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The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that a state law allowing landlords to notify tenants of eviction hearings by certified mail is unconstitutional. The court ruling Friday tosses out rules that consider service of notice complete when a letter is mailed without proof the letter was received. The ruling notes that certified mail may not be delivered in time to give tenants facing eviction an opportunity to prepare for a hearing. The case involved The War Eagle Village Apartments in Sioux City ...

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Culver orders review of tax credits Gov. Chet Culver on Thursday ordered a wide-ranging review of the state’s 30 tax credit programs. The review comes in the wake of the suspension and criminal probe of the state’s film tax credit program. Problems with that program and the state’s tight budget situation have brought calls for curbs on the state’s tax credit programs. A report by the Iowa Department of Revenue predicts the state’s tax credit liabilities could total more than $566 million by fiscal ...

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Iowa Gov. Chet Culver delivered a somber budget lesson to school board members from across the state Thursday, but argued financial constraints offer a historic opportunity for reforms. Culver said the state has to change the way it looks at funding schools and find more efficiencies and cost savings. “I believe now is the time to challenge this state to rethink education,” Culver said. “From pre-school to college, the old ways of doing things are no longer an option.” Declining state revenues forced ...

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Existing telephone and cable TV companies are piling on the criticism of a Cedar Rapids company’s application for $139 million in federal stimulus dollars to offer high-speed fiber-optic communications in 19 Eastern Iowa communities. The federal government has already begun parceling out $7.2 billion in federal stimulus dollars allocated for improving broadband communications in underserved parts rural America. The process has produced a long list of applicants from Iowa, but most were well-known cable, Internet or telephone providers. FyreSTORM Cable & Fibre, ...

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UPDATE: U.S. District Chief Judge Linda Reade has approved the government’s motion to dismiss the 72 immigration charges against Agriprocessors and former manager Sholom Rubashkin. The government filed the motion earlier today. The government requested the dismissal based on the conviction in the fraud trial. The jury’s verdicts in the fraud trial were somewhat based on Rubashkin knowingly making false statements to the bank about harboring illegal workers at Agriprocessors, the motion contended. The motion also pointed out that a conviction on the ...

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The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a man who allegedly approached two young teenage girls and asked if they wanted to pet the dog that was in the bed of his truck. Around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said a man wearing old looking clothing, described to be in his 50s, with black and gray hair, drove slowly beside the girls while they were walking from the school bus stop. The driver — who had a juvenile male as a passenger ...

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Sen. Tom Harkin is lending his support to a proposal to move terrorism detainees from Guantanamo to an Illinois prison. He sees no security concerns and expects that as many as 20 percent of the 3,000 jobs at the northwest Illinois prison could be filled by Iowans from the Clinton and Quad Cities. The Iowa Democrat told reporters Thursday he has to learn more about the proposal and the maximum security prison at Thomson, Ill., but sees no reason to oppose it. “I ...

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A tour bus driver suffered a ruptured aneurysm before a crash on a southern Minnesota interstate that killed two people and injured 21 others. That's according to a spokesman for Strain Bus Line, the company that runs the trips to an Iowa casino. Spokesman Randy Lavoie says the driver, Ed Erickson of Elgin, suffered the aneurysm in his chest and lost consciousness shortly before the crash Wednesday afternoon on Interstate 90 near Austin. Erickson is among 14 people who were hospitalized after ...

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DES MOINES – State education officials are highlighting gains made in closing the so-called “achievement gap” between minority and white students detailed in a report made public Wednesday. The 2009 annual Condition of Education report showed Iowa schools are making advances in reading and math in the fourth and eighth grades, especially by minority students as measured by standardized test scores. “We still have achievement gaps, but we are beginning to close these,” Iowa Department of Education Director Judy Jeffrey told members ...

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Capitol Briefs New H1N1 deaths reported State public health officials reported the deaths of two more Iowans from the H1N1 virus, bringing the total to 21. Both were adults and had risk factors that increased the chance of complications from the virus. The latest deaths were in Floyd and Johnson counties. Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Health say the most common risk factors that occurred in Iowans who have died were pulmonary/respiratory conditions, immune-compromised conditions such as cancer, neuromuscular conditions, diabetes or ...

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DES MOINES – The Iowa Supreme Court’s chief justice issued an order Tuesday limiting the hours clerk of court offices around the state are open to the public as a way to deal with reduced staffing. Chief Justice Marsha Ternus’ order will have clerk’s offices in 23 counties operate on a part-time basis because of layoffs. Under her order, reduced hours will begin immediately in Adams, Ringgold, Taylor and Wayne counties. The other counties going to part-time hours will begin December 11. They ...

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WINDSOR HEIGHTS – The state’s Environmental Protection Commission took no action Tuesday to try block a composting facility in Johnson County from receiving a needed permit, despite objections from a neighbor. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources initially denied a renewal of a solid waste composting permit issued in 2005 to Stone Hill Soils because the company had not yet completed construction on the facility during the three years the permit was valid. The company appealed that decision to an administrative law ...

