State Legislature Finally Ends Its Session On Saturday Afternoon
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa lawmakers have adjourned their 2018 legislative session.
Republicans with control of the Legislature held near simultaneous debate Saturday in order to approve a sweeping $2.1 billion tax cut bill that they hailed as the largest in state history and Democrats decried as unfairly favoring the wealthy.
The legislative activity caps a marathon of votes in recent days to finalize spending bills that will make up the roughly $7.4 billion state budget that goes into effect in July. Final bills now head to GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has roughly a month to review them.
Legislators tackled a range of issues this session, from expanding
mental health access to addressing the opioid epidemic. They also passed measures on abortion and immigration enforcement that critics warned would lead to litigation.
Republicans Claim Successful General Session While Democrats Say It Will Hurt Iowans
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – With majorities in both the state House and Senate, Iowa Republican lawmakers can point to plenty of accomplishments as they pushed through a conservative agenda that includes the nation’s strictest
abortion restriction and a large tax cut.
Lawmakers completed their work Saturday after finalizing a $7.4
billion budget and approving hundreds of millions in tax cuts.
Earlier in the week, Republicans had passed a roughly six-week
abortion ban that was quickly signed into law by Gov. Reynolds. It faces a series of court challenges.
Some major legislation was approved with bipartisan support,
including an expansion of mental health services and new efforts to limit the opioid epidemic.
The topic of sexual misconduct hung over the session, highlighted by the departure in March of Bill Dix, the former Senate majority leader who was recorded kissing a lobbyist who wasn’t his wife.
Pelosi Speaks At Polk County Democratic Spring Banquet
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – U-S House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says a Democratic House takeover is possible because of vulnerable Republicans in districts President Donald Trump narrowly won in 2016.
Pelosi was in Des Moines, to address the Polk County Democrats’
spring banquet. The California congresswoman dampened talk of landslides, and instead says narrow victories in more districts than expected would fuel a change in House leadership.
Rather than a looming Democratic wave, Pelosi likened Democrats’ momentum to “a lot of small droplets of water.”
Female Inmate Attacks Correction Officer
MITCHELLVILLE, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a corrections officer at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women has been assaulted by an inmate.
The Iowa Department of Corrections said in a news release Saturday that the incident happened around 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Mitchellville prison.
Officials say the officer and another staffer were working in a
mental health unit of the prison when an inmate began verbally abusing the officers.
When the inmate was told to return to her cell, she attacked –
punching, wrestling and pulling the hair of the officer.
Official say the two officers were able to gain control of the
inmate, and the corrections officer was not seriously injured.
Officials have not released the names of the officer or the inmate.
Council Bluffs Woman Rescued After Falling Into Culvert
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have rescued a woman who fell into a Council Bluffs culvert.
Firefighters and police were sent to the site near Broadway Skate Park around 9:15 a.m. Sunday. The woman had fallen 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 meters) into the Indian Creek culvert and landed on concrete.
Firefighters got her out of the culvert, and she was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries characterized as non-life-threatening.
It’s unclear whether she fell from a bridge or a water pipe that pass over the culvert or how long she’d been there before a passer-by found her.
Her name hasn’t been released.
Sold Lottery Ticket Worth $4.4 Million
CLIVE, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Lottery officials say a ticket bought at a
convenience store in Davenport is worth nearly $4.4 million.
The ticket matched the six numbers in Saturday’s Lotto America drawing: 8-15-18-32-45 and the Star Ball number of 1. The ticket was generated free when the person bought a Powerball ticket at the store as part of an Iowa Lottery promotion for May.
The odds of winning the jackpot in Lotto America are around 1 in 26 million, with the odds of about 1 in 292.2 million of winning the Powerball jackpot and about 1 in 302.6 million of winning the Mega Millions jackpot.
Jackpot prizes must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive.
