A one vehicle crash in west-central Iowa Wednesday claimed the life of a teenager and injured another teen. The crash happened just before 11:30 last night near Glidden in Carroll County. The Iowa State Patrol says 16-year-old Daniel Kult of Coon Rapids was driving a car and attempted to pass another vehicle when he lost control. Kult’s car slid across two lanes of traffic, entered a ditch and rolled several times. A passenger, 16-year-old Casey Stork of Coon Rapids, was killed in the crash. Kult was injured and taken to a local hospital. The Patrol reports that both teens were wearing seat belts.
Teen dies in Carroll County accident
July 9, 2009 By
Iowa utility officials discussing "cap and trade" with White House
July 9, 2009 By
The leaders of Iowa’s largest utility are due in Washington D.C. soon for a meeting with top White House officials to discuss the so-called "cap and trade" bill before the U.S. Senate. The bill tries to help the environment by addressing climate change issues but would reportedly cost the average Iowa household 3,000 more dollars a year on utility bills. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin says he helped to arrange the meeting.
Harkin says the initial meeting had to be rescheduled but now officials with Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy are supposed to "make their case" at the White House, which Harkin says he "pushed for" so utility officials’ concerns would be heard. MidAmerican claims the legislation would cost it 280-million dollars a year as the bill penalizes utilities with coal-fired power plants. Harkin says he’s encouraged Obama administration officials have agreed to the meeting.
He says, "There’s a recognition on their part that, yes, companies like MidAmerican are caught in a bind and so are the consumers who are part of their distribution network." Due to increased energy costs, critics say the bill would boost prices on virtually every consumer product sold, raising prices 160-billion dollars a year more by 2020. Critics say it could also cost American jobs as corporations move out of the U.S. and into less-restrictive nations.
Cap and trade, formally known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, passed the U.S. House late last month and Harkin says it needs revision. Harkin says, "The fact is that the House bill, I think, does disproportionately hurt some of our Midwestern states and we’re going to have to get that rectified here in the Senate." The 1,400 page bill contains a variety of efforts aimed at preserving the environment, but according to one report, it would also raise energy taxes 60-billion dollars.
Harkin says, "I’m for a climate bill — we’ve gotta’ reduce CO2 emissions, but my bottom line is, the burden has to be fairly distributed so that East Coast, West Coast, mid-America energy producers share the burden equally." He applauds MidAmerican, saying the utility has done more to promote wind energy than any other utility in the nation.
Carter Lake police officer shot
July 9, 2009 By
A Carter Lake police officer was shot and wounded on Wednesday afternoon at police headquarters. Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker says the unidentified officer is now hospitalized.
Sheriff Danker says it’s a non-life-threatening injury and he’ll likely be in the hospital a few days. The officer was taken to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha by squad car. Danker says the shooting is being called an accident and one service weapon was fired.
He says it was not a training exercise but an "accidental discharge" of the firearm. Reports indicate the officer was shot in the torso.
Vision Iowa awards money to Cedar Rapids, Spencer and Williamsburg
July 9, 2009 By
Cedar Rapids, Spencer and Williamsburg will share $2.3 million in Community Attraction and Tourism grants awarded by the Vision Iowa Board Wednesday. Vision Iowa spokesperson Jessica O’Riley says the project in Cedar Rapids is the first opportunity for the board to assist in flood recovery. The group Theatre Cedar Rapids will receive $1.5 million to renovate the Iowa Theatre Building downtown. "It’s a project the board was very thrilled to help out," O’Riley said. "(Board members) think getting the theatre back to downtown Cedar Rapids will spur restaurants to return and the community as well." The Iowa Theatre Building originally opened in 1928 as a vaudeville and movie house. It closed in 1980 before becoming home to the Cedar Rapids Community Theatre. The building was damaged in last year’s floods. "Some of the tenants that were next door have not returned, so they’re going to expand out that direction to return the lobby to its original splendor and just have more of a presence along the street," O’Riley said. The entire project cost is $7.4 million. Theatre Cedar Rapids officials plan to be back in the Iowa Theatre Building with the musical The Producers in February 2010. The Vision Iowa Board awarded $200,000 to another theatre renovation project in Spencer. O’Riley says it’s an expansion project, which will add more than 7,400 square feet to the Spencer Community Theatre. The entire project cost is just over 1.4 million dollars. "They’re literally raising the roof on this project to get better stage lighting and scenery," O’Riley said. "They’re going to expand the seating a little bit for better sight lines…just an overall better experience for theatre goers." A $600,000 dollar award will help further plans for a new public library in the eastern Iowa town of Williamsburg. The award is contingent on organizers obtaining the "silver level" of Leadership in Energy Efficiency Design – or LEED – certification. O’Riley says LEED is basically a checklist for "green" design. "It could be geothermal heating or energy efficient windows, there’s a whole bunch of those," O’Riley explained. "Then, LEED has certain levels – basic, silver, gold, platinum – they go up depending on the amount of those that you incorporate into your project." The new library on the downtown square in Williamsburg has a total project cost of just over four-million dollars.
