Home News Tuesday Afternoon News, December 28th

Tuesday Afternoon News, December 28th

Christmas Trees Can Be Deposited At City Disposal Site

(Le Mars) — Le Mars city officials are wanting the residents to know that discarded Christmas trees can be taken to the city’s tree and yard waste collection site.  Christmas trees must be free of all decorations and ornaments.  The site is behind the Riverview Ball Park Complex, west of the Floyd River and north of Highway 3.  The collection site will be open between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. from December 30th through January 11th.

 

 

 

Senator Ernst Successful In Getting Law Signed For Global War On Terrorism Memorial

(Washington, DC) —  A bill co-sponsored by Iowa Senator Joni Ernst will create a new memorial on the National Mall honoring veterans of the Global War on Terrorism.  The legislation was signed into law Monday by President Biden.  Ernst said,”the time to honor these heroes of our nation’s longest war and their families is now, and there is no more fitting of a way to do that than with a memorial on our National Mall to serve as a permanent testament of their selflessness for generations to come.”  New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan co-authored the measure.

 

 

 

65% of Aggravated Assaults at UI Campus Happen in Hospital

(Iowa City, IA)  —  Nearly two-thirds of the aggravated assaults reported on the University of Iowa campus in 2020 happened at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.  Public Safety Department co-director Mark Bullock said, “of the 49 aggravated assaults that were reported in 2020, 32 of them occurred at the U-I-H-C.” Bullock says we’ve been meeting weekly with U-I-H-C leadership to determine how we’re going to address this long term.  The hospital’s C-E-O has recently called the pandemic “an endurance test” for health care workers.  Bullock says staff shouldn’t have to endure assaults as they care for sick patients and his department has secured space for a Medical Campus Safety Center and will assign four new officers to provide security at the hospital.  A hospital in Branson, Missouri recently provided up to 400 staff members with panic buttons on their employee badges after violent attacks against health care workers there tripled in the past year.

 

 

 

Knoxville Woman Accused of Stabbing Man During Argument

(Knoxville, IA)  —  A Knoxville woman is jailed for the alleged stabbing of a man during an argument.  Officers found the man with a stab wound to his stomach late Monday morning.  They say the victim told them he was stabbed by 56-year-old Toni Renee Baker.  The man was taken to a Knoxville hospital and later airlifted to Des Moines.  Investigators say Baker was taken into custody and admitted to stabbing the man.  She is facing a felony willful injury charge.

 

 

 

Dubuque Man Sentenced to Federal Prison For Dealing Crack With Daughter

(Cedar Rapids, IA)  —  A Dubuque man will spend more than three years in federal prison for dealing crack cocaine with his daughter.  Forty-seven-year-old Kendell Lamont Thomas was sentenced to 37 months Monday after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.  The U-S Attorney’s Office says Thomas admitted that he and his daughter sold more than 500 grams of crack during an eight-month period in 2020.

 

 

 

Grassley Says Democrats Are Being Inconsistent Wanting To Do Away With State and Local Tax Deductions

(Washington) — U-S Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa addressed the issue of eliminating the state and local tax deduction as being proposed by Democratic members of Congress, along with the Biden administration, during his most recent conversation with Iowa media as part of his weekly news conference.  Grassley says the idea to do away with the deduction will only benefit those within a larger income brackets. Grassley says by doing so, Iowa will be subsidizing other states.  He says the idea is counter-productive to what Democrats are always claiming that the most wealthy should be taxed at an even higher rate.

Grassley says the Democrats are being inconsistent with their desire to abandon the tax deduction.