NEWS BRIEFS: Property tax, driver's license office closed Friday

Property tax, driver?s license office closed

The property tax and driver?s license portion of the Jefferson County Treasurer?s Office will be closed Friday.

The office will be moving into a space, which was formerly the supervisors? office.

?We will be accepting delinquent property taxes that unless paid, will be sold at tax sale, but all other business will resume on Monday,? said Jefferson County Treasurer Terri Kness. ?We created a walkway between the two offices of motor vehicle and the property tax/driver?s license office to allow for cross training of employees and a more cohesive team environment. The supervisors will eventually move into the treasurer office space that will be vacant.?

Amtrak services disrupted in Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado

 OMAHA, Neb. (AP) ? Flooding along the Missouri River in the Omaha area is forcing Amtrak to disrupt its California Zephyr passenger train, which travels between San Francisco and Chicago.

Amtrak says Tuesday that service will be temporarily suspended between Denver and Chicago for at least six days because of predicted flood crests and additional closures of Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks in the Omaha area.

Amtrak says in a statement the suspension of service is effective with an eastbound train on Thursday from Emeryville, Calif., and a westbound train on Friday from Chicago. The disruption is expected to continue through at least June 14.

There will be no Amtrak service in Iowa, except in Fort Madison. Daily service will continue between Chicago and Galesburg, Ill.

Iowa man sent to prison for pacemaker attack

 MANCHESTER (AP) ? An Iowa man who pleaded guilty to cutting his father?s pacemaker from his chest with a pocketknife has been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

Jesse Fierstine of Manchester pleaded guilty in April to willful injury, going armed with intent and two counts of assault causing serious injury.

The Telegraph Herald in Dubuque says Fierstine was sentenced Monday in Delaware County District Court.

His attorney, Frank Santiago, asked the judge to suspend the charges. The judge denied the request, and sentenced Fierstine to five years in prison on each count, to be served consecutively.

Fierstine was charged with attacking his father, Charles, in April 2009. Charles Fierstine recovered from the attack. He died in 2010 after a lengthy illness.

Iowa collecting data on high school/college students

DES MOINES (AP) ? Iowa officials are beginning to collect college data on students who earned community college credits while in high school.

The education officials want to find out how well-prepared those students are for moving on to college.

The state says more than 38,000 high school students took classes last year for credit through community colleges, accounting for more than 25 percent of the enrollment at the state?s community colleges.

The Des Moines Register is reporting that the state hasn?t tracked passing and failing rates, and officials don?t know whether the courses were as tough as those offered at four-year colleges.

 Rebuild Iowa Office going out of business

DES MOINES (AP) ? The Rebuild Iowa Office is going out of business as planned later this month.

The agency coordinated state efforts to recover from flooding and tornadoes in 2008. The law creating it said it would go out of business after three years. Closing is set for June 23.

Its work may provide a guideline for handling recovery from future disasters.

Ron Dardis was adjutant general for the Iowa National Guard, chairman of the Rebuild Iowa Advisory Commission and later the agency?s executive director. He told The Des Moines Register that the agency did a lot of hard work ?that has resulted in best practices, benchmarks and models for the nation.?

He cited for example the Jumpstart Iowa Recovery Initiative, which helped provide financial aid to homeowners and small-business people.