DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider striking down surrogacy contracts as a violation of the constitutional rights of surrogate mothers and their babies. In an appeal of a February Iowa Supreme Court ruling, the woman asks the nation’s highest court to hear her case and consider whether surrogacy contracts affirmed in several states including Iowa, California, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Washington can be upheld.

The woman is identified in court documents as T.B. She entered into a surrogacy contract with Paul and Chantele Montover in 2016, but she decided she wanted to keep the baby after the relationship soured. The Montovers have raised now-23-month-old girl since birth. The Supreme Court is expected to decide by this fall whether to consider the case.

Des Moines, Iowa – The Iowa Insurance Division recently issued a cease and desist order against Proactive Indemnity Corp., Ahmed Badrus Salam, and Umer M. Masood.  They are not licensed in any state and have a history of fraudulently offering insurance coverage to consumers nationally through their website. Proactive Indemnity Corp. also uses the names of Proactive Financial Corp. and Contingent Cargo Co.  Both Salam and Masood use the alias of Josh Capello. Iowa Insurance Division spokesman Chance McElhaney said “It’s easy for consumers to purchase insurance coverage online.  While that’s good for consumers, it’s also easier for scammers with no licenses whatsoever to defraud people by selling non-existent coverage. It’s important for Iowa consumers to double-check with our office to ensure both the agent and insurer are licensed before purchasing any type of coverage, but especially those purchased online.”

Proactive Indemnity Corp., Salam and Masood’s history of harming consumers in other states includes:

• Issuing insurance policies and certificates of coverage when no such insurance coverage actually exists.
• Misrepresenting to consumers that policies have been underwritten by Lloyd’s of London without authorization to bind coverage on behalf of Lloyd’s and when Lloyd’s has no record of a policy being issued.
• Collecting premium payments which are deposited into banks in Pakistan, not forwarded to an insurance company.
• Holding themselves out as being licensed in states where they are not licensed to engage in the business of insurance.
• Providing false agent names to consumers.

Proactive Indemnity Corp. gave consumers in other states fraudulent insurance coverage documents leading consumers to believe they have insurance when in fact they do not. Iowa consumers that have purchased coverage from Salam, Masood or “Capello” through Proactive Indemnity Corp., Proactive Financial Corp., or Contingent Cargo Co. may be a victim of fraud and should contact the Iowa Insurance Division immediately at 515-281-6348. Iowans double-checking to ensure they are utilizing a licensed agent in Iowa may do so at https://iid.iowa.gov/find-a-licensed-agent.

A new workplace drug testing law went into effect this week that lowers the allowed workplace blood alcohol standard from zero-point-zero-four percent to zero-point-zero two percent. The move brings Iowa in line with federal law, which Sukup Manufacturing’s Rachel Geilenfeld says clears up the issues for employers. “There was some lack of clarity on whether the employer could take appropriate disciplinary action against those employees,” Geilenfeld says. The lack of clarity left the Sheffield-based company with just one option if they met the state standard but not the federal limit. “So essentially if they fell in that gap our only recourse was to send them home with pay,” according to Geilenfeld.

Geilenfeld presented data on how a worker is impacted under the two standards as she lobbied the Iowa Legislature to make the change. “And there is data that supports that at the zero-point-zero-two (0.02) blood alcohol content level somebody’s impairment is at a much lower level than zero-point-zero-four percent (0.04) including certain tasks they can perform,” Geilenfeld says.

The new law passed by wide margins in the Iowa House and Senate. Geilenfeld says an earlier attempt to approve the change failed under a divided legislature back in 2015.

(Radio Iowa)

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports three people suffered suspected minor/non-incapacitating injuries Tuesday afternoon, following a collision about four-miles east/southeast of Arispe. Authorities say a 2013 Ram pickup driven by 33-year old Dusten Kyle Carrington, of Afton, and a 1998 Ford F-150 pickup driven by 30-year old Dylan Douglas Steinhoff, of Arispe, were rounding a curve in opposite directions near Squirrel Avenue and 255th Street at around 4:20-p.m., when the F-150 went out of control and crossed the centerline of the road, into the path of the Ram pickup. The vehicles collided in the southeast corner of the curve.

