A structural engineer report issued just days before an Iowa apartment building partially collapsed indicated a wall of the century-old structure was in imminent risk of crumbling. Despite that, residents were allowed to remain inside the building, and officials said Thursday they relied on the engineer’s assurances that the building remained safe. Officials in the eastern Iowa city of Davenport said three residents of the six-story building were still unaccounted for and that there were no immediate plans to demolish what remains of the structure, which remains extremely unstable. Crews were using drones to scan the building and consulting with experts about how to safely bring down the structure.
Five staff members at a Nebraska prison were punched, kicked and stabbed with “manufactured weapons” when they were attacked by three inmates. The state’s Department of Correctional Services says the injuries from the attack on Wednesday at the Reception and Treatment Center in Lincoln were severe but not life-threatening. A news release says the inmates involved in the attack were intoxicated and housed in a high-security, maximum-custody unit. Three weapons were recovered. Two other staff members were injured while responding to the attack but the injuries were not from being assaulted. The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating. As of Thursday morning, no charges have been filed.
A South Dakota man has admitted to fatally shooting three people and wounding two others.
Francis Lange, 43, on Wednesday, entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill to three counts of murder and two counts of aggravated assault, KELO-TV reported. Sentencing is scheduled for July 24. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
Lange admitted in court to going into a home in the small town of Scotland, South Dakota, on Nov. 9, 2021, and shooting everyone inside. Those killed included Lange's former girlfriend, Angela Monclova, along with her father, Librado Monclova, and Diane Akins. A 5-year-old girl and another adult were shot but survived.
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said that under the plea, Lange faces mandatory life in prison without parole, but will receive mental health evaluation and treatment.
Psychiatrist Josette Lindahl testified Wednesday that she had met three times with Lange and diagnosed him with schizoaffective disorder. She added that alcohol and other substances made his symptoms worse.
There are still three people unaccounted for following the collapse of a downtown Davenport apartment building. IPR’s Zachary Oren Smith reports, the city made moves to make sure the owner does not skip on the bill.
Medicaid is a federal-state health insurance program for low-income people. The South Dakota Department of Social Services has budgeted $578.9 million to fund the benefit and administrative costs for Medicaid expansion and has added 68 full-time employees to staff the department.
Inflation is keeping prices high on all sorts of goods, and a survey of business leaders in Iowa and eight other Midwestern states finds prices rose nearly 6% in the past year, but may only rise 3% in the year ahead.
Creighton University economist Ernie Goss tells Radio Iowa the leading economic indicator for the region grew a modest amount during May compared to April on the 0-100 scale, where 50 is growth neutral.
The overall index specifically for Iowa fell in May to 51.9, a drop from April’s 55.8.
The Iowa Economic Development Authority is trying to help Iowans fight food insecurity.
WHO Television in Des Moines reports the IEDA is investing $5 million in food banks and food pantry networks across the state of Iowa.
The new Iowa Food Insecurity Infrastructure Fund will help nonprofits that are experiencing economic hardship. The money can be used to build, expand, or remodel facilities in order to help grow the amount of food that is distributed to Iowa food pantries. An emphasis is being placed on fresh foods.
You can find out more about the program and how non-profits can apply here.
The cost to rent an acre of Iowa farmland increased nine percent last year to a record $279.
There was considerable variability across counties depending on the quality of the land — but 91 out of the 99 Iowa counties experienced increases. Only Des Moines, Jefferson, Lucas, Muscatine, Van Buren, Wapello, Warren and Woodbury counties saw declines in their overall average cash rents.
Radio Iowa reports 51% of the farmland in Iowa is rented, with the majority of rent in the form of cash deals.
Iowans who are passionate about preserving their communities’ history and historic buildings are meeting today in Sioux City for the start of the three-day Preserve Iowa Summit.
Submitted news releases:
DATE: June 1, 2023
INCIDENT: Murder Suspect Extradited back to Woodbury County Jail
On Thursday June 1, 2023, Raymond Rogers was extradited from Douglas County, NE back to Iowa and was booked into the Woodbury County Jail on charges of Murder 1st, Attempted Murder and Violation of No Contact/Protection Order from the incident that occurred on February 24, 2023.
The Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office has received assistance from numerous organizations during the suspects medical treatments in Omaha.
I want to thank theWoodbury County Attorney’s Office for their very engaged assistance throughout the investigation. The Omaha Police Department for their assistance at the hospital in Omaha. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office for ensuring a safe extradition back to Woodbury County.
Last, but certainly not least a special thank you to the staff at the University of Nebraska Medical Center for all their hard work throughout this long process.
Sheriff Chad Sheehan
*All charges referenced above are allegations and all suspects are innocent until proven guilty in court.*
Perla Alarcon-Flory Farewell
For Immediate Release
Sioux City, IA June 1, 2023
- Sioux City has been our home for the past 22 years. It’s a place that I have loved fiercely and where I have grown personally as a wife and mother, and professionally as a business owner and as a public servant. It is the only home my children know.
It is with bittersweet emotions that I announce my family will be relocating to northwest Arkansas in July 2023, ending our time in Siouxland and my time on the Sioux City Community Schools Board of Education.
It is crucial to find the right person to take over my seat within 30 days of my official resignation to the end of my term in November 2025.I would encourage anyone who has a drive to make a difference and a passion for students to consider serving on the school board. Being a part of a team – a board – that has the capacity to shape the future for our students has been an absolute honor. I look forward to seeing who will continue this mission as a member of the Sioux City Community Schools Board of Education.
Henry Adams, a journalist, historian, and novelist said, “A teacher affects eternity; he/she can never tell where his/her influence stops. “I would say, an educator, a custodian, a lunch worker, a bus driver, a nurse, a counselor, a coach, a principal, an administrator, a superintendent, a board member, that touches the mind, heart and soul of a child affects eternity.
It has been my privilege to serve our community for the past 10 years and work alongside so many incredible people who have positively impacted our future – past, current, and upcoming students in the Sioux City Community School District.
Governor Pillen Statement on Conclusion of the 2023 Legislative Session
LINCOLN, NE – Today, Governor Jim Pillen issued the following statement regarding the end of the 2023 legislative session.
"Today, I am proud to report that, in the face of extraordinary challenges, the will of the people of Nebraska has prevailed and our state has implemented once-in-a-generation conservative policies during the 2023 legislative session. The accomplishments of the this session were only possible because of the strong partnerships and winning coalition we have built in the Legislature. Together, we have passed legislation that will protect, train, and keep our kids in Nebraska; provide transformational property, business, and income tax relief; grow agriculture and our economy; and defend our conservative Nebraska values."
Below are legislative highlights from the 2023 session:
Nebraska's 2023-2024 budget is the most fiscally responsible budget in our state's history during an inflationary period. The Governor's signed budget includes only a 2% increase despite historic 40-year high inflation in Nebraska.
While cutting wasteful spending, the budget also had key investments in Nebraska's future including investment in law & order, funding for a new prison, and investment in the Perkins County Canal, which will protect the state's water access on the South Platte River.
The 2023 Session included historic wins for social conservatives, Nebraska taxpayers, businesses, farmers, and ranchers.
Governor Pillen signed the following bills into law that protect our kids and give them opportunities to grow and succeed in our state.
- LB574 Bans abortion after 12 weeks. It also bans transition surgeries for minors and unregulated use of puberty blockers. This bill is the only protection against abortion passed in Nebraska since 2010 and represents the greatest win for social conservatives in a generation.
- LB753 Enacts Nebraska's first ever school choice law. Nebraska is one of the last states to implement school choice, and this bill is just the start for giving families more options so their kids get an education that fits their needs.
Governor Pillen signed the following bills into law that cut and reform our tax code, including: property, business, and income taxes.
- LB243 Provides billions of dollars in permanent property tax relief for Nebraska businesses, farmers, ranchers, homeowners, and renters.
