The Iowa House has voted to update state policy governing strip searches of both inmates and visitors to city and county jails. Representative Stan Gustafson, a Republican from Cumming, says contraband is becoming commonplace. “In recent months Iowa sheriffs’ offices being confiscated everything from weapons to illegal substances being carried into the jail,” he says. “Recently in Linn County, a woman carried in a knife.”

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled all jail inmates, regardless of the charges they may face, can be strip searched when they’re booked. The bill that passed the House would give Iowa jailers authority to conduct a strip search if there is “reasonable suspicion” the person being booked into jail, or coming into the jail as a visitor, is concealing a weapon or contraband like drugs.

“Safety concerns are at the heart of this bill,” Gustafson says. “…It is the sheriff’s responsibility to provide a safe and secure environment and House File 2174 assists in that duty.” Gustafson cites a recent incident in Oklahoma. A man booked into a jail on minor charges had a loaded gun and bragged about it to other prisoners. Authorities didn’t know about the gun for 16 hours because the inmate wasn’t strip searched before he was put in a cell.

Last March Woodbury County paid 385-thousand dollars to settle three lawsuits filed by women who had been strip searched at the county jail. Federal lawsuits filed by two other women who say they were subjected to excessive force during searches at the Woodbury County Jail are still pending.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press …

A former administrative intern at the Council Bluffs St. Albert High School has been charged in connection with a high school fire in North Dakota. The Daily NonPareil reports 30-year old Thomas Sander, a Principal at Trinity High School in Dickinson, N.D., faces felony charges of Arson and Endangerment by fire or explosion. Sander was being held in jail Wednesday on $500,000 bond. If convicted, he faces up to 10-years in prison.

The fire, which occurred Monday, heavily damaged the school. Students were given the week off while officials decided how to continue the school year.

While at St. Albert, Sander worked six to eight hours per week for one semester as part of an unpaid administrative practicum for his master’s degree. He was not a school employee, however, and was at the school for about three months.

Police in Council Bluffs said Wednesday that a former Lewis Central student whose body was found late last year in the back seat of a vehicle in the parking lot of a J.C. Penny store off of Marketplace Drive, died of alcohol poisoning. Authorities say an autopsy determined 15-year old Mireya Mata-Alvarez‘ death the night of Dec. 21st was ruled “accidental.” The cause was listed as “acute ethanol intoxication,” which is commonly referred to as “alcohol poisoning.”  The girls’ blood alcohol level registered more than five-times the legal limit of .08. No foul play was involved.

Officials say Mata-Alvarez had been with two juvenile girls and five juvenile males earlier that same evening. Both girls – one of whom dialed 911 – were on scene when emergency crews arrived, but the boys were no longer present.

Mata-Alvarez had attended Lewis Central High School during her freshman year, but was not enrolled for her sophomore year, because she had transferred out of state.

Authorities in Pottawattamie County said Wednesday a second arrest has been made in connection with a murder that took place in the Summer of 2003 in Council Bluffs. According to Council Bluffs Police, 36-year old James Cain Harris,of Council Bluffs, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of first-degree murder for the July 2003 death of Nelson Alvarez-Hernandez. Harris was being held in the Pott. County Jail on $1-million bond. His preliminary hearing was set for March 14th.

Officials say Alvarez-Hernandez was killed after a fight outside of a home in the 1600 block of south 13th St. in Council Bluffs. Witnesses had reported a loud altercation taking place outside the residence and heard Alvarez-Hernandez call for help. According to police, those same witnesses said they saw several subjects near the victim who fled prior to police arriving.

Someone had stabbed Alvarez-Hernandez to death, and the case remained unsolved until late last year, when authorities were able to link DNA evidence to 47-year old Thomas J. Sanchez,of La Vista, Neb. Sanchez was arrested in late January, 2014. He remains held on $1-million bond at the Pottawattamie County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder. Sanchez’ trial is set to begin April 15th.

The Walnut City Council will hold a Public Hearing and take action on adopting, the Fiscal Year 2015 Budget, Thursday. Both will take place during a regular meeting of the Council, which begins at 5-p.m., Thursday.

In other business, the Council will receive and possibly act on approving a letter of support for a grant application being submitted by the Walnut Questers. Other discussion will include that which pertains to the Peace Haven Retirement Home and possible street work. The Council may also act on approving a letter to the Wheatley Estate, providing Notice of Intent with regard to a former gas station and associated real estate.

The Walnut City Council is also expected to discuss matters pertaining to the concessions stands at the City Park.

Nearly three dozen plaintiffs from western Iowa are part of lawsuit filed today (Wednesday) against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The case concerns recurring flooding along the Missouri River between 2006 and 2011. Edwin Smith is an attorney with the law firm Polsinelli PC, based in Kansas City, Missouri.  “We’re seeking to be compensated for the devastating losses that our clients, which number of 200, have experienced as a result of this flooding,” Smith announced at a news conference in Omaha.

Thirty-three Iowans are among the roughly 200 landowners, business owners, and farmers along the Missouri River seeking damages. The other plaintiffs are from Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, and South Dakota. According to Smith, up until a decade ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prioritized flood control when managing operations of dams, reservoirs, and other structures along the river. Smith claims those priorities changed in 2004, which led to severe and frequent flooding.

“The Corps changed it’s policies and procedures, sacrificing our clients’ interests, in order to promote fish and wildlife and other environmental interests,” Smith said. The lawsuit contends the Corps violated the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. “It’s the Fifth Amendment that ensures each and every one of us…that the U.S. government cannot take our private property for the good of the public unless they give us just compensation,” Smith said.

The lawsuit alleges the Corps increased water storage levels and altered the schedule for water release from six large reservoirs. It also claims the Corps changed the structure of dikes and dams along the river to scour the banks and make the river shallower and created secondary channels that increase the frequency and duration of floods.

(Radio Iowa)