GOP candidates rap Culver over tax issue
July 9, 2009 By
Two Republican candidates for governor are rapping Democratic Governor Chet Culver and Democrats in the legislature for failing to allign Iowa tax law with federal changes. The decision means some Iowans who got refunds must pay money back to the state.
For example, flood victims who got federal tax breaks for disaster-related expenses thought they’d gotten similar breaks at the state level. Bob Vander Plaats, a Sioux City business consultant, says it means flood victims are being victimized, again, by the state.
"It’s an insult to injury when you tell flood victims, ‘Hey, we know you suffered a lot already, but here — pay back a little bit of your tax return,’" Vander Plaats says, "’You get to suffer a little bit more.’"
Christopher Rants, a Republican from Sioux City, is a member of the Iowa House who complained about this issue while legislators were in session earlier this year. Rants says this is a "nightmare scenario" for flood victims.
"You’ve got not just the cost of paying Iowa back, but they’re going to have the cost of paying their tax-preparers to file amended tax returns all over again," Rants says.
Vander Plaats says Democrats intentionally resisted alligning Iowa tax law with federal tax changes in order to collect about $56 million more in taxes.
"Some people may have to be paying back refunds that they have already gotten," Vander Plaats says. "I think it also shows a lack of communication between the legislature, the governor’s office and the Iowa Department of Revenue."
Federal changes let taxpayers claim deductions and exemptions for disaster-related expenses. There were also changes in business equipment depreciation and education-related credits and deductions. The Iowa Department of Revenue’s tax booklets made the assumption the Democratically-controled state legislature would adopt those changes, but it did not.
Rants says Governor Culver’s decision not to allign Iowa tax law with the federal changes is causing real pain.
"It’s not fair that those folks who were flooded out are today being punished for the fact that they listened and took the advice of their state government," Rants says. "Victims and their tax preparers were told: ‘Deduct your flood losses.’ Today they’re being told by the Department of Revenue: ‘No, you shouldn’t have deducted your flood losses.’"
Rants says this shows Governor Culver made bad decisions on tax policy that are harming Iowa flood victims, business owners and college students.
"The most eggregious I think are the flood victims who we’ve all talked about helping and we’re finding out now that Culver’s decisions are costing people serious money," Rants says. "People who’ve already paid to replace belongings; they got their tax return back; they spent that money and they’re being told now: ‘Nope. Sorry. The governor and the tax collector want you to give that money back to the State of Iowa."
Late Thursday, Culver’s office issued a statement. "The last thing our state tax laws should do is burden those who were victims of last year’s historic floods and storms, and the issue of adopting federal tax law changes to Iowa should be addressed," Culver said. "Therefore, I am taking two steps. First, I have directed the Department of Revenue to provide me with any and all options that may be implemented by executive action this calendar year. Second, I will be speaking with legislative leaders, from both sides of the political aisle, to address this issue in 2010 with the same bipartisanship approach that we gave to other disaster-related legislation."
Vander Plaats says this whole situation is another reason Iowa should adopt a ‘flat tax."
"This tax problem and this tax complexity did not happen overnight and it’s not going to get solved overnight," Vander Plaats says. "I think we need a C.E.O. who is going to keep the eye on the ball to make it completive, to make it family friendly, to make it flatter, to make it fairer and to make it simpler."
Both Vander Plaats and Rants have formed "exploratory committees" to begin raising money for a gubernatorial race with the goal of being the Republican who faces off against Culver in the 2010 general election.
