(Radio Iowa) – Thirty Republicans in the Iowa Senate have advanced a proposed amendment that says Iowa’s constitution does not recognize the right to an abortion or public funding of the procedure. 2024 is the earliest Iowans could vote on the amendment if the proposal clears other legislative hurdles. Senate President Jake Chapman of Adel, a Republican, says the amendment would undo a 2018 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that Iowa women have a fundamental right to an abortion under the state constitution.

“It is our responsibility,” Chapman says, “it is our oath-bound duty to rightfully propose to the people of Iowa a constitutional amendment to correct this judicial overreach.” Senator Jackie Smith, a Democrat from Sioux City, says the proposed amendment weakens the right to privacy. “Women deserve the freedom from politicians that interfere in our personal lives,” Smith said. “…Likewise, I believe a woman should be free to access abortion with dignity and respect.”

Senator Jeff Taylor, a Republican from Sioux Center, says abortion is a very tragic cover for unaddressed social problems. “The desire to protect human life, especially the most innocent and vulnerable, is a worthy cause,” Taylor says, “even when it conflicts with other understandable desires and genuine rights.” Senator Amanda Ragan, a Democrat from Mason City, says the ultimate G-O-P objective is to ban access to safe abortion. “Iowans deserve freedom from political interference in their personal lives,” Ragan says. “These private health care decisions belong to a woman and her doctor.”

The proposal goes back to the House, where Republicans approved something similar earlier this year. However, Senate Republicans advanced slightly different wording that must be reviewed and approved by the House. The resolution must clear the Iowa legislature this year or next — then AGAIN in 2023 or 2024 before the proposed constitutional amendment can be submitted to voters.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has sent Governor Kim Reynolds a bill that’s on her priority list. The legislation sets up the rules for state grants to private companies that extend broadband in areas of Iowa where the service is too slow or non-existent. Republican Senator Carrie Koelker of Dyersville says the companies will have to make matching investments in the technology to qualify for the grants. “We know every Iowan deserves to be connected for life and, in many ways, work and learning,” Koelker says.

The bill does NOT provide the money, but does specify the upload and download speeds that companies will be required to provide if they win a grant.  “This bill prioritizes the areas that need it most first,” Koelker says. “…This is the type of policy that we need to be a pro-business state. This is going to help both large and small businesses grow, increase accessible ability to education and ultimately further Iowa’s position as a place for quality of life.”

Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, unsuccessfully sought to require that companies getting grants collect fees and set up programs that offer broadband to low-income Iowans at reduced rates. “Let’s establish a program that works from the very beginning, not just to benefit out of state companies that are going to come in and build out our infrastructure,” Petersen says, “but also for Iowans who desperately need it.”

After Petersen’s proposal failed to win G-O-P support, the bill passed unanimously. Governor Reynolds has called on legislators to provide 150 million dollars for these broadband grants in each of the next three years. Legislators say they’ll decide later how much to spend.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the Iowa Senate have approved another big tax change. This one would use state taxes, rather than local property taxes, to finance the state’s mental health system. In addition, the bill approved last (Tuesday) night would create a new elderly property tax CREDIT for low income Iowans age 70 and older and get rid of a property tax LEVY in 27 school districts that’s used to maintain playgrounds and pay for other community education programs. It also would end state payments to schools, cities and county to compensate for lowered commercial property tax rates.

Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs, says due to rising home prices, Iowans are facing higher property taxes and this legislation will help reduce those bills. “We did not come here to do halfsies,” Dawson says. “We came here to do bold reforms and this bill, in its entirety, is bold reform.”

Democrats voted against the package. Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, says county property taxes used for mental health services are a more reliable funding source than appropriations approved by the state legislature. “If this legislation, for some reason, becomes law, it will result in defunding of our mental health system,” Bolkcom said.

House Republicans have expressed caution about making major tax changes this year, due to the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Governor Reynolds has joined a lawsuit over a provision in the latest FEDERAL pandemic relief package that some have interpreted as impeding state efforts to cut taxes. Senate Republicans estimate the bill they passed last (Tuesday) night would eventually reduce property taxes statewide by 100 million dollars.

Officials with the Glenwood Fire and Rescue Department report, shortly after 12:30-a.m., Tuesday (April 6th), Mills County 911 dispatched Glenwood Fire & Rescue along with Pacific Junction Fire and Oak Township Fire to a building fire in the 400 block of Sharp St on the Glenwood Square. Fire and EMS personnel from Glenwood were quickly on scene and declared a working fire with heavy fire showing from the roof and rear of the building. Law enforcement was actively alerting surrounding occupants to evacuate.

Photos via the Glenwood IA Fire & Rescue Facebook page

The call was immediately put out to dispatch the remaining departments in Mills County and well as a second ladder truck from Red Oak. Glenwood Fire personnel made an aggressive search of the fire area, not locating any victims. That was quickly followed by an aggressive interior fire attack by Glenwood personnel who encountered very high heat and no visibility.