- LB754 Lowers income and business taxes to 3.99% saving Nebraskans $900 million a year in taxes; eliminates taxes of Social Security income; and provides a tax credit related to child care for families and providers. The cuts to Nebraska's income and business taxes in the largest cut in state history and raises Nebraska from the bottom half of states into the top 15 nationally for income and business taxes.
Governor Pillen signed the following bills into law that grow agriculture and our economy.
- LB562 Expands access to E-15, helping farmers and giving consumers more options at the pump.
- LB727 Authorizes state bonding authority so that we can quickly finish incomplete, critical highway projects across our state.
- LB683 Creates a new Broadband Office that will more efficiently use resources to provide support to communities and avenues for high-speed internet expansion. This legislation also banned the state use of technology from firms controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Governor Pillen signed the following bills into law that defend our conservative Nebraska values.
- LB77 Ratifies Constitutional Carry into law so Nebraska's can better protect themselves and express their Second Amendment rights.
- LB138 Repeals the motorcycle helmet requirement for riders over 21, which conservatives have been fighting to pass for decades.
In addition to legislative achievements this session, Governor Pillen also made several new appointments to key state agencies, including: Director Vicki Kramer, Department of Transportation; Director Rob Jeffreys, Department of Corrections; and Adjutant General Craig Strong, Nebraska National Guard.
Governor Pillen also made an appointment to Legislative District 25 during the session. Carolyn Bosn filled the vacancy left by Senator Suzanne Geist.
Gov. Reynolds Signs Final Bills of 2023 Legislative Session
DES MOINES – Today, Gov. Reynolds signed the following bills into law:
SF 478: A bill for an act relating to the operation of state government, including the commencement of audits, information made available to the auditor of state, and disputes between governmental agencies.
HF 466: A bill for an act relating to televised testimony in involuntary commitment hearings for persons with substance-related disorders and persons with mental illness.
HF 564: A bill for an act relating to access to criminal history data in child in need of assistance proceedings.
HF 216: A bill for an act relating to paternity in certain actions before the juvenile court.
HF 398: A bill for an act relating to adoption proceedings by providing for representation of adoptive parents and guardians ad litem by local public defenders for children in certain adoption proceedings and modifying filing requirements for adoption petitions and notice requirements for adoption hearings of adults.
HF 400: A bill for an act relating to the vacation of certain termination of parental rights orders.
HF 655: A bill for an act providing for business organizations, including limited liability companies, providing penalties, and including effective date provisions.
HF 432: A bill for an act relating to access by certain entities to specific records and documents maintained by a unit owners association.
HF 232: A bill for an act relating to probate proceedings, including fiduciary and trustee duties, and including applicability provisions.
HF 648: A bill for an act providing for the expungement of information regarding investment advisers and investment adviser representatives authorized to do business in this state.
HF 359: A bill for an act relating to the modification of a bridge order issued pursuant to a previous child in need of assistance case.
HF 719: A bill for an act relating to unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the rental of vehicles and making penalties applicable.
HF 603: A bill for an act relating to purchasing of tires from the state by certain volunteer emergency services providers.
HF 174: A bill for an act relating to the referral of a patient for diagnostic imaging by a physical therapist.
HF 602: A bill for an act relating to the inclusion of the crisis hotline telephone and text numbers and internet address for the your life Iowa program or successor program on public school student identification cards and including applicability provisions.
HF 93: A bill for an act prohibiting specified provisions in agreements between employers and certain mental health professionals and including effective date provisions.
HF 671: A bill for an act establishing the professional counselors licensure compact.
SF 494: A bill for an act relating to public assistance program oversight.
SF 478: A bill for an act relating to the operation of state government, including the commencement of audits, information made available to the auditor of state, and disputes between governmental agencies.
HF 425: A bill for an act relating to the release of custody of a newborn infant under the newborn safe haven Act.
HF 471: A bill for an act relating to mental health and disability services provided by the state and judicial procedures relating to child in need of assistance proceedings, adoptions, and the confinement of persons found incompetent to stand trial.
SF 517: A bill for an act relating to the addition of biological parent information of an adult adopted person through reestablishment of an original certificate of birth, and providing fees.
