Cass County Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall reports deadlines for property taxes, Driver License and motor vehicle in Cass County Treasurer’s Office, have been extended in response to COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds issued a proclamation (Friday) today, that extends the deadlines to July 25th for March 2020 property tax payments, Driver License, vehicle registration renewals, vehicle title registration and license plates. Keep in mind the September 2020 tax payments will be due soon, we also take partial tax payments.

While her office is open by appointment only for Cass County Citizens, Marshall says they are encouraging citizens to use online, mail, email and drop box if possible. Online payments can be made at www.iowatreasurers.org.

Mail in payments can be mailed: Cass County Treasurer, 5 W 7th St, Atlantic, IA 50022. The drop box can be found at the courthouse main entrance door. Anyone with questions regarding property tax, Driver License or motor vehicle inquiries should contact Cass County Treasurers Office at 712-243-5503 or email cass.treasurer@casscoia.us

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa agency whose power to remove problem officers was recently expanded generally has taken years to ban those who commit serious crimes and rarely punishes officers for improper policing alone. Records show the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy Council has sought to decertify 17 officers in the last 2½ years after determining they had committed crimes or misconduct that warranted their removal from the profession.

An Associated Press review found that most of those officers had been found guilty of felonies, domestic violence or other crimes that disqualify them from working in law enforcement. Only one officer since 2018 has been decertified for improper police work.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Cedar Rapids nurse accused of taking painkillers from hospital patients’ intravenous lines and injecting herself has been sentenced to four months in federal prison. Federal prosecutors say 43-year-old Kelly Postel, of Anamosa, was sentenced Friday to the prison term and fined $5500. She also was ordered to pay restitution and forfeit her nursing license. Prosecutors say Postel obtained an excess amount of fentanyl and morphine from the hospital pharmacy and administered patients’ prescribed amounts and then injected herself while at work with the leftover drugs. Authorities also say Postel took fentanyl from a patient by using a syringe to withdraw it from an intravenous line and injected herself while still at work.

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Police in suburban Des Moines say a man sicced a pit bull on other people at a party before he killed the dog himself after it turned on him. Television station KCCI reports that 33-year-old Juan Carlos Moreno Martinez, of Ankeny, was arrested Thursday and has been charged with several counts of assault, animal neglect, trespassing and probation violations. Police say the incident happened at a June 6 party in Ankeny, when Moreno-Martinez crashed the party and agitated the dog with the intention of intimidating others at the party. The animal ultimately attacked three people, one of whom was seriously injured. Police say Moreno-Martinez fatally stabbed the dog when it turned on him.

(Radio Iowa) — A new state law will force the top election official in state government to get legislators’ permission to mail Iowans an absentee ballot request form.  Secretary of State Paul Pate mailed every Iowan a form this spring. A record number of Iowans filled it out, mailed it to their county auditor and got an absentee ballot for the June 2nd Primary. Some Republican lawmakers say Pate exceeded his authority. The new law forces Pate and all future secretaries of state to get permission from the Legislative Council for a mailing like that in the future. The new law also prohibits county election officials from reducing the number of polling places on Election Day by more than 35 percent. Some county auditors dramatically reduced precinct locations for the June Primary due to the pandemic.

(Radio Iowa) — A-A-R-P Iowa is calling for mandatory testing of all residents and staff in Iowa nursing homes after a case of COVID-19 has been identified. Brad Anderson is state director for A-A-R-P. “Today testing in nursing homes is encouraged, but frankly encouraged is not good enough,” Anderson says. “Testing needs to be mandatory and it needs to be tracked and reported in every single facility.” Anderson says Iowans should be outraged by an Iowa Capitol Dispatch report showing employees with COVID-19 symptoms kept working in a Dubuque nursing home. Ninety-five percent of residents at the home tested positive for the virus and 11 residents died. Anderson notes 52 percent of all the Iowans who’ve died of COVID-19 were nursing home residents. “We have had more discussions about summer baseball reopening than we have had about the crisis sweeping through our nursing homes,” Anderson says, “and that needs to change.”

Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s aware of the situation at Dubuque Specialty Care. “And it’s just something that just shouldn’t happen,” Reynolds says. “I do want to reiterate in the context of this there are a lot of long-term care facilities that are doing a phenomenal job.” A week ago, Reynolds signed a law that gives businesses and health care facilities — including nursing homes — new legal immunity from most COVID-related lawsuits. “We want to make sure that we have doctors and nurses and care facilities that are willing to provide these critical services,” Reynolds says. “…but the bill also has appropriate exemptions that still permit some lawsuits for reckless or willful misconduct, so I think it strikes the balance that it needs to.”

State officials define a coronavirus outbreak at a nursing home as when three residents test positive for COVID-19. The state website shows 26 Iowa nursing homes currently have coronavirus outbreaks. At one point this spring, 42 long-term care facilities in Iowa reported COVID-19 outbreaks.