Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

PELLA, Iowa (AP) — An employee of an Iowa Wal-Mart where three people were killed when a truck crashed through a front entrance says two of those killed were his co-workers. Don French, who was off-duty Thursday morning and shopping in the Pella store at the time of the crash, told the Des Moines Register that he heard the crash and rushed to see what had happened. He found severely injured people.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University paid up to $225 per hour to rent an airplane for President Steven Leath to fly himself to meetings even as an older school plane that he piloted sat unused. The university rented the plane from prominent Ames landlord Brent Haverkamp, who was later awarded a lease to store his airplanes in an Iowa State hangar after the school evicted a 17-year tenant. Leath’s plane rentals and relationship with Haverkamp add new layers to the flight scandal that has roiled his presidency.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An insurance company says it will lay off about 120 people at its Cedar Rapids office. Transamerica announced Thursday it would cut the Cedar Rapids job as part of moves that also include the closure of offices in Los Angeles, Folsom, California, and West Chester, Ohio, during 2017. A total of 800 jobs will also be eliminated in other locations, including the Cedar Rapids cuts. Before the layoffs, the Baltimore-based company had about 10,000 employees with 3,500 located in Cedar Rapids.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say a 3-year-old boy has died of injuries from a Nov. 22 car crash in downtown Des Moines. Sgt. Paul Parizek says David Reh died Thursday, nine days after the car he was riding in rear-ended a pickup truck, then struck a delivery truck before finally coming to rest in a parking lot. The Des Moines Register reports the boy’s father who was driving, 46-year-old Soh Reh, died earlier from injuries he suffered in the crash.

(Update 6:15-a.m.: Meyer was apprehended today at 1-a.m. and is being held in the Woodbury County Jail.)

The Iowa Department of Corrections reports a male inmate at the Sioux City Work Release Facility (WRF) who was listed as escaped Thursday night when he failed to return to the WRF from his place of employment, was apprehended early this (Friday) morning. 32-year old Michael Allen Meyer had been ordered to Work Release following a Lifetime Sex Offender Special Sentence Parole (SSP) revocation, on Oct. 13th. He was transferred to SSP in Feb., 2014. His sentence for Sexual Abuse in the 3rd Degree out of Woodbury County, began in Nov., 2010.

Michael Allen Meyer

A man and woman from Adams County were arrested Thursday evening on assault and drug charges, after the vehicle they were in struck a Council Bluffs Police Officer. According to Council Bluffs Police Sgt. Matt Brinkman, at around 6:40-p.m., Officers were called to the Wal-Mart Store at 3201 Manawa Centre Drive, for a shoplifting in progress. (Pictures of the suspects were not available as of late Thursday night)

When an officer arrived the female suspect, identified at 28-year old Anna Armstrong, of Corning, was leaving the business. When the officer attempted to stop her and place handcuffs on her for safety, Armstrong began fighting with the officer. An “Officer needs assistance” call went out over the radio.

At about that same time a man identified as 68-year old Clifford Palmer, also of Corning, pulled up to the front of the business in his vehicle. Armstrong was able to open the front passenger door and get inside. When the Officer attempted to pull her out of the vehicle, the vehicle sped away, which caused the door to hit the officer in the leg. The officers’ injury did not require Medical Attention.

Additional officers was able to make a traffic stop in 3100 Block of Manawa Centre Drive, where both suspects were placed under arrest. When doing a search of the vehicle, narcotics were found in the vehicle. Anna Armstrong was arrested for Criminal Trespass, Assault on a Police Officer with Injury, Interference with Bodily Injury, Possession of a Controlled Substance (PCS)/Methamphetamine with the Intent to Deliver (over 5 grams), PCS/Marijuana with Intent to Deliver, and Theft in the 3rd Degree.

Clifford Palmer was arrested for Interference/with bodily Injury, PCS/ Methamphetamine with the Intent to Deliver (over 5 grams), PCS/Marijuana with Intent to Deliver, and Assault on a Peace Officer with Injury.

A group representing chambers of commerce and economic development organizations in Iowa’s 16 largest cities issued its annual “wish list” for the upcoming session of the Iowa Legislature. Jason Hutcheson, chair of the Iowa Chamber Alliance (ICA), says one of his group’s top priorities is tax reform. “The Tax Foundation ranks Iowa’s business climate 40th in the nation in its 2017 State Business Tax Climate Index. The major reason for Iowa’s persistently poor showing is tax complexity,” Hutcheson said. “Our state’s complex system makes Iowa less competitive and requires a cumbersome explanation to prospective businesses.”

Hutcheson is also the President and CEO of the Greater Burlington Partnership. John Stineman, executive director of the I-C-A, says one possibility to simplifying Iowa’s tax system might involve eliminating federal deductibility. “It does definitely complicate our tax code,” Stineman said. “What’s important there, however, is if we are going to move a way from federal deductibility, we do so in a way that does not inadvertently raise taxes, because right now that federal deductibility does have a net decrease on Iowans’ tax bill.”

Currently, Iowa is one of a handful of states to permit tax filers to deduct all tax payments made to the federal government in calculating their state income tax liability. Chris McGowan, with the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, says another priority of the Iowa Chamber Alliance is a “statewide-only” minimum wage. “Any adjustments to the minimum wage should be done at the state level, not by local government entities,” McGowan said.

McGowan is vice-chair of the ICA. Stineman said, for now, the ICA is staying “neutral” on the idea of a hike in the statewide minimum wage. Instead, the group is only calling on the legislature to halt the patchwork of local rates that are higher than the current state standard of $7.25 an hour. “It’s very challenging for businesses of all sizes to have to hopscotch across different municipalities, sometimes literally crossing the street – where the wage is one level on one side of the street and a different wage on the other side of the street,” Stineman said. “That’s very difficult for our existing businesses and how they operate, from small to large.”

The Alliance is also calling on the legislature to develop “forward-looking” programs to encourage entrepreneurship and attract investment, while creating a “predictable and responsive” regulatory environment. The 2017 Legislative Session begins on January 9. Republicans will hold a majority in both the Iowa House and Senate over the next two years.

(Radio Iowa)