(Area News) – State Auditor Rob Sand, Wednesday, visited Council Bluffs, Missouri Valley, Harlan, and Audubon as part of his 100-town hall tour. Auditor Sand took questions from Iowans on various topics, including Senate File 478. The bill would, in many instances, eliminate checks and balances by limiting the Auditor’s access to the courts. Speaking in Missouri Valley, Sand said “This is the single most pro-corruption bill in Iowa history. It lets insiders protect insiders and limits the ability of the taxpayers’ watchdog to obtain information necessary to uncover waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”

A group of bipartisan accounting and oversight professionals is also on the record opposing Senate File 478. Their concerns include the threat to the Auditor’s ability to independently oversee the use of federal funds coming into Iowa. Auditor Sand also discussed the new school voucher system that takes money away from public schools to pay for private school tuition. Sand pointed out the new law allows private schools to do anything they want with the tax dollars they receive from the state—except provide a refund.

In Audubon, Sand said “If they want to take a European vacation with your tax dollars after they are paid as tuition, it’s totally legal—no requirement the money be spent on actual education. Public schools have public records, public meetings, and an annual audit,” Sand said, noting the lack of transparency for private schools under the new law. “None of which will apply to private schools—even for the parents of the kids who go there.” (Click to enlarge the photos below)

Missouri Valley Town Hall

Council Bluffs stop

Harlan Town Hall

Audubon stop

Sand discussed his decision to vote against using taxpayer dollars to settle two public records suits last week as a member of the State Appeal Board. Sand was the lone vote against funding the settlements, totaling $175,000, reached by the Attorney General’s office on behalf of the Governor. Sand noted that Iowa law requires public officials who fail to respond to public records requests as required by law to be held accountable in the form of fines and attorneys’ fees. “The Iowa Supreme Court, with all justices appointed by Republican governors, ruled unanimously that Governor Reynolds’ arguments in these cases held no water,” said Sand. “This is a brazen scam by those whose salaries are paid by taxpayers, to skirt a law requiring their own personal responsibility for the fees and fines for hiding public records and using taxpayer funds instead.”

Sand also touted his Public Innovations and Efficiencies (PIE) program. It encourages local governments and school districts to come up with creative ways to save tax dollars. PIE has been so successful, Democratic and Republican auditors in other states are copying it. “It helps our office to hear from Iowans and helps Iowans to hear from someone who is willing to go after insiders’ corruption and waste in Iowa’s governments,” said Auditor Sand in response to the town hall meetings across the state. “I’m proud to continue that work in all of Iowa’s 99 counties.”

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says she believes a so-called “heartbeat” law to ban most abortions in Iowa is connotational. The Iowa Supreme Court recently deadlocked three-to-three after the governor asked the justices to overturn a lower court’s ruling on that 2018 law. “We argued before the Supreme Court that they should lift that injunction and let that law go into effect,” Bird says.

“The court ultimately did not make a decision in that case because it was tied and so by operation of law that allows the district court decision to stand,” Bird says. “I was disappointed, but I will continue to work for the pro-life cause and I think the fight isn’t over yet.” The 2018 legislation — referred to as a hypothetical law by one Iowa Supreme Court justice — would have banned most abortions after about the sixth week of a pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.

Pulse Life Advocates, the group previously known as Iowans for Life, is urging the legislature to convene as soon as possible and pass the same policy again. Bird isn’t making a recommendation about what the legislation should look like. “I think we have many routes ahead of us that would protect the right to life here in Iowa,” Bird says. “I am supportive of a special session if that’s the route the legislature chooses to take.” Bird, a Republican, has been Iowa’s attorney general for nearly six months. Bird says she’ll soon release her review of state-funded victims’ services programs.

“A number of issues came up that we’re working through for the audit to make sure that our office is being responsive when people have questions, that key information can be available to advocates to help them serve victims more quickly and that every part of the state is being served,” Bird says. “We found that some counties weren’t being served by the advocacy organizations that were being funded by our office to serve them.”

Earlier this spring, Bird’s office temporarily suspended the policy of having the state’s victim compensation fund cover the costs of the so-called morning after pill for sexual assault victims. Bird says the “Plan B” medication remains legal in Iowa and her audit of state services for victims will address whether state reimbursement for emergency contraception is appropriate.