Both drivers, and a passenger in the Dodge, 41-year old Brenda Lou Carrington, of Afton, were injured. Only Brenda Carrington was wearing a seat belt. The drivers and passenger were transported by Medic1 to the Greater Regional Medical Center, in Creston. Sheriff’s deputies cited Steinhoff for Failure to Maintain Control. Both trucks were totaled in the crash.

In other news, the Union County Sheriff’s Office says a woman from Afton reported Tuesday, that someone took prescription medication from her home sometime that morning. Estimated value of the medication was $250.

An accident in Pottawattamie County at around 6-a.m. today (Thursday), resulted in two people being sent to the hospital. The Iowa State Patrol reports 25-year old Tyson H. Heckathorn, and his passenger, 38-year old Melissa Kruse, both of Spencer, was transported by Crescent Rescue to hospitals in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area, after Heckathorn fell asleep at the wheel of the 2003 Chevy Tahoe he was driving. The vehicle drifted onto the left shoulder and nearly hit the median barrier. Heckathorn woke up and over-corrected, sending the vehicle into the east ditch, where it rolled once before coming to rest. The accident happened on Intertstate 29 northbound, near mile marker 66. Both accident victims were wearing their seat belts.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County reports a Nebraska man serving a sentence at the Pott. County Jail, was presented with a warrant from Douglas County, NE., Tuesday morning, for being a Fugitive from Justice. 33-year old Mitchell Scott Albers, of Omaha, was read the warrant and returned to the custody of jail staff. A warrant was also served Tuesday, on an inmate from Council Bluffs. The warrant for 22-year old Zachary Tyler Cox, was for Felony Violation of Probation.  And, at around 3:30-p.m. Tuesday, 32-year old Shea Michael Minor, of Council Bluffs, turned himself in on a warrant for Violation of Probation. He was turned over to Corrections Staff.

A traffic stop on an SUV Tuesday evening resulted in the arrest of 44-year old Jason Michael Redler, of Council Bluffs. Redler was arrested for OWI/1st offense, and brought to the Pott. County Jail.   48-year old Jack Jerome Underwood, Jr., of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/15.4-grams of marijuana. His bond was set at $1,000. A traffic stop late Wednesday morning in Pott. County on a van with an expired registration, resulted in the arrest of 42-year old Adrian Christopher Bates, of Council Bluffs, for Driving While Barred, and Violation of an Order/Contempt of Court.

A traffic stop Wednesday afternoon on Canoe Lane, in Pott. County, resulted in the arrest of a passenger in the vehicle. 19-year old Michael David Hatcher, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, after authorities found a clear bottle containing a green leafy substance weighing 67.1 grams, two glass pipes, and rolling paper. And, a woman from Oakland was arrested Wednesday night, following a traffic stop. 59-year old Wanda Jean Henderson was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense.

No children were seriously injured, but many could’ve been, by razor blades that were stuck in playground equipment. The sharp objects were discovered this week in a park in the Eastern Iowa town of Tiffin. Jon McDonough told KCRG-TV that his mother-in-law first spotted the razor blades placed in different parts of the equipment. “Around the slide and just parts where kids are grabbing on to,” McDonough said. Folks in the neighborhood eventually discovered at least 10 blades in the grooves of the playground equipment in the park in Tiffin’s Woodfield neighborhood. “(I’m) worried, as any parent,” McDonough said. “When you go to the park, it’s not something you should have to look for – razor blades on pieces of play equipment.”

One razor blade gave McDonough’s toddler a minor cut on the arm. It was enough to draw blood but little else, McDonough said. Riley Williams also lives in the Woodfield neighborhood. “It’s hugely concerning because our kids are back there all the time. We’re out there a couple times a week,” Williams told KCRG. “You know, even the day we heard about it, they were over there. Thank God they weren’t on the equipment.”

City officials in Tiffin checked all the community’s parks with metal detectors but did NOT find any more blades outside of the one park. Anyone with information about the razor blades is asked to call the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office at 319-356-6800.

(Radio Iowa w/thanks to KCRG TV)