(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments today (Tueday) in the case of a central Iowa landlord who was convicted of discriminating against tenants following two test calls from people posing as renters Attorney, John Fatino says the calls to Patrick Knueven of Des Moines did not prove anything, because there was no attempt to actually rent from his client.

“In this record, there was never a refusal to sell, lease, rent, or reject a bonafide offer,” Fatino says. Knueven was found guilty of trying to steer renters away, but innocent of charging higher rent based on religion and national origin. Fatino says he was not allowed to show cases of Knueven’s good character, while the Des Moines Human Rights Commission was allowed to use alleged past cases of discrimination.

“The commission has been allowed to basically steamroll these people with evidence from 2015 and 2016, under the guise that shows this continuing case of harassment — which first of all, we reject– and second of all, it’s an absolute violation of the rules of evidence because the city was allowed to put it on before we ever got around to even attempting to put in the evidence of the Knueven’s good character.”

One of the “testers” who called was white and the other was someone with a distinct foreign accent. Attorney Luke DeSmet represented the Des Moines Human Rights Commission, and says the calls clearly showed discrimination. “He did this by not volunteering information to the protected tester, by offering the unit at a higher rental rate to the protected tester. And by just generally failing to be courteous and someone that a person would want to deal with when talking to the protected tester,” DeSmet says.

The justices questioned why the charges were brought based solely on the two testing calls. DeSmet says it is evident from the two calls that Knueven treated the one tester like a business person and then changed his tone when someone from a protect group called. “Every answer is monosyllable. No, no. And he’s not volunteering information. So there is a difference here,” DeSmet says, “when the control tester calls, he volunteers all kinds of information about I haven’t shown the unit since I last talked to you, I have people that are willing to make an offer. But that doesn’t happen at all when he’s talking to the protective tester.”

Justice Edward Mansfield says the caller didn’t ask a lot of questions, so there are no misrepresentations, it just seems like rudeness. “It just strikes me that, you know, if I was the supervisor for these testers, I’d say, hey, you know, you need to go back and make another phone call and get something more than what you got,” Mansfield says. “Being rude by itself probably would not be enough — we need some affirmative act by Mr. Knueven, to engage to show that he’s engaged in housing discrimination,” DeSmet replied.

“We have two of those here. One is the refusal of volunteer information is protected tester. And the other is the difference in rental rates that he offered the control and protected tester. ” Fatino in his rebuttal, said the facts show that there was no refusal to deal, nobody came back to get an application. nobody pushed harder for a rent amount, so there was no steering the callers away. “It’s just not the record you have in front of you. You have this weak attempt to call him. Apparently, it’s, you know, that if he didn’t respond with the crisp and solaric tone, the city expected that, you know, this is some charge of discrimination,” De Smet said.

He said the Supreme Court should dismiss the conviction against his client.

(Radio Iowa) – Former President Jimmy Carter is now in home hospice care, and his long years of dedicated work with a non-profit are being fondly remembered by the program’s Iowa leader. Lisa Houser is the executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Iowa and she says the 98-year-old was instrumental in helping the program succeed in building homes for families in need of affordable housing.

“President Carter and Mrs. Carter are some of our most famous volunteers with Habitat,” Houser says, “and they have an annual Carter Work Project every year and they’ve actually been doing that since 1984.” Houser says she had the pleasure to work on a home site with the Carters several years back. Habitat was founded in the 1970s but Houser says it didn’t really take off until the Carters got involved.

“They actually first volunteered on a house project near their home in Plains, Georgia, and then later that year, they went to New York City and volunteered on renovating an abandoned building,” Houser says, “from there, they fell in love with Habitat like so many of us do.” She says the Carters continued to be active with Habitat right up until the pandemic in 2020. Houser says Iowa’s Habitat program is thriving.

“Here in Iowa, we have 22 local Habitat affiliates that serve about 48 of the counties,” she says. “Last year, we worked with right about 550 families and that is through building new homes and selling homes with an affordable mortgage.” Habitat also works with existing homeowners who need help with repairs. Learn more at: iowahabitat.org.

(Radio Iowa) – Democrats in the Iowa House are proposing a framework for state licensed businesses that could sell marijuana to customers over the age of 21.

Referendums would determine if a marijuana business could be established in a county. A 10% state tax would be collected on the sale of marijuana products. “The revenue generated will go to Iowa schools, it will go to local mental health services, it will go to local public safety,” Representative Lindsay James, a Democrat from Dubuque, said during a news conference this afternoon5. “I will say this: in 2021 alone Colorado’s marijuana industry generated $423 million in tax revenue.”

James said marijuana businesses in Illinois are collecting taxes from Iowans who’re crossing the border to buy cannabis. House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights said it’s time to regulate a product some Iowans already use.

House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst. (RI photo)

“Legalizing marijuana for adult use keeps Iowans safe, stops our tax dollars from going to neighboring states, improves the quality of life for Iowans who are suffering from chronic illnesses,” Konfrst said, “and it stops us from wasting state resources to unfairly punish Iowans.”

Non-violent, low level marijauna possession convictions would be erased from a person’s record after two years under the proposal from House Democrats. Republicans are in the majority in the legislature and GOP leaders have said they have no interest in legalizing marijuana for recreational use.