HF 708: A bill for an act relating to Medicaid reimbursement for services to individuals who meet the nursing home level of care and are required to register as sex offenders.
HF 685: A bill for an act relating to health care services and financing, including nursing facility licensing and financing and the Medicaid program including third-party recovery and taxation of Medicaid managed care organization premiums.
HF 397: A bill for an act relating to remote presence for purposes of notarial acts and executing wills and codicils, and including retroactive applicability provisions.
HF 716: A bill for an act relating to elections, including primary elections, political party caucuses, updates to the statewide voter registration system, and costs of preparing lists of voters.
HF 332: A bill for an act relating to the disposition of real property belonging to the state by the director of the department of administrative services.
HF 631: A bill for an act relating to the rights of peace officers and public safety and emergency personnel, Brady-Giglio list policy, and confidential information, and including effective date provisions.
HF 670: A bill for an act providing for veterinary medicine, including the care of animals under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian, providing penalties, and including effective date provisions.
HF 541: A bill for an act relating to the tax certification deadline for sanitary districts and including applicability provisions.
HF 666: A bill for an act providing for programs and regulations administered and enforced by the department of agriculture and land stewardship, providing fees, providing for the allocation of moneys, making penalties applicable, and including effective date provisions.
SF 528: A bill for an act relating to persons eligible to hunt with a crossbow.
HF 634: A bill for an act relating to persons certified to conduct time-of-transfer inspections of private sewage disposal systems, and providing penalties.
HF 357: A bill for an act relating to health care employment agencies, health care employment agency workers, and health care entities, providing for the use of annual registration fees, and including retroactive applicability provisions.
HF 265: A bill for an act relating to midwife licensure, providing for fees, and making penalties applicable.
HF 269: A bill for an act relating to allowable forms of payment for amusement concessions at an amusement park and an arcade and including effective date provisions.
SF 219: A bill for an act relating to educational requirements for a permit to perform tattooing.
SF 549: A bill for an act relating to captive insurance companies, and including applicability provisions.
HF 583: A bill for an act relating to the transfer of certain motor vehicles by operation of law, including associated odometer disclosure statements, and including retroactive applicability provisions.
SF 575: A bill for an act relating to the economic development authority, including renewable chemical production, workforce housing, and innovation fund tax credits, the Iowa wine, beer, and spirits promotion board, and the beer and liquor control fund, and including applicability provisions.
SF 565: A bill for an act relating to state and local finance and the administration of the tax and related laws by the department of revenue, and including effective date, applicability, and retroactive applicability provisions.
HF 111: A bill for an act relating to an exception to the real estate transfer tax for deeds that transfer distributions of assets to beneficiaries of a trust.
HF 617: A bill for an act relating to Iowa utilities board review of specified provisions and utility ratemaking procedures.
HF 247: A bill for an act relating to communication methods regarding the disposition of unclaimed property and including applicability provisions.
HF 258: A bill for an act relating to commercial driver’s licenses and commercial learner’s permits, including compliance with federal regulations, and making penalties applicable.
HF 270: A bill for an act relating to certain deadlines relating to the informal review and protest of property assessments in counties declared to be a disaster area or that are the subject of a disaster emergency proclamation.
HF 465: A bill for an act relating to the election of directors for county and state mutual insurance associations, and including effective date provisions.
HF 605: A bill for an act relating to energy benchmarking requirements for private properties.
HF 703: A bill for an act relating to the Hoover presidential library tax credit available against the individual and corporate income taxes, the franchise tax, the insurance premiums tax, and the moneys and credits tax.
HF 711: A bill for an act relating to levee and drainage districts, by providing for the repair or reconstruction of levees, making appropriations, and including effective date provisions.
HF 590: A bill for an act relating to moneys credited to the flood mitigation fund from fees collected for flying our colors registration plates.
HF 660: A bill for an act relating to sales tax rebates for a raceway facility and making tax provision corrections.
HF 677: A bill for an act relating to native winery and native brewery retail alcohol licenses.
