Firefighters were recalled to the Super 8 Hotel north of Walnut at around 5-a.m., today, for a rekindle of the fire that originally occurred Sunday morning. Walnut Fire Chief Justin Tooley told KJAN News the fire rekindled inside a wall of the north building, most likely due to the shifting winds. Walnut firefighters had the flames doused in less than an hour, and were back in station a little after 6-a.m.  Unlike Sunday, no evacuation of the hotel was needed, because the building had been blocked off and no one was staying there. No injuries were reported from today’s (Monday’s) firefighting efforts.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a woman died after a police officer helped pull her from a burning garage in Cedar Rapids. Firefighters and police were sent to the residence around 7:35 Sunday morning after neighbors reported hearing a loud boom and saw flames in the detached garage. The officer helped pull her from the garage, and medics tended to her. Police say she was pronounced dead later at a hospital. The woman’s name hasn’t been released. Authorities say the fire and the woman’s death are considered suspicious and are being investigated.

Iowans are being warned about the risks of counterfeit prescription drugs. U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan says users are exposing themselves to fentanyl and carfentanil when they think they’re taking oxycodone. He says the lookalike pills can be deadly. “These are not real oxycodone pills, although you can’t tell from looking at them,” Deegan said. “In fact, these pills contain synthetic opioids that are many times more lethal than oxycodone or even street heroin.”

According to Deegan, drug dealers are increasingly making pills with synthetic opioids. “We’ve had far too many cases where someone has taken a drug, literally the first time, and has died because of it,” Deegan said. “And a lot of it comes down to the fact that you simply don’t know what is in that drug.”

According to 2017 data from the federal government, the majority of people misusing prescription drugs did it to relieve pain, NOT to get high.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)

Iowa’s Republican governor and Republican legislators announced a tax agreement on Friday evening, but the legislation to implement the plan was still being written this past weekend. Senator Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, says for tax year 2019, the cuts will be solely on individual income taxes. “At the very minimum, each individual will see a seven percent reduction,” Feenstra says. “On average, it will be around 10 percent.” Corporate tax cuts will take effect a couple of years from now. “It hasn’t been since 1951 that we lowered corporate income tax,” Feenstra says. “We actually increased it in 1987 from 10 to 12 (percent), so this is a very significant step for Iowa to start lowering both individual and corporate taxes.”

Republicans promise to get rid of a STATE deduction for federal taxes that makes Iowa’s income tax rates look higher than they are, when compared to other states, but Feentra says it won’t happen immediately — and it won’t happen unless state tax revenue grows by at least three-and-a-half or four percent annually. “When you get rid of federal deductability, people do get hurt if you don’t have rates low enough,” Feenstra says, “so what the plan is is to lower the rates significantly and then remove federal deductability.”

Governor Kim Reynolds unveiled a framework for tax cuts in February, but it took a couple of months for Republicans in the House and Senate weeks to hammer out a deal all in the G-O-P could live with. “It will be fully implemented based on how our economy grows and when the targets are met,” Feenstra says. “We wanted to created some responsibility in lowering taxes and make sure that we could fund all the things the government needs to fund like education, public health and so forth, so I’m really thrilled about how this came together and how all sides worked together on the goals that needed to be met.”

Feenstra is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means tax-writing Committee. The leader of the Iowa Democratic Party says Republicans are giving tax cuts to the wealthy and special interests in the midst of a state budget crisis. Troy Price, the Iowa Democratic Party’s chairman, says Governor Reynolds and her fellow Republicans are engaged in a “budget-busting free-for-all” for corporate donors.

(Radio Iowa)

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Serious questions linger about the fate of medical marijuana in Iowa as lawmakers find themselves considering an eleventh-hour deal that would expand the program to more patients. MedPharm Iowa, the state’s sole manufacturer of medical cannabis oil, says it worries many patients will find treatment to be unaffordable, impractical or obtainable due to restrictions placed on the fledgling industry.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa Department of Education audit has found the Davenport school district’s special education programs include a disproportionate number of minority students and that many of them are subjected to disciplinary actions. The Quad-City Times reports that the audit found the district was in “systemic non-compliance” with parts of the federal law that oversees the education of students with disabilities. The department ordered the district work with a state-selected adviser to address the issues.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating what led to a fatal exchange of gunfire between an Iowa State Trooper and a man along a rural road west of Fort Dodge. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says a state trooper found a man and woman arguing near a vehicle near Moorland, Iowa, on Sunday.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — One of two men charged in connection with a fatal shooting in Davenport last year has agreed to testify against everyone involved. The Quad-City Times reports 21-year-old Nakita Ronschel Wiseman Jr., of Bettendorf, pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary and second-degree robbery as part of a deal with prosecutors.