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A Wisconsin appeals court on Tuesday reinstated a $5 million damage award in a family feud involving one of the world's largest beef jerky companies. The feud involves the family that owns Link Snacks Inc., which calls itself the leader in the $3 billion meat snack industry and is known for its "Messin' with Sasquatch" ad campaign. A yearslong dispute has pitted company founder and chief executive Jack Link against his son Jay Link, who contends he was unfairly cut out of ...

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Conservative leaders have promised to make gay marriage a central issue in next year's legislative elections and governor's race, and they're considering a push to oust the Iowa Supreme Court justices whose ruling legalized same-sex unions. Iowa Christian Alliance President Steve Scheffler said his group will focus first on lobbying lawmakers during the legislative session that starts in January to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage. Legislators who don't support that effort could find themselves facing opponents recruited and ...

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A new Iowa Poll shows that Iowans are lacking confidence in state officials' budget cutting decisions. The poll published Tuesday in a copyright story in The Des Moines Register shows four out of five Iowans have little to no confidence that state officials are making good decisions. A majority of Iowans say they support spending more money on roads and bridges, health insurance for children, renewable energy and the state patrol. The poll shows they are more willing to cut spending on ...

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Emma is back. After dropping from the No. 1 spot in 2007, Emma returned to being the most popular girl’s name chosen by Iowa parents last year, holding that position for six of the last seven years after being edged out by Ava in 2007. On the boys’ side, Ethan held the most-chosen slot among male newborn monikers for the fourth straight year, according to the latest vital statistics report issued by the state Department of Public Health. “We think Emma is just ...

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Alzheimer’s disease continues to move up the list of the top causes for deaths among Iowans. The incurable, degenerative and terminal disease first identified in 1906 now ranks fifth among Iowa’s morbidity rates, according to the 2008 vital statistics data issued by the state Department of Public Health, moving ahead of accidental or unintentional injuries that include motor vehicle crashes. “We’ve been seeing the numbers increase exponentially,” said Carol Siple, executive director for the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Iowa. Experts say the climb ...

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The man accused of shooting his estranged wife to death and wounding a police officer in a standoff was ordered by a Polk County judge last month to surrender his firearms. Polk County Judge Karen Romano ordered Randall Moore, 38, to hand over any guns to county law enforcement by Oct. 26 and to have no contact with his wife. Moore signed the document, agreeing to abide by the order. On Wednesday, Moore is accused of killing his wife, Teresann Lynch Moore, ...

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The former manager of a kosher slaughterhouse convicted of financial fraud is being held at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, S.D. A jury in the trial of Sholom Rubashkin returned guilty verdicts on 86 of 91 counts Thursday night. Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Genz says Rubashkin was taken to the prison after the verdict was announced. Rubashkin's attorneys filed a motion seeking his release on bail. U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade will consider the motion Wednesday in Cedar ...

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A Clinton man charged in a standoff at a grocery store has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Patrick Guynn, 23, was sentenced on Thursday in Clinton County District Court. He pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree kidnapping and one count each of intimidation with a dangerous weapon and second-degree criminal mischief. Guynn was accused of entering a Jewel-Osco store in Clinton on May 17. He was armed with a high-powered rifle and barricaded himself with two hostages in a ...

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(AP) — A former manager of an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse that was the site of a massive immigration raid was convicted Thursday on 86 financial fraud charges that could bring a prison sentence of hundreds of years. Sholom Rubashkin still faces a second federal trial on 72 immigration charges. Jurors returned the verdict against Rubashkin, 50, on their second day of deliberations after a nearly monthlong trial. Rubashkin had faced 91 charges, including bank, mail and wire fraud, and money laundering. ...

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Gov. Chet Culver said Thursday he hopes that union agreements to accept unpaid days and benefit reductions will result in fewer than 300 state employees receiving layoff notices as the state struggles through a budget crisis. Culver also said he is hopeful that he and the Legislature will be able next session to find ways to streamline, reorganize and improve efficiencies in state government that will amount to “tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars” in savings. The governor already ...

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Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus on Thursday warned Iowans to expect long delays, gaps in service and reduced access to Iowa’s court system due to required “draconian” budget cuts. Court officials announced that 105 court employees will be laid off, another 100 vacant positions will be cut, and 58 workers will see their hours reduced in the wake of deep state budget cuts. In total, the action ordered by the Iowa Supreme Court equated to a 9.3 percent reduction in ...

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Iowa-based emissions of the greenhouse gas most to blame for climate change grew at a much faster rate than the national average from 1990 to 2007, an environmental group said Thursday. The report from Environment Iowa said Iowa’s emissions of carbon dioxide climbed by 35 percent over the 17-year period, which includes the most recently released U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. Over that same period, carbon dioxide emissions nationwide grew by only 19 percent, the report said. “More pollution than ever before is ...

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JOHNSTON – Two Iowa casinos have agreed to fines for admitting people who should not have been allowed inside. The Catfish Bend Casino in Burlington was fined $20,000 for admitting an underage female who played a slot machine and was served an alcoholic beverage. A security supervisor questioned her identification and discovered she was underage. The Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque was fined $3,000 for admitting a person who had signed up for the voluntary self-exclusion program. The program was created as ...

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