To prevent death and injury, Iowa law enforcement is again asking the motoring public to buckle up, slow down and drive sober. According to the Iowa Department of Transportation, there were 6 traffic fatalities during the 4 day Fourth of July weekend last year, three of which were alcohol related.

This year, July 1-7, 2014, over 250 city, county and state law enforcement agencies across Iowa will participate in a special Traffic Enforcement Program (sTEP) in an effort to keep everyone safe as they travel. The sTEP projects are funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau through a program with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This money enables more officers to work more hours on roadways all across the state during times of the year when travel increases and traffic crashes, injury and death are most probable.

“Too many people still take the attitude that it will never happen to me,” sTEP Coordinator Randy Hunefeld said. “But fatal crashes can and do happen every day. We’ve made a lot of progress, but there are still too many people in Iowa dying because they are unbuckled, speeding, and driving intoxicated or impaired.”

Iowa law enforcement officers need your help and are asking every motorist that gets behind the wheel to buckle up and drive responsibly. Let’s make this 4th of July Holiday, a safe one.

For more information, please visit www.iowagtsb.org – www.stopimpaireddriving.org

A number of new state laws are taking effect today (Tuesday) in Iowa, including laws addressing identity theft and providing new protections for consumers who buy used vehicles in Iowa. Bill Brauch — the director of the consumer protection division in the Iowa attorney general’s office — says the state’s privacy breach law has been updated. “If someone steals credit card numbers and names and expiration dates — before July 1 that’s not considered a privacy breach, believe it or not,” Brauch says. “Now it will be.” In addition, as of July 1st credit card companies, banks and retailers must notify the Iowa attorney general’s office if there’s a credit card breach involving over 500 Iowans.

“There are about 20 states out there that have a requirement like that and now we’ll be added to that list,” Brauch says, “where the attorney general has to get notice of breaches so we’re aware of them and can help people.” Another bill that becomes law today allows Iowa parents or guardians to take steps to protect the credit score of a minor child or incapacitated adult.  “This requires that if a parent wants to freeze a credit report a minor child, the credit reporting agency has to create a credit report first of all, if one doesn’t exit, and only for the purpose of then freezing it,” Brauch says. “This will protect the child from then becoming the victim of identity theft.”

The Social Security numbers of millions of children have been used by identity thieves to get loans, credit cards and even medical insurance, but the kids often don’t learn of the crime until they get older and try to get a credit card or a loan of their own. The state’s “Lemon Law” for consumers who buy defective vehicles is also expanding. Since 1991, Iowa’s lemon law has applied to vehicles weighing 10-thousand pounds or less. As of today, it covers vehicles weighing up to 15-thousand pounds.

“This is going to pick up a lot of larger pick-up trucks that do have some problems and the folks who own these larger, like 350 or 3500 model pick-ups have not been covered by that law and they’ve expressed some disappointment to our investigators that they don’t have the same rights as folks who buy smaller vehicles,” Brauch says. “Well, as of July 1 they will have the same rights to be able to ask for a replacement vehicle or a refund.” The 2014 legislature updated the Iowa Consumer Credit Code. The law was enacted in 1974 to provide certain rights to Iowans who take out a loan to buy expensive consumer goods, like washing machines and cars. Since 1974 those protections only applied to loans of 25-thousand dollars or less. Now those consumer rights apply to loans of up to 53-thousand-500 dollars and in future years that will be adjusted annually for inflation.

“That means a lot more rights for people who finance the purchase a new car, for example, or a more expensive used car,” Brauch says. “It might even pick up some mobile homes.” The Iowa Consumer Credit Code forces lenders to fully disclose the interest rate charged on a loan. It also provides consumers some protection against late fees and outlines when it is illegal for a lender to repossess a vehicle. Finally, Brauch singles out one more consumer protection that passed the 2014 Iowa legislature. It sets up a process for someone to get back stolen property found in a pawnshop, at no charge, if they had filed a police report about the theft.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A monthly economic index for nine Midwestern and Plains states has inched up again, suggesting more economic growth over the next three to six months. A report issued Tuesday says the overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index rose to 60.6 in June from 60.5 in May, hitting another three-year high. Looking six months ahead, the business confidence portion of the overall index rose to 63.6 from 62.5 in May.

The survey results from supply managers are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth, while a score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Strong, thunderstorm winds overturned a semi on Interstate 80 Monday afternoon in Cass County, causing the driver to be sent to hospital for treatment of what were described as “incapacitating injuries.” The Iowa State Patrol says the 2015 Freightliner semi driven by 56-year old Leroy Gault, of Braymer, Missouri, was traveling west on I-80 at around 12:30-p.m., when the winds tossed the rig into the median and landed on its driver’s side, near the 71-mile marker.

A passing motorist helped Gault out of the semi. He was subsequently transported by Anita Fire and Rescue to the Cass County Memorial Hospital. Interstate traffic was reduced to one lane for more than a couple of hours while crews worked to remove the semi from the accident scene.