Gazette Daily News Briefing, March 19
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for March 19.
We’re finally to that sunny weather I have been promising all week. According to the National Weather Service forecast it will be sunny in the Cedar Rapids area with a high of 54 degrees. In addition, it also won’t be windy today, with the wind speed hovering between 5 and 10 mph. Expect increasing temperatures, with some variability, as we head into next week.
For more than 40 years, the name of former Cedar Rapids utility executive Duane Arnold has been synonymous with nuclear power in Iowa. Now it could have a new connotation: a massive solar energy project planned for 2023 near the now-idle nuclear plant at the Duane Arnold Energy Center.
In a virtual meeting with nearby landowners Tuesday night, plant owner NextEra Energy of Florida this week laid out plans to build a solar farm on the site that could bring in a $700 million capital investment and about 300 construction jobs.
The solar farm is planned across 3,500 acres at and near the now-decommissioned nuclear power plant in Palo. It is expected to produce up to 690 megawatts of solar energy — even more than the single-unit nuclear plant generated. When the Duane Arnold plant was operating, the 615-megawatt facility could generate enough electricity for 600,000 homes.
Momentum for tax cuts is building at the Iowa Statehouse, but the dynamic of COVID-19 and the fate of a massive amount of federal surplus is giving Republican lawmakers pause.
Currently, Iowa’s budget is in a surplus position with reserves full. But much of that positivity is rooted in billions of federal stimulus and rescue dollars that have propped up government programs to aid businesses and employees negatively impacted by the disruptions caused by the pandemic.
More federal help — some $2.5 billion estimated as Iowa’s share — is on the way via provisions of the recently approved $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Under a 2018 comprehensive tax cut package, Reynolds and majority Republicans agreed to put revenue thresholds in place that, if met, would “trigger” provisions in fiscal 2024 to lower Iowa’s top income tax rate to 6.5 percent, shrink the number of income tax brackets from nine to four and eliminate a provision that allows Iowans to deduct their federal income tax liability on their state returns. Republicans would like to remove those triggers and proceed with the tax cut.
A former Four Oaks youth counselor pleaded guilty Thursday to sexually abusing and exploiting a 14-year-old boy in 2018.
Danielle V. Hook, 29, formerly of Marion, pleaded in writing to amended charges of third-degree sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. The Iowa Supreme Court is allowing written pleas to felonies during the pandemic.
Sixth Judicial District Senior Judge Robert Sosalla accepted the pleas Thursday and also ordered Hook to register as a sex offender for 10 years and serve a special sentence of lifetime parole because these are sexual offenses. Hook pleaded to two sexually predatory offenses, so if she commits future sex offenses, she will face penalty enhancements — more prison time.
According to the plea agreement, the prosecutor and defense attorney will recommend Hook, who has no prior criminal history, be sentenced to probation. She faced up to 10 years on the sexual abuse charge and five years on the exploitation charge.
This briefing is sponsored in part by Corridor Careers. Are you looking for a job? CorridorCareers.com is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at CorridorCareers.com.
Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast, or just tell your Amazon Alexa enabled device to “enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying “Alexa, what’s the news?
If you prefer podcasts, you can also find us on iTunes.
