(Radio Iowa) — Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake closed out her tenure as speaker of the Iowa House Monday morning. Last fall, Upmeyer announced she would not seek re-election to the House in November of 2020 and would immediately step down as the leader of House Republicans for the 2020 legislative session. In October, House Republicans selected Pat Grassley as Upmeyer’s successor and he was installed after a vote in the full House Monday morning. Upmeyer, though, was able to give one last speech from the speaker’s chair.

“As the first woman to serve as speaker of the Iowa House, I hope that my time has inspired girls and young women,” Upmeyer said. “When you dream big and work hard, nothing is unattainable.” Upmeyer’s late father, Del Stromer of Garner, was speaker of the Iowa House in the early 1980s. “Someday, God willing, I’ll have an opportunity to have a discussion with my dad. I’m sure he will be very proud of what we’ve accomplished on behalf of Iowans,” Upmeyer says. “I’m also sure that there will be a couple of things where he’ll say: ‘Girl, what were you thinking?'”

Upmeyer, who is still a voting member of the House in 2020, told reporters she hasn’t lost any sleep about her decision to resign as House speaker. “From time to time I’ll think of a bill, perhaps, that I was interested in and say: ‘Oh, we didn’t get that passed,'” Upmeyer said, snapping her fingers. “But, you know, I still have this year.” Upmeyer says it feels nice to have a reduced workload now that she’s not in charge of raising money and recruiting candidates for House races.

“I traded cars because I wouldn’t have to put 25,000 miles on my car every year,” Upmeyer told reporters this morning. Another former speaker of the House has made a gavel for the new speaker. House Speaker Pat Grassley’s dad cut a limb from a walnut tree on the Grassley family farm near New Hartford for the project.

“It was a surprise to me, so that’s pretty neat,” Grassley says. “We actually have two more (gavels) out of that, so one for each of my children at some point.” Grassley, who is the grandson of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, is predicting his young daughter Reagan — named for former President Ronald Reagan — may follow him into politics.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests. Today (Monday), 30-year old Anthony Charles Binau, a homeless person, was arrested on Interstate 29 at mile marker 36, on two counts Possession of Controlled Substance, Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drug and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Bond was set at $3,300.

On Sunday, 22-year old Justin Danielle Perez, and 26-year old Brandon Lee Lambert, both of Glenwood, were arrested at 221st and Abbey Road, for Possession of Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Their bonds were set at $1,300 each.

And, at around 3:05-a.m. Saturday, 25-year old Deondria Derice Carter, of Schuyler, NE., was arrested for possession of Controlled Substance. Her bond was set at $1,000.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says a Lorimor woman reported Saturday night, that someone had stolen a small, red, 16-foot trailer parked at 701 3rd Street, in Lorimor. The trailer contained many tools and antiques. The loss was estimated at $10,625.00.

(Radio Iowa) — The opening day of the 2020 Iowa legislature features what the Iowa G-O-P’s chairman calls “a new generation of leadership” in the Iowa House. Thirty-six-year-old Pat Grassley of New Hartford was installed as House Speaker today (Monday). U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley and his wife, Barbara — his grandparents — were in Des Moines to mark the moment.  “I’m very proud of Pat not only for being selected speaker, but I’ve seen him grow over the years that he first approach me 14 years ago saying he’d like to run for the state house of representatives,” Senator Grassley says. “I don’t recall a single political conversation I had with him before that point.”

Thirty-six-year-old Matt Windschitl, of Missouri Valley, is now the majority leader in the Iowa House. “We’ve been in the majority since 2011,” Windschitl says. “What we’re going to do this session is continue to give Iowans every reason to give us that majority back in the November elections. It’s as simple as that.” Windschitl and other G-O-P leaders spoke early this (Monday) morning at a party fundraiser in Des Moines. Forty-six-year-old Charles Schneider of West Des Moines has been president of the Iowa Senate for nearly two years. He says lowering taxes and cutting red tape are core G-O-P promises. “We know that our approach is what Iowans want because they sent us there to accomplish that and they kept us there in 2018,” Schneider said at the GOP breakfast, “and I believe they’ll keep us there in 2020 as well.”

Democrats had a private fundraiser Sunday evening. Members of the House and Senate are unable to collect campaign contributions during the legislative session.

(Radio Iowa) — Free tax filing of your 2019 return is now available from the Internal Revenue Service. I-R-S spokesperson Diane Fox says you can find the information on their website. “You can go to I-R-S-dot-gov-slash-free-file (IRS.gov/freefile) and get started on your taxes. Free File does all the hard work for you. Frankly, it makes taxes less taxing in a lot of ways,” Fox says. She says the program is based on your income. “Anyone who made 69-thousand dollars or less last year can use Free File,” she says. “We even have a special offer for active duty military personnel. And we offer one product in Spanish.”

Fox says they have a variety of name brand Free File options. “It’s do it yourself software — but it leads people through — so that people don’t leave money on the table — that they get all the benefits that are available to them for their refund,” according to Fox. “And makes sure that it checks everything for them before they electronically file.” Fox says there is added benefit to going through the I-R-S site to get the Free File software. “You end up with the guardrails that we have in place for this program to make sure that you are getting the Free File program that has some protections for you,” she says. “In fact, we even have some of those protections listed on our website — so you can readily see what to expect when you are using the program.”

Fox says around 22-thousand people in Iowa used Free File last year. She says that is well below the number of people who are eligible to use the program.

MANCHESTER, Iowa (AP) – A judge has ordered the owners of a closed-down roadside zoo in eastern Iowa to explain what happened to some animals that were supposed to be removed. In late November the judge ordered removal of exotic animals from Cricket Hollow Zoo near Manchester. An attorney representing Iowa residents who sued for the zoo’s closure filed an affidavit requesting a contempt charge. It alleged that several animals specifically mentioned in the removal order could not be found. The zoo owners’ attorney didn’t immediately return a message Monday from The Associated Press. The judge set the hearing for Feb. 7.