(Radio Iowa) — The use of electronic cigarettes and “vaping” products are unsafe at any age, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and Iowa’s governor is exploring her policy options to respond to the problem. Governor Kim Reynolds and her top staff will meet today (Thursday) to review ideas — including an outright ban on e-cigarettes and vaping cartridges.

“I think something like eight states have banned, several by executive order,” Reynolds says. “We talked a lot about educating the public.” The board of health in the state of Washington banned the sale of flavored vaping products last week. Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New York and Rhode Island have all approved some form of an electronic cigarette ban. Some of those are being challenged in court. Reynolds told reporters she’s not afraid to use her executive authority to establish a ban in Iowa.

“But we’ll take a look at it and see if that makes the most sense and see if that makes the most sense there are other things we can do in the interim before we move to that step,” Reynolds said, “and maybe it’s a multi-stepped process, see if some of the things they’re recommending works in the short term and if we’re not seeing the results that we think we should, maybe that’s something we can look to in the future.”

A recent federal survey found 28 percent of high schoolers admitted to regularly using e-cigarettes. There have been 41 vaping-related illnesses reported in Iowa. Reynolds says 34 of those patients had used a vaping cartridge that contained T-H-C, which is an illegal drug.

Police in Council Bluffs responded to the reported robbery of a Domino’s Pizza store at 2004 W. Broadway, early this (Thursday) morning. The call came in at around 12:12-a.m. Authorities say one employee told them as he was returning from taking out the trash, two black males wearing ski masks approached him.

One of the suspects pointed a handgun at the employee, and they entered the business. Once inside the suspects took an undetermined amount of cash and left the business in an unknown direction. Anyone with information is asked to contact Council Bluffs Police Criminal Investigation Division at 712-328-4728 or Crime Stoppers 712-328-7867(STOP)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:38 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge says a Des Moines lawyer who interviewed for a position on the Iowa Court of Appeals but wasn’t a finalist may sue Gov. Kim Reynolds and other state officials, challenging a new law that gives the governor more power over the commission that selects supreme court and appeals judges. Des Moines trial lawyer Thomas Duff filed the lawsuit on Sept. 11.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A Waterloo man has pleaded guilty to setting his father’s house on fire this summer after the two argued. The Courier reports that 23-year-old Austin Dean Poyner pleaded guilty Monday to a reduced charge of second-degree arson. He had been charged with first-degree arson after investigators say he used two cups of gasoline in August to light a cardboard box on his father’s back porch afire.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds says she is taking President Donald Trump at his word that he will uphold an agreement made with farm state lawmakers and agriculture groups to maintain the ethanol requirements in current law. Since Trump became president, the Environmental Protection Agency has given 85 oil refineries exemptions from blending ethanol into the gasoline they sell. Reynolds says the president is trying to walk a fine line between oil and agriculture industries and she’ll keeping pushing the EPA.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is raising record amounts of cash for his 2020 reelection. But it’s not spilling over to vulnerable Republicans fighting to hold their seats in a narrowly divided Senate. Democrats outraised the GOP in key battlegrounds like Arizona and Maine during the third quarter. In Colorado, the Republican incumbent was nearly outraised by a former governor who had been in the race only five weeks. Even in states like Iowa and North Carolina candidates posted underwhelming sums.

Council Bluffs Police, Wednesday, arrested a man on Attempted Murder, three counts of Aggravated Assault and Criminal Mischief in the 2nd Degree, charges. 18-year old Blade John Flynn, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at his home, following an incident that took place in the Golden Corral Restaurant parking lots, at 3103 Dial Drive, just off the South Expressway.

Blade John Flynn

Police say officers responded to the restaurant at around 12:30-p.m. following a reported assault in progress.  Upon arrival officers met with the victims: 19-year old Kylee Fletcher, of Pacific Junction, a 17-year old female from Glenwood, 20-year old Taylor Bower, of Council Bluffs, and 25-year old Elizabeth Heinrich, of Omaha, who informed officers that Flynn used his vehicle to ram their parked vehicle, which all four victims were in.

One of the victims was exiting the vehicle when Flynn struck them, causing the victim to fall to the ground. Witnesses told officers that the suspect’s vehicle, a black Honda Civic struck the victim’s vehicle several times as well as another vehicle, which was unoccupied and parked in the restaurant parking lot. At one point during the incident, two of the victim’s had exited their vehicle and were forced to jump out of the way to avoid being struck by Flynn’s vehicle as he fled the area. The reason behind the incident was said to have been over a personal disagreement between Flynn and one of the female victims.

A short time later officers were able to locate Blade Flynn at his residence, where he was arrested without incident. He was transported to Pottawattamie County Corrections and booked-in on the charges mentioned. The victims were checked by medical personnel, no one sustained major injuries and all were said to be in good condition.

