(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa legislature has unanimously voted to let cities limit the hours of strip clubs that do not serve alcohol if officials determine the club’s a threat to public safety. It’s similar to a law passed last year that lets cities crack down on bars that are the frequent site of fights, assaults and gun fire. Representative Mike Vondran is from Davenport, one of the cities that lobbied for the legislation.

“Bottom line, this comes to us through law enforcement,” Vondran said. “This is something that they’ve asked for and will be of great assistance to them as they continue to make our streets safer.” Senator Tony Bisignano, of Des Moines, backs the bill — and suggests legislators should eventually expand the law to apply to all businesses that are threat to public safety. “We’re seeing people around the country shooting people at music venues,” Bisignaono said. “…If it has repetition to where it has monthly events and in two or three events they have the same situation, the community ought to be able to deal with that as a public nuisance.”

Under the bill, the attorney for a city or county could seek a court order that would force a strip club to close at 10 p.m. Other sanctions would be possible, after a trial.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is speaking out in favor of the Senate putting U-S Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on trial for his role in what Republicans say is a crisis at the southern border. The U-S House has voted to impeach Mayorkas and next week, will send the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate for trial. Grassley says Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is angling to get rid of the articles without a trial.

“The Senate has constitutional responsibility to hold an impeachment trial,” Grassley says. “Skipping the trial would be totally unprecedented. Now, just imagine the outrage if Senate Republicans had refused to hold a trial when House Democrats impeached Trump.” Grassley released a video statement saying Schumer sent his Senate colleagues a letter last week, listing 17 priority items for action, a list that did not include the Farm Bill, nor an impeachment trial.

“Skipping the trial this time around would be a blatantly hypocritical move,” Grassley says. “Schumer’s trying to sweep the Biden administration border mess right under the rug. The Senate must hold a trial.” Grassley has signed a letter with 42 other Republican senators, calling on Schumer to hold the trial. The letter calls the southern border “a national security disaster,” and says, “The border crisis under Secretary Mayorkas has become a nightmare for the American people.”

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa House Representative Tom Moore, from Griswold, reports the House this week passed a bill changing driving privileges for drivers under the age of 18. Moore says Senate File 2109 is the result of the Minor Driver’s License Interim Committee that met last fall.

Representative Moore said …

Teens must have written permission from a parent or guardian filed with the DOT.

Rep. Thomas Jay Moore (R-Griswold) (official photo)

(Radio Iowa) – With the warmer weather, Iowans are finally starting to launch into their spring cleaning projects, sprucing up both their homes and their work spaces. Jessica Boland, a worksite wellness consultant, says cleansing and decluttering can help to improve your mood and your productivity level while reducing stress, though she reminds, don’t stress yourself out by trying to tackle too much at once.

“Make a plan for maybe doing one room in your home at a time,” Boland says. “Think about cleaning out drawers, closets, cupboards, and maybe organizing things into different piles. So maybe you have a pile for donation, keeping and recycling.” Once you get your space looking like you want it, Boland says you should consider what it will take to maintain that level of organization and to keep the clutter from reappearing.

“Maybe it’s doing a load of dishes every day in your kitchen, and then that will keep our counters free of clutter,” Boland says. “Maybe it’s doing laundry once a day, if possible, and maybe even it’s just sorting through your mail for five minutes every day to keep your counters free.” Once something is stuffed in a closet, some consider if it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind, but Boland suggests you dig into those closets and be realistic about what you’ve saved.

“So if you have clothes in your closet from high school, maybe just ask yourself, ‘Do I really need these?'” Boland says. “Maybe you just think about, ‘These clothes were nice when I wore them in high school but I don’t need them,’ and maybe sometimes even taking a picture so you have a memory of that item.”

Boland is a consultant for Gundersen Health System, which has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Warm soil temperatures and favorable weather have allowed farmers across Iowa to start planting corn and soybeans this week, according to several field agronomists. Wednesday was the earliest planting date for corn to be eligible for federal crop insurance replanting payments, which cover farmers if their young crops are damaged and need to be replaced. The earliest planting date for soybeans was also Wednesday for the southern three tiers of Iowa counties, and it’s April 15 for the rest of the state.

Most of the state’s topsoil has a temperature of at least 50 degrees, according to Iowa State University data. That temperature is a key threshold for seed germination. Soil temps are predicted to rise into the 60s in the coming days before retreating into the 40s by the end of next week. Air temperatures are expected to peak in the 80s in most of Iowa this weekend, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy rainfall in wide areas of the state in March helped alleviate drought conditions that have persisted for more than three years. Still, available soil moisture is far behind what it has been in recent years.

