The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on Friday morning of 33-year-old Janssen S. Ludwigs of Oakland on a warrant for Theft in the 5th Degree. He was located on a traffic stop by the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office and was transported to the Montgomery County Line and then taken to the Montgomery County Jail by Montgomery County Deputies. The arrest took place at 9:39 a.m. on Friday morning. Ludwigs was being held on $300 cash bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee says by this time next week, Iowans should see the details of next year’s state spending plans from House Republicans. Representative Gary Mohr, a Republican from Bettendorf, says the bills, in total, would spend about 89 percent of projected state tax revenue.

That’s about one percent higher than the spending level Governor Kim Reynolds recommended in January. House Republicans say their budget includes the extra money the legislature approved for schools in February and they are proposing more state support of nursing homes than the governor suggested. Senate Republicans have released a series of budget bills this week, but none show dollar amounts. Mohr says every legislative year is different.

April 28th is the 110th day of the 2023 legislative session. It’s a target date for adjournment, but state law does not require that lawmakers end then. It is, however, the final day legislators get daily expense money to cover things like accommodations and travel to Des Moines.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has overturned a judgment against a central Iowa landlord who was convicted of discriminating against tenants. The Des Moines Civil and Human Rights Commission alleged Patrick Knueven of Des Moines and his wife tried to steer prospective tenants away from their properties because of their religion or national origin. The jury found only Patrick guilty and assessed a 50-thousand dollar penalty. He appealed on several issues including the jury instructions.

The Iowa Supreme court agreed the district court incorrectly instructed the jury on “steering” and exposed the defendants to liability for conduct not prohibited by the Iowa Civil Rights Act or the Des Moines ordinance. The court also ruled Knueven should be paid attorney fees.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa native and former astronaut Peggy Whitson will come out of retirement and return to weightlessness next month as the first female commander of a private space mission. Whitson, who grew up on a farm near Beaconsfield, will lead a four-member crew on a ten-day mission to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX capsule. Already a veteran of three trips to orbit, Whitson says she and her crew have spent months training for the mission at various locations.

NASA file photo

Axiom 2 is slated to launch from the Kennedy Space Center on May 8th aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Whitson says the crew plans more than 20 different experiments aboard the space station, including those related to science, outreach and commercial activities.

Axiom plans to launch the first module of its commercial space station in 2025. Whitson, who’s 63, retired from the NASA astronaut corps in 2018. She says she’s particularly intrigued by one of the experiments.

Whitson holds the record among American astronauts and women for the number of days in space at 665. She was the first female commander of the I-S-S and the only woman to serve as its commander twice. In addition, Whitson holds the record for most spacewalks by a woman at ten, and during her last mission, became the oldest woman in space.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa House of Representatives passed 13 bills with 11 having bi-partisan or unanimous support. Republican Representative Thomas Moore, from Griswold, in his weekly report, highlighted the Parent Empowerment Bill. The Iowa House of Representatives he says, passed SF496 which contains many education proposals. The House amended this legislation, sending it back to the Senate for their consideration. It does the following and has a number of requirements:

Among the requirements, is: Full access to an online library;  The identity of parent/guardian who requests removal must be kept confidential, and Students are no longer allowed on book review committees. Moore said there are sections of the bill that pertain to Parents Rights Language, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Survey Language, and Special Education/Home School Language.

With regard to the Special Education section of the bill…

Other amendments to SF496…

If a student requests an accommodation for a gender identity different than their sex at birth, the bill says the teacher must report that to the their administrator and the administrator contacts the parent/guardian.

Rep. Tom Moore (R-Griswold)

Representative Thomas Moore can be reached at tom.moore@legis.iowa.gov and (712) 789-9954. If you would like to set up an in-person meeting or would like to visit the capitol please let him know.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report a Nebraska man was arrested Thursday on a repeat OWI offense. 36-year-old Benjamin Muitu, of Bellevue, NE, was taken into custody for OWI/3rd Offense. His bond was set at $5,000.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – If you have documents you no longer need and are not comfortable with throwing in the trash, bring them to the Spring Shred Day and Scouting for Food Drive this Saturday, April 8th, in Atlantic. Ken Moorman, with Friends of the Atlantic Public Library, says the two-in-one event will make it easy for you to get rid of old papers, and it serves a good cause. Shred Day is an annual event.

Moorman says Boy Scout Troop #54 will coordinate traffic control and take your boxes, bags or bundles of paper. No Commercial paper, please.

Once they take your paper, you’ll move your vehicle forward and have an opportunity to make a donation to the Scouting For Food Drive, with your cash or non-perishable items be delivered to the Atlantic Food Pantry.

Non-perishable food donations include…

The Shred Day and Food Drive takes place Saturday, April8th, from 9-to 11-a.m., outside the Atlantic Public Library.

(Radio Iowa) – G-O-P leaders in the legislature are considering a formal response to a recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling critical of so-called “logrolling” in the lawmaking process. The justices concluded proposals that didn’t have majority support were attached to a bill during a vote taken well after midnight in the Iowa Senate, violating the constitutional requirement that each bill address a single subject. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says the ruling raises concerns. “That decision will now make its way back through the court system and we will definitely want to get involved with a brief from our standpoint on legislative intent,” Whitver says.

The ruling also accused a state senator of misrepresenting the contents of the bill to sway votes. Whitver says assigning a single reason for every yes vote on a bill is questionable. “I believe legislative intent is whatever is on the paper and to ask why a legislator votes for a bill — there could be 20 different reasons or 30 different reasons,” Whitver says, “and so to say: ‘This is the legislature’s intent’ is problematic. Whatever’s on the paper is the intent of the bill.”

A spokesperson for House Speaker Pat Grassley says leaders are reviewing options and the House is interested in doing something to respond to the ruling, but no decision has been made. Last month’s Iowa Supreme Court decision centered aroud a 2020 Iowa law that was changed by language added to a bill on another subject. The justices ruled the law had unfairly prevented out of state companies from bidding to build transmission lines in Iowa and the case was sent back to a district court.