Anyone with any information that was in the area at the time of the incident is encouraged to contact the Council Bluffs Police Investigations Division at 712-328-4728, or Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge says a Des Moines lawyer who interviewed for a position on the Iowa Court of Appeals but wasn’t a finalist may sue Gov. Kim Reynolds and other state officials, challenging a new law that gives the governor more power over the commission that selects supreme court and appeals judges. Des Moines trial lawyer Thomas Duff filed the lawsuit Sept. 11.

The law signed by Reynolds in May gave her a majority of appointees on the State Judicial Nominating Commission. In a ruling filed Tuesday, a district court judge says Duff has standing to sue because he can argue he was injured by his application being considered by the new commission he claims was unconstitutionally created by the law.

It’s the second such lawsuit filed in state court challenging the law. The first lawsuit filed by Democratic legislators and a commission member was dismissed in June but is on appeal before the Iowa Court of Appeals. It will hear arguments on Nov. 6.

(Radio Iowa) — Webster City Police said today (Wednesday), that a man who has been missing for four days had been found.  Police say 38-year-old Jay Dee Wynkoop was located. Wynkoop was reported missing on Sunday afternoon. His car was found parked outside a Webster City convenience store.

Webster City Police Chief Shiloh Mork said out of the respect for the family, no further information will be released.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum today (Wednesday), announced that October 16th, 35-year old Marcus John Josephson, was sentenced in Council Bluffs United States District Court, for his role in a Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance. Josephson was sentenced to slightly less than 8.5-years (102 months) in prison, to be followed by a term of supervised release of three years.

On August 20, 2019, Josephson’s co-defendants, 47-year old Dustyn Russell Bond and 31-year old Clayton Dean Stucker, were also sentenced for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance. Bond was sentenced to 176 months of imprisonment (14.6-years), to be followed by a term of supervised release of eight years; and Stucker was sentenced to 77 months (6.4-years) in prison, to be followed by a term of supervised release of five years.

All three defendants had earlier pleaded guilty to this charge. On January 10, 2018, Bond and Stucker were stopped by law enforcement in Mills County and found to be in possession of methamphetamine. Bond and Stucker were associated with Marcus Josephson, who assisted them in the distribution of controlled substances in Montgomery County.

The case was investigated by the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force, United States Drug Enforcement Administration, Mills County Sheriff’s Department and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa. #

The Page County Sheriff’s Office, Wednesday afternoon, said efforts to find a missing rural Clarinda man who suffers from Dementia, are continuing. 69-year old Dale Allen Hodtwalker went missing Tuesday morning. He was last seen sometime between 4-and 5-a.m., Tuesday.

Emergency personnel and Law Enforcement from several counties are conducting a trained systematic search of a greater circumference from where Hodtwalker was last scene. Once again the search is being conducted by motorized vehicle, persons on foot, drone, helicopter, and water rescue.

The trained systematic search by Emergency personnel / Law Enforcement was expected to continue until dark again today (Wednesday) unless Hodtwalker is found. Hodtwalker is about six-feet tall, and weighs around 140 pounds. He has grey hair, a grey beard, and blue eyes, and was last seen in the residence, wearing a grey or blue t-shirt, grey and black Pajama pants and white socks. Family members said that Hodtwalker is unstable on his feet and walks with a severe limp. He also can’t speak and can hardly hear.

Anyone with information about Mr. Hodtwalker’s location is asked to call the Page County Sheriff’s Office 712-545193, Pagecomm dispatch 712-542-1419, or their local Law Enforcement agency.

SEATTLE (AP) — A Washington state fire authority has agreed to pay an Iowa woman $100,000 after she was wrongly investigated and charged with first-degree felony arson. The Seattle Times reports that the Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority has settled the civil-rights lawsuit with 66-year-old Linda Poplawski of Des Moines. Authorities say the arson charges resulted from a 2016 fire in a Kent strip mall that leveled a Dollar Tree store and damaged two other businesses.

The lawsuit claims 30-year-old city fire investigator Capt. Eric Pedersen willfully withheld evidence linking the fire to a known gang member after a witness called to report the convicted arsonist. Her attorney says she spent months in custody. Poplawski has no criminal history.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa trooper who was fired after a lengthy sexual harassment and workplace safety investigation has filed a lawsuit alleging he was wrongly terminated and illegally blocked from seeking disability.

Former Iowa State Patrol officer Wade Karp, who worked at the Capitol complex for a decade, alleges that superiors told him he could not apply for disability before they fired him last year. Karp’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday, says that he became aware of his potential disability after receiving the results of a medical evaluation that he’d been ordered to undergo during a 10-month paid leave .

Karp was removed from duty and put under investigation in 2017 after a Capitol employee reported receiving unsettling Facebook messages in which Karp sought a romantic relationship. She and others were concerned, in part, because Karp had previously discharged a rifle in the workplace. A termination letter accused Karp of “intimidating, threatening and unwelcome” interactions.

But Karp’s lawsuit alleges his termination was without “just cause” and inconsistent with the state’s progressive discipline policy. His attorney has said the Facebook messages weren’t intended to harass.