Legislators in Iowa are considering a proposal that would increase the surcharge on cell phone bills to help cover the costs of emergency 9-1-1 calls. Iowans with a land line currently pay a one-dollar 9-1-1 surcharge every month, but the 9-1-1 surcharge on cell phones is only 65 cents. The bill would raise the cell phone surcharge to a buck a month. Craig Walter is a lobbyist for Verizon. “We do have some concerns, certainly, with the 35-cent increase to our customers,” Walter says. “It will impact, certainly, every phone that you have within your family for the additional costs.” Senator Tom Hancock, a Democrat from Epworth, says surcharge revenue to finance 9-1-1 operations continues to fall as more people drop their land lines.

“That leaves our local PSAPs — Public Safety Answering Points — with less funding,” Hancock says,”and there’s a lot of them out there struggling right now.” Officials say 70 percent of 9-1-1 calls now come from cell phones. Without additional fees from cell phone customers, emergency service providers say the cost of 9-1-1 upgrades will fall to property tax payers. A bill that would increase the 9-1-1 surcharge on cell phone users has cleared a three-member subcommittee and must next be considered by the Senate’s Ways and Means tax-writing Committee.

(O.Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Cass County Community Foundation have announced applications are now being accepted for the Dustin McCurdy Endowed Scholarship Fund.  The McCurdy Scholarship provides two scholarships of approximately $500 each to high school seniors from Cumberland Anita Massena High School (CAM). Applications are available from your high school guidance counselor.  Applications are due to your guidance counselor no later than March 31^st.  

The scholarship was created to honor the memory of Dustin McCurdy, a Broadcasting major who died from cardiac arhythmia due to an overwhelming viral infection in January 2001, during his Senior year, while attending college at Northwest Missouri State University, in Maryville.

Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell was in Atlantic this (Friday) morning, where he held one of several planned public “Listening Posts on Agriculture.”

Congressman Leonard Boswell (D-IA) listens to a constituent speak at the Atlantic Public Library Friday morning

The session took place before a crowd of a little more than a dozen people, and while it was designed to gain input as preparations are made to craft the next farm bill, it also covered several issues of concern to area residents, including the Inheritance, or “Death Tax,” affordable health care, and what can be done to stop the partisan bickering in Congress. Boswell said “This is a challenging time in the history of this County,” and there are a lot of issues that need attention. One of those concerns, he says, is the Farm Bill, which will come up for a vote this Fall. Boswell says discussion on the bill is one of the few instances where partisan politics were set aside, but didn’t to get anywhere because the “Super Committee” tasked with cutting the budget failed to act.

Regardless, he thinks there will be an agreement on a Farm Bill that will meet with approval of the full Congress.” Of concern though, he says, is a “Safety Net” for farmers, which basically comes down now, to crop insurance. He says crops insurance needs to be affordable and accessible, and available. He also warned Direct Payments to farmers and producers will likely go away. The cuts, he says, will have reduced the bill by about 23-billion dollars, but before any more cuts are made, agencies other than the USDA will have to make sacrifices before any further action is taken on addition cuts to the bill.

The inheritance, or “Death Tax,” cuts set in-place during the first Bush Administration, and is set to expire at the end of this year, was a hot topic at the meeting. One of those in attendance proposed eliminating it entirely on land, if the land will be used for the same purpose the person who passed away used it for. The unidentified man said if the land is used for anything other than what is was formally used for, the person receiving that land should pay the taxes owed, because they’ve changed the use of the land. The same thing he said, could apply to small, family-owned businesses. Boswell said that was an “interesting idea,” but didn’t say whether he would mention it when Congress acts on the Obama Administration’s 2013 budget, which by some accounts, calls for $2-Trillion in new taxes and fees.

Boswell says he hopes Congress can work together to compromise on the budget and other matters. He says work on the Farm Bill has been “very bi-partisan” up to this point, but he blamed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Republican “Contract with America” for much of the partisan bickering that has occurred over the years, and divided the Country.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports two Red Oak residents were arrested today (Friday), on drug charges. 43-year old Richard Linfor was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of drug paraphernalia. And, 40-year old Cathy Bush was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia.

The arrests followed the execution of a search warrant at 210 West Washington Avenue, in Red Oak, at around 9:15-a.m.

Several hundred motorcyclists in biker gear rolled into the statehouse Thursday. The men and women with the motorcycle activist group known as ABATE, were in Des Moines for their annual lobbying day. State coordinator Phil McCormack of Clear Lake says ABATE is fighting a bill that would license all-terrain vehicles as motorcycles and let ATVs on the road. “We are against it. ATVs are not designed for highway use and they would throw ATVs in the statistics of motorcycle crashes if they were licensed that way,” McCormack said. This year, ABATE helped stop a bill to require helmets for cyclists under age 18. The group is also lobbying for a bill to allow motorcycle dealers to display their wares at biker rallies. McCormack noted that most years it’s too cold to travel on motorcycles for lobbying day, but some bikers did brave the open air this year. McCormack earned the nickname “Bullets” after an incident last year.

 “Evidently, you don’t carry bullets in your jacket in the capital,” McCormack said with a chuckle. “They caught it on the scanner, so they kind of threw that name on me last year. I took them out to my truck. I didn’t have my gun…just some extra bullets in my pocket.” Governor Branstad signed a proclamation Thursday recognizing March as Motorcycle Safety Month.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)