MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman is now charged in the 1992 beating death of an engaged man with whom she allegedly had a sexual relationship. Annette Dee Cahill made a brief court appearance Friday from the Muscatine County Jail. She’s being held on a $1 million bond. The 55-year-old woman is charged with first-degree murder in the October 1992 slaying of Corey Lee Wieneke. He was found dead on his bedroom floor in rural West Liberty by his fiancée. Investigators say he was beaten with an aluminum baseball bat.

Cahill didn’t enter a plea Friday. An attorney says he’s talking with Cahill’s family about representing her. Investigators say a new witness came forward last year claiming Cahill confessed to the killing. Cahill and Wieneke allegedly argued about “his involvement with another woman” the day he died.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge agreed Friday (today) to temporarily block the most restrictive abortion law in the country from taking effect in Iowa next month under an agreement between lawyers for the state and abortion rights groups. Attorneys for the state and Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said during a court hearing that they agreed to prevent the law from taking effect on July 1 after discussions with the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, Planned Parenthood Federation of American and the Emma Goldman Clinic. The advocacy groups argue the law is unconstitutional and have filed a lawsuit to block the law, which bans most abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected. An attorney representing the state said the goal now is to quickly get the case before a judge so the state can argue the law is constitutional.
Judge Michael Huppert said he would formally issue a temporary injunction later in the day.

Reynolds signed the law May 2, two days after lawmakers approved it. If the law is eventually allowed to take effect, the fetal heartbeat requirement would ban abortions around the sixth week of pregnancy — a time when, abortion-rights groups say, many women don’t even know they’re pregnant. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller has refused to defend the law, so the Thomas More Society, a conservative Chicago-based law firm, has agreed to handle the defense for free.

The law’s approval marked a dramatic change in abortion policy in Iowa. Until the 2016 election, the state had little to no role in the broad Republican effort to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy until a fetus is viable. But the election flipped control of the Iowa Senate, putting Republicans in charge of the Legislature and the governor’s office for the first time in two decades. Up to that point, Democrats had maintained enough political power to curtail most Republican anti-abortion attempts. Lawmakers adopted several abortion restrictions in 2017, including a 20-week abortion ban and a requirement that women wait three days before ending a pregnancy. The waiting provision, one of the longest in the country, is on hold because of a different lawsuit.

Separately, a new Iowa-based coalition of anti-abortion organizations was formed last year to renew efforts toward an abortion ban. The Coalition of Pro-Life Leaders, which includes Family Leader, put aside years of disagreement among the groups to help win passage of the 20-week ban and the six-week ban. Iowa Republicans last year also gave up millions in federal dollars to create a state-funded family planning program that prohibits participation from abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood.

A county-wide resource directory that was sponsored and compiled by the Cass County Democratic party is now available. Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle said today (Friday), that the 30-page booklet lists resources from abuse reporting to volunteering.  The Cass County Resource Directory is being distributed in Atlantic with plans to make it available to agencies and people across the county. In addition to the booklet, there is also a PDF version available for those who want an electronic copy of the directory.

Toelle says the booklet began as a simple idea for a community project, but quickly “Grew into a massive undertaking.” She says two people—Rolene Britson and Jan Lunde—eagerly took on the project as their own,” but it wasn’t long before everyone realized just how big of a project it really was. According to Toelle, “Jan and Rolene contacted all the agencies listed to ensure that our information was correct. Without them, who knows if this project would ever have gotten off the ground.”

Toelle says “We have already distributed 100 copies of the booklet. If an agency or person would like one of the directories, they can contact [her] at 243-4861 or by email at stoelle@mchsi.com.”

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Davenport officials have closed a bridge that carries thousands of vehicles daily after finding the span’s surface showed “widespread deterioration.” The Quad-City Times reports that city officials announced Wednesday that Elm Street bridge would be closed to vehicles and pedestrians. Assistant City Administrator Brandon Wright says city workers first discovered holes in the bridge’s deck on Monday. He says they immediately closed off the bridge, though some people continued to use the span.

Wright says an inspector told the city midweek that the bridge should remain off limits. He says the city is waiting for a final inspection report and that it’s unclear when the bridge will reopen. Wright says the city received an estimate last year that says replacing the bridge would cost about $3.4 million.

WASHINGTON, Iowa (AP) — An August sentencing is scheduled for the father of a 17-month-old girl who weighed just 11 pounds when she died in southeast Iowa. Station KCRG reports that Anthony McCoy filed written guilty pleas Thursday to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment. His sentencing is set for Aug. 3. McCoy and the little girl’s mother, Ambrashia Chrzan, were charged after the girl’s Nov. 9, 2016, death in rural Riverside. An autopsy found that malnutrition and neglect significantly contributed to her death. Chrzan is scheduled to be sentenced July 27 for her child endangerment conviction.

