Sheriff’s officials in Union County said today (Thursday), a woman from Adair County was arrested late Wednesday night. 34-year old Cynthia Ann McIntosh, of Orient, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on a Union County warrant for probation violation. McIntosh was being held without bond, in the Ringgold County Jail.

(8-a.m. News)

Officials with the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, Wednesday, announced the first baby born at the facility in 2016 was to Dillon and Tymbre Karwal. The couple welcomed their son Liam Roy to the world. Cass County Health System staff provided the couple and their son with a special certificate, blanket, and a year’s supply of diapers to celebrate the birth of the New Year’s baby.

Left to right: Lisa Burmeister, RN; Dr. James Brown, MD; Dillon Karwal; Tymbre Karwal holding Liam; aunt MiKayla Dorscher; and big sister Elizabeth Karwal.

State tax receipts over the past six months are up just two percent compared to the same period last year. Jeff Robinson, the senior fiscal analyst for the Legislative Services Agency, calls that “modest” growth. “As we head into the second half of the fiscal year, growth will need to accelerate,” he says.

That’s because a three-person panel of financial experts is predicting state tax collections will grow almost twice as much, by three-point-eight percent. That estimate is what the state budget plan for the next fiscal year is to be based upon. The data on state tax collections for just the month of December is a bit muddled because the Thanksgiving holiday was so late in November. While the state treasury’s actual cash receipts show a dip of nearly 26 million last month compared to December of 2014, Robinson says that’s off by about 42 million.

“In reality, December 2015 was a mildly positive General Fund Revenue month,” Robinson says. The 2016 Iowa Legislature convenes on Monday and legislators from both parties acknowledge coming up with a state budget plan will be difficult.

(Radio Iowa)