There was angry debate yesterday (Wednesday) in the Iowa House Education Committee as Republicans and Democrats battle over how much state money to spend on K-through-12 schools next year. Republicans say the state cannot afford the four percent increase approved by Senate Democrats. Representative Greg Forristal, a Republican from Macedonia, suggests a salary freeze for teachers would free up more money for new textbooks and other school initiatives.

“The federal government is telling us that farmers will make 3 percent less in this coming year,” he says. “…Maybe this is the year that teachers could just accept last year’s salary.” Representative Sharon Steckman, a Democrat from Mason City, is a retired school teacher and she accused Republicans of trying to “get rid of public education” in Iowa.

“Asking teachers to accept last year’s salaries I find quite interesting because there are places in our state budget that we haven’t even talked about cutting,” Steckman says. The Republican-led committee then voted, again, for increasing general state aid to public schools by one-and-a-quarter percent for the next academic year.

(Radio Iowa)

A Pottawattamie County jury has awarded a former semi truck driver $25 million in punitive damages in a civil case filed against his workers compensation insurance company. According to the Daily NonPareil, 37-year old Toby Thornton, of Monona, was paralyzed from the chest down in a semi crash in June 2009. At the time, he was an employee of Clayton County Recycling. American Interstate Insurance Company of DeRidder, La., the recycling company’s insurance provider, delayed and fought paying worker’s compensation benefits for years after the accident, denying Thornton was disabled and leading to the civil suit. The jury found that American Interstate Insurance acted in bad faith in its dealings with Thornton.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Senate committee has approved bills that would increase Iowa’s minimum wage and create a more detailed system for preventing wage theft. The committee on labor and business relations voted Wednesday to advance both bills. The full Democratic-controlled Senate can now debate them. The committee yesterday voted largely on party lines.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A high school wrestler from southwest Iowa has been hospitalized after collapsing during a state tournament. The Register reports Creston/Orient-Macksburg wrestler Tayler Pettit doubled over during the state tournament yesterday in Des Moines. Hospital spokesman Gregg Lagan told the Associated Press last night that Petit remains in critical condition.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have confirmed that one person died following a house fire in Waterloo. The Police Department tells the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier the identity of the elderly woman who was found dead at the residence hasn’t been released. Officials say the flames were contained to the living room, where the woman was found.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — An undercover investigation in Council Bluffs has resulted in the arrests of 14 Nebraskans on suspicion of prostitution. The Council Bluffs Police Department says the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force staged an undercover operation at a hotel Tuesday. The Daily Nonpareil reports that the 14 arrests occurred over a period of more than nine hours.

The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday evening, agreed to commit $26,800 toward the construction of a trail around Lake #2 at the Schildberg Recreation Area. That’s $4,200 less than what they had expected to be asked to commit. Atlantic Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring said that was because the original calculations had figured-in the cost of a 600-linear foot section of the trail that the Nishna Valley trails group has agreed to cover.

Proposed additional trail around Lake #2 at the Schildberg Rec Area.

Herring said the City’s commitment of 20-percent of the estimated $134,000 cost of the project would fulfill a requirement that  makes the City eligible for a TAP (Transportation Alternatives Program) Grant from the State of Iowa, to complete a large portion of the trail, which will eventually become part of the Troublesome Creek Connector Trail Project. The City’s portion can consist of the local match can consist of labor used to build a portion of the trail around Lake #2, in addition to or in lieu of funding.

In other business, the Council will held a Public Hearing on the sale of Lot A, in the Southern Heights Subdivision 2nd Addition.  The land was appraised at, and after a public hearing, sold for, $1,620 to local developer Don Sonntag, who originally had donated the land to the City for development of a street, the plans for which was later shelved. Iowa Code requires the land to be sold, and not returned to a private party free of charge.

The Council also set March 4th as the date for: a Public Hearing on the adoption of the proposed Fiscal Year 2016 Capital Improvement Plan; A hearing on the proposed sale of $1.58-million in General Obligation bonds for the CIP, and, adoption of the proposed FY 2016 budget.

 DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Senate committee has approved bills that would increase Iowa’s minimum wage and create a more detailed system for preventing wage theft. The committee on labor and business relations voted Wednesday to advance both bills. The full Democratic-controlled Senate can now debate them.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa Department of Public Health report shows more than 90 percent of students have been vaccinated at the majority of public schools across the state. The immunization audit report for the 2013-2014 academic year depicts the percentage of kindergarten through 12th-grade students who have received the vaccines required by Iowa law. Schools with enrollment of less than 100 students were not included in the report.

According to the report, 37 schools in Iowa reported 100 percent compliance with Iowa immunization requirements. The Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, located in Fairfield, ranked the lowest in the state, with just more than 47 percent of its students vaccinated.

The percentages included in the report were calculated by dividing the number of students with valid immunization certification by total enrollment.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Federal officials say that over 45,000 people in Iowa have signed up for health care coverage on the federal exchange. The second open enrollment period under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul — known as the Affordable Care Act — ended Sunday. In a Wednesday news release, federal officials say over 45,000 people in Iowa signed up or were automatically re-enrolled in a plan.

That’s more than the roughly 29,000 who signed up during the first enrollment. Over 2,000 people who shopped on the exchange are still enrolled in plans with an insurance cooperative that the state plans to liquidate. Iowa Insurance Commissioner Nick Gerhart is urging them to seek new coverage before the end of the month so they can maintain federal tax credits to help pay premiums.