Justice Cady Says “Iowans Are Losing Access to Justice”
(Des Moines) — The chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court says Iowans are “losing access to justice” because of dwindling financial support of the courts.
Due to budget cuts, Chief Justice Mark Cady (KAY-dee) says there’s been a 10 percent reduction in the court system’s workforce just in the past year.
Cady spoke with reporters shortly after delivering his eighth annual address at the statehouse. During his speech, Cady told legislators “the writing’s on the wall.”
There are 182 fewer people working in the Iowa court system today compared to a year ago. There are 11 judgeships that are unfilled and about a dozen current judges plan to retire. Cady says “essential” court operations are suffering, with courtroom delays more common, the backlog of cases growing and the problems are worst in rural counties.
Representative Gary Worthan (WORTH-un), a Republican from Storm Lake, is chairman of the budget panel that drafts the court’s budget. He is sympathetic to the court’s situation.
Worthan says not only the courts, but the state’s prisons and Public Safety Department have reached a “critical” point in terms of staffing. Worthan says it’s time for legislators to set priorities and end spending in other areas.
Governor Kim Reynolds yesterday recommended a nearly two MILLION dollar cut in the court’s CURRENT budget. That proposal is part of a plan to trim the state budget by nearly 35 million dollars to deal with lower-than-expected state tax collections.
Police Investigate Death Of Child At Day-Care Center
MANLY, Iowa (AP) – Police say no crime is suspected in the death of a 7-month- old who was being cared for at an in-home day care in northern Iowa.
Manly Police Chief Aaron Pals identified the child Tuesday as Haven Rozevink, who lived in Manly.
Medics were sent to the home in Manly around 3 p.m. Dec. 28. They performed CPR on Haven, and she was taken to a Mason City hospital. Pals says the little girl was pronounced dead at the hospital. He also says autopsy results can’t be released yet.
Farmers Must Have Marketing Plan To Help Them Succeed
(Le Mars) — Farmers are facing continued low commodity prices, with not much hope for improvement. However, according Ed Kordick, an Iowa Farm Bureau Federation marketing specialist, farmers stand a better chance of earning
profits if they implement a marketing plan that includes forward contracting and selling their grain during the spring months of the year.
Kordick is traveling throughout the state and visiting with farmers about the importance of having a marketing strategy, as well as the discipline to follow the marketing strategy. He says the marketing strategy may not work every time,
but over the course of time it will prove to be successful.
Kordick suggests farmers take out crop insurance as another means of risk protection. But he says farmers need to follow their pre-determined specific marketing dates from their marketing plan.
The Iowa Farm Bureau marketing specialist says in order for farmers to be successful marketers, they need to know their cost of production, remove emotion when making decisions, have a marketing plan, and have the discipline to follow that marketing plan.
Former DNR Employee To Get $1 Million From Wrongful Termination Lawsuit
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa board has approved payment of nearly $1.1 million in a lawsuit by a former state worker who said the state Natural Resources Department fired him because of a work injury. A judge had ordered the
state to pay John Vetter after a jury ruled in his favor in 2015. He’d alleged he was fired in 2013 after a work-related injury to his back that dated to 2011.
Vetter had worked at the agency since 1976.
