(Radio Iowa) – According to the Iowa D-O-T and the State Patrol, 376 people died in traffic accidents in Iowa last year. That’s a 12 percent increase from 2022. Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Alex Dinkla says nearly half of those fatalities were drivers or passengers who weren’t wearing a seat belt. Dinkla says other leading factors in all accidents this year have been excessive speed and drivers who’re likely distracted by a cell phone or other technology in the vehicle.

(Radio Iowa) – State Banking Superintendent Jeff Plagge retired Friday. There are only a dozen nationally-chartered banks operating in Iowa. The 230 state-chartered banks fall under the regulation of the State Banking Division. “Iowa has the fourth largest number of bank charters in the country. I think it’s Texas, Illinois, Minnesota and then Iowa,” Plagge says. “Along with that Iowa has one of the lowest non-banked populations in the country. In other words, most Iowans have banking accounts. I think there’s a direct relationship to the fact that Iowa still has a lot of community banks.”

Plagge, who lives in Arnolds Park, started out an ag lender in his hometown of Latimer. He was chairman of Spencer’s Northwest Financial Corporation when Governor Reynolds appointed him state banking superintendent in September of 2019. “I was chairman of the Iowa Bankers Association, chairman of the American Bankers Association and the Chicago Fed Board, so my ties into banking had been deep, so there wasn’t too much that surprised me on the banking side,” Plagge says. “We also have a finance bureau in the Banking Division, which is the non-banking activity…mortgage brokers, payday lenders, money servicing.” Plagge says that forced him to jump on a quick learning curve about that side of the agency.

Governor Kim Reynolds has appointed a southwest Iowa banker to serve as the next State Superintendent of Banking. James Johnson of Gravity is currently the President and C-E-O of P-C-S-B Bank, a family-owned community bank in Clarinda. He’s also on the Iowa Bankers Association’s board of directors. Johnson’s appointment must be confirmed by the Iowa Senate.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 10-p.m. Monday in Montgomery County resulted in the arrest of a man on a pair of charges. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 89-year-old Daniel Phelps, of Red Oak, was arrested for OWI/1st offense and Driving While Revoked. He was taken into custody in the 1500 block of I Avenue and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where bond was set at $1,000.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 8:12-p.m. Monday, in Red Oak, resulted in the arrest of a woman from Atlantic. Police say 27-year-old Brittany Marie Asay was taken into custody for Driving While Barred. Asay was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican leaders in the Iowa House and Senate say it’s likely lawmakers will move up the date the Iowa personal income tax drops to just one flat rate, but there’s no agreement on the governor’s call to eliminate the income tax. House Speaker Pat Grassley notes the state income tax rate is currently scheduled to drop to three-point-nine percent for the 2026 tax year.

“We’ve got about $3 billion in our Taxpayer Relief Fund,” Grassley says. “That needs to be back in the hands of Iowans as soon as possible and so I think that’s what you’re going to see a lot of conversation around in the upcoming months.” Grassley says House Republicans believe tax cuts should be sustainable and let the state meet its budget obligations without raising a different tax to make up for lost revenue.

“Quite frankly I don’t think we should be raising taxes to cut taxes,” Grassley says, Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver says Senate Republicans want to cut taxes as much as possible as quickly as possible.

“I think everyone kind of agrees we want to get the cuts that we put in place…expedited and then the conversation will be: ‘What do we do next?’ Whitver says. “Do we cut it a little bit and then come back next year? Do we cut it a lot? Do we phase it out over time? Do we put some formula in place to phase it out?”

The 2024 Iowa legislative session begins Monday. Governor Reynolds has said she wants to eliminate the state income tax by January of 2027. She’ll outline her legislative agenda during the annual Condition of the State address next Tuesday.

(Radio Iowa) – The governor’s budget director says he’ll ask legislators to create an I-T division with his department. The Office of Chief Information Officer merged with the Iowa Department of Management in 2022 and Department of Management director Kraig Paulsen has already brought most of the I-T staff from across state government into his agency. Paulsen says the consolidation is dramatically improving the state’s cybersecurity efforts.

“Perhaps most importantly, we’re providing real-time visibility into threats and risks that we can rapidly respond to the cyber event, regardless of the agency or the system where it originated,” Paulsen says. “Collectively, this represents a huge leap forward in how we’re protecting the information of all Iowans.” Paulsen says he eliminated 55 open I-T positions within state government.

Doug Jacobson, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Iowa State University, says it makes perfect sense to centralize I-T functions, as it gives the state better ability to monitor threats. But Jacobsen says top officials need to make sure every employee in state government is aware of potential security issues.

“When you centralize like that, you need to make a little more concerted effort to make sure that the organization continues to have that culture that everyone has a role in security,” Jacobsen says. Legislators and Governor Terry Branstad created the Office of Chief Information Officer as an independent state agency in 2013 and made it responsible for technology services in state government. It’s also been responsible for distributing federal funds to expand broadband service in Iowa.