A south central Iowa man was injured during a single-vehicle accident this (Friday) morning on Interstate 80, in Cass County. The Iowa State Patrol says 21-year old Chase Alan Waters, of Pella, was checked and treated for injuries at the scene, but did not require transport to the hospital. The Patrol says he was wearing his seat belt.

Officials say Waters was traveling westbound on I-80 at around 8:04-a.m., when the 2004 Jeep Wrangler he was driving went out of control just east of the Wiota exit. The SUV entered the median and rolled over, coming to rest in the left lane on the eastbound side of I-80.

Waters told the authorities the cruise control was set and on at the time of the accident. Officials have been warning drivers NOT to engage the cruise control of their vehicles when road conditions are not dry.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa felons seeking to regain voting rights will no longer have to submit credit histories or pay off all their full restitution to become eligible.  Gov. Terry Branstad on Friday relaxed rules he enacted last year that had made Iowa one of the hardest states in the nation for ex-felons to regain voting rights.

Iowa will still be one of four states where felons who complete prison and parole terms have to apply to restore their rights to vote and hold office. Under the changes, applicants have to be current on restitution payments instead of having to satisfy judgments entirely. They also won’t have to submit credit histories, which the governor’s office had required as a way to check for outstanding court debts. Critics said that step was a deterrent.

State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald is reminding you to take advantage of the state tax deduction for contributing to you kid’s College Savings Iowa account. The deductions are based on the calendar year when you deposit funds to the account.  “Parents and grandparents must get their contributions in by December 31st, or it must be postmarked by December 31st to be able to claim this on your Iowa income tax as a deduction for 2012,” according to Fitzgerald. You can have accounts for each of your children.

“Anyone can put up to two-thousand-975 dollars in for each child. And that’s a whopper of a deduction,” Fitzgerald says, “you know if a typical family with two kids, mom and dad put it in, they can deduct 11-thousand-900 dollars from their Iowa taxes. So it can mean a lot.” Fitzgerald says relatives wanting to help out can donate.  “Most parents raising kids don’t have that kind of money, but a lot of grandparents do, and whatever they put in — if they have 10 grandchildren — they can put money in for each one of them and it adds up,” Fitzgerald says. He says one third of the accounts in the program were started by grandparents.

Fitzgerald says you can start an account with 25 dollars, and that is the minimum you can make with each deposit.  “Most people do not put in the max, because putting in 29-hundred and 75 dollars for each child is a little bit steep, a little too challenging for most folks financially. But the average account by the time a child goes to college in Iowa, they’ll have 14-thousand dollars saved,” Fitzgerald says. Investors in the program do not have to be Iowa residents. The child can take out the money for qualified college expenses including tuition, books, supplies and room and board at any eligible college, university, community college or accredited technical training school in the United Sates or abroad.

You can call 1-888-672-9116 to sign up or go to www.collegesavingsiowa.com.

(Radio Iowa)

Christmas was a few days ago, and the big crowds are gone from Iowa’s malls. Now would be a good time to return that ugly sweater or the toaster oven you didn’t need. Kimberly Hazen, with the Better Business Bureau, says stores aren’t required to exchange an item unless it’s defective or was wrongly advertised. “It really is up to the store’s policy to take — or not take — an item in return,” Hazen says. “They can decide if they offer a full refund, if they offer just a store credit or if they offer just an exchange.”

Stores must honor their written policies, but those might not always be clear. Some Iowa stores print those policies right on the receipt, which she says is very helpful, but most don’t. “Then you want to really hope you got a gift receipt from the person that gave you the gift,” Hazen says. “Also, making sure you don’t take the tags off and you keep the original packaging.” Consumers need to beware, Hazen says, as retailers may charge a fee to put the items back on the shelf. “A restocking fee can be as high as 25% of what you paid for the original item which can be kinda’ hefty,” she says.

If you encounter a problem at the store, consult the Better Business Bureau website at b-b-b-dot-org and enter your town in the search window.

(Radio Iowa)

Snow covered, slipper roads contributed to a two-vehicle accident Thursday afternoon, in Atlantic. The Police Department reports vehicles driven by Michael Bald and Danny Anderson, both of Atlantic, collided at around 1:25-p.m., at the intersection of 10th Street and Hospital Drive.

Officials say Bald was traveling eastbound when he lost control of his vehicle due to the road conditions. The vehicle slid and hit a SWITA bus driven by Anderson, as the bus was traveling west in its normal lane. No injuries were reported. Damage to the SWITA bus amounted to $500, while Bald’s vehicle sustained $3,000 damage. No citations were isssued.