Nearly four years after a massive tornado hit the community of Marshalltown, work is getting underway to demolish and clean up damaged buildings that lie within the main downtown business district. Marshalltown city administrator, Jessica Kinser (formerly of Griswold), says this is the first phase.

If all goes according to plan, the demolition should be finished in two weeks. The city then hopes to start rebuilding.

(Radio Iowa) – Disconnection notices will start going out to thousands of Iowa residents behind on their bills for electricity and natural gas as the winter moratorium on utility disconnections ends today (Friday).

Figures from the Iowa Utilities Board show as of February more than 179-thousand accounts were past due, up from 165-thousand last year. The Iowa Department of Human Rights Energy Assistance Program Manager, Christine Taylor, says that has led to more interest in the state assistance program. “This year we have seen about a 21 percent increase in families coming to Community Action to apply for assistance,” Taylor says.

The moratorium on disconnection begins in November and is designed to help the state’s most vulnerable households. “Most of the time low income households do not live in energy efficient homes. So what that means is their homes tend to be leakier and colder and so they have to use more natural gas or electric to heat their homes than some of the other households have to,” according to Taylor.

Taylor says anyone now facing disconnection should contact their utility and their Community Action agency for help.

(Radio Iowa) – It’s the end of the 2022 Iowa legislature’s 12th week and some of the priority issues Republican Governor Kim Reynolds unveiled in January remain in legislative limbo. Reynolds wants to establish state scholarships for parents to send their kids to private schools. Senate Republicans voted for her original plan last year — and this week they passed the governor’s revised proposal. Speaker Pat Grassley says Republicans in the HOUSE are working through concerns raised by rural lawmakers, discussing alternatives, trying to line up more yes votes.

“Ultimately at the end of the day from our perspective, we understand that you’re not going to get every single piece in every bill,” Grassley says. “That’s just the legislative process. There are some things that we hope to work on with the Senate and find some common solutions.” Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, a Republican from Ankeny, says any adjustments House Republicans hope to make have to get a go ahead from the governor.

“We’re on the same page with the governor. It’s a very important thing in our eyes to get done and now it’s the House’s court and hopefully we can get something done on that,” Whitver says. “…This is one of (the governor’s) major priorities for the year, so I’m not going to unilaterally negotiate with (the House GOP). It’s going to have to go through the governor.” Reynolds says she meets regularly with these two leaders and is optimistic they’ll find a path forward.

“As we get down to, hopefully, the last few weeks of the legislature — so who’s ready? I am! God bless them. I love them. At one point, I was a legislator…so everybody’s talking. That’s a good thing,” Reynolds told reporters earlier this week. House AND Senate Republicans have voted for the governor’s plan to reduce the maximum number of weeks someone can receive unemployment from 26 to 16 — but only the Senate has agreed to a one-week delay in payment of the first week of unemployment benefits.

“We’re one of the few states that don’t do that. Almost every other state does,” Reynolds says. “Iowa is really an outlier when it comes to that.” Whitver says these two moves have been priorities for the governor from day one of the 2022 legislative session. “And we passed exactly what she laid out and the House has watered that down a little bit,” Whitver says. “We’ll see if we can find agreement on that and everything else here at the end.”

Grassley says House Republicans approved the major piece of this particular puzzle — reducing the duration of unemployment benefits by 10 weeks — to ensure the solvency of the fund that covers the checks. “That’s the good news, that on that piece, it looks like there is that level of agreement,” Grassley says.

Reynolds, who served two years in the state senate, says momentum for reaching agreements and ending the 2022 legislative session will build — as the temperature OUTSIDE the Capitol rises and it feels more like spring planting season.

(Emerson, Iowa) – A narcotics investigation Thursday evening in Mills County resulted in the arrest of two men on drug charges and separate warrants. According to the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, deputies conducted a narcotics investigation in Emerson, at around 6-p.m., Thursday. During the course of their investigation, a traffic stop was conducted on a vehicle just south of Emerson, on Highway 59.

Authorities say during the traffic stop, the driver, 41-year-old Louis Hardrock Younger, of Bedford, and his passenger, 37-year-old Andrew Thomas Copeland Falk, of Council Bluffs, were arrested on several felony charges, including the delivery of methaphetamine.

Records indicated Younger was also wanted on a nationwide felony warrant out of Washington State, for narcotics-related offenses. Falk was also found to have a nationwide warrant out of Pottawattamie County, where he was wanted for Parole Violation. Both men were transported to the Mills County Jail. In total, more than 38 grams of meth were recovered.

Assisting Mills County deputies during the investigation, was the Mills County K9 Unit and Drone Team, the Montgomery County K9 Unit, and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies.