A new report ranks Iowa’s K-through-12 education system 31st in the nation. The report comes from the American Legislative Exchange Council. It gave Iowa an overall grade of C-minus. Iowa had very low marks in college programs that prepare teachers and in keeping effective teachers in the classroom. Iowa got a D-plus for failing to do enough to get rid of ineffective teachers. Republican Governor Branstad suggests the report should be a “wake-up call” for state policymakers who’re reviewing his education reform plan. Democrats suggest the report from the Republican-leaning group is skewed. They point to other reports indicating, for example, that Iowa high schoolers who took the A-C-T had an average score that ranked second in the nation.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

A three-member panel has given initial approval to a proposal that would broaden the definition of “justifiable force” for Iowans who believe they face a threat from an attacker and shoot a gun in defense. Representative Matt Windschitl, a Republican from Missouri Valley, says it’s about protecting law-abiding Iowans from frivolous lawsuits.  “What we’re trying to address is Iowans’ individual right to protect themselves and their neighbors from any kind of threat or harm without having to face any kind of civil liability,” he says.

The three-member House subcommittee that considered the bill held a sort of public hearing yesterday that drew critics of the plan. Polk County Attorney John Sarcone suggested the proposed change would give defense attorneys another tool to try to justify the criminal conduct of gang members or those accused of domestic abuse.  “We’d allow people to get off because someone made a comment or looked at somebody the wrong way,” Sarcone said. This same “justifiable force” proposal was introduced in the Iowa legislature last year, too, but never cleared a committee in the House or Senate.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

Iowa’s congressional delegation is split along party lines over a key proposal President Obama highlighted in his “State of the Union” speech. Obama has proposed raising the tax rate to at least 30 percent for Americans who make more than a million dollars, an idea Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett advocates. Obama invited Buffett’s secretary to last night’s speech in D.C., as Buffett often says he pays a much lower tax rate than his secretary does. That does not sway Steve King, a Republican Congressman from western Iowa. “Warren Buffett has shielded a lot of income,” King says. “We can’t look at Warren Buffett’s tax rate and his secretary’s tax rate and draw any calculation…so it looks to me like it’s a political ploy more than anything else.”

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says “under-taxing” millionaires and billionaires isn’t the problem. “But the most important thing is the intellectual dishonesty of saying that Buffett’s paying 15 percent and that’s less than what his secretary pays. He pays 15 percent on capital gains, but you’ve got to remember that same money was taxed at 35 percent at the corporate level,” Grassley says. “You could figure that dollars taxed at 50 percent, not 15 percent.” Republican Congressman Tom Latham of Clive doesn’t directly accuse President Obama of engaging in “class warfare,” but Latham’s no fan of raising the tax rate on the wealthy. “I think it’s important that we try to unite the country and not divide the citizens economically or wherever,” Latham says, “because we’ve got a lot of problems in this country.” Iowa’s three Democratic Congressmen all support the higher tax rate for people who make more than a million dollars

Congressman Leonard Boswell, a Democrat from Des Moines, says he’s been a “long-time” supporter of raising the tax rate on top wage earners. “Maybe amnesia set in how we got to where we are, but there’s no point in lamenting on it. We’re there,” Boswell says. “How do we get out of it? And if everybody participates and I mean everybody — all — we can do this.” Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, says the Republican Party’s “trickle down” economics doesn’t work and Harkin argues Obama’s tax proposals “promote a better, more fair tax structure.”

President Obama is due in Iowa over the noon-hour today (Wednesday). He’ll give a speech at a manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids, a stop through five “battleground states” in the November election and a backdrop to highlight the president’s proposals to boost the manufacturing industry.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

Officials say some Pamida stores will close as part of the merger with Shopko, but it’s still unclear how many, if any, will be shuttered in Iowa. Shopko, based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, announced earlier this month it will take over Pamida, headquartered in Omaha. There are six Shopko stores and 30 Pamidas in Iowa. Shopko spokeswoman Tara Powers says the two companies have been linked in the past, but only behind the scenes.  “Shopko and Pamida were one company back in the early 2000s, but at that time, they were really run as two separate organizations and they shared some back office functions but they were largely independent of one another,” Powers says. “The difference today is they are truly merging together under the Shopko banner as one company, one corporate office.” While some company mergers are just done on a balance sheet, she says customers will see big changes at Pamida locations. The Pamida name will be eliminated and most product lines changed.

“Shopko Hometown carries a much larger assortment of certain categories, like apparel and home merchandise and they have a big emphasis on national brands,” Powers says. “The product mix that consumers will see when they come into the store is going to be very, very different from what they’re used to at Pamida.” No changes are planned at any of the Shopko stores, but some 80-million dollars will be invested over the next year to convert most of the 193 Pamida stores into Shopko Hometown stores this year. Combined, the new chain will have almost 350 stores in 22 states. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The merger is expected to close in mid-February.

“The two companies looked at the retail landscape together and see that there is a lot of opportunity to serve smaller communities,” Powers says. “(Customers) currently have to drive anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to go into a larger town to go to Walmart or Target to get everything they need. The idea with a Shopko Hometown store is they can get everything they need in a smaller footprint store right in their own community.” There are currently Pamida stores in 30 Iowa cities: Albia, Audubon, Bloomfield, Chariton, Clarion, Corydon, Dyersville, Eldora, Estherville, Forest City, Glenwood, Greenfield, Harlan, Humboldt, Hampton, Ida Grove, Jefferson, Missouri Valley, Mount Ayr, New Hampton, Oelwein, Onawa, Osceola, Perry, Red Oak, Sheldon, Sigourney, Toledo, Waukon and Winterset. There are now six Shopko stores in the state: Burlington, Council Bluffs, Dubuque, Fort Madison, Mason City and Sioux City.

(Radio Iowa)