Ankeny, IOWA – On June 28, 2023, following a joint investigation by the Ankeny Police Department and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), law enforcement officers arrested 72-year old Lynn M. Lindaman, of Ankeny. Lindaman has been charged with two (2) counts of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree (Class B Felony) against a minor. The charges against Lindaman follow a complaint filed with the Ankeny Police Department on June 27.

Lindaman has been transported to the Polk County Jail, where he remains without bail.

Anyone with information relevant to this investigation is encouraged to contact the Ankeny Police Department at (515) 289-5240 or the DCI at (515) 725-0030. Due to the ongoing nature of this investigation and the nature of the offense, no additional information is being released at this time.

Note: A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

(Radio Iowa) – The leaders of the Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain laid out their three-year plan today (Wednesday) in an event for investors. C-E-O Darren Rebelez says their goal is to open 350 new stores in the next three years. He says they want to continue to their focus of putting stores in rural areas and smaller cities. “Roughly 50 percent of our stores were opened in towns of five-thousand people or less,” he says.

The company added 354 stores in the last three years, giving it more than 25-hundred stores. He says their three distribution centers in Ankeny, Missouri and Indiana make it easier for them to add stores. Rebelez says the ability to add more stores is important. “The industry is shifting from primarily selling fuel and tobacco to prioritizing freshly prepared foods and investing in technology to meet the everchanging needs of the consumer,” he says.”Due to this shifting environment, the longstanding fragmented convenience store industry is evolving, as those who are unable or unwilling to invest, are consolidating to those who are.”

Rebelez says Casey’s would like its new stores in the next three years to be a 50-50 mix of new and acquired stores, but is positioned to change that mix if there were favorable acquisitions available. The company has three stores that don’t sell gasoline, including one near Drake University in Des Moines, and Rebelez says they will consider more. “We’re still learning and assessing that. But the intent with with nonfuel stores all along was really to allow us to penetrate certain trade areas where putting a full, full blown convenience store with fuel just wasn’t practical,” Rebelez says.

The company has some 300 of its own line of branded products, and he says they will look at increasing those. “There’s still some some categories where we’re not necessarily convinced that we need a national brand, where we can actually replace the national brand and just have our own,” Rebelez says, “and those are very margin accurative when we do that. We can go into more premium items. So, we’ve kind of taken care of the baseline terms of national brands, but we can upscale some categories with more premium products.”

The company plans to make its thin crust pizza permanent and increase other prepared food offerings as well. Rebelez says Casey’s is the fifth largest pizza chain in the country.

(Radio Iowa) – City officials in Glenwood are exploring the use of tax incentives to spur redevelopment of the Glenwood Resource Center campus. The state run institution that has provided residential care for people with profound disabilities is scheduled to close in 2024. State officials have suggested that Glenwood’s City Council designate the campus as an urban renewal district. It means property taxes in the area that would otherwide go to the city, county and school district COULD be used to finance infrastructure improvements. Laurie Mead Smothers is a member of Glenwood’s City Council.

“That doesn’t commit us to doing anything, it just makes that an urban renewal area for whatever’s to come up there in the future,” she says. The campus covers 380 acres. Mills County Economic Development Director Andrew Rainbolt say one idea is to develop multiple forms of housing on the site, given its proximity to Highway 34 and the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro.

“I think we’ll have some redevelopment of existing buildings. A lot of them were built as residential buildings and so hopefully we can redevelop those into some affordable and potentially some market-rate multi-family (housing),” he says. “Part of the campus is envisioned to be some high end estate housing.” Glenwood Superintendent Devin Embray says the school district hopes to take over the administrative building on the campus and convert it into an innovation center.

“We’re going to put in place Cyber Security, Robotics and Digital Mass Communications and hopefully Firefighter 1 and 2 in that program for the fall of 2024,” Embray says. “However, it sits on a centralized power plants and we would have to move it off the power plant in order to have it independent from the other buildings.”

There’s also an effort to convert other facilities into veterans housing.

(Radio Iowa) – Four people have beaten the odds and won big lottery prizes in Iowa in the last five days. Someone who bought a ticket in Centerville Tuesday won a prize of 25-thousand dollars a year for life in the Lucky For Life game. That win comes after a one million dollar Mega Millions prize was won Friday in Davenport, and there were two wins Saturday — a 400-thousand dollar InstaPlay jackpot in Cascade, and a two million dollar Powerball prize won by a woman in Ottumwa.