Heavy fire conditions were met by the interior crews and were extinguished shortly thereafter. In a statement on their Facebook page, officials said “Through extraordinary teamwork, highly trained personnel and proper equipment, the south side of the historic square was saved from further fire damage. We thank all the departments and agencies who assisted in this incident.”

• On April 2nd, Dale Allen Wehr was arrested on an active Shelby County warrant. Wehr was transported to the Shelby County Jail.
• On April 1st, 35-year-old Brendan Lee Farris, of Nemaha, IA, was arrested following a traffic stop. Farris was charged with prohibited acts penalties, possession of controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia;  59-year-old Leonard Charles Pauley, of Harlan, was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia; And, 36-year-old Danielle Michelle Fuhs, of Earling, was arrested for operating while intoxicated and violating a one-way traffic designation.
• On March 31st, 41-year-old Terry Michael Fields, of Harlan, was arrested for child endangerment.
• On March 28th, 18-year-old Alexander Lee Anastasi, of Defiance, was arrested following a traffic stop. Anastasi was  charged with operating while intoxicated, minor in possession of alcohol, and careless driving.
• On March 28th, 22-year-old Justin Michael Couch, of Harlan, was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia and supplying alcohol to a person under the legal age.
• And, on March 27th, 23-year-old Anton Jason Ahlhelm, of Harlan, was cited for driving while suspended.

(Des Moines – KCCI) State Police in Iowa drew their weapons and used force against suspects significantly more often in 2020 than prior years, due to a major increase in resistance. That’s according to an internal annual report conducted by the Iowa Department of Public Safety. The data comes from detailed reports that officers must complete whenever they use force, regardless of whether injuries result.

The report on force incidents found that suspects fled in vehicles and on foot from officers far more often in 2020. It found that officers responded by drawing their handguns, shotguns and rifles 269 times in 2020, an 83% percent increase from the prior year.

Officers also took or ordered suspects to the ground in dozens of more cases compared to 2019. While rare, officers also fired their weapons, deployed chemical spray, shot nonlethal munitions such as rubber bullets, intentionally struck vehicles and used stun guns more often in 2020 than 2019, the report found.

Officers discharged their weapons in two cases in 2020 compared with none in 2019, killing one person, an armed Black man who had allegedly threatened to shoot a female hostage in Webster City. He was the only person killed in any of the incidents, while at least three dozen other suspects suffered visible injuries. Twenty injuries to officers resulted in at least some medical treatment, while many others were categorized as minor.

The 22-page report did not seek to explain what was causing more suspects to resist officers and did not mention either the pandemic or the nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality. The increase in force cases began in January 2020 and continued most of the year across the state, decreasing only in April compared with 2019, according to the data.

The report said all sworn officers will complete training courses on those subjects, and that de-escalation will be incorporated into required defensive tactics training.

(Radio Iowa) – COVID-19 vaccine appointments are now open to all Iowans ages 16 and up, but as demand still far outpaces supply, it’s led some Iowans to make multiple appointments as they search for one closer to home. Kate Gainer, C-E-O of the Iowa Pharmacy Association, says when people don’t cancel unwanted appointments, it can lead to wasted doses.

“It does create some workflow concerns. It creates concern over waste and having doses that have a very short window of time when they can be used,” Gainer says. “Those no-show appointments if not canceled, are difficult to get rescheduled.” When people schedule an appointment for a first dose at a pharmacy far from their home, they’ll shop around for a second dose nearby, but Gainer says this causes supply issues for pharmacies.

“Pharmacies receive their allocations of the vaccine for second doses based on how many first doses they get,” Gainer says. “Every dose is reported and those shipments are based on how many given doses are reported.” Gainer says Iowans should try to go to the same location for both of their vaccine doses, and they should cancel any appointments they will not use to ensure doses are not wasted.

(By Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – House Republicans are proposing a 20 million dollar increase in the budget for the Iowa Department of Corrections. The president of the union that represents prison employees says it’s not enough. Representative Gary Worthan of Storm Lake leads the subcommittee that developed the House G-O-P plan. “We support those people that are guarding our institutions and taking of the offenders and standing that if you want to call it a thin blue line or a thin brown line that stands between us and anarchy,” Worthan says.

Republicans are not directly citing the recent escape attempt and murders of two staff at the state prison in Anamosa as the reason for the proposed spending increase. Worthan says it’s the culmination of a decade of examination of the budget for the Department of Corrections and other agencies in the justice system, like the Department of Public Safety. “We’re trying to bulk them back up, improve staff numbers and so on there,” Worthan says.

AFSCME Council 61 president Danny Homan says the extra money merely covers negotiated salary increases over the past couple of years and doesn’t fill nearly 250 vacant positions in the prison system. “Republicans, it’s time to step up to the plate,” Homan says. “It’s time to fund your facilities in this state. It’s time to make it so that people feel safe.”  Homan is calling for reopening a training program for prison staff and for an independent investigation of the murders at Anamosa. He’s also calling for the warden at the Anamosa prison to be fired.