A 6-2 start to the Missouri Valley Conference race has helped U-N-I basketball coach Greg McDermott get a contract extension. The new deal runs through the 2008 season with new bonuses for N-C-A-A tournament appearances and tournament victories. Panther athletic director Rich Hartzell says it was the right thing to do for McDermott. Hartzell says it wasn’t like the coach was on any probationary period, they just didn’t have much time to get the contract together and he says now that they have time they’ve put together a better contract. His comment drew this response from McDermott, “It’s good to know I’m off probation.” McDermott says he is very happy with the extension. he says it’s encouraging to be able to sit down and figure out something that’s good for both sides. McDermott says it’s great to be back in Cedar Falls and he looks forward to many more years there.McDermott is in his third season at the helm and Hartzell says the program has made big strides under his leadership. Hartzell says they talked about reaching the pinnacle when the new McCloud center opens, and he say they’re ahead of that.The Panthers are 11-5 overall and return to action Wednesday night at home against Illinois State.
Grinnell workers strike plastic plant
Members of the United Auto Workers Local 9-9-7 union walked off the job at a Grinnell plastics plant last night after one of the union members was fired. President Pat Teed says they’ve been in negotiations with the company and the firing at the E-P-C plant was wrong. He says they’re preparing charges to file with the National Labor Relations Board, and those charges will explain everything. Teed E-P-C and the union have held negotiations about labor and safety standards, but no contact has been made today.E-P-C Plant manager John Olson said negotiation sessions have gone on with no problems, and he doesn’t know why the union decided to walk out. He says they haven’t heard from anybody. He says they’re waiting for them, as the union workers walked off the job and didn’t say why. Olson was asked if the company would take any action if they didn’t hear from the union soon. He says he’s waiting to hear from them, and says anything is possible, but it’s unlikely. The plant employs around 275 people, including non-union management employees.
Income tax refund loans come at high price
Your W-2 form should hit the mailbox any day now, and prompt taxpayers will be figuring their income-tax returns before long. But some who are impatient to get their refund may be targeted by unscrupulous lenders. State Attorney-General’s spokesman Bob Brammer says refund loans are no favor. He explains when you go to a tax-preparer who’ll file your return electronically, they may ask if you want a tax loan and you walk out with money that totals PART of the refund you have coming — and they will collect the full tax refund. It’s all perfectly legal, but like paycheck loan and check-cashing operations, Brammer says they will take a big fee for the favor. He says for a very short-term loan you may pay a typical fee of 75-dollars on a 19-hundred dollar refund, which amounts to an “astronomical” annual interest rate of 144-percent. Brammer says you wouldn’t pay that much for any other type of loan. Brammer says people have to remember these are loans, and usually an expensive one. Even people who make so little they don’t have to file a tax return may be targeted by the people who reap profits from those refund loans. Low-income people may get a federal government payment called an Earned Income Tax Credit but if they pay it in fees for tax preparation, electronic filing and those refund-anticipation loans. Brammer says instead, low-income taxpayers should look for volunteers who help them file taxes. You can begin by phoning 800-829-1040 and ask for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or programs that offer tax counseling for the elderly.
Minnesota Secretary of State wants regional primary
Critics say Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses give the state too much power. Minnesota’s Secretary of State wants to see the U.S. decide presidential primary elections on a regional basis, rather than state-by-state. Mary Kiffmeyer, who’s also President of the National Association of Secretaries of State, says the regional approach would be more “fair” to voters.Kiffmeyer says “We have the opportunity to have…more citizens be able to hear from candidates and…for the costs to be greatly reduced when you don’t have to be crisscrossing the whole country, you can actually drive within a region.” Kiffmeyer says regions would take turns going first. The national political parties and all 50-states would have to agree on the regional idea before it could happen. Kiffmeyer says a switch would stop certain early primary states from having too much power. She says “We may take some action as the Midwest area and as a group of smaller states in the Midwest and say if we all just got together and get the ball rolling, maybe that would be the way to get others to follow suit.” Kiffmeyer plans to sponsor a bill during the 2005 state legislative session that would call for Minnesota’s support of the regional idea.
Group favors closing tax loopholes
The liberal Iowa Public Policy Project is joining the Governor’s call for closing corporate tax loopholes that the group says big retailers like Wal-Mart use to escape paying their fair share of state taxes. David Osterberg of the Iowa Public Policy Project says companies use strategies to show more income in states which have lower or no corporate income taxes. Osterberg says the state of Iowa could gain as much as 40 million dollars if it changed the way companies are required to report profits. Osterberg says not only would the state gain tax dollars, it’s also — in Osterberg’s opinion — “fair.” But Republicans control the legislature’s debate agenda, and Senate Republican Leader Stewart Iverson of Dows accused Osterberg of never meeting a tax increase he didn’t like. Iverson says he’s not interesting in raising corporate taxes, or raising the cigarette tax or extending sales taxes to more services, like accounting. Iverson says he will not speak for anyone but himself, but says he “will not vote for a tax increase.” Iverson says there are “thousands upon thousands of Iowans” who aren’t getting a pay increase, and a tax increase just takes more money out of their already-depleted pockets. Iverson hints that he won’t be swayed by the arguments from educators that schools are in dire straights and need more state aid.Iverson says “you are going to hear at least once a week that the sky is falling.” Iverson says Iowa has a quality education system and per pupil spending is in the “middle of the road.” Iverson says while state aid has increased by 300 million dollars over the past five years, the number of students in Iowa’s K-through-12 public schools has declined by 18-thousand.
Search underway for missing New Hampton man
A search is underway in northeast Iowa for a missing New Hampton man. 54-year-old Ted Leichtman apparently walked away from his home without a coat early Sunday, and has not been heard from since. According to family members, Leichtman suffered a head injury last week when he fell on some ice. His wife was going to have him checked at the doctor, but he walked away. New Hampton and Chickasaw County authorities were joined by around 100 people in a search yesterday and last night, but they haven’t found the missing man.
Governor urges schoolboard members to push for tax increase
Governor Tom Vilsack this morning urged school board members to start pestering statehouse politicians about their budget problems. Vilsack is calling for a hike in the state cigarette tax and expanding the sales taxes to more services in order to raise more tax money for priority areas, like education. Vilsack says if something’s not done, schools will be forced to layoff 39-hundred faculty and staff members, and he says “that’s just not right.” Vilsack told an Iowa Association of School Boards meeting it’s up to Iowans, now, to start telling legislators to raise taxes rather than cut the state budget further. Vilsack took a swipe at legislators from his own party who have expressed reservations about tax increases, saying both republicans and democrats “don’t understand what’s going on.” Vilsack told the school board members to start writing details letters and e-mail — not form letters — to lawmakers outlining the cuts they’ll be forced to make in their districts. And Vilsack accused Republicans who’ve been pressing for a freeze in state worker pay of trying to pit state workers against schools.Vilsack says it’s not correct, because the resources for state employee pay will be found within existing department budgets.
