DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republicans in the Iowa Senate approved a bill sharply limiting early voting, with some arguing hat changes were needed to ensure the integrity of Iowa’s election despite no evidence of fraud. The bill was approved Tuesday on a vote of 30-18 with only Republican support. It would reduce the mail and in-person early voting period, tightly regulate how absentee ballots can be returned and require polls in all elections to close at 8 p.m., an hour earlier than currently for general elections.

The House, also controlled by Republicans, is expected to approve the bill as soon as Wednesday. If so, it will go to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has indicated her support.

A man from Corning was sentenced last week to prison, for receiving child pornography. 54-year old Lonnie Ray Schafroth was sentenced Friday in Council Bluffs U-S District Court, to 65 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.

Microsoft provided law enforcement a cyber-tip that resulted in a search warrant served on Schafroth’s residence in Corning. The search resulted in the seizure of a computer which contained over 3,000 images of child pornography, many of which depicted children under the age of 12. Schafroth had obtained the images from searches conducted on the Internet between July of 2017 and June 12, 2019.

The matter was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation – Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Iowa.

(UPDATE: Authorities say the 2 juveniles were found and are safe!)

The Council Bluffs Police Department Tuesday evening, asks for the public’s assistance in locating two missing juvenile females, who were last seen in the area of 500 Woodbury Avenue in Council Bluffs at 8:00 am this morning. The parents of the children were contacted by their school at approximately 10:00 am stating they were not in class.

Embrosia Smith

Zoey Valentine

14 year old Embrosia Smith is described as 5 foot, 185 lbs. with Brown hair and Hazel eyes. 12 year old Zoey Valentine is described as 5’5 feet, 140 lbs. with Brown hair, but dyed pinkish and blue eyes. At this time they are not believe to be in danger.

If these children are located, please contact the Council Bluffs Police Department at 712-328-4728 or call 911.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The risk of flooding generally remains low across most of Nebraska and Iowa because the snow across both states is expected to melt gradually in the coming days. National Weather Service meteorologist Allan Curtis said this week’s forecast for temperatures somewhat above freezing during the days and below freezing at night with no significant new precipitation should allow the snow to melt gradually without causing too many problems.

But the amount of ice on some rivers remains a concern because chunks of ice can create flooding as the it melts by creating ice jams that block the channel of the river. So officials will be watching how the ice melts closely.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 31-year-old Iowa man has been sentenced to life in prison for the death of a Nebraska man who was stabbed more than 20 times. Raymond T. Davis, of Des Moines, was sentenced Tuesday for first-degree murder in the June 2018 death of 39-year-old Brent Quigley in Bellevue, Nebraska. He was also given two sentences of 18 to 20 years on other convictions.

Authorities say Davis was part of a group that planned to rob Quigley of money and drugs. Christopher Reagan, of Omaha, was previously sentenced to 100 years to life for second-degree murder in Quigley’s death.

(Radio Iowa) – Following last week’s brutal cold and severe winter storms, gasoline prices have jumped up to 20-cents a gallon — or more — in some Iowa cities. Nick Jarmusz, a spokesman for Triple-A Iowa, says the price you pay at the pump depends on where you live. “For the state we’re seeing an average increase that is about 15 cents,” Jarmusz says, “but in some places it is more than that.” He adds, refinery shutdowns in Texas are typically not a major factor in Iowa’s gasoline prices.

“Our refining is all done here in the Midwest,” Jarmusz says. “There’s refineries in the Chicago area, there’s refineries up in Superior (Wisconsin) and that’s mostly refining oil that’s coming down from Canada.” The sizable winter blast that brought Iowa snow and prolonged subzero temperatures also dumped flakes on parts of the U-S that rarely see snow, spinning off a deadly tornado in North Carolina and knocking out the power to four-million homes in Texas. The largest refineries in North America were idled because severe cold cut electricity, water and fuel supplies across Texas.

