Water To Be Shut Off
(LeMars)- The contractor working for the City Water Department installing the new water main for the future new water tower and booster station will be connecting to the water main on 200th and 5th Ave SE by the Pippet Addition. The water will be shut off at K-49 and 200th St. The only area off will be the Pippet addition. This is schedueled for Friday July 18 from noon to 4 pm.
Opponents To Horse Racing Amendment To Travel State
(Sioux City)-Gambling opponents have launched a campaign against a Nebraska ballot measure that would allow betting on old horse races shown on machines that resemble casino slots.
The group Gambling with the Good Life is traveling the state in hopes of defeating the November ballot proposal.If approved by voters, the constitutional amendment would clear the way for the video terminals at licensed race tracks in at least six Nebraska cities.
Atokad Park of South Sioux City is in the process of being relicensed by the state, and would be one of those locations. Supporters say the machines will help the state’s struggling horse-racing industry.
Pat Loontjer of Gambling with the Good Life says the machines run as fast as regular casino slots and can be just as addictive.Nebraska voters rejected two proposals to allow casino gambling in 2004, and a measure to authorize video keno was defeated in 2006.
King Says Congress Still Discussing Undocumented Children
(Washington)- Iowa Congressman Steve King says members of Congress arecontinuing to discuss how to handle the influx of undocumented children across the southern border of the United States. King, a Republican, places the blame on the lack of response to the issue with the Obama administration.
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King says the Obama administration has made it difficult to return anyone who has illegally entered the country back to their own nation.
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King says a report that 38 children have been returned to Honduras. King thinks the administration is just gesturing or posing. Reports say more than 57-thousand undocumented, unaccompanied children have crossed the U-S border with Mexico since last October.
Iowans Not Infavor Of Sales Tax On Internet Purchases
(Des Moines)- The National Taxpayers Union and a D-C based think-tank are touting a new survey which finds a majority of Iowans are opposed to paying sales taxes on internet purchases.
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That’s Andrew Moyland (MOY-land) of the R Street Institute. Moyland was at the Iowa capitol today (Wednesday) to discuss the survey with legislative staff and representatives from Iowa business groups. Moyland suggests candidates for all offices should be wary of allowing states to collect internet sales taxes, including prospective presidential candidates like Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Marco Rubio who’ve been campaigning in Iowa. There may soon be a vote in the U.S. Senate on a bill that would give states greater authority to collect sales taxes on internet sales.
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Moyland praised Chuck Grassley, Iowa’s Republican senator, for opposing what’s called The Marketplace Fairness Act that would give states broader authority to collect sales taxes on internet purchases. Others who support the legislation say Main Street businesses see more and more people who come in, look over the merchandise, then go online to make the purchase — escaping the sales taxes they’d pay if they bought the product in the store. Moyland rejects that argument.
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According to a University of Tennesse estimate, 88 million dollars in sales taxes that were legally due to the State of Iowa were NOT collected on internet purchases made in 2012. Moyland argues that “pales in comparison” to the sales taxes the State of Iowa fails to collect because the state sales tax is not charged on all services.
List Of Voters Who May Have Died Sent To Counties
(Des Moines)- The Iowa Secretary of State’s office has sent a list out to the 99 county auditors with the names of voters who may’ve died but are still on the voting rolls. Chance McElhaney, spokesman for the Secretary of State, says they found one-thousand-234 names after cross-checking a federal list called the Social Security Death Index.
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He says the county auditors regularly update their voter registration lists, but can miss some names.
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McElhaney says they first did this cross check in 2012 and found it was helpful to the auditors and they decided to do it again. The number of names on the list ranges from 100 in Wright County to none in Wayne County. McElhaney says he’s not sure why there is such a big difference in the numbers in each county, but it may be due to the county’s work in already updating their voter list.
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McElhaney says the voters on the list aren’t automatically removed by the counties.
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He says they ask them to analyze it and not just take these people off the list before doing a little research to see if they are actually dead. What happens if your name is on the list and the report of your death is greatly exaggerated?
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McElhaney says all of the people on the list have not had any recent voting activity, so these are not cases of numbers that were stolen and used by someone else. Plymouth County has 8, Sioux County has 2 and Woodbury County has 15 names on this list.