About 51% of the state’s topsoil and 36% of its subsoil have adequate or surplus moisture, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on Monday. At this time last year, those figures were 78% and 66%. The depleted subsoil is most worrisome for the field agronomists. About two-thirds of the state is suffering from some measure of drought, according to a Thursday report by the U.S. Drought Monitor. That affected area has declined for weeks and was aided again last week by heavy rainfall in southeast Iowa, which delayed planting in that area.

Those rains have alleviated some of the concerns about available water for livestock along the state’s southern border.

(Radio Iowa) – The top Republican in the Iowa House says there needs to be more review of a bill designed to ensure Iowa men who were sexually abused by Boy Scout leaders decades ago get full payments from a national settlement. Iowa’s current time limit on suing perpetrators of childhood sexual abuse means Iowa victims could get as little as 30 percent of the money victims in other states will receive if the legislature doesn’t act soon. The Senate unanimously passed a bill on the topic this week, but House Speaker Pat Grassley says the legislation could have broad implications.

“We understand that what these victims went through is a very terrible that they’ve experienced,” Grassley says. “While the bill is crafted very narrowly, this is a significant change.” Under Iowa law, survivors of child sex abuse must file lawsuits seeking damages before they turn 20 — or within four years of realizing they were victims of sex abuse as a child. The bill would waive those time limits for former Boy Scouts.

“We recognize that this is a really difficult situation, but the last few weeks of session it’s really hard to be able to find resolution.” Grassley says the bill originated in the Senate committee that writes budgets, and he’s having members of the House panel that considers court-related matters review it.

“This is a much bigger deal than I think it’s being perceived to be and I would say probably everyone would say from all sides it’s a big deal, but changing this is a fundamental change the way we typically do things in Iowa when it comes to statute of limitations, so I don’t think this is something we can just rush though,” Grassley says. “That being said, I understand the clock is ticking as well.”

According to a lawyer who’s familiar with the case, the governor needs to sign the bill into law by April 19th for Iowa adults who were victimized by Boy Scout leaders to get a full payment from the legal settlement. A two-and-a-half BILLION dollar settlement fund has been created to pay 82-thousand men in the U-S who say they were abused by troop leaders. Between 300 and 350 of those men are Iowans.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — [KETV] – Council Bluffs Fire Department said the wind has caused some of the small fires from the weekend that were still smoldering to ignite again. First responders have set up command as the fire continues to burn.The fire is along Interstate 29 near the Pottawattamie County Jail. KETV reports I-29 is still open, but fire officials do not recommend driving on it between Council Bluffs and Crescent.

The 16th Street and N 25th Street, I-29 on ramps have been closed. The fire is on both sides of the interstate. Fire officials said 40 to 60 acres of land have been affected by the fire. The city of Council Bluffs is under a burn ban.

A field fire also broke out in Mead, Nebraska, on Thursday, burning almost 80 acres of land.Another factor in the brush fire is Nebraska and Iowa’s ongoing drought.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments today (Thursday) on the fetal heartbeat law that’s been on hold since the the governor signed the bill. The state’s attorney, Eric Wessen, argued the state has a rational interest in enacting the law and that’s how it should be viewed. “A majority of this court held and Planned Parenthood 2022 that abortion is not a fundamental right subject to strict scrutiny so under its long standing substantive due process jurisprudence this court should apply rational basis,” he says. Wessen says the state has “The right of life, the important value of health and well being of mothers, the integrity of medical profession, each of those can be found in Iowa code section 146 E,” he says.

Wessen says he believes the district court would have to drop its injunction if the High Court follows his argument. “If this court explains and holds that rational basis is the proper standard of review the state is confident that this law which is duly enacted by the legislature and is entitled to the presumption of constitutionality will survive that review,” he says. Peter Im represented Planned Parenthood and the A-C-L-U of Iowa which are seeking to block the law. He says a rational interest interpretation should not be used.

“P-P-H 2022 which is the controlling precedent clearly stated that undue burden quote remains the governing standard unquote. The district court got it right by applying that standard and certainly did not abuse its discretion by committing legal error,” Im says. He says the law block the rights of women.

“Iowans’ ability to make decisions, private and personal medical decisions, to exercise bodily autonomy and to decide what when and whether to have children,” Im says. Justices Christopher McDonald and Susan Christensen asked Im about his argument that women were not properly represented when abortion was banned after Iowa became a state. They asked why a law should be blocked that was passed by a legislature that now includes duly-elected women.

“The level of deference to the legislature is certainly most important I think in issues of policy. But when it comes to individual rights, there is no political question doctrine. There is no doctrine that says that this court should defer to the legislature if the legislature passes a law that rides roughshod over the right of Iowans to exercise bodily autonomy,” he says.

The court is expected to issue a ruling in June.