(Radio Iowa) – The Waterloo Safe Neighborhoods Commission has proposed steps to help reduce gun violence in the city. Councilman Jonathan Grieder (Gry-der) headed the commission and he says the goal is to identify underlying factors.

The Commission spent that time exploring eight possible plans that include partnering with energy providers to increase the number of streetlights and establishing a violence intervention program. The commission is also looking at creating a coalition of community leaders to meet once a month to get at the underlying problems.

Seven people were killed by gunfire in Waterloo last year, up from four in 2021.

(Radio Iowa) – There’s a new online portal for Iowans to pay next year’s state income taxes. It’s called Gov Connect Iowa (GovConnectIowa)

That’s Iowa Department of Revenue director Mary Mosiman (MOZE-man). Iowans can make estimated state income tax payments up to a year in advance through the new portal.

Taxpayers with questions may also send a message through the portal to the Iowa Department of Revenue.

The new Gov Connect Iowa portal replaces what was called the “e-file and pay” system. Mosiman is urging Iowans who file a tax return as an individual and Iowans who are married and file a joint state income tax return to check out the portal.

The portal is part of a five year plan to modernize the state system for handling all taxes paid to the state. State sales taxes and corporate income taxes are now part of the updated system.

There had been over 20 stand-alone computer systems for each of the major taxes paid to the State of Iowa — and it cost 18 MILLION dollars a year to maintain those networks.

Next year, state tax distributions to local governments will shift to the centralized system, In the final year of the upgrade, license fees and other payments to the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division will be included. The agency is the state wholesaler to more than two-thousand privately-owned businesses in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Tomorrow (Saturday) will mark 60 years since the funeral for President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated on November 22nd of 1963. Dick Anderson, of Webster City, was in the U-S Coast Guard at the time and was called upon to march in the funeral procession through Washington D-C. Anderson says their long march started at the U-S Capitol and went to St. Matthew’s Cathedral.

Anderson says he’ll never forget the simple, solemn beat of the drum all along the procession route.

Photo from U.S. National Archives

Anderson says it was considered a great privilege to be singled out to march in that procession, as the slain president was being laid to rest. He says they repeatedly practiced all of their moves to make sure everything went smoothly.

A guidon (GUY-don) is military term for a flag bearer. It’s estimated that one-million people lined the route of the funeral procession that morning.

(Radio Iowa) – A second Republican on the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors is calling on another board member to step down. Earlier this week Jeremy Taylor’s wife, Kim, was convicted of 52 counts of voter fraud when her husband’s name was on the ballot in 2020 and the chairman of the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors called on Jeremy Taylor to resign.

Taylor lost in a Republican Primary race for a seat in the U-S House, but won a seat on the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors in 2020. Fellow Supervisor Daniel Bittinger is the lead pastor at Crosspointe Church in Sioux City.

Bittinger says if Taylor doesn’t resign, he should at least take a leave of absence from the board.

According to Taylor’s biography on Woodbury County’s website, Taylor is currently an energy and environmental specialist for Sioux City Schools and an Iowa National Guard chaplain. He was first elected to the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors in 2014.

(Radio Iowa)  – The preferred design for new Interstate-80 bridges in the Quad Cities has just two lanes for both directions of traffic. Steve Robery (ROH-ber-ee) of the Illinois D-O-T says when his agency and the Iowa D-O-T started the planning process, the expectation was there would be three lanes on both sides.

However, Robery says what he calls an auxiliary lane is part of the plan — along the entire span of both bridges — and to accommodate traffic merging onto or exiting I-80.

The I-80 bridge over the Mississippi opened in 1966. (Photo courtesy of Iowa & Illinois Departments of Transportation.)

The bridge replacement project will cover six miles on I-80, as the interstate passes over the Mississippi River. Construction is projected to start in 2028 or 2029.

(Ames, Iowa) – We’re in the midst of a busy holiday travel season. It is a wonderful time to share meals with loved ones. Often that means sharing the road to get to and from those festive gatherings. The Iowa Department of Transportation says to be as safe as possible, it’s important that we all share a common understanding of basic driving rules. Driver’s education for our kids is great, but for some of us, it’s been a few years since we’ve had that kind of instruction.

