Lawmaker Wants To Offer Psychiatrist Students Tax Breaks
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – With Iowa facing a psychiatrist shortage, one lawmaker thinks giving income tax breaks to psychiatry students will be enough to encourage them to practice in
the state.
Republican Rep. Dave Heaton’s bill was reviewed by the House Ways and Means Committee this week.
It would waive state income taxes for psychiatrists with school debt who choose to practice in medically underserved areas of Iowa.
Some lawmakers wonder if offering a tax break is enough to entice psychiatrists to stay.
Iowa’s psychiatrist shortage comes in the middle of sweeping changes to the county-based mental health system.
Gov. Terry Branstad has proposed a $2 million plan to repay medical school loans for 20 doctors that practice in rural Iowa for five years.
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) – A Dubuque woman who was helping a friend
make methamphetamine when it burst into flames in a home she was
renting has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison.
Federal prosecutors say 36-year-old Dawn Richey will serve a
prison sentence of five years and 10 months and must pay $142,000
to the home’s owner.
Richey’ sentencing was Friday. She had pleaded guilty in
December to aiding and abetting the attempted manufacture of
methamphetamine near a school.
The home she was renting was 1,000 feet from an elementary
school. It caught fire in February 2012 as she and Julie Uhrig
tried to make meth in the basement.
Uhrig is serving nearly 11 years in prison and Nickolas Clark,
Richey’s boyfriend at the time, is serving nearly three years.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A retiring Iowa City police officer plans
to buy a veteran, retiring K-9 owned by the city.
Officer Kevin Berg has requested to buy Naton the dog for $10.
The Iowa City Council will vote on the agreement during a meeting
Tuesday.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports Berg, who has been with the
department for nearly 30 years, has been Naton’s handler for eight
years. The dog is partially blind, but officials say it never
slowed him down.
Police Chief Sam Hargadine says handlers often purchase their
dog when service work is complete.
The police department purchased the Belgian Malinois for
$10,500.
