allowing an underage person onto the gambling floor. Racing and Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko, explained what happened. He says the underage male entered the gaming floor unchallenged on November 4th of 2016 and was on the floor for more than 30 minutes and was able to gamble.

Casino vice president, Kim Pang: “During this process we did re-train everyone and one of the topics we talk about is: anyone under 35 we’ve got to I-D,” Pang says. “It’s a concerted effort, unfortunately this got past one of our offices and we have re-trained that team member and are moving on, and I apologize for this incident.”

The casino hasn’t had any other such violations in the last three years.

(Radio Iowa)

Officials with Shelby County Extension is hosting a Farmer’s Coffee, bringing farmers and other ag professional together for informal discussion on current ag topics. You’re invited to join them on Thursday, March 23rd for “Securing Your Farm Property: Reducing Your Risk of Theft & Vandalism,” from 9:30-until 11:30-a.m., at the Extension Office in Harlan.

The free event features a panel discussion with brief comments by guest experts and opportunity for questions from those attending. The panel includes Shawn Shouse, ISU extension & Outreach Ag Engineering Specialist; Shelby County Sheriff Neil Gross; and Jason Erickson, security systems expert from ThinkSpaceIT. Sponsorship for the event is provided by United Bank of Iowa.

No reservations are needed. For more information, please contact the Shelby County Extension Office at (712) 755-3104 or email oloff@iastate.edu.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Manufacturing businesses across the country are getting pushed out of neighborhoods where they have operated for decades. It’s happening as cities remake gritty industrial districts into trendy hotspots. The transformations bring new apartments, coffee shops and microbreweries. But the process is difficult for factory and warehouse owners, who now feel shunned.

Brian Vincent owns an aluminum business in Des Moines. He says he likes the improvements in what was a dusty, forlorn part of town, but he was shocked when a map showed a park replacing his company. It’s a similar situation in the Midway area of Minneapolis-St. Paul, in Denver’s River North Art District and a Milwaukee neighborhood called Walker’s Point.

The cold shoulder feels especially chilly in the Midwest, with its long history of manufacturing and meat-packing plants.

DES MOINES, Iowa –  As part of the ongoing review of testing procedures at the Fire Service Training Bureau, The Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS) has obtained additional information from a State Fire Marshal database system which identified the existence more firefighter tests that were improperly scored.

In an effort to reconcile these improperly scored tests for our fire service partners, an additional 739 firefighters at 94 fire departments have been notified that tests taken through the Fire Services Training Bureau were improperly scored and have offered those firefighters an opportunity to re-test at no expense.  The FSTB is committed to the most accurate and complete scoring of all exams.

All certification and accreditations programs are entirely voluntary and are NOT required by the State of Iowa or nationally, although some fire departments require their firefighters to be certified.  The Department of Public Safety, State Fire Marshal’s Office, and Fire Service Training Bureau is committed to providing quality training and looks forward to the continued support of Iowa’s professional fire service.

The Fire Services Training Bureau is committed to offering free test retakes for individuals affected by the improperly scored exams. Refresher and retesting opportunities are being extended through much of 2017.  To date, over 350 firefighters have taken advantage of retesting opportunities offered by the FSTB.

The Iowa Fire Services Training Bureau is part of the State Fire Marshal Division of the Iowa Department of Public Safety. The FSTB provides quality training and education for Iowa’s fire and emergency services through certification, field programs, training conferences and special programs.

Iowa poultry producers are on-guard as more than 73-thousand chickens were destroyed since the weekend outbreak of highly-pathogenic avian influenza at a Tennessee farm. Thirty other farms nearby are quarantined. Kevin Stiles, executive director of the Iowa Poultry and Egg Association, says the Tennessee outbreak is a worry here, as Iowa dealt with a major outbreak in 2015.

“We’re always concerned anytime we hear the words ‘high-path avian influenza’ mentioned,” Stiles says. “We do feel and hope our producers have taken the necessary safeguards to do as good a job as we can from a biosecurity standpoint, but none the less, certainly they would have concern.”

Another bird flu outbreak is reported in a Wisconsin turkey farm but it is -not- the highly-pathogenic variety. Stiles says Iowa’s producers tightened biosecurity following the epidemic here two years ago and are just now recovering lost ground. “We still are working hard to recapture some of those export markets that were lost during 2015,” Stiles says. “We’re starting to see some of those come back and, of course, we’ve most recently seen some export gain from the fact South Korea is experiencing an avian influenza outbreak.”

