(Radio Iowa) The state judicial system is preparing to restart jury trials Monday. Trials were first paused at the height of the pandemic in March — then restarted in September — and paused the second time in November as COVID-19 cases were on the increase. Iowa Supreme Court Justice Matthew McDermott was co-chair of the committee that set the guidelines for restarting the first time. “To our knowledge during that period there were not any incidences of COVID spread that came from jury trials,” McDermott says. “We’re optimistic that we can move forward again next week and the months ahead.”

Lawyer Guy Cook is the other co-chair of the committee and says they worked hard to find ways to get things rolling again. “Particularly with respect to picking a jury — that’s when you have the greatest number of people collected,” Cook says. And so, in some courts, the jury selection has been done away from the courthouse in a bigger room where there is greater separation.” He says they looked at having both masks and face shields and determined during trials that masks were the best way to go. Cook says they had two requirements for getting juries picked. “That they be fair and that they be safe. And they’re really connected — because we to ensure that we have the greatest number of people from which to select the jury,” according to Cook. “And the jury panel is not skewed in some negative way. And ensuring that the selection process is as safe as possible is a component of making the process fair.”

The Judicial System has created a public service announcement to explain to jurors what will happen when they are called and chosen to serve. Justice McDermott says there are always exceptions for jurors with issues. He says it is the same during COVID or any other time if someone has a basis for why the cannot serve, the court will consider that and decide if it is valid. Cook says you can be confident in the process. “Folks can rest assured that considerable work has been put in to ensure the process is safe,” he says.

Trials without the need of juries have continued, as have many other court services. Justice McDermott says the pause did back up jury trials — but he is confident they can get back on track again. “Obviously just having a trial date set on the calendar and knowing that it is going to move forward will push parties to think really hard about whether they are actually going to take the case to the trial or whether they are going to resolve it through other means,” according to McDermott. “And what we found in the fall is just having these trials moving forward got some of these cases resolved, moving, and we are hopeful that’ll happen again.”

Cook agrees with that and says it is important to the overall system. “The trials need to go on. It’s not hyperbole to talk about how jury trials really are the cornerstone of our judicial system, of our democracy. They are so important that they are guaranteed by the Constitution,” Cook says. Justice McDermott says are confident heading into the restart. “We’re optimistic, but obviously, we are going to monitor things closely as we have throughout this whole process,” McDermott says. “And if in the future it looks like we have to change course again we will think through those and decide whether that has to happen.”

The district courts in each of Iowa’s 99 counties will institute the measures they need to get their jury trials back underway.

(Radio Iowa) – Fifty-five members of the expanded Republican majority in the Iowa House have endorsed a proposed amendment to the state constitution on abortion. If eventually approved by voters, Iowa’s Constitution would be amended to say it does not recognize, grant or secure a right to abortion. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, says it’s needed to respond to court rulings that struck down abortion restrictions.

“I am pro-life and I make no apology for it,” Holt said. “I believe there are two heartbeats involved, two souls involved in abortion, and we always forget one of them.” Democrats like Representative Christina Bohannan of Iowa City say the amendment could lead to an abortion ban in Iowa if the U.S. Supreme Court’s new conservative majority sends the issue back to the states.

“Eliminating the constitutional right to abortion won’t stop abortions,” Bohannan says. “But it will dramatically affect the lives and health of people who happen to have had the bad luck to be born female.” Representative Holt describes the proposal as “abortion neutral.”

“And if House Joint Resolution 5 passes two General Assemblies and is approved by the people, abortion will continue to be legal in Iowa based on federal law,” he said. Representative Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, calls that misleading. “Putting the word abortion in the Constitution does not make it abortion neutral,” Donahue says. “If the goal isn’t to ban abortion, then what is the goal of this bill?”

All the Democrats in the House and three Republicans voted against the proposed amendment. Republican leaders in the Iowa SENATE plan to endorse the amendment this year, as they did in 2020. (The “no” votes from Republicans were Jane Bloomingdale of Northwood, Lee Hein of Monticello and David Maxwell of Gibson. Representative David Sieck of Glenwood was absent/not voting.)

