Des Moines’ tax abatement program expires at the end of the year, and city officials wanted to get residents’ and developers’ take on extending it. The city is recommending using a declining scale system in some cases, and eliminating it altogether for multi-family units outside the target area. Developers at a public meeting last night questioned changing a program has been in place for 28 years.
A California drug company will pay the state more than 970-thousand dollars to settle a suit that it improperly marketed Enbrel and Aranesp. Amgen is now barred from certain marketing strategies, including promoting to doctors offbrand uses of the drugs.
The EPA has reached a settlerment with Iowa Fertilizer Company and Orascom in a suit over their work on a fertilizer plant in Lee County. The agency says the two firms violated their construction stormwater permit by releasing discharges containing sediment into a tributary. The companies will pay an 80-thousand dollar civil penalty.
USDA is taking bids from animal health companies across the nation to develop a bird flu vaccine. The department says it won’t approve a vaccine unless it’s absolutely necessary to use it for another outbreak…but it said companies may be using a government-prototype seed strain in the vaccine. The bird flu is expected to return this fall.
Iowa House Republicans meet today at the Capitol to pick a new speaker. Kraig Paulsen is stepping down after four years in the chair. Paulsen also has no plans to run for re-election next year.
The Mid-Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force has rounded up 20 people this week in a prostitution sting at a Polk County motel. Area law enforcement launched the operation after a series of complaints from local business owners and citizens.
A new tobacco-free policy kicks in on Monday at the University of Iowa. It will become the first of the state’s three universities to ban all forms of tobacco.
Another Iowa school is expanding. Iowa Wesleyan University is the new name for the former Iowa Wesleyan College, as it morphs into a regional comprehensive university for southeast Iowa. Enrollment has increased from a year ago, and the school is expanding its graduate degree programs.
The Jackson Street Bridge that links the Meredith recreational trail across the river in Des Moines is 15-thousand dollars away from its renovation fundraising goal…that’s the word from Park and Rec Director Ben Page. The renovation fund just received a 75-thousand dollar donation from Hubbell Realty to push it that close to goal.
Des Moines is on another top ten list…this one from the travel website Matador. We’re among the top ten underrated cities for millennials. Matador pointed to the cost of living, which is ten percent below the national average, along with a great start-up community, low home prices, music festivals, and other cool places to hang.
