COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a man and his 2-year-old daughter have escaped unharmed from a Council Bluffs house fire. The Daily Nonpareil reports  that the fire was reported just after 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Michael Large told the newspaper that he smelled smoke and then discovered flames on the outside of the house. He says he grabbed his daughter, ran outside and then across the street to safety.   The fire cause is being investigated.

Convicts who’re guilty of many aggravated misdemeanors in Iowa will have to submit a D-N-A sample after July 1st. That’s when the bill Governor Terry Branstad signed into law Wednesday goes into effect. “Justice is a balance and I believe that DNA is a valuable tool that can help us both convict people that have committed dangerous crimes and also exonerate people that have been convicted of crimes they didn’t commit,” Branstad told reporters. Representative Clel Baudler, a Republican from Greenfield who is a retired state trooper, has been trying to pass this law since 2003. “I’ve been opposed by the extreme left and the extreme right and this year we kind of whipped ’em,” Baudler says.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller predicts a “significant number of cases” will be solved with the D-N-A evidence that will be collected. “We can look a little bit to New York. It’s a little different state, but it gives us some idea,” Miller says. “Since 2006 when they went into the misdemeanor field, they solved and had matches for 965 cases — 51 of which were murder cases.”  People convicted of third offense drunk driving and aggravated misdemeanors involving assault, drug crimes and burglary will now have to submit a D-N-A sample to authorities. “The experience has been that for some sort of property crimes — larceny crimes — for some reason there is a significant match to violent crimes,” Miller says.

Felons in Iowa’s prison system have been required to submit their D-N-A for years. Supporters of expanding D-N-A collection to those guilty of aggravated misdemeanors say it may help solve some future crimes. Critics call it a violation of civil liberties, as the D-N-A evidence won’t be erased from the database once a criminal has paid his or her debt to society by serving their time, paying their fines to the court and paying restitution to their victims.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa legislators have approved a compromise budget plan for the state justice system.  On Wednesday, lawmakers in the state House and Senate approved $547 million in spending that largely goes to prisons and public safety.

The budget plan is an increase over the spending in the current fiscal year. It is more than the $534 million proposed by the House and less than the $560 million pushed by the Senate.  It includes some of the funding sought by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller to regionalize state domestic abuse and sexual assault assistance. Miller wants to shut down some domestic abuse shelters and hire more advocates to assist victims. Miller had wanted $6 million and the plan offers nearly $4 million.

Next, the plan moves to the governor’s office.

An Atlantic Middle School student was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, after a light fixture in a recently renovated classroom broke loose and fell from the ceiling at around 9-a.m., Wednesday.

School officials said two students suffered from scratches, while another had a bump on the head. The trio were treated by the school nurse. One was subsequently transported to the hospital for additional examination and treatment. The classroom was evacuated while the general contractor examined the remaining light fixtures to find out how the incident occurred.