(Radio Iowa) — The governor’s proposed constitutional amendment to automatically restore voting rights to paroled felons has cleared an initial hurdle in the Iowa Senate, but it’s future is in doubt.  Senator Jake Chapman, a Republican from Adel, says “Is that the right public policy, to have universal restoration of rights? I don’t think so.”

Key Republican senators like Chapman say the plan isn’t likely to clear a committee as currently written. Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs, says that likely means adding language to the proposed amendment so rapists, child molesters and anyone convicted of causing the death of someone else never get their voting rights restored. “Pragmatically, the pathway forward — for this to be successful, there are going to have to be parameters,” Dawson says.

Ninety-five of the 100 members of the Iowa House endorsed the governor’s proposed constitutional amendment last week. Drew Klein of Americans for Prosperity is urging senators to vote for it, too, and THEN consider separate legislation to define which paroled felons would be eligible to vote.  “I think we can kind of help craft the framework for what that looks like,” Klein said, “but obviously there’s a timeline in the legislature…and I think it’s important to move this forward so that we can continue to have those conversations.”

If the Senate Judiciary Committee does not endorse the proposed constitutional amendment by this Friday, the matter is ineligible for debate for the rest of the 2019 legislative session.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Senate has approved a bill that seeks to shut down Iowa businesses caught repeatedly hiring people who are not U.S. citizens or legal residents. Republican Senator Julian Garrett of Indianola is the chief sponsor of the legislation that mandates businesses use the federal “E-Verify” system to confirm prospective employees are in the country legally. “The present system is very unfair to both legal workers — legal employees — and law-abiding businesses,” Garrett said.

If the bill becomes law, businesses caught employing undocumented workers would be on probation for three years and have to confirm to STATE officials that newly-hired workers are in the U.S. legally. A business would lose its operating license after getting caught a SECOND time with undocumented workers on the payroll. Rob Hogg (HOHG, rhymes with “vogue”) of Cedar Rapids was among the 13 Democrats in the state senate who opposed the bill. “We all agree that what really needs to happen is we urgently need comprehensive federal immigration reform at the nation level,” Hogg said.

One Republican senator voted against the measure, but the other Republicans present last (Tuesday) night in the senate voted for it, as did four Democrats. The bill now goes to the House and must clear a House committee by Friday to be eligible for a vote on the House floor later this spring.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Some county supervisors have criticized the lack of security screening planned for a symphony gala at the Woodbury County Courthouse. The Sioux City Journal reports that visitors normally must walk through a scanner and their bags are screened by a metal detector. Supervisor Rocky De Witt said at the board meeting Tuesday that said not requiring the same for Sioux City Symphony Orchestra guests “sends the wrong message” that symphony guests are more trustworthy than others who enter the courthouse.

De Witt says other groups that booked the courthouse for after-hours events went through security screening. Sheriff Dave Drew says the courthouse security plan aims to protect county and courtroom employees. He says because they won’t be present at Saturday’s event, security screening won’t be necessary.

A woman from Creston reported to Police Tuesday morning, that sometime between 3- and 4-a.m. Tuesday, someone entered her residence in the 400 block of N. Oak Street. The thief took a 40-inch flat screen TV valued at $300. Creston Police are investigating the incident.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say one person died after a fire broke out at a condominium complex in southwest Cedar Rapids. Firefighters dispatched a little after 3 p.m. Tuesday encountered heavy smoke when they entered one of the units. They found a person inside a doorway who later was pronounced dead at the scene. No other injuries have been reported.
The victim’s name and other information about the fire haven’t been released.

(Radio Iowa) — Missouri River floodwaters are receding slowly from the southwest Iowa town of Hamburg but a former mayor expects a few hundred residents likely won’t return. Terry Holliman owns the NAPA Auto Parts store, flooded when the Missouri River broke through the Hamburg levee March 18th and inundated about two-thirds of the city of a thousand. “It’s a big financial loss for most people that can least afford it,” Holliman says, adding, the poorest residents took the brunt of the flood. “The lower areas are the lower-income families, the ones who can least afford a loss. It’s going to be hard on everybody,” he says.

Not everyone will be willing to start over. “We have a lot of recovery, a lot of rebuild,” Holliman says. “A lot of people simply will not come back to town because of the loss of homes. We’ll probably lose, easily 200 people.”  He says residents remain resentful about how the U-S Army Corps of Engineers manages the Missouri River and he accuses the Corps of neglecting flood control measures. Holliman said the dams and the levees were built in the 1950s for flood protection.

“They’ve now switched that. They no longer are about flood protection, they’re about environmental and recreational,” Holliman says. “They sat there during the winter with their dams full, knowing they’re going to have runoff from snowmelt and no place to put it except down the river.”

Spring flood damage across Iowa is estimated near one-point-six billion dollars, with another one-point-three billion dollars damage in Nebraska.