(Radio Iowa) – A bill eligible for debate in a House committee would add political ideology as a protected class in the Iowa Civil Rights Act. That law currently bars discrimination based on things like age, race and religion. Republican Representative Skyler Wheeler of Orange City says lawmakers should make it clear that it’s wrong to discrimination against someone for their political views.

“We’ve seen cancel culture really crop up around the country. It’s really disturbing,” Wheeler said. “They want to shout you down if you have the wrong views or the wrong viewpoints. We’ve seen people get censored. We’ve seen a lot of different things and it’s almost entirely political.” Keenan Crow is a lobbyist for One Iowa, a group that advocates for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Iowans. He says the Iowa Civil Rights Act isn’t the right vehicle for protecting political speech.

“I think there’s a lot more opportunity for unintended consequences to happen because we’re literally prohibiting the government and the entire private sector from doing certain kinds of actions.” The Civil Rights Act bars discrimination in housing, education, employment and credit based on factors like race and gender as well as whether a person is married.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration arranged coronavirus testing for employees at the suburban office of a large pork company whose owners are her top donors. One Polk County supervisor says the July 13 testing at the administrative office of Iowa Select Farms in West Des Moines looks like special treatment for a campaign donor. Owners Jeff and Deb Hansen have donated nearly $300,000 to Reynolds’ campaigns for governor, including a $175,000 check in 2017 and a $50,000 donation last month. Company spokeswoman Jen Sorenson said Iowa Select sought the state’s help with testing after “a number of individuals were found to be potentially exposed to a positive employee.” Reynolds says companies who requested testing were not turned down.

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says the federal government is promising states a 17% increase in vaccine doses starting next week, potentially boosting the number of shots available amid frustration that eligible people have been unable to get vaccinated. Reynolds says officials in President Joe Biden’s administration promised governors in a call Tuesday that the federal government would increase state allocations to accelerate the national vaccination program. The increased federal supply would raise Iowa’s weekly doses of the Moderna vaccine to 25,800 a week beginning Feb. 8 and will be in addition to the current 19,500 dose allocation of Pfizer vaccine. Iowa on Wednesday reported eight additional deaths, raising the total to 4,500.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A successor has been picked for Republican state Sen. Mariannette Miller-Meeks after she was elected to the U.S. House by just six votes. WHO reports that Republican Adrian Dickey defeated Democrat Mary Stewart in a special election Tuesday night to represent Miller-Meeks’s former district in southeast Iowa. Dickey is currently president of the family-owned Dickey Transport based out of the town of Packwood in Jefferson County. With the win, Republicans maintain a 14-seat majority in the Iowa Senate.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must outline its plans after an appeals court confirmed that the Dakota Access pipeline is operating without a key permit. Pipeline opponents want it shut down immediately. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has set a status hearing for Feb. 10 to discuss the impact of Tuesday’s opinion by the D.C. Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals that upheld Boasberg’s ruling ordering the Corps to conduct a full environmental impact review. Boasberg said in his one-sentence order the the Corps needs to show how it “expects to proceed given the vacating” of a federal permit granting easement for the pipeline to cross beneath Lake Oahe.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cloris Leachman, a native Iowan and character actor whose depth of talent brought her an Oscar for “The Last Picture Show” and Emmys for her comedic work in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and other TV series, has died. She was 94. Millions of viewers knew her as the self-absorbed neighbor Phyllis in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

FILE – Cloris Leachman arrives at the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 28, 2007, in Los Angeles. Leachman, a character actor whose depth of talent brought her an Oscar for the “The Last Picture Show” and Emmys for her comedic work in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and other TV series, has died. She was 94. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

She also appeared as the mother of Timmy on the “Lassie” series. She played a frontier prostitute in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” a crime spree family member in “Crazy Mama,” and the infamous Frau Blücher in Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.”