HF 710: A bill for an act relating to the endow Iowa tax credit, making appropriations, and including retroactive applicability and effective date provisions.
HF 714: A bill for an act relating to construction projects transporting electricity and water and including retroactive applicability provisions.
HF 709: A bill for an act appropriating federal moneys made available from federal block grants and other nonstate sources following state government realignment, allocating portions of federal block grants, and providing procedures if federal moneys or federal block grants are more or less than anticipated, and including effective date and retroactive applicability provisions.
SF 557: A bill for an act relating to and making appropriations for state government administration and regulation, including the department of administrative services, auditor of state, ethics and campaign disclosure board, offices of governor and lieutenant governor, department of inspections, appeals, and licensing, department of insurance and financial services, department of management, Iowa public employees’ retirement system, public information board, department of revenue, secretary of state, treasurer of state, and Iowa utilities board, creating a licensing and regulation fund, and modifying provisions related to major procurement contracts for the Iowa lottery division of the department of revenue.
SF 558: A bill for an act relating to and making appropriations involving state government entities associated with agriculture, natural resources, and environmental protection.
SF 576: A bill for an act relating to transportation and other infrastructure-related appropriations to the department of transportation, including allocation and use of moneys from the road use tax fund and the primary road fund.
SF 560: A bill for an act relating to and making appropriations to the education system, including the funding and operation of the department for the blind, the department of education, and the state board of regents; requiring the state board of regents to conduct a study and prepare a report related to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and efforts; providing for responsibilities of the workforce development board; establishing the Iowa workforce grant and incentive program; requiring the department of education to convene a task force to study issues related to programs for at-risk students and dropout prevention programs; modifying provisions related to the future ready Iowa skilled workforce grant program, the all Iowa opportunity scholarship program, the education savings account program, the gap tuition assistance program, the Iowa educational services for the blind and visually impaired program, career and technical education programs, the fine arts beginning teacher mentoring program, the equipment replacement and program-sharing property tax levy, and the posting of education-related job openings; and including effective date, applicability, and retroactive applicability provisions.
SF 561: A bill for an act relating to appropriations for veterans and health and human services and including other related provisions and appropriations including health policy oversight, public assistance program provisions and a public assistance modernization fund, sprinkler systems for home and community-based services waiver recipient residences, a state-funded family medicine obstetrics fellowship program and fund, adoption subsidy program nonrecurring adoption expenses, real estate transactions involving departmental institutions, providing penalties, and including effective date and other applicability date provisions.
SF 562: A bill for an act relating to and making appropriations to the justice system, including by providing for payments associated with indigent defense and representation, the funding of activities relating to consumer fraud and antitrust, a corrections capital reinvestment fund, an Iowa law enforcement academy study, a human trafficking study, and the funding of peace officer retirement, and including effective date and retroactive applicability provisions.
SF 578: A bill for an act relating to state finances, including by making, modifying, limiting, or reducing appropriations, distributions, or transfers, authorizing expenditure of certain unappropriated moneys, making corrections, and including effective date, applicability, and retroactive applicability provisions.
SF 559: A bill for an act relating to and making appropriations for the economic development of the state, including to the economic development authority, the Iowa finance authority, the public employment relations board, the department of workforce development, and the state board of regents and certain regents institutions, and modifying the housing renewal pilot program and provisions related to regional industry sector partnerships, the apprenticeship training program, and new jobs training agreements.
SF 577: A bill for an act relating to and making appropriations from the rebuild Iowa infrastructure fund and technology reinvestment fund, establishing a destination Iowa fund, providing for related matters, and including effective date provisions.
Gov. Reynolds signed the following bill into law, with the exception of Section 8, which she line-item vetoed. You can view her veto message here.
SF 563: A bill for an act relating to the judicial branch, including appropriations to the judicial branch, apportionment of district associate judges, video recordings, noncontract attorney appointment, and contracting authority.
Gov. Reynolds vetoed the following bill. You can view her veto message here.
SF 388: A bill for an act relating to conflicts between federal funding and the office of the chief information officer.