The Iowa Lottery’s announcement on the string of winners says it demonstrates the random nature of lottery games.

(Radio Iowa) – An Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council in Winnebago County is recommending a distribution plan for 487-thousand dollars in new revenue. That’s the amount expected to come from the new property tax levy and county income tax Winnebago County voters approved last November. County Supervisor Bill Jensvold objected to having funds go to the county’s largest city, though, and the advisory council’s members quarreled.

Another source of contention was where E-M-Ts and paramedics would be positioned. The Advisory Council eventually came up with a plan to distribute the new funding to the ambulance services in Forest City, Lake Mills and Buffalo Center. It would cover the salaries for three full or part-time E-M-Ts that would work for all three services along with four full-time E-M-Ts for Forest City’s ambulance service. The Winnebago County Board of Supervisors will vote on the plan. A state law enacted a year ago lets county boards of supervisors put local tax referendums on the ballot to support local ambulance services. Voters in Jones, Kossuth, Pocahontas, Osceola and Winnebago Counties approved EMS referendums that were on the 2022 General Election ballot.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A Judge in Cass County (IA) today (Wednesday), sentenced a Massena daycare provider to 50-years in prison, associated with the October 2019 death of a child in her care. Judge Amy Zacharias sentenced 39-year-old Alison Dorsey to 50 years in prison for Murder in the Second Degree. In May, a jury in Pottawattamie County found Dorsey was guilty in the death of 11-week-old Luka Hodges. She was also convicted of Child Endangerment resulting in death.

Prosecutors say Dorsey shook Luka, resulting in his death. Dorsey’s defense team had claimed the injuries happened before Luka was in Dorsey’s care, but medical experts debunked that in their testimony in the trial. The trial in Council Bluffs was the second for Dorsey. Her first trial in Atlantic ended with a hung jury in 2021.

Dorsey must serve a mandatory minimum sentence of 35 years, with credit for time served. She must also pay $150,000 in restitution. Dorsey will be incarcerated at Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville, Iowa.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A lightning strike a little after 7-a.m. today (Wednesday), in Atlantic, caused a power outage for about 650 residents on the south side of town. AMU Comptroller Jennifer Saathoff told KJAN News lightning struck a power pole near 22nd and Olive Streets, causing the outage and setting the pole on fire.

Power was restored to most customers between 8:15-and 8:30-a.m., a little later for other customers.

DES MOINES, IA – The Iowa Business Council (IBC) has released its second-quarter Economic Outlook Survey (EOS) for 2023. The report measures member expectations for sales, capital spending and employment for the next six months. If the index measures above 50, sentiment is positive. The second-quarter survey’s overall economic outlook index is 64.17, an increase of 4.45 from the 2023 first-quarter report. The survey’s findings indicate a strong confidence in Iowa’s economy and represent a significant increase in optimism across all areas measured by the IBC compared to the previous quarter’s results. Specifically, sales expectations among IBC members increased by 3.47 to a value of 68.75. Capital spending expectations increased by 4.31 to 61.25 and employment expectations increased by 5.56 to a value of 62.50.

Concerns relating to workforce attraction and retention remain the number one concern with 90% of surveyed IBC executives listing it as a primary business challenge. An unfavorable business climate tied specifically to supply chain challenges was the second primary concern cited by 55% of IBC executives. The cost of products and services continues to round out the top three business challenges with 50% of IBC members reporting inflation as a core concern.

From a workforce perspective, 80% of IBC executives surveyed report that it is somewhat to very difficult to hire employees compared to 94% from the first-quarter survey. Phil Jasper, President of Mission Systems for Collins Aerospace and Chair of the Iowa Business Council, said “IBC members remain confident in Iowa’s economic position. Despite a narrative of an impending downturn in the national economy, Iowa business leaders are optimistic about the future here in Iowa.” IBC President Joe Murphy said “These results show a continued resiliency among IBC companies and the state of Iowa as a whole. Iowa business leaders remain agile and skilled in their ability to plan for potential future disruptions while continuing to put forward pro-growth strategies throughout our state.”

The Economic Outlook Survey has been completed by IBC members on a quarterly basis since 2004. The report provides insight regarding the projected trends for the state of Iowa, which can be used for business and economic planning. The reported trends have a state-wide impact, especially when considering that IBC companies have a presence in all 99 counties