(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa legislature has voted to set up a state funding source for an automated system that lets law enforcement AND victims track the evidence kits used to prosecute rapists. Senator Julian Garrett of Indianola says “These are horrendous crimes and we certainly do need to do what we can to address them.”  The Iowa Attorney General’s office is currently using a nearly 800-thousand dollar FEDERAL grant for the system that records information about rape kits when evidence is collected at a hospital to when the evidence is processed at the state crime lab and, finally, when the evidence is turned over to a police or sheriff’s department. The federal money for the system runs out in 2023.

Garrett says the bill would keep the system operating by using a combination of criminal fines paid in Iowa courts and a percentage of what Iowa prison inmates earn by working at private sector jobs.  “This will allow victims, county attorneys and any entity with custody of a test kit to track it,” Garrett says. “Victims must be notified before a kit is disposed of.” Senator Janet Petersen of Des Moines cites the recent processing of more than 11-thousand untested rape kits in the Detroit area that identified more than 800 potential serial rapists.  “I do think we need to do a better job of tracking our rape kits,” Petersen says.

A state audit in 2017 revealed Iowa law enforcement agencies had 42-hundred untested evidence kits for alleged sexual assaults. By 2020, about 62 percent of those kits had been processed and the state crime lab’s average testing period for a rape kit had been reduced to 46 days.

(Radio Iowa) A woman was rescued from a railroad bridge early this (Thursday) morning in Ames. The Union Pacific Railroad reported a distraught woman hanging off the bridge at Dayton Avenue just before 1:30 this morning. Ames Police Sergeant Joel Congdon says officers held the woman to keep her from falling. “The first thing was they wanted to kind of contain it to be able to make sure they could hang on to the woman that was in distress. Once they had that secured, they quickly formulated plans and figured out what they needed,” Congdon says.

He says a fire department ladder truck was used to reach the woman and put her in a harness, and then she was lowered down. Congdon noted the officers didn’t have a lot of room to work with at the scene. “The area that the officers had to work with, they basically had to stick their arms underneath the railing to grab onto her, so they were dealing with a couple of different variables,” Congdon says. “You had to have your arm be able to fit through a tight spot and I’m sure it was quite the exciting ordeal.”

The woman was taken to Mary Greeley Medical Center for evaluation. Her name was not released.

(Radio Iowa) – Drivers education courses are required by state law to include topics like railroad crossing safety as well as four hours of instruction about the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The Iowa Legislature has sent the governor a bill that would divide that four hour period between the topics of substance abuse and distracted driving.

“I think it’s a good bill that could very well prevent accidental deaths from auto accidents,” Representative Thomas Gerhold of Atkins said when the bill unanimously passed the House in February. The Senate approved the bill yesterday without debate. An Iowa DOT report shows that in 2019, nearly 1,100 traffic accidents were caused by a driver who was distracted by a cell phone or other electronic device.

Three people were killed and 538 people were injured in those wrecks linked to distracted drivers.

Officials with the Cass County Health System (CCHS) need your input as the Public Health Department makes a five-year plan for improving health and well-being in Cass County. The online survey should take only five-minutes of your time, and your answers will remain anonymous. The Community Health Needs Assessment is open until April 12.

Officials say the assessment is part of a statewide process that takes place every five years in which each county in Iowa conducts their own assessment and develops a five-year Health Improvement Plan. To take the assessment, click HERE.