(Radio Iowa) – State Racing and Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says the amount of revenue at the state’s traditional casinos went against the recent trend in December. “We did see for the first time in quite some time the month of December year over year we had seen a decline in revenue,” Ohorilko says. The gross revenue in December was down by more than five million dollars. “So maybe they’re starting to see some signs of softening with casino revenue here in this state — and so that will be important to kind of watch,” he says. The drop in the December 2022 revenue comes halfway through this new fiscal year, and Ohorilko says things had been holding pretty steady.

“Up until that point, numbers have been strong and we’re actually seeing increases year over year from a record year the year before,” Ohorilko says. Ohorilko says the weather can have a big impact on casinos, especially when there’s poor weather on Fridays and through the weekend.

The Catfish Bend, Isle of Capri Bettendorf, Prairie Meadows, Riverside and Wild Rose in Clinton each saw small increases in December compared to December of 2021. All of the other casinos saw a drop in gross revenue.

(Creston, Iowa) – A collision in Creston, Monday afternoon between an SUV and a pickup truck, resulted in the driver of the SUV being transported to the hospital. Creston Police report a 2022 Ford Explorer driven by 80-year-old Joyce Elaine England, of Mount Ayr, was traveling east on Highway 34 at around 3:30-p.m., Monday. Near the intersection with Patriotic Parkway, she turned on her left turn signal and crossed the east inside lane and the west inside lane.

A 2007 Dodge RAM 1600 pickup driven by 16-year-old Dylan Robert Hoepker, of Cromwell, was westbound on Highway 34 in the inside lane, when the SUV struck the pickup. England was transported by medics to the helipad at the Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston. She was transferred by helicopter to another medical facility. She was said to have suspected serious/incapacitating injuries. Both drivers were wearing their seat belts.

Damage from the crash amounted to $3,000. No citations were issued as of this report.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak have arrested a man on two Class-D Felony counts of Theft in the 2nd Degree. Officials say 36-year-old Jesse Ray Nelson, of Red Oak, was arrested Monday evening in the 1500 block of Forest Avenue. His bond at the Montgomery County Jail, was set at $5,000.

(Radio Iowa) – A St. Ansgar man who was convicted in the January 6th riots at the U-S Capitol is facing new charges of invasion of privacy and interference with official acts after an incident in Clear Lake. Clear Lake police say 52-year-old Daryl Johnson was arrested on Friday after an ongoing investigation regarding a report of Johnson secretly recording patrons of a local tanning business. Investigators say they determined a digital recording device was placed by Johnson to intentionally record customers without their knowledge or consent.

The police department’s investigation remains open at this time. Johnson and his 31-year-old son Daniel admitted to entering the Capitol building through a broken window and pushing through a police line once inside. Daryl Johnson was sentenced to 30 days in jail while Daniel Johnson was sentenced to four months.

(Radio Iowa) – Newly-elected Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart says there’s still a chance national party leaders will relent and let the Iowa Democratic Party’s Caucuses go first in the 2024 presidential election. This weekend, the Democratic National Committee is scheduled to vote on a 2024 presidential campaign schedule that would prohibit Iowa Democrats from having Caucuses before any other state holds a Democratic primary. Hart says that is certainly not a done deal and national party leaders need to sure their decisions are practical.

Hart, who was elected state party chair on Saturday, says the Caucuses are a tradition worth preserving and she’s talking with people who’ve been working for the past two years to try to keep the Democrats’ Caucuses first. The Republican National Committee ratified a plan this summer that keeps the Iowa G-O-P’s Caucuses first as Republicans nominate a presidential candidate in 2024.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill in the Iowa Senate would prevent the collection of up to 127 million dollars in property taxes and force local officials to make cuts in city and county budget plans. Last fall, Iowa Department of Revenue officials discovered a mistake in a 2021 state law caused the miscalculation of residential property taxes — but local officials were only recently notified of the discrepancy and have been drafting local budgets based on the higher numbers.

Pleasant Hill Mayor Sara Kurovski and other city officials have held four public meetings as they developed Pleasant Hill’s next budget and will have to cut out about 200-thousand dollars due to the mistake. “All of us know that in these inflationary times, it is very difficult to keep up the costs while providing these services,” she said. “…Give us a year to prepare correctly.”

Leaders from Iowa’s larger cities say they’ll be forced to quickly cut millions from budget plans that must be released for public input and finalized by March 31st. Republican Senator Dan Dawson supports giving local officials two more weeks to make those decisions, but Dawson says the residential property tax formula is going to be fixed this spring.  “We’re always advocating on behalf of the taxpayers,” Dawson says. “A delay would be a tax increase to the residential property taxpayers.”

The bill to fix the miscalculation of residential property taxes has cleared a Senate subcommittee and is eligible for debate in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.