EARLY, Iowa (AP) – An appeals court has upheld the murder conviction of an Iowa mother who shot and killed her 20-year-old neighbor in 2001. The Iowa Court of Appeals denied post-conviction relief Wednesday to Tracey Richter, who’s serving life in prison in the slaying of 20-year-old Dustin Wehde.

Prosecutors contend Richter lured Wehde into her home in the northwest Iowa town of Early, and shot him several times in her bedroom. They say she killed Wehde as part of a plot to frame her ex-husband during a custody battle.

Richter contends she acted in self-defense during a home invasion. She argued her 2011 conviction was tainted by errors by her defense lawyer, the prosecutor and the judge. The three-judge panel says there’s no merit to her allegations and “overwhelming evidence of Richter’s guilt.”

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)

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.