One basic rule, and a law in Iowa, says that you should drive on the right side of the road with a few exceptions, like when passing another vehicle. It sounds simple, but drivers moving slowly in the left lane is one of the pet peeves we hear the most about and it can also be dangerous. Keep the peace this holiday season and choose the right lane unless you are passing.

So far this year in Iowa, 330 people have been killed in traffic crashes. That’s an increase of five since last Nov. 17th. In Iowa in 2022, there were 338 traffic-related deaths.

And, with Thanksgiving having come and gone, the Iowa DOT offers-up the Top 10 table manners, to ensure you’ll be invited back next year – https://emilypost.com/advice/top-10-must-know-table-manners

(Des Moines, Iowa via the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – State, city and county food inspectors have cited Iowa restaurants and stores for hundreds of food-safety violations during the past four weeks, including insects, moldy salads, and beef that was hauled to a restaurant in buckets from a questionable out-of-state slaughtering operation. One restaurant agreed to close due to the “heavy presence” of cockroaches, and for the 11th time in the past 29 months, state inspectors cited a Des Moines food store for the same violation: failing to have a certified food protection manager on staff to ensure the safe handling of food.

Among the restaurants inspected in western Iowa, was:

• Lincoln’s Pub, 157 W. Broadway, Council Bluffs – During a Nov. 2nd visit, a state inspector cited the eatery for failing to have a certified food protection manager on staff. In addition, there were no date markings on cut lettuce and tomatoes in the pizza kitchen, and no date markings on the meatballs and cream sauce in a walk-in cooler. Also, the interior of the jars holding pickled eggs were adulterated by what appeared to be mold, and so the eggs were discarded. In addition, the interior of the microwave oven was encrusted with food debris, and the inspector observed “what appears to be deceased cockroaches on the floor in the pizza kitchen and dry-storage area near the prep kitchen.” The inspector also reported a buildup of grease and food debris on the exterior of the fryer, the reach-in freezer, the shelves and pizza-preparation table. There was also a buildup of dust and food debris on the floors, walls, and ceilings in the food-preparation kitchen, cook line and pizza kitchen.
• McDonald’s, 912 W. Highway 30, Carroll – During an Oct. 26 visit, a state inspector observed an employee washing their hands without soap, and saw an employee taking out the trash and coming back to the food-preparation line to begin handling food without first washing their hands. One employee returned to the food-preparation area after a visit to the restroom and began helping a customer without first washing their hands. Inside a cooler, the inspector found commercially processed ham that was measured at 56 degrees and commercially processed eggs that were measured at 54 degrees. Both food items were discarded. In addition, the inspector noted that several items on the food-preparation line had no time stamps to ensure freshness. Those items included cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Several items — including sliced tomatoes and shredded lettuce – inside a cooler were marked with a use-by date of 6:20 a.m., Oct. 25 – although the person in charge stated the items were assembled at 10 a.m. that morning, Oct. 26. The inspector also made note of what appeared to be encrusted food debris inside the “clean” ice cream machine. The inspection was in response to a complaint from a person who alleged they became ill after eating at the restaurant. The inspector deemed the complaint unverified.

The findings are reported by the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, which handles food-establishment inspections at the state level, at Iowa restaurants, stores, schools, hospitals and other businesses over the past four weeks. The state inspections department reminds the public that their reports are a “snapshot” in time, and violations are often corrected on the spot before the inspector leaves the establishment.

For a more complete list of all inspections, along with additional details on each of the inspections listed, visit the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing website.

ANKENY, Iowa — [KCCI] – An Ankeny man has been arrested after being accused of neglecting a resident at his own health care facility. Vern Tandia is the owner of First Vision Health Care. Ankeny police say he was caring for a non-verbal, non-mobile man from March 2022 to August 2023. Throughout that time, police say he failed to update the victim’s feeding orders and falsely documented what nutrition the man was getting.

Court documents show the man was hospitalized with severe malnutrition, after losing more than 10 pounds. Tandia is expected to be in court next week.