Iowa State Patrol Trooper Dismissed From Job
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Department of Public Safety has fired a state trooper who was on paid leave for ten months.
The department told The Associated Press that trooper Wade Karp was terminated Tuesday for violating unspecified rules governing employee conduct.
The move comes one week after AP reported that Karp had been kept on paid leave since Sept. 5, 2017 and collected about $50,000 in salary since then.
The department has refused to explain the lengthy leave, and claimed Tuesday that all other information about the termination would be kept secret.
The AP is protesting that position, noting that Iowa law requires state and local government agencies to release the “documented reasons and rationale” for terminating or demoting public employees.
Karp declined comment when reached on his cell phone. He’d been with the Iowa State Patrol since 2008.
State Auditor Questions Appanoose County Financials
CENTERVILLE, Iowa (AP) – A new report by the Iowa state auditor has raised questions about nepotism, improper payments and undeposited collections regarding the Appanoose County Conservation Department and its fundraising
arm, the Appanoose County Conservation Foundation.
State Auditor Mary Mosiman says in the special report released Tuesday that the lines between operations of the Appanoose County Conservation Department and the fundraising foundation are improperly blurred.
The department is responsible for the oversight of the county’s natural resources, such as parks and campgrounds. The foundation was created in 1994 to solicit gifts for the department’s conservation projects.
Much of the report focused on the actions of Mark Hoffman, who was fired as the department’s director in 2016 amid questions of improper payments and
actions. He continues to play a significant role in the foundation’s
operations.
The report found more than $74,000 in undeposited collections and improper payments, such as nearly $18,000 to Hoffman by the foundation for unused leave, which is contrary to county policy. The report says the undeposited collections include rent of properties to members of Hoffman’s family. The report also questioned the transfer in 2013 of several parcels of county land to the foundation, free of charge, which were then sold for
$280,000.
Reached Tuesday, Hoffman said he had not read the report and couldn’t immediately comment.
Grassley Wants NAFTA Agreement Before Mexican President Takes Office
(Webster City) — Senator Chuck Grassley says he hopes the North American Free Trade Agreement is renegotiated before Mexico’s new president is sworn into office December 1st. On Sunday, populist Andres (an-DREHZ) Manuel Lopez
Obrador (OH-bruh-dor) became president-elect of Mexico by winning a four-way race with more than half the vote.
Lopez Obrador is the author of the book titled “Listen Up, Trump” and during the campaign, he vowed that Mexico would not be the U.S. president’s pinata (pin-YAH-tuh). But this week, Trump and Mexico’s next president have engaged in polite, diplomatic statements about one another. Grassley suggests that’s
progress.
Representatives from the U.S., Canada and Mexico have been negotiating since last summer, but the deal is not done. Grassley made his comments Monday after a mid-day speech to Webster City’s Rotary.
