CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A group working to elect Democrats to Congress is targeting Rep. Rod Blum with an ad claiming the congressman is “swimming in his own ethics violations.” The House Majority PAC is launching the ad Thursday on digital platforms such as Facebook in Iowa’s 1st District. The ad cites an investigation by The Associated Press that found Blum violated ethics rules by failing disclose his ownership in a questionable internet marketing company.

Tin Moon has promised to help companies cited by the Food and Drug Administration bury their warning letters below positive search results. Blum has called the lack of disclosure an oversight and distanced himself from Tin Moon, which is run by his longtime business partner. The ad shows Blum saying that he’s interested in “draining the swamp” but asserts he’s actually “swimming in his own ethics violations.”
Democrats are hoping to unseat Blum in November.

(Updated 10:11-a.m.) DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Mexican official says autopsies show the gas that killed an Iowa family was propane that leaked from a faulty water heater at their rented condominium in Mexico. Investigator Christopher Martinez with the attorney general’s office for the state of Quintana Roo told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday that the water heater had rusted in the humid climate.

Services were held Saturday in Creston for 41-year-old Kevin Sharp and his wife, 38-year-old Amy Sharp, and their children, 12-year-old Sterling and 7-year-old Adrianna. Their bodies were found March 23 inside the condo in the resort town of Tulum. Amy Sharp’s cousin Jana Weland said Wednesday that relatives know the water heater was the suspected source but that U.S. and Mexican officials hadn’t yet said what type of gas the Sharps inhaled.

The condo association has said owners are responsible for maintenance. The water heater was bought in 2012, Martinez said, and its warranty ran out last year. He wouldn’t say who owns the condo. The family’s rented car was full of sand the day bodies were found, leading police to believe the Sharps had been at the beach the day they died. Investigators think the family returned to the condo to bathe and rest.

A Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputy on patrol at around 3:15-p.m., Wednesday, stopped a vehicle heading south on 385th Street, near Tamarack Road. The driver of the 2005 Kia Spectra, 24-year old Dylan Zornes, of Shelby, was subsequently arrested for Driving While Revoked.

Sheriff’s officials in Taylor County report 23-year old Bryan Adam Garcia, of Lenox was arrested Wednesday. Garcia was arrested on a probation violation warrant and was being held without bond, at the Taylor County Jail.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A man arrested on drug and weapons charges after a Sioux City slaying now faces federal charges. A U.S. District Court record filed Tuesday says 60-year-old Liborio Martinez-Rubio is charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and with a firearms crime. The Iowa charges have been dropped.

He was arrested Jan. 11, hours after 26-year-old Javier Cheron was fatally shot. Police say Martinez-Rubio acknowledged ownership of some guns found at the home where investigators think Cheron was shot.  Authorities say one of the guns was among the 79 stolen in 2007 from a Scheels store in Lincoln, Nebraska.

A woman from Creston was arrested at around 12:20-a.m. today (Thursday), on a Union County warrant for Theft in the 3rd degree. Creston Police say 24-year old Anastasia Imsland was being held in the Adams County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

Atlantic City Administrator John Lund says the Iowa House Appropriations Sub-Committee has proposed legislation (HSB 681) that would eliminate Tax Increment Financing (TIF), a move that would impact funding for local school districts. Lund said the bill would require an affirmative vote from school boards and the county to allow their TIF levies to be activated for cities. That’s not much of an issue for counties, but because the school districts have traditionally had a “back-fill mechanism” that the State provides when cities begin to TIF, and the districts lose in their basic levy, because the city captures those funds in the form of tax valuation. He says it’s a “Lose, lose, win” situation for schools.

Lund says if the City decides to cooperate with a developer, and the school district contributes to the TIF, the money they would have received directly from the State to support their budget, is taken away from the district and given to the City. He says that gives the district zero-incentive to want to work with the City in TIF situations. But that’s not without risk. John Lund says they run the risk by not cooperating, of not seeing funds come in from valuations, and they may not see growth. But they could also hedge their bets and assume the city will pick up the slack and they’ll see the benefits regardless. He assumes that’s exactly what’s going to happen. If the bill were to pass, Lund says the City would lose about 40-percent of its TIF resources, and “That is way too high to lose, to make this work.” Lund sees some scenarios playing out. The least likely of which is the City stops giving out economic development incentives, and allow the cost of streets and utilities and new developments to be absorbed into the price for the developer.

He said if the City continues to TIF, it won’t be for very much, and it would only cover the General Fund, employee benefits and the same for the County, if they agree to contribute. But then the City would need to make up the difference by raising property taxes on everyone, through General Obligation debt, which would not be popular, but it would not be something that had to be done by referendum, so that would still be an option. He said the City could end up taking 40% longer to retire the TIF debt, which would mean the General Fund and employee benefits levy will be deprived of natural growth, because the frozen tax base will last that much longer.

Lund says there is a fourth option he’s exploring, which he would recommend to the City’s Personnel and Finance Committee, if the bill continues to move forward. He said the future of housing and development in Atlantic is dependent on TIF. Without it, he said it will be very difficult. Mayor Dave Jones recommended the Council and citizens contact their State representatives to voice their displeasure with the bill, before it gets too far. (A copy of the bill can be found at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=87&ba=HSB%20681)