From the Associated Press:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is proposing that Iowa cut taxes by nearly $2 billion by moving to a 4% flat income tax phased in over four years and repealing all state taxes on retirement income beginning next year. Reynolds made the proposals Tuesday in her annual Condition of the State message delivered to lawmakers. The flat tax proposal is expected to reduce state revenue by $1.58 billion in tax year 2026 when it is fully implemented. The retirement tax relief is estimated to cost the state $400 million in revenue in 2023, the first year she proposes it to be effective.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two state agencies have settled sexual harassment lawsuits with employees that alleged they were mistreated at work. The State Appeal Board on Tuesday approved a $962,500 settlement with Jennifer Jackson, who alleged in a February 2020 lawsuit that Iowa Department of Human Services officials did not take sexual harassment seriously. The board also approved a settlement with Francisco Miramontes for $25,000, who claimed he was harassed by two female employees in the judicial branch who would inappropriately touch him, make sexual advances and sexual gestures to him. The settlement is with his estate since he died in a motorcycle accident in Des Moines in June 2020.
RED OAK, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a southwest Iowa police officer struck and killed a 12-year-old child with a patrol vehicle while headed to an apartment fire. Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla says the crash happened around 7 p.m. Monday near an intersection in the town of Red Oak. Dinkla says the officer was responding to the fire in “emergency mode.” Authorities have identified the child as Vana Marie Redd and the officer as 22-year-old Reece Anderson, of Red Oak. The patrol is investigating the crash.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Senate president opened the legislative session with an attack on the media and claims of a sinister agenda to normalize deviant behavior against children. The Legislature is expected to focus on plans for tax cuts and reforms to unemployment law, but Republican Senate President Jake Chapman used his opening speech Monday to challenge lawmakers to take a stand. He argued there is a “sinister agenda occurring right before our eyes.” Democratic leaders criticized the comments, calling them divisive and extreme political rhetoric that has made teachers, nurses and other people hesitant to work in the state.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is taking its first major action to address toxic wastewater from coal-burning power plants, ordering utilities to stop dumping waste into unlined storage ponds and speed up plans to close leaking or otherwise dangerous coal ash sites. The EPA says plants in four states will have to close the coal ash ponds months or years ahead of schedule. Coal ash is the substance that remains when coal is burned to generate electricity. It can pollute waterways, poison wildlife and cause respiratory illness among those living near massive ponds where the waste is stored. The action marks the first time the EPA has enforced a 2015 rule aimed at reducing groundwater pollution from coal-fired power plants.
FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) — A correctional officer has been hospitalized after he was assaulted by an inmate at the Iowa State Penitentiary. The Iowa Department of Corrections said staff were able to restrain the inmate after the Friday night assault. The inmate wasn’t hurt, but the officer was taken to the hospital. The Hawk Eye reports that the corrections department is monitoring the officer’s recovery. The facility was placed on modified restricted movement after the assault and is investigating what happened. Friday’s was the latest in a string of inmate assaults in Fort Madison and elsewhere in Iowa within the past two years.
