CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – A Central City woman accused of running over and killing a bicyclist has taken a plea deal. Melinda Lawrence took the deal before jury selection was to begin Monday in Cedar Rapids. She pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide while intoxicated and other crimes. Her murder charge was dropped. The agreement calls for her sentences to run consecutively, for a total of 40 years. Authorities say Lawrence drove over Jeffrey Scott on his bicycle on Aug. 30, 2018, in a Central City parking lot. A court document says a friend of Scott told investigators Lawrence had been stalking Scott.

(Iowa News Service)  Ames, IA — Going into 2020, there’s continued excitement for alternative meat products and their benefits. But an Iowa-based expert says consumers should learn more about them. Over the past year, the food world buzzed over marketed items such as plant-based hamburgers, which are designed to taste like meat but don’t come at the cost of hurting the environment because of how they’re produced. There’s also the perception that they are healthier to eat.

Ruth Litchfield is a professor of food science and human nutrition at Iowa State University. She says the environmental benefits are there, but not necessarily the health benefits. “My biggest concern about some of these products is not what the constituents are for, so it’s not the ingredients that are of concern to me, but it’s the consumer perception that these are going to be nutritionally very similar to the traditional product. ”

For example, Litchfield says some plant-based burgers on the market are higher in saturated fat and sodium. She says they also have less protein and a lower-quality protein. She says a lot of the perception mirrors what happened when many different styles of milk hit the market in recent years.

The Impossible Foods company recently unveiled plans for an alternative form of pork. That has some worried about how this might harm producers in Iowa, which is the leading pork-producing state in the U.S. But Litchfield says it’s too early to say how this might affect them. “It really could go either way, and it’s really going to depend on the consumer demand and the acceptance of these products.”

Despite some of the hype and popularity surrounding alternative meat products, research has shown the U.S. consumption of traditional meats has rebounded in recent years.

(Radio Iowa) — Six Democratic presidential candidates will debate tonight (Tuesday) in Des Moines. The debate will be broadcast on C-N-N, in partnership with The Des Moines Register. It’ll begin at 8 p.m. and last for two hours. In the hours leading up to the event, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren quibbled publicly about a C-N-N report of a private conversation they had more than a year ago.

Actress and singer Mandy Moore joined Pete Buttigieg in Ames last night to make her pitch for his candidacy. The black mayor of Iowa’s most racially diverse city in endorsing Pete Buttigieg for president. The endorsement by Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart gives the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor a boost as he struggles to attract voters of color. Hart told The Associated Press he was supporting Buttigieg in part for what he called the Democrat’s effort to address racial economic disparity in South Bend. The Buttigieg campaign hopes Hart’s endorsement will help not only inoculate Buttigieg from the stubborn notion he cannot win black support but also potentially resonate beyond majority-white Iowa, as Buttigieg winds his way through the Democratic primary campaign.

Andrew Yang, who did not qualify for tonight’s debate, celebrated his 45th birthday last night after speaking to a crowd of 700 at Drake University. Joe Biden and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller visited with campaign volunteers in Des Moines last night. Miller endorsed Biden Monday morning. And late Monday afternoon President Trump’s campaign announced there will be a Trump re-election rally in Des Moines on January 30th.

Iowa Republicans AND Democrats will hold their precinct caucuses in 20 days.

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

WASHINGTON (AP) — Today (Tuesday) marks the last time the leading Democratic presidential contenders will face a national audience on the debate stage before primary voting begins, making it the most significant moment of the 2020 primary season to date. The prime-time faceoff comes just 20 days before Iowa’s caucuses as polls suggest the nomination is truly up for grabs. Heading in, there are new signs of tension among all the top-tier candidates, particularly Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. If ever there has been a time for the six contenders on stage to take the gloves off, this is it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new dispute between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders marks a significant turning point in a Democratic primary that has generally been characterized by genial differences over policy. On Monday, Warren said Sanders told her during a private meeting two years ago that he didn’t think a woman could win the White House. Sanders has denied telling Warren that, and a senior Sanders adviser says that “those conversations can sometimes get misconstrued.” The feud brewing between Warren and Sanders will likely change the tone of the campaign going into Tuesday’s debate.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump will be holding a rally in Iowa just days before the state holds its election kickoff caucuses. Trump’s reelection campaign announced Monday that he will be rallying supporters in Des Moines on Jan. 30. That’s four days before the contest for the Democratic nomination formally gets underway. It’s one of a series of events in states across the country that will keep Trump in the spotlight and give him a platform to make his case directly to voters as the impeachment case against him heads toward the Senate.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Presidential candidates have swarmed Iowa’s rolling landscape for more than a year, making their pitch to potential supporters on college campuses, county fairgrounds and in high school gymnasiums. But three weeks before the caucuses usher in the Democratic contest, the battle for the state is wide open. A cluster of candidates, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, along with Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, enters the final stretch with a plausible chance of winning Iowa’s caucuses. A poll released Friday by The Des Moines Register and CNN found them all with similar levels of support.

DES MOINES – Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds today (Monday), announced appointments to Iowa’s boards and commissions.

