Iowa Tax Cuts May Not Be Implemented For Years
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Republicans say it was essential to pass $2.8 billion in tax cuts in part due to federal tax changes, but those state reductions might not be implemented for years under a plan awaiting the governor’s signature.
Eliminating so-called “federal deductibility,” along with raising the state’s standard deduction, won’t happen until the state reaches a certain amount of tax revenue and shows significant growth in the previous year. Those changes could happen no sooner than 2023.
Iowa has only met the necessary growth rate in 11 of the past 19 years. The state would need five straight years of significant growth to trigger the cuts in 2023.
Other provisions of the bill, including an initial income tax cut and corporate tax reductions, would happen regardless of economic conditions.
State Officials Approve Of Outside Law Firm To Represent State On Abortion-related Lawsuits
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Officials have approved using a conservative law firm to defend the state in a lawsuit challenging a law that bans most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
The Executive Council of Iowa voted unanimously Monday to allow the Thomas More Society to represent the state in the lawsuit filed last week in state district court. The Chicago firm agreed to do the work at no cost to the state after Attorney General Tom Miller disqualified his office from defending the law.
The lawsuit, filed by Iowa affiliates of the American Civil Liberties
Union and Planned Parenthood, says the law violates the Iowa Constitution. It bans most abortions at around six weeks of pregnancy, making it the nation’s strictest abortion law. It’s set to take effect July 1.
The five-member council includes Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is named in the lawsuit. She was traveling and didn’t vote on the issue.
EMC Insurance To Expand Its Des Moines Headquarters
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Plans going before the Des Moines City Council include turning an empty downtown lot into expanded corporate offices and demolishing a nearby building to make room for a residential tower.
The Des Moines Register reports that City Council will consider a
preliminary development agreement Monday with EMC Insurance Companies. The agreement would give tax increment financing to EMC in exchange for a $24 million minimum investment.
EMC and Blackbird Investments announced in January that they planned to swap land.
EMC would expand its headquarters at the former Younkers site, which Blackbird purchased in 2016. Blackbird in turn would demolish an aging mall and indoor food court owned by EMC to build the proposed $88 million skyscraper.
Neither company has filed property deed transfers yet with the Polk County Recorder’s Office.
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Grand View University Student Drowns At Lake Panarama
PANORA, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have recovered the body of a university student from a central Iowa lake.
The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office says the body of Kenton Greaves was pulled from Lake Panorama on Saturday afternoon. Authorities say he’d fallen from a boat into the water Thursday afternoon, and several friends had tried to save him.
The 22-year-old had just finished his junior year at Grand View
University and was a member of the wrestling team at the private school in Des Moines. Authorities say he was from Brooklyn, New York.
The lake sits just outside Panora.
Waterloo Police Investigate Four Different Shootings – One Boy Killed
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Police say a child has been killed in one of four overnight shootings that left three others wounded.
The Courier reports that officers were called to a house around 5:15 a.m. Saturday and found a victim, described as a boy, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.
In another shooting around 4:35 a.m., another person was shot,
suffering injuries not believed to be life threatening.
Around 1:15 a.m., two people were shot in a separate incident. They, too, suffered injuries not believed to be life threatening.
Police had not identified any of the victims by late Saturday
afternoon.
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Southeast Iowa Woman Convicted Of Child Endangerment With Death Of Child
WASHINGTON, Iowa (AP) – A woman has been convicted of child endangerment resulting in the death of her 17-month-old daughter in southeast Iowa.
Court records say a jury found 29-year-old Ambrashia Chrzan guilty Friday. Her sentencing is scheduled for July 27.
Chrzan and the father of little Avery McCoy, 37-year-old Anthony McCoy, were charged after the girl’s Nov. 9, 2016, death in rural Riverside. She weighed just 11 pounds. An autopsy found that malnutrition and neglect significantly contributed to her death.
McCoy’s pleaded not guilty and is set to begin trial June 5 in
Washington County District Court.
Des Moines Man Pleas Guilty to Beating Infant Son
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An 18-year-old Des Moines man accused of beating his infant son has pleaded guilty to charges in the case.
The Des Moines Register reports that Dominick Joseph Clausi pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of child endangerment causing bodily injury and two counts of neglect of a dependent. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Clausi is expected to receive a 45-year suspended sentence in July.
Clausi was charged in December after his then-5-month-old son was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries that included skull fractures, a brain bleed and bruising. Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek says authorities believe the teenage father beat, shook and bit the baby and forced the baby’s face into a pillow.
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Trooper Cleared Of Fatal Shooting
MOORLAND, Iowa (AP) – A prosecutor says an Iowa state trooper was justified in fatally shooting a man during a gunbattle.
The Webster County attorney’s office said in a news release Friday that Trooper Justin Parman “reasonably believed that the use of deadly force was necessary to defend himself or another.”
Parman shot 26-year-old Joshua Ewing on April 29 in rural Moorland, southwest of Fort Dodge. Authorities say Parman found Ewing and a woman on a rural road, arguing near a vehicle. The department says Ewing pointed a handgun at Parman, and the two exchanged gunshots.
Authorities say Ewing had fired several shots into his own vehicle before the trooper arrived.