“There is an indirect effect, because of the commodity nature of gas,” he says. “There’s less of it out in the national market, and that does push prices up, even in places that aren’t directly impacted by that capacity.” Triple-A says the average gas price in Iowa is two-61 a gallon. The state’s most expensive gas is selling in Des Moines at two-67, while Sioux City has the cheapest gas at two-49.

(Radio Iowa) – After students in Des Moines Public School spent much of the fall semester in online classes, a bill in the Iowa Senate is designed to make it easier to eject members from a school board. Emily Piper, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of School Boards, is raising concerns about giving just five registered voters the power to petition a judge to remove school board members.

“Let’s say the court did determine that the entire board or half the board had violated the law and agreed with their removal, without the ability to hold an immediate special election, school boards would be unable to function,” Piper said. “They would not have a quorum, they could not do their business.” Bill sponsors also want a state agency to speed up the process for disciplining or removing superintendents who knowingly and intentionally violate state law. Dave Wilkerson of the School Administrators of Iowa says there’s already a process for pursuing ethics complaints against superintendents and the bill isn’t necessary.

“It just seems a little petty,” Wilkerson said, “and would hope that we wouldn’t go down that road.” Senator Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale, says to dismiss the bill as petty misses the point. “Tell that to the students having mental problems because of the actions of several school boards and administrators in the state of Iowa,” Zaun says. Two members of the Des Moines School Board testified during a Senate subcommittee hearing — saying they’d done the best they could in a district with 60 buildings, 31-thousand students and five-thousand teachers and staff.

Des Moines School Board chair Dwana Bradley says there was no playbook for a pandemic.  “As a school board, our focus was fundamental: do everything we can to educate our children and to keep the people from getting sick and even dying,” she says. Rob Barron, vice chair of the Des Moines School Board, says they had to make tough calls — and they are listening to complaints from legislators.

“I hope this is the first step in finding common ground so we can all be public servants,” he said, “the public servants our 31,000 kids in Des Moines Public Schools and their families need.” Senate Education Committee chair Amy Sinclair says something must be done to speed up sanctions for school officials who willfully flout state law. Sinclair points to the years it took the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners to address decisions made by Davenport school leaders that put the district in financial jeopardy.

Washington (AP) — The U.S. Senate voted 92-7 Tuesday to confirm Tom Vilsack as Agriculture secretary. The former Iowa governor spent eight years leading the same department for former President Barack Obama. In his testimony, Vilsack, 70, heavily endorsed boosting climate-friendly agricultural industries such as the creation of biofuels, saying “Agriculture is one of our first and best ways to get some wins in this climate area.” He faced minimal opposition throughout the confirmation process.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The FBI have identified an Iowa woman and her adult son as participants in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol after a tip from a longtime family acquaintance. An FBI agent says in a court document that videos posted to social media and surveillance video at the Capitol also confirmed that Deborah Sandoval and Salvador Sandoval Jr. were part of the mob.

The affidavit describes surveillance video showing 23-year-old Salvador Sandoval pushing two officers with the Metropolitan Police Department and trying to grab the shield of a third. The mother and son were arrested on Friday in Des Moines and have been released from custody pending further proceedings.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Agricultural groups and anti-hunger organizations are pushing the Biden administration to continue a program launched by President Donald Trump that spent $6 billion to prevent farmers from plowing under food and instead provide it to millions of Americans left reeling by the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Department of Agriculture began the Farmers to Families Food Box program in April 2020 after many people were shocked to see farmers destroy crops even as food banks were being overwhelmed by demand from people suddenly out of work.

A USDA Farmers to Families Food Box is seen at a Des Moines Area Religious Council mobile food pantry stop at the downtown bus station, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Des Moines, Iowa. Agricultural groups and anti-hunger organizations are pushing the Biden administration to continue the Farmers to Families Food Box program launched by President Donald Trump that spent $6 billion to prevent farmers from plowing under food and instead provide it to millions of Americans left reeling by the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

If the USDA extends the program, it will be a rare example of the new administration retaining rather than dismantling a Trump initiative.