The following appointments (of area persons) are subject to Senate confirmation:

Commission of Deaf Services: Chris Nipper, Council Bluffs

Iowa Autism Council: Cheryl Mulligan, Shenandoah

The following appointments are not subject to Senate confirmation:

Armory Board: Virginia Taylor, Exira

Southwest Regional STEM Advisory Board:

• Nadine Jessen, Exira
• Stephanie Lane, Creston
• Deb Sprecker, Woodbine
• Terry Torneten, Harlan

STEM Advisory Council:

Barbara Crittenden, Creston

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Democrats are preparing for what could be their most contentious debate yet. The six candidates on the stage Tuesday night are all looking for a way to break out of the crowded pack at the top with just weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses.

Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer will all appear at the debate. It marks the first all-white debate stage of the cycle, which is sure to underscore concerns among Democrats at the lack of diversity in the field.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – President Donald Trump will be holding a rally in Iowa just days before the state holds its election kickoff caucuses. Trump’s reelection campaign announced Monday that he will be rallying supporters in Des Moines on Jan. 30. That’s four days before the contest for the Democratic nomination formally gets underway.

It’s one of a series of events in states across the country that will keep Trump in the spotlight and give him a platform to make his case directly to voters as the impeachment case against him heads toward the Senate.

(Radio Iowa) — Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake closed out her tenure as speaker of the Iowa House Monday morning. Last fall, Upmeyer announced she would not seek re-election to the House in November of 2020 and would immediately step down as the leader of House Republicans for the 2020 legislative session. In October, House Republicans selected Pat Grassley as Upmeyer’s successor and he was installed after a vote in the full House Monday morning. Upmeyer, though, was able to give one last speech from the speaker’s chair.

“As the first woman to serve as speaker of the Iowa House, I hope that my time has inspired girls and young women,” Upmeyer said. “When you dream big and work hard, nothing is unattainable.” Upmeyer’s late father, Del Stromer of Garner, was speaker of the Iowa House in the early 1980s. “Someday, God willing, I’ll have an opportunity to have a discussion with my dad. I’m sure he will be very proud of what we’ve accomplished on behalf of Iowans,” Upmeyer says. “I’m also sure that there will be a couple of things where he’ll say: ‘Girl, what were you thinking?'”

Upmeyer, who is still a voting member of the House in 2020, told reporters she hasn’t lost any sleep about her decision to resign as House speaker. “From time to time I’ll think of a bill, perhaps, that I was interested in and say: ‘Oh, we didn’t get that passed,'” Upmeyer said, snapping her fingers. “But, you know, I still have this year.” Upmeyer says it feels nice to have a reduced workload now that she’s not in charge of raising money and recruiting candidates for House races.

“I traded cars because I wouldn’t have to put 25,000 miles on my car every year,” Upmeyer told reporters this morning. Another former speaker of the House has made a gavel for the new speaker. House Speaker Pat Grassley’s dad cut a limb from a walnut tree on the Grassley family farm near New Hartford for the project.

“It was a surprise to me, so that’s pretty neat,” Grassley says. “We actually have two more (gavels) out of that, so one for each of my children at some point.” Grassley, who is the grandson of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, is predicting his young daughter Reagan — named for former President Ronald Reagan — may follow him into politics.

(Radio Iowa) — With ratification of the U-S Mexico Canada Agreement expected soon and the lifting of a ban on U-S exports to China, Iowa’s turkey producers are expecting 2020 to be a banner year. Iowa Turkey Federation executive director Greta Irwin says new biosecurity measures are in place at all of Iowa’s 130 turkey farms following a devastating round of avian flu in 2015.

“We really work hard to make sure we have clean boots when we go into a barn,” Irwin says, “because that would be the number-one way that you’re going to track in a virus and we are constantly keeping the water clean and healthy and sanitized for the birds here on the farm.” Back in November, China announced that it was lifting an import ban on U-S turkey products that had been place since 2015.

“Even our turkey feathers were not allowed to come into China and as you think about turkey feathers,” Irwin says. “You say, ‘Wow what do we use turkey feathers for?’ Well, decorative masks, costumes, feather boas, even fishing lures. China would make those products out of our turkey feathers.” The U-S-M-C-A passed the U-S House last month and cleared a U-S Senate committee last week, with passage by the full Senate expected soon. Mexico is Iowa’s top trading partner, followed by China, then Canada.

(Reporting by Pat Blank, Iowa Public Radio)

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests. Today (Monday), 30-year old Anthony Charles Binau, a homeless person, was arrested on Interstate 29 at mile marker 36, on two counts Possession of Controlled Substance, Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drug and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Bond was set at $3,300.

On Sunday, 22-year old Justin Danielle Perez, and 26-year old Brandon Lee Lambert, both of Glenwood, were arrested at 221st and Abbey Road, for Possession of Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Their bonds were set at $1,300 each.

And, at around 3:05-a.m. Saturday, 25-year old Deondria Derice Carter, of Schuyler, NE., was arrested for possession of Controlled Substance. Her bond was set at $1,000.