(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office report 22-year-old Kali Veronica Logan, of Omaha, NE, was arrested Monday at the Sheriff’s Office, on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear on an original Violation of Probation charge, and for Possession of Controlled Substance. Her bond was set at $5,000.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa environmental group says state regulators should reject a proposal from MidAmerican Energy to release coal ash wastewater from a power plant near Sioux City. The proposal affects the George Neal Energy Center where water that leaches through coal ash waste is collected in storage ponds. When the ponds are full, some wastewater would be released into the Missouri River. Steve Guyer, with the Iowa Environmental Council, says the utility should follow the new, stricter guidelines for wastewater containing hazardous pollutants.

“Has this previously been released to the river? Yes,” Guyer says, “but the difference is now the EPA has called out additional standards that need to be applied.” Guyer says that wastewater carries chemicals and heavy metals such as arsenic and mercury.

“Many of these are what are known as bio-accumulators, notably mercury, for instance, is a bio-accumulator,” he says. “It accumulates in the fish tissue.” In a statement, the utility says it follows all state and federal guidelines, and the proposal would only come into play in years with extremely heavy rain. The Iowa D-N-R must approve the plan.

(reporting by Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – The latest report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers gives Iowa infrastructure an overall passing grade of C. The grade for the state’s roads improved to a B minus — up from a C plus in the group’s previous report card. Christy VanBuskirk, an engineer with the Iowa D-O-T, says the gas tax increase the legislature approved eight years ago has made a difference. “Today, 25% of Iowa’s roads are in poor or mediocre conditions, down from 29% in 2019,” VanBuskirk says.

The condition of Iowa’s bridges gets another D plus from the group of civil engineers, though. VanBuskirk says one out of every five bridges in Iowa are rated in poor condition. “Reducing the number of poor bridges is a DOT priority,” she says. “Over the past four years, it achieved a 26% reduction in state-owned poor bridges.”

However, more than 80 percent of the bridges in Iowa are owned by cities and counties. The group of Iowa-based civil engineers says getting more money to repair and replace poor bridges will raise the grade and they’re calling for more monitoring of bridges built before 1973. The group rated 11 other types of infrastructure, including airports, railroads and even public parks. Iowa roads and highways were the only category to see improvement in the group’s 2023 report card compared to the one issued four years ago.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments today (Tuesday) on whether a law passed in 2018 banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy should be allowed to take effect. Christopher Schandevel, argued for the state, saying the injunction should be lifted based on state and federal rulings that abortion is not a constitutional right.  “We know now today that even though this court and the U-S Supreme Court had previously misinterpreted the federal constitution and the Iowa Constitution that what the legislature did in 2018 and enacting the fetal heartbeat law it’s perfectly consistent with both constitutions because there is no fundamental right to abortion,” he says.

Schandevel says the legislature has a rational conceivable basis for the law — which is the state’s interest in protecting and preserving fetal life. “Especially in this case that case at a point in fetal development when the unborn child’s heart has begun beating when brainwaves are detectable when she can already move when she already has sensory receptors. When her facial features her chin, her jaw her cheeks have already begun to form at a point in pregnancy when absent abortion the vast majority of unborn children will survive until birth,” Schandevel says. He says the district court wrongly ruled that it could not dissolve the injunction.

“If there is a substantial change or if there’s a change in the law, the interpretation of the statute or the Constitution by this court, then the party is enjoined based on a prior interpretation that is determined to be erroneous, have the ability to come into court where that injunction was first issued, file a motion to modify or dissolve the injunction just like we did here,” he says. Peter Im presented the arguments for Planned Parenthood. “First the ban is void because it was unconstitutional when it was passed. Second Iowal procedures do not permit the state’s motion, and third there was no change in law that would justify vacating the injunction,” Im says.

The justices raised several questions about why the injunction couldn’t be dissolved based on the new rulings on abortion. Im responded. “I think that if this Court were to allow the state to proceed on the merits that would open the floodgates of litigation to any litigant who is bound by an injunction,” he says. Im says this case would set a new precedent on the issue. “Certainly this court has held that changes in fact do justify modifications of injunctions but I don’t believe that this court is squarely held that a change in the law justifies a motion to modify,” Im says.

Abortion is now legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy in Iowa. The Supreme Court will issue a ruling at a later date.

(Griswold, Iowa) – The driver of a semi reportedly suffered from a head laceration following a rollover accident one-half mile north of 61282 Tucson Road. Cass County Communications dispatched Griswold Fire and Rescue and Cass EMS at 11:20-a.m. The driver was said to be out of the cab. The trailer was hauling soybeans.

Additional details are currently not available .