IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Firefighters helped a crane operator reach safety after a fire broke out below at a building under construction in downtown Iowa City. Flames were being blown up and sideways Tuesday afternoon at the Hieronymous Square project. It’s unclear what started the blaze. No injuries have been reported.

Fire Chief John Grier says mist on the tower might have made it slick, so they took a precaution: Firefighter Andy Wulfekuhle climbed up the inside of the crane to fit the operator with a safety belt before his climb down. It’s unclear how much the fire will affect the project, which will include two 7-story towers with hotel, office, retail and apartment space.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A man who had said he was only defending himself when he beat another man at a central Iowa bar has been convicted of second-degree murder. On Monday a jury found 49-year-old Rodney Henricksen guilty. His sentencing is set for April 15. Joshua Sadlon, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, died a day after the incident at the Escape Lounge in Urbandale in January 2018.

Henricksen had said he’d tried to de-escalate threats made by the drunken Sadlon and said Iowa’s “stand your ground” law protected him from prosecution. The law says a person doesn’t have to retreat before using deadly force if he or she reasonably thinks his or her life is being threatened. The jury rejected his claim of self-defense. Prosecutors called it a bar beating, not a bar fight.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Voters in Des Moines and five other Polk County cities have approved raising the sales tax to 7 cents from 6 cents on the dollar spent. More than 70 percent of Des Moines voters said yes to the measure Tuesday, and it also easily passed in Alleman, Altoona, Pleasant Hill, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights. The increase goes into effect July 1.

Three attempts for the increase have failed since 1996, most recently in March 2018. A majority of Des Moines voters backed the measure a year ago, but it failed because a majority of suburban voters rejected it. In May the Iowa Legislature canceled a state rule that required cities with contiguous borders to vote together on local option sales tax issues.

(Radio Iowa) — There’s a bipartisan effort in the Iowa House to ensure every absentee ballot mailed on time gets counted in the 2020 election. Republican Representative Jon Jacobsen of Council Bluffs is leading the discussion — a discussion that started after a disputed legislative race in the Decorah area. “Uniformity between and among all the counties is absolutely requisite in this situation,” he said. The three counties in House District 55 each handled absentee ballots that were delivered after Election Day differently. A bill that cleared a House committee will require each county auditor to pay for a U.S. Postal Service marking system that tracks when mail is sent and received. Pat Gill, the Woodbury County Auditor, paid 2-cents per absentee ballot to track ballots in his county in the 2018 election. “It is something that’s been very successful,” Gill said. “You feel pretty good about making sure the ballots that should be counted are counted and the ones that are rejected should be rejected rightfully.”

Gill’s office in Sioux City received NINE ballots last year that did not have a postmark showing when they’d been mailed.  “It took me 15 minutes to run a report and determine those ballots weren’t in the (postal) system prior to Election Day,” Gill said. Shelly Wolfe, the Bremer County Auditor, also paid to have ballots in her county tracked in 2018, but the system generated some errors. “We think we’ve got the issue fixed,” she says. “It had to do with the last four digits of the zip code.” She would prefer to have a hard deadline for when ballots must be in county auditor’s offices.

Representative Bruce Hunter, a Democrat from Des Moines, says having every county use bar codes that checked by the Postal Service is more fair to voters. “There are so many instances, right around 1200 this year, where a voter voted an absentee ballot, they did everything right, they got it in on time and if we say it had to be in by Election Day, their vote wouldn’t have been counted.” The Secretary of State’s office estimates it would cost about 13-thousand dollars for the 2020 election if EVERY county auditor uses the Postal Service tracking system.

Red Oak Police say no injuries were reported following a collision Tuesday evening at the intersection of Highways 34 and 48. Authorities say Olivia Nicole Culbertson, of Stanton was in a 2013 Chevy Cruze, waiting to merge at the intersection of the two highways, when she was struck from behind by a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer, driven by Richard James Reynolds, of Red Oak. The accident happened at around 5:25-p.m.

Reynolds was cited for following too close. Damage from the collision amounted to $3,000.

A collision between a pickup and an SUV Tuesday night in Mills County, resulted in both drivers being sent to the hospital. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2005 Chevy Silverado driven by 59-year old Bruce Edward Farrow, of Council Bluffs, was traveling south on 221st Street at around 8:15-p.m., as a 2009 Ford Edge driven by 46-year old Gayleen Marie Chickering, of Glenwood, was traveling northbound.

The pickup, for reasons unknown, crossed the center line of the road just north of Deacon Road, and struck the SUV head-on. The impact caused the pickup to spin and come to rest on the east shoulder of the road. The SUV came to rest on the east shoulder as well.

Farrow was transported by LifeNet helicopter to the UNMC in Omaha. Chickering was flown by LifeNet to Bergan Mercy Hospital. Both drivers were wearing their seat belts. the Glenwood..Pacific Junction…Oak Township and Silver City Fire and Rescue Departments assisted at the scene.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have confirmed that human remains found buried on the property of a Cedar Rapids home are those of a missing eastern Iowa man. The Linn County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release Tuesday that the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office positively identified the body as that of 31-year-old Christopher Bagley of Walker. Officials say he was stabbed to death.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A committee has approved a bill that would amend the Iowa Constitution to declare there is no right to an abortion in Iowa, making it eligible for debate in the full Senate. All but three of the 32 Senate Republicans have signed onto the bill, which the committee approved Tuesday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Senate committee has approved a bill that requires all Iowa businesses to use the federal E-Verify system to confirm employees are legally authorized to work in the United States or face losing their business license. The bill is now eligible for Senate debate. The bill voted out of a committee Tuesday prohibits businesses from knowingly employing workers with no legal residency status or citizenship.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa Senate subcommittee has advanced a bill that would require tens of thousands of Medicaid recipients to work to keep their benefits. Medicaid is a health insurance program for poor or disabled people. State officials say about 60,000 people could be affected by the bill, which requires recipients to work or volunteer at least 20 hours per week. Seven other states have similar laws including Arkansas, where more than 18,000 Medicaid recipients were kicked off after last year’s enactment.

(Radio Iowa) — Lawmakers are considering a second attempt to penalize people who get an Iowa farm job in order to make undercover videos or harm the animals. Republican Representative Jarad Klein, a farmer from Keota, says the livestock industry is the “life blood” of Iowa’s economy and it must be protected from bad actors.

“People that are wanting to cause harm, wanting to lie, wanting to deceive,” Klein says. A federal judge recently ruled a similar Iowa law — passed seven years ago — was unconstitutional. Backers of this new bill say it matches part of an Idaho law that was recently upheld in federal court. Drew Mogler of the Iowa Pork Producers Association says the proposal will safeguard livestock farms from people who intend to “physically or financially” cause harm.

“Recently Mercy for Animals was running advertisements in Iowa, seeking undercover investigators who are committed to Mercy for Animals objective, which is to eradicate the food animal system,” Mogler said, “and we believe they are willing to take any measure to destroy that system.” Daniel Zeno of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa says while the bill appears to be narrower than the 2012 law, it likely would be challenged in court.

“Our goal is not to undermine the security, the protection of agricultural facilities. That is an important interest,” Zeno said, “…but we can’t do that by taking away free speech.” Representative Bruce Bearinger of Oelwein, a Democrat, says the bill could help deter “bio-terrorists” who seek to spread disease in swine herds and poultry barns.

“Dishonest access to those properties is a huge risk,” Bearinger said, “and I believe that this bill helps prevent any undue problems that can occur from it.” This new bill will be considered in the House Agriculture Committee today (Wednesday). It would let people be prosecuted for seeking a job working with Iowa livestock, in order to inflict financial damages.