Police in Council Bluffs are investigating an early morning car jacking incident. Bluffs Police Sgt. Ben Roth says officers were sent to the 1200 block of 7th Avenue today (Wednesday) at around 3:15-a.m.  The victim, 18-year old Caine Petersen, of Council Bluffs, told police he was driving down the street when someone hit his VW Jetta with a hard object. When Petersen stopped and got out of his vehicle to investigate, he got into a confrontation with a white male, who produced a metal chain with a lock on the end. The suspect began swinging the lock and chain at Petersen.

Petersen began to run down the street with the suspect chasing him, but at some point, the suspect ran back to Petersen’s vehicle, which was left idling on the street. The man jumped into the car and took off. Officers found the car shortly thereafter, in the area of South 9th Street and 5th Avenue. The vehicle was still running.

The suspect, who was described as being about 6-feet tall, weighing 170-pounds, was wearing a black hoodie, jeans, and had brown facial hair. The incident remains under investigation by the Council Bluffs Police Criminal Investigations Division.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Many Iowans can expect higher electric bills soon, thanks to higher summer temperatures and higher rates being charged by MidAmerican Energy. The Des Moines Register reports that the Des Moines-based utility is notifying customers their bills will likely climb during the summer months of June, July, August and September.

MidAmerican Energy spokeswoman Ruth Comer says summer rates are higher “because our cost to produce electricity increases … as demand increases.” In addition, MidAmerican is raising its base rate this month by 3.5 percent, thanks to Iowa regulators who approved three years of rate increases. Last year’s 3.6 percent annual average increase didn’t become effective until September. Comer says the average annual increase next year will be 3.3 percent.

Motorists in Iowa might not think of June as being a high-risk time for running into deer. But, Kevin Baskins, with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says this is one of the more dangerous months of the year for car versus deer collisions. “This time of the year is the time when last year’s fawns are kind of being pushed away from the mother. These are deer that are kind of finding their own way at this point, they aren’t used to being away from mom, so they sometimes don’t really have their wits about them,” Baskins says.

In addition, Baskins says deer aren’t immune to the thought that the grass might be greener on the other side of the road. “Right now is also the best time for them to eat,” Baskins says. “Everything is budding, there is a lot of green vegetation out there for them to feed on, and a lot of times they want to cross roads to get to what they perceive to be a better place to eat.”

According to Iowa Department of Transportation statistics, most car-deer crashes happen during harvest season in October, November and December. The month of June is usually fourth on the list. Baskins says deer are usually on the move at daybreak and sunset — so those are the times when most crashes occur. “And sometimes the lighting conditions can be a little more difficult for motorists too. That setting sun and rising sun can create a glare that makes it a little harder to see,” Baskins says. “So, those are times when people want to be more cautious.”

(Radio Iowa)

A rural Red Oak woman was arrested Tuesday afternoon, for Domestic Assault. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 25-year old Jessica Faye Davis was taken into custody at around 3:45-p.m.  Davis was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 cash bond.

A Council Bluffs man was cited for public intoxication after he was found on the Pottawattamie County Jail grounds trying to make contact with his incarcerated girlfriend. The Omaha World-Herald says according to an arrest report, at around 9:40 p.m. on Sunday, deputies found 46-year old Todd O. Roberts near the north shed at the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office and jail area. Roberts was riding a tricycle.

Sheriff Jeff Danker said Roberts told deputies that he was trying to contact his girlfriend, who’s currently in jail. The Sheriff’s Office arrested Roberts on suspicion of public intoxication.

There’s been a noticeable drop in farm income in Iowa this year, but the rest of the state’s economy is more than making up for that. The State of Iowa collected nearly 970-MILLION dollars in gros tax receipts in May. There has been only one other month in Iowa history when more taxes were taken in by the state and that was back in May of 2013.

State tax receipts for the past 11 months are more than six percent higher than during the same period in the previous fiscal year. Iowans have paid nearly 22 percent more in personal income taxes to the state. That growth in salaries and wages more than makes up for the dip in farm income.

(O.Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Senate has approved legislation designed to help more disabled motorists summon a gas station employee to pump their gas. Senator Rita Hart, a Democrat from Wheatland, has been touting this bill for the past few years. “The world has changed,” Hart says. “It’s no longer full-serve. It’s now self-serve and disabiled individuals who find it difficult or impossible to use the controls at the pumps were left out.”

The bill would not force all Iowa gas station owners to equip their pumps with new call buttons. Instead, gas stations would get a new a 500-dollar state tax credit for every “refueling assistance device” installed. The proposal cleared the Senate on a 30-to-20 vote on Tuesday afternoon, but has not yet been considered in a House committee.

(Radio Iowa)

Legislators began to take votes on key pieces of their state budget plan on Tuesday, with the House last night approving the budget bill that outlines state spending for the three public universities. However it’s unclear whether the plan will provide enough of a boost in funding to fulfill the promise of a tuition freeze for in-state students at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I. Senator Bob Dvorsky, a Democrat from Coralville, says the three schools are getting a one-and-a-quarter percent inflationary boost in general state support.

“It’s my understanding that they could probably live with that, so we’ll see,” Dvorsky says. “We hope that the Regents will carefully look at it.” The board that governs the universities and the governor have indicated it would require more to maintain a tuition freeze for a third consecutive year. A spokesman for the Board of Regents has declined to assess the likelihood of a tuition freeze until all the state budget details are finalized.

More state taxdollars for the Regents schools are likely to be included in another bill that’s still under development. Legislators are aiming to conclude their 2015 session by week’s end. On Tuesday the House and Senate approved a status quo spending plan for the state’s judicial branch, although more money for court operations may be included in another piece of pending legislation.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa lawmakers have approved a budget for the state’s judicial branch that maintains the current funding level. The Iowa House and Senate on Tuesday night approved the $174.6 million budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Lawmakers in the Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-majority House agreed to the compromise legislation as part of a lengthy budget negotiation.

Democrats had originally sought more funding for judicial services. Republicans said the state could not afford more ongoing spending. Judicial Branch administrators and supporters have warned that without any new dollars, there may have to be cuts. But Sen. Tom Courtney, a Democrat from Burlington, said he expected there would be additional funding for the judicial system in another budget bill.