Stiles says the U-S-D-A and Tennessee agriculture department officials have responded well to the outbreak. “They have quickly gotten their arms around the initial site and are testing a number of birds in flocks around,” Stiles says. “At least until now, those subsequent tests have all come up negative, so that makes me feel good that USDA and the folks in Tennessee are doing a great job in getting on this as soon as possible.”

Tennessee officials have declined to name the breeder and would only say the farm is in the state’s Lincoln County, west of Chattanooga. During the 2015 bird flu outbreak, cases were confirmed at 77 Iowa poultry operations in 18 counties. It resulted in the destruction of more than 31-million birds and an economic loss to the state of $1.2 billion dollars.

(Radio Iowa)

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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State regulators heard pitches from six companies Tuesday to do a market survey of the gambling industry and a review of proposals for a casino in Cedar Rapids. Iowa Racing and Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko says they will review the plans and likely select a firm at next month’s meeting. He says they could select one or more of the companies as they have selected more than one company in the past to get a read on the market.

There are three casino proposals for Cedar Rapids and Ohorilko says they are in the process of setting up times to hear presentations on each one. “I think those will be announced in April,”Ohorilko says, “there still some dates and locations being worked out with respect to meetings dates for the next fiscal year. But I anticipate that the decision will be made in April as to what the process will look like, with the final decision coming late fall.”

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission voted 4-1 to deny a gambling license for a Cedar Rapids casino back in 2014 in part because of concerns about the impact on existing casinos. Ohorilko isn’t sure if a new gambling market study will impact any decision on the latest attempt to bring a casino to the city. “It’s hard to say, it’s up to each of the individual commission members. There are a number of criteria that play into whether or not a decision to approve or deny a gambling license should occur,” he says.

The studies have become commonplace as the I-R-G-C is faced with the decision on adding new casinos to the mix. “Those market studies have played a more significant impact the past few instances where applications have been considered,” Ohorilko says, “but it truly is up to the individual commission members to determine what weight they would play. Not only on that factor — but other factors.”

The commission approved a casino for Greene County in June of 2014 after denying the license to Cedar Rapids. Studies at the time showed the Greene County casino would have the least impact on the other casinos. The firms include several which have done previous studies of Iowa’s gambling industry. All have headquarters out of state, except for one from Cedar Rapids.

(Radio Iowa)

Employers, employees, doctors and lawyers testified last night at a public hearing at the state capitol, quarreling over a bill that would change Iowa’s workers compensation system. Steve Stouffer, president of Tyson Fresh Meats, says the system is “being played” by lawyers. “It’s become more of what I would call a ‘litigious lottery,'” Stouffer told legislators.

Workers’ advocates say the bill G-O-P lawmakers have proposed skews the system so it will “biased” against injured workers. Kelli Harrison is a regional representative for the United Auto Workers union. “These folks are real people. They’re not robots. You can’t just put a little grease in there and they’re o.k.,” she says. “We’re talking about hard-working men and women.”

Paul Gregoire of Emerson-Fisher Controls in Marshalltown says the workers comp system is “out of balance” and becoming a drag on Iowa’s economy. “What we’re doing is we’re pushing companies either away from the state who might locate here or getting companies to not expand like we like to up in Marshalltown for those kinds of reasons,” Gregoire says.

John Kuhnlein, a doctor from Ankeny who is an occupational specialist, suggests the bill is “inherently unfair” and will shift costs from the employer to taxpayers who’ll have to pick up the tab. “These injuries will not go away,” he says. “When a claim is denied, as these bills make it easier to do and with little penalty for being wrong, these individual will still need medical care.”

Scott Folkers, the vice president and general counsel for Winnebago Industries, says workers comp in Iowa has become an “out of control locomotive.” “That has led to progressively larger indemnity awards for injured workers,” Folkers says. “That puts more money in the system, which attracts more attorneys.”

Dr. Mark Taylor, an occupational specialist, says the bill will create “instability” for workers. “Iowa’s work comp system should not be at the mercy of the ever-changing political winds,” Taylor says. The bill IS a priority for Governor Branstad and Republican who now control the debate agenda in the Iowa House and Senate. Branstad says recent court rulings and regulations have thrown the workers comp system out of whack.

(Radio Iowa)