At least ten Iowa communities are hosting “Wear Orange” events this weekend as part of National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Megan Gentrup, an organizer of the Wear Orange campaign in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says deadly gun attacks in schools and elsewhere have become too common across the country. “We found a lot of community members didn’t know what to do but knew we wanted to do something,” Gentrup says. “We decided to hold an event where the only purpose is to gather, get to know your neighbors, learn about more organizations in the community that are making us safer and also honoring those we have lost to gun violence.”

More than 350 Wear Orange events will take place across the country tomorrow (Saturday), from concerts to picnics to Orange Walks. Gentrup says survivors of gun violence will attend some of the Iowa events, like the one at Lake Manawa, in Council Bluffs. “We’ll have families who have lost loved ones to gun violence to talk about that,” Gentrup says. “We do want to acknowledge that this is happening and we need to talk about it. We’ll also have activities for kids, family-friendly events. We’ll have board games, cornhole, we’ll have Giant Jenga.”

While the events are called “Wear Orange, she says actually wearing orange clothing isn’t a requirement. “Color options of any kind are welcome,” Gentrup says, laughing. “Wear Orange is just the color we use because it signifies safety with hunters and we want to signify safety at our event and with everyone in our communities.”

Events are planned in several other Iowa communities, including: Ames, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Dubuque, Grimes, Iowa City, the Quad Cities, Keosauqua and Waterloo.

(Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s officials in Union County report a deer ran out of a ditch Thursday morning, and collided with the side of a motorcycle and the rider. The incident happened on Highway 25, as 32-year old Michael Matherly, of Creston, was traveling south on a 1997 Honda Shadow. Matherly was transported by Medic 1 to the Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston.

The Glenwood Police Department reports 33-year old Troy Grindle, of Glenwood, was arrested Thursday. Grindle was taken into custody on a Mills County warrant for Criminal Mischief in the 4^th degree. No other details were provided. His cash or surety bond was set at $1,000.

A state senator who left the Republican Party in 2016 to protest Donald Trump being the G-O-P’s presidential nominee has ended his bid for reelection in November. David Johnson of Ocheyedan was the only independent in the state legislature for the past two years. Johnson announced in December he would run as an independent and seek another term in the senate. “I just decided this was a good time to get people thinking in a different way about the election coming this November,” Johnson says.

Three Republicans are running in Tuesday’s Primary for Johnson’s spot in the state senate. He’s been a legislator for nearly two decades but, as an independent, he faced a tough run for another senate term in the northwest Iowa district where Republicans far outnumber both independents and Democrats. Johnson had a long history in the Republican Party before he left it nearly two years ago. His father was a Republican candidate for governor in 1968. Johnson hints he’ll be back at the statehouse next year. “I want to be engaged from a citizen’s point of view,” Johnson said. “I plan to return to the capitol, perhaps, and advocate for causes that are important to me and important to a number of Iowans.”

There are more than 20-thousand Republicans, about 13-thousand independents and 73-hundred Democrats in the district Johnson has represented. There is no Democratic candidate in the Senate District One, but a Democrat could be nominated by convention before the ballot deadline in August.

(Radio Iowa)

The three candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination in Iowa’s third congressional district are proposing different methods for raising incomes for low-wage workers. The topic was discussed last (Thursday) night during a 90-minute forum sponsored by The Des Moines Register and K-C-C-I television. Pete D’Alessandro of Des Moines supports immediately raising the minimum wage to 15-dollars-an-hour. “We should be fighting for a minimum wage that guarantees that you’re not living in poverty,” D’Alessandro said. “…That’s why I say the debate starts at $15 an hour. I won’t compromise on that.”

Cindy Axne of West Des Moines would establish an inflation factor that will keep raising the minimum wage periodically in the future and she suggests raising the wage too high too fast can have a negative effect.  “My concern is always about making sure that an individual has an opportunity for a life of dignity…and we certainly aren’t going to get there if people are laid off because businesses can’t afford it,” Axne said.

Eddie Mauro of Des Moines says rather than raising the minimum wage, he’d raise the earned income tax credit instead. “I think we need a bolder, better and more progressive plan,” Mauro said. “…At $36,000 to $40,000 a year, you can improve your skills and then you make your wages higher, your salary’s higher and then that credit comes down some.”

The three candidates are competing to be the Democrat who faces off against Republican Congressman David Young in November.

(Radio Iowa)