DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Advocates seeking expanded access to medical marijuana in Iowa held a march at the state Capitol. More than 50 supporters of a proposal to expand the use of medical marijuana participated Tuesday. They support legislation that has won committee-level approval in the state Senate and could soon come up for a floor vote.

The legislation would make medical marijuana available to people with certain chronic diseases, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. Those approved by a doctor could purchase marijuana products produced in Iowa and sold at state-licensed dispensaries.

Last year, the Legislature approved a law allowing some residents with epilepsy to use oil with an ingredient derived from marijuana for treatment. But the law did not establish an in-state program for the production and distribution of the oil.

A bill making its way through the legislature would allow schools to keep “Epi-Pens”  on hand to use if students have an allergic reaction to something. Representative Norlin Mommsen, of DeWitt, is the bill’s floor manager in the House. “I have received multiple conversations and emails concerning the importance of this bill,” Mommsen says. “It can be best summed up by a comment made by a fellow representative: ‘We have the opportunity to pass this bill before there’s a tragedy and we have to attach a name to it.'”

Iowa schools currently have the authority to stock inhalers which can be used if a student has an asthma attack. This bill would allow Iowa schools to have the “pens” that dispense a single dose of epinephrine if a student has an allergic reaction to something like a bee sting or food. The school could get a prescription for “EpiPens” and only trained personnel would be able to administer a dose, if the bill becomes law.

Iowa is one of just four states that do not have this kind of a law and Representative Kirsten Running-Marquardt, of Cedar Rapids is among the group of Iowa legislators and school nurses that has been working on this proposal for eight years. “I can’t explain the increase in severe allergies in our children,” Running-Marquardt says, “the birthday parties where you now have to know which children have a nut, egg or milk allergies and the EpiPen carrying cases that children have now with their name on them, so you can tell whose belong to who.”

She cited a report indicating 25 percent of the episodes that are the first indication a child has a food allergy occur at school. Representative Mary Mascher, a retired teacher from Iowa City, says “EpiPens” are expensive, but some drug companies provide them free of charge to schools. “This really is a bill that could save children’s lives,” Mascher says. The bill cleared the Senate unanimously on March 17th.

It was changed slightly by the House Tuesday, to allow “agents” of a school — like a classroom volunteer or a parent watching a football game on school grounds — as well as school employees to administer an “EpiPen” dosage if they are trained to do so. That change must be approved by the Senate before the bill can go to the governor’s desk for his review.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A West Des Moines man says his brother, who called for immigration reform before being deported to Mexico in September, has been killed. Leonardo Morales told The Associated Press that Constantino Morales was shot and killed Sunday night in the Mexican state of Guerrero. Details about the shooting weren’t available. Leonardo Morales says his brother would be alive if he hadn’t been deported

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will appear at a fundraiser for a progressive group during an Iowa visit this month. Progress Iowa Executive Director Matt Sinovic says de Blasio will be a guest at a reception on April 16 in Des Moines. De Blasio, a Democrat, is making a number of out-of-state trips as he seeks to grow his national profile. His Iowa visit comes as the 2016 presidential hopefuls are starting to woo voters in the kickoff caucus state.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa House committee has approved legislation that would exempt the sale of honey bees from certain taxes, though one lawmaker questioned the point of the bill. The measure would exempt the sale of honey bees from the state’s sales tax and use tax, which is at a 6 percent rate. The bill now heads to the full House.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A former Dubuque police officer has pleaded not guilty to charges that he had sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl. Twenty-nine-year-old Kyle C. Cross pleaded not guilty to two charges of third-degree sexual abuse. Court documents say a woman contacted Dubuque police in February to report her 14-year-old daughter had run away. Police say they found her at Cross’ residence. According to a criminal complaint, both Cross and the girl admitted they had sexual contact.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The number of trains carrying at least a million gallons of volatile crude oil across Nebraska and Iowa has increased significantly this spring. BNSF railroad has told emergency management officials in both states that it’s now hauling 20 to 30 trains loaded with oil from North Dakota’s Bakken region through the area each week on average.

That’s up significantly from last summer when federal regulators began requiring railroads to notify state officials about trains carrying at least 1 million gallons of oil.

Railroad shipments of crude oil are facing additional scrutiny and tougher regulations because there have been several fiery derailments involving the commodity in recent years. The worst one happened in July 2013 and killed 47 people in a small Canadian city just across the U.S.-Canada border from Maine.

Volunteers are needed to help prepare food packages as part of an effort to provide “Meals from the Heartland.” Pastor Doug Opp, in Audubon, says the organization (mealsfromtheheartland.org) started in 2007 helping to meet the needs of the hungry in Iowa and elsewhere in the U-S and around the world.  Pastor Opp says more than 10.6-million meals were packed last year with the help of Iowans and other volunteers. This year, the goal is 15-million meals.

Meals from the Heartland 2013 event

Opp says the Iowa National Guard Armory in Audubon is the site this Friday, April 10th, or the latest effort to help packing the meals. The event will be ongoing throughout the afternoon and evening. $32,000 has been raised to date, which allows 160,000 meals to be packed. Each meal includes soy, rice, vitamins and nutritional supplements.

The goal is to get enough volunteers to assemble the packs. Each pack serves six people.

To volunteer an hour of your time to help, call 712-563-2625, text 712-304-5567. The shifts run from 3-until 8-p.m., Friday. Area high school students will be packing from Noon until 3. The public is needed to help pack afterward, especially from 3-to 4-pm, and 7-to 8-pm. Interested persons need to arrive 15 minutes before their shift, in order to view a training video.

You can also help by making a tax deductible donation. Address your checks to Meals from the Heartland, and give to your local church. If you have questions, call Pastor Doug Opp at 712-563-2625, or Pastor Steven Frock at 712-268-2660. The packages will be transported in boxes and then on pallets before being trucked to West Des Moines. Persons in the State of Iowa will be provided with meal packs first, before they are sent to